13 posts tagged “kings x”
On this late Friday night, I thought I'd play a King's X ditty that's been on my brain.
I reviewed this album in the past (I've reviewed all of them except for the most recent), but I only played one song from it. I really dig the funky sound on Vegetable, and so I'm playing it.
Also, Heather bought me XV, their latest CD, which is fantastic so far. I'll post it on the Tune of the Week once I've heard it enough times and once I'm done with the "Hetta Music" thing.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
"Hi Dave. Thanks for the email. Been a KX fan for a while huh? Cool! Glad Gretchen we a help to your growing up. Its all good huh? Well, things were changing for me all my life with my faith in God. I have always been one who is always looking and learning. I had a few wakeup calls during that time and I started to realize for myself that I was miserable trying to be a Christian and I needed an answer because of it.
Thru my quest I came to the realization that Christianity didn't make any sense to me anymore. I truly once believed and lived my life the best I could for it. God from a reality change to a non reality. It wasn't over night though. It was a hard time for me loosing my faith. But I am at peace and happier now. Christianity was like a chain wrapped around me. I couldn't be what the church and Bible wanted me to be and I later realized that if God exist than I am fine and God understands. No one knows for sure anything. We just have to believe what's true to us and live it. Thanks for sticking with us thru our journey!!! See you in Chicago! happy holiday!!! dUg"
The above quote is an email I received from Doug Pinnick on December 20, 2001. It exemplifies a number of the reasons I started listening to King's X, and why I continued to do so throughout the last many years. He was replying to an email I sent him, which is a friendly thing to do, and which matched his persona on stage. It is also interesting how concerned he was about his spiritual journey, a theme in his music and in his talks during concerts.
But that was 2001. This is nearly 2008, and things have changed for the worse for Pinnick and the band, in my opinion.
First, Ogre Tones (2005). I read an interview with Pinnick before this album came out, and he said it was going to sound like something in between Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and Dogman. Such a result would have truly been unbelievable, but such is not the result of Ogre Tones. Although the band regularly refers to the recording as "critically acclaimed", I couldn't tell you why this CD would be considered great. As far as I'm concerned, the songs are bland and without energy. I'm posting "Goldilox" because it was first recorded on their first album (which is what a “reprise” is) and because it has a lot of history in my life. However, the single, "Alone", was used for a video, and the video looks purely amateurish (not to mention the cheesy couple of somewhat scantily-clad girls). Ogre Tones may very well have been recorded by a group of ogres, as my search for something new, energetic, and fresh from this band has, I think, finally died with this CD.
Second, the "new" Doug Pinnick. First of all, it needs to be understood that, although he looks younger, Pinnick was born in 1950. And yet, he still has yet to come to terms with his inner-demons from childhood. In fact, he appears to have regressed over the last few years. He has observably become a bitter and rather pathetic person. It really hit bottom for me when I read, in yet another interview, his response to being asked what one book he would take with him if stranded on a deserted island: porn. "Oh brother," I thought.
Third, this may be mostly Pinnick's attitude, but I swear he whines about how King's X is overlooked by everybody in every single interview he gives. It's rather a self-fulfilling prophecy, in my estimation. No matter how much exposure the band gets, they will always be "overlooked" in the mind of Pinnick and possibly the whole band. This mindset has resulted in a painfully obvious sense of inferiority (I remember, with some sadness, how Pinnick kept repeating, "We're King's X," again and again during a concert in which they opened for Joe Satriani and Dream Theater -- it was as though he was literally assuming no one in attendance knew who they were).
It is true that they have not gotten the attention that their talent deserves. But it is also true that Pinnick's attitude and flaunted lack of character, as well as the band's lack of attention to detail and hard work over the last several years has brought down whatever greatness the band had in the eyes of many of their fans (and who else would they be trying to please if not their fans?).
(I want to also quickly address the "radio" question -- i.e., Why doesn't King's X get more radio airplay? My answer is, it doesn't matter. Good bands don't need the radio. Have you ever heard Iron Maiden on the radio? Dream Theater? Molly Hatchet? Coheed & Cambria? No. And yet, these guys have absolutely huge followings. Because they're good, and because they've stuck with what got them there. This brings me to my next and final point.)
And finally, their sound. This observation is greatly influenced by my own opinions, so take it with a grain of salt. I believe that people "fall in love" with a band because of their sound. Yes, you become interested in the lyrics and in the individuals themselves over time, but it is their sound which initially pulls you in. Why a band, which has some success with a specific sound, would dramatically change that sound at once or over time, is beyond me. Bands lose fans when they do this, and they lose momentum in building their fan base. Even if your fan numbers are meager with the first recording, if those people LOVE what you’re doing, don’t stop doing it! Keep it up, and continue to build your fan base over time, even if slowly.
The most successful bands have a sense of integrity with their sound, i.e., this is what they do and this is what they like. In a sense, a band should play the music that they ARE. When a band changes its sound in a dramatic fashion, I have to begin to wonder who they really are as a band. It was SO disheartening to hear Pinnick refer to Gretchen Goes to Nebraska as his least favorite King's X album (in fact, he hates it), considering the songs are so good their chord structures are studied in college music courses throughout the country.
After all is said and done, the question has to be asked -- who was King's X when they recorded Gretchen, and who are they now? Are the two anything alike? Which one is real? Are either of them real? Is being real important to this band at all?
So many questions, and so few answers. Except maybe the one-word repartee which seems to, in the end, describe this once great band: Done.
Black Like Sunday (2003) is a compilation of tunes that the band wrote before they were known as King's X. I wouldn't know that, though, if I hadn't read it in an interview. Nowhere in the liner notes is this fact mentioned, which would have explained a lot. This album is definitely my least favorite of everything they've put out thus far.
When I first got this CD, I really enjoyed it for some reason. I can remember lifting weights to it and finding it a good listen. I'm not sure why I felt that way, because, unlike some of their albums which have had to grow on me, this has gone the other direction and is near the trash bin. It was not easy to find a song to post from Black Like Sunday because they all pretty much suck. "Black Like Sunday" sucks the least, in my opinion.
Two reasons I think I initially got into this recording: (1) I was excited that they'd canned the experimentalism from the two previous CDs, and (2) I had heard the title track live, and it sounded more like their older stuff. I was ready for a return to their original sound.
But Black Like Sunday isn't a return to anything. It's simply a bunch of mediocre-at-best tunes that they had literally forgotten about. Better off left forgotten. I read at least a couple of interviews that centered around this album, and it appears the band had some sort of deadline to meet, and one of the guys found a bunch of songs they had written in their early years. They then chose to release them as an album. DEPRESSING.
King's X reached a new low with this display of apathy. They didn't even design the cover. They had some sort of competition among fans to design one (which they forgot about once it was over), and then rushed through the entries to come up with a winner for the cover at the last minute. As a result, the cover art has nothing to do with the record itself, and who knows if the cover art was even the best available. Such unintentionality is just inexcusable, and it's one of the reasons I think King's X deserves the way they've been overlooked by the public.
The liner notes are so stupid I'm not even going to discuss them.
Had the band bothered to mention that this CD was a compilation of old stuff, it would have been more acceptable. But because they didn't, and because it's so bad, the end result of purchasing it nearly felt like a slap in the face. You hang on as a fan of a band for years and years, you put up with the not-so-good albums, the momentary lapses of sound judgment, and this is what you get in return?
Literally, if it weren't for the fact that they are a damn good live band, this CD would have pretty much ended my love affair with King's X. Only the future will tell if they are ever able to redeem themselves.
Which brings us to the next, and to date, last album (next week).
Monday was very busy, and yesterday was my wife's birthday, so I'm finally back at it today with a little time to post this week's tune. Besides cake, yesterday included attending the Phantom of the Opera at the Cadillac Palace downtown, Heather's first time to see the show. Very cool.
Manic Moonlight (2001) was the second "experimental" album put out by King's X. The cover art for the album was by Tabor (guitar), and you can tell it wasn't done by a pro. I mean, what the hell? INMHO, the cover is beyond stupid and completely incomprehensible.
The recording's lone photo of the band is pretty ridiculous as well, as far as I'm concerned. Not that you've got to do some serious pose or anything, but an afro, a British cop's hat, and all sitting in a living room with their instruments? Looks more like they took this photo themselves (maybe while a bit tipsy?) and just stuck it in there. Again with the "we're-not-trying-any-more" feeling.
One more really dumb aspects of this CD is the last "song", number 10, "Water Ceremony". It's a short recording of Pinnick drinking something and then belching. Really stupid.
But then enters the music (the first nine tracks). I can live without the way each song begins (some sort of keyboard-like sampling), but once they get going, most of the tunes are quite listenable, far more listenable than Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous. A number of these tunes are solid, stand-alone songs. I chose "Believe" because it had an immediate spiritual effect on me, and because it's good.
One of the other reasons I enjoy this album is because "the funk" is out and proud all over it, and I really dig that sound of theirs. "Yeah", "Skeptical Winds", and "Vegetable" are each a fun listen (the last one is really, really funky and fun to dance around to), and "Static", although not the best of the bunch, is just awesome live.
Give this CD a listen if you get the chance. It just might get you to "Believe" that King's X hasn't totally given up.
Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? Personally, it's about the dumbest holiday in existence, next to Sweetest Day, the Valentine's Day wannabe. It's so overspiritualized as to make it practically meaningless to me. Football on Thursday afternoons is pretty cool, though.
On to King's X! I'm in the process of uploading Windows Vista to our "hub computer", so I'm doing this sitting on the floor with Heather's laptop. She loves it (the laptop), but I think I'm spoiled with my desktop beast. My neck is already doing interesting calisthenics while I sit and type.
When I first heard Please Come...Mr. Bulbous (2000), I hated it. I mean, I really hated it. The cover was stupid, the song titles seemed pointless, and I thought, "There they go, just like everybody else. Down the 'nothing means anything' path that most bands eventually go down." It didn't help that I had read an interview with Doug Pinnick (who was becoming increasingly narcissistic and self-pitious by the day as far as I could tell) talked about the song, "Julia", like it was the most unintentional experience he'd ever had. Apparently, the verses and chorus have nothing to do with each other.
I bought this CD when I was single, and it got a lot of turntable time because I was experiencing a sort of renaissance of music I had once loved. Still, this recording didn't make it into my heart until I played it in the background for a friend while we played some Nintendo game of his involving Japanese guys with swords (I don't know much about such things as I've not owned a video game system since Mattel's Intellivision). Somehow, the CD as an entire compilation came alive that evening and seemed extremely appropriate for the setting. Ever since, I have never listened to this CD unless from beginning to end, and that experience is worth the time spent. Picking out one song really doesn't do this album justice whatsoever, but I've done my best with "She's Gone Away".
Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous is not my favorite album, that is for sure. The weird "samples" at the end of each tune are a bit annoying (although kind of interesting when you are hearing the CD for the first time and don't know they're coming), and the CD begins the King's X trek into "experimental" music (which didn't do a thing for their fan base). But it's a decent and even entertaining listen when you've got the time to hear the whole thing, even if the words seem basically pointless.
Well, I've managed to stick with King's X this time around. We've been hugely busy working on bustawindow.com, so this will be kinda quick this week (check out our new "Bargain of the Day" feature until the site is completed!). We get several more logo concepts at 9am today, which is exciting, particularly to Heather; it has been a lot of fun watching what these guys at HP can do, I must say.
After Ear Candy, Atlantic put out a "Best of" album of King's X material which also included three, previously unreleased tunes. None of them are worth mentioning, as far as I'm concerned, so I'm skipping ahead to their next CD and first recording on the Metal Blade label, Tape Head (1998). This is my favorite album of all of them, largely because of their by-this-time fully-developed funk sound. "Groove Machine" is a popular one during concerts, and it indeed has a great groove. The tunes on this album are radio-worthy, almost all of them under four minutes in length, although I don't remember ever hearing any of these on the radio (which had little, if nothing at all to do with why they remain obscure, in my opinion [I'll develop that at some point, I promise]).
The release of this recording coincided with Doug Pinnick's revelation to the world that he was/is gay. Pinnick's sexual orientation is irrelevant to the music of King's X, but a bit of the media made something of it, as would be expected. For many people, King's X could no longer be considered a "Christian" band as a result of this, which, I'm sure, was just as well in their minds. They never liked the label, and Pinnick's coming out was an important moment in his personal life as he continued to come to terms with himself and past.
King's X continues to pound out spiritual fodder for the soul on this recording (and more than on Ear Candy, which, in contrast, seemed almost deliberately dry of anything too spiritual or reflective). The title of track number 8, "Higher than God," is misleading in the sense that the notion conveyed in the lyrics is about NOT wanting to think one is higher than God.
There are a lot of really good songs on this CD, and choosing just one was really, really tough. I chose "Happy," not becauses it's my absolute favorite, but because the opening has always sort of caught me off guard, no matter how many times I hear it. I swear I hear Jimi Hendrix every time. As I've said before, I love the funk sound of King's X. When they play live, that is the one thing that always comes across -- this huge, powerful, almost overpowering behemoth the band likes to call the "Groove Machine".
Two years after their angry, dark release in Dogman, King's X released their final album on the Atlantic label, Ear Candy (1996).
This recording was another change of scenery for the band, with a new sound, new look, and soon-to-be new label. So different than Dogman, Ear Candy could even be described as "psychedelic" in contrast to Dogman's extreme heaviness and sense of doom. To give you a picture of just how different this album was from its predecessor, a friend of mine at the time bought Dogman on having heard Ear Candy and immediately hated it. He went as far as to suggest they weren't even the same band. This tendency to lack a truly defined identity has assured the band's place in obscurity, in my opinion. I'll develop that idea at a later date.
I bought this album close to when it came out, and for me, it was liberating music. I had entered a new era in my life, and I didn't like it. I hated the 9 to 5 world, I was in a really lousy relationship, and I had truly begun to lose any grip on my faith. Ear Candy, with its free-and-easy sound and sense of newness, really spoke to me, even though I remember feeling disappointed that they'd backed off of their previously strong and often poetic lyrics. These songs and their messages are basically just about getting through life, as suggested in the title of the final track, "Life Going By". That particular song has made me cry more than once.
As far as my personal King's X favorite albums go, I'd place Ear Candy somewhere in the middle. It's a fun listen, but it lacks depth. "Mississippi Moon" is one of my favorites on the CD, and that's why I've posted it here. The song also features Ty Tabor (guitarist) on lead vocals, something that Dogman lacks entirely. On a typical King's X album, Doug Pinnick sings lead on the majority of the songs, but Ty will sing lead on a couple; this trademark is unique (although KISS does it, too, as well as a few others), and it gives the entire recording some diversity and a sense of the unexpected.
King's X begins to develop their "funkability" on a couple tunes on this recording, but I wouldn't consider any of the songs out-and-out funk. I actually really like the King's X funk sound and personally prefer it to the sound of, say, the first four recordings (although they are superior musically and lyrically to later albums). The guys will really begin to develop the funk sound on the next album, Tape Head, one of my top favorites.
Buy Ear Candy if you've got a long drive ahead of you, but don't worry about getting too much out of it. The poetic wisdom of prior King's X recordings simply isn't there.
Back to King's X!
I could say so much about this album, so I'll try to actually say as much of it as I can.
I bought "Dogman" (1994, on cassette) as soon as it came out because, by this time, I was a huge King's X fan. I was attending an ultra-conservative religious college, and the school had a "Christian" book store on campus. King's X was still considered by many to be a "Christian" band, so I was able to buy it there. However, this book store sold their metal and other generally unfavorable recordings out of a basket under the counter unavailable to casual store shoppers. No joke! You literally had to know about the basket if you wanted to buy anything that wasn't complete crap.
I had heard the new album was "different," but I wasn't exactly sure how. I had read that Doug Pinnick was experiencing a lot of depression during the recording of the album (ultimately resulting in a darker mood and significantly heavier sound) and that the band was calling "Dogman" their last hope for commercial success. The songs were given one-word titles for the most part, the cover art wasn't anything like the artsy stuff on the first four albums, their physical appearance had moved toward the grunge look (including Pinnick's dreadlocks), and the sound was so heavy (at least for King's X) as to sound like they were trudging their guitars through mud.
In other words, I loved it. I was completely into the grundge sound at the time (especially Soundgarden and Alice in Chains) and simply couldn't get enough of this album. I literally wore the tape out.
"Fool You" got considerable radio airplay in Chicago, and people were actually beginning to talk about this band. By the time Pinnick put out his first solo effort under the name, Poundhoud, Chicago's biggest rock station was actually playing it in a contest for listeners to guess the artist's name. I was certain King's X had finally "made it," but I was wrong. They've never truly made it in the commercial sense, and I've got some opinions on why, but I'll save that for a later post.
"Dogman" is a great listen and totally not like the first four recordings. I've always been taken by the nearly brutal opening tune (same title as the album), and the album never slows down (unless to get REALLY brooding and even MORE dark). I still really enjoy this one. It's probably number two in my all-time favorite list of the King's X repertoire. Hope you enjoy!
In honor of The Doug, I'm posting the song, "Black Flag," from the fourth and self-titled album from King's X (1992).
I was a sophomore in college when this album came out, and I can remember a poster from this album on the wall of a favorite music store (now defunct) on Clark Street here in Chicago. The artwork on the cover is really cool and very meaningful for any observant Christian. The album is far more listenable for general audiences, as far as I'm concerned, than the previous three albums.
Although the first three albums are excellent and technically outstanding, they're not terribly influenced by anything that I would describe as "groovy". There's a great deal of funk in what King's X is doing currently (hence a later album's song entitled "Groove Machine"). That funky / groovy thing starts to show its head a bit on this album. I probably listen to this album the least of the first four albums, but when I do, I enjoy it.
"Black Flag" is a tune that made it big on MTV and was a recommendation from their producer. I've even heard that their producer wrote it, but I'm unsure as to that fact. If you've seen the video, it's fine, but somewhat corny. They were definitely trying to break the mainstream market with this album (more on that in the next post), but I'm afraid that level of success was destined to elude this talented band.
I'm no music critic, so this isn't easy for me to do. I'm not even sure of all my facts, but I'll do my best.
This album, Faith, Hope, Love, falls in line with the previous two, written using the same "method" (as described to me by Doug Pinnick in an email) that the first five albums utilized.
Faith, Hope, Love (1990) was the band's first real foray into commercial success, although they never made it big enough to stay on the Atlantic label. I do remember actually seeing t-shirts advertising this album.
The album is a bit more "listenable" for the general public than the first two were, but it still hangs onto their distinct sound and the artistic quality of the first two. It's not my personal favorite, but I do like to get it out every once in a while and give it a spin. I find it to be somewhat more repetitive than the first two (I think I'm doing a lot of comparing to the first two albums, oh well), and so I'm not as thrilled with it for this reason.
All in all, though, a good listen. I hope you enjoy.
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