Coming 25 years after their debut album Los Angeles took the punk community and nation buy surprise by landing them on numerous "Best of" lists for band and album of the year honors,
Live In Los Angeles,
X's first album in 9 years and recorded at the House Of Blues, Hollywood this past November, is the first album in 20 years to feature all four original members back in the fold (with guitarist Billy Zoom being absent since 1985) and playing as a unit once again. Having begun playing yearly "on again off again" shows since a 1998 autograph signing to promote a compilation brought all four original members together again for the first time in in over a decade, and having no original music put out by this line up in two decades, this album was approached by fans and critics alike with more a sense of curiosity, and perhaps even apprehension, then any sort of anticipation. Having myself seen this band perform 20 times since their return and attending the show late last year most of this material was taken from, I had an idea of what to expect. However, what seems good at the moment at a live show can sometimes be much less so when put to record and repeated listenings. So I had my own doubts about the wisdom of a part time Rock n Roll band comprised of four musicians well into middle age putting out a live punk rock record. For me it was a matter of crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
Well as it turns out I had nothing to be concerned about, as this album shows you may not be able to teach old dogs new tricks, but in some cases you don't have to. Kicking off where the band started out all those years ago with
The Phones Off The Hook, But You're Not, which was the first song on their classic debut album
Los Angeles and moving quickly to the fast, melodic, living life on the edge song
In This House That I Call Home, the band comes out of the gates at full speed and waste no time in getting things started on the fast track. The next track up is the classic punk rock anthem
We're Desperate, a song about being exactly that, and if you didn't know any better you would say this was a band that has been around maybe 25 months rather then hanging around 25 years.
From here on
X is more then happy to take you on a 21 song journey through some of there better known and best loved material. All songs performed are from the Billy Zoom era
X of there first four albums and the set list does not disappoint. Many of the classics are here, from the angst ridden
Los Angeles to the raw and rockin' hard life tale
Devil Doll to the menacing desperate in love song
The Hungry Wolf. Near hits
White Girl,
Blue Spark, and
The New World are also included, along with the now well known punk cover of The Doors
Soul Kitchen and perhaps
X's most notorious song,
Johny Hit And Run Pauline. Not every
X fan will go away feeling completely satisfied with the songs chosen for inclusion on this disc, but it covers a lot of ground for the familiar and uninitiated alike. And with performances this strong the listener is left with very little to complain about. There is nothing new here. But nor does it have an air of nostagia or looking back. With timeless songs at there disposal and a penchant for writing a good melody, punk or otherwise, these songs performed in this manner sound as fresh as baby's bottom.
And it is the performances that are key here. When
X first came on the scene all those years ago, they did it not as young punks who had just picked up guitars a week before, but as musicians who had fallen in love with punk along the way. John Doe was a college graduate who had been writing songs for himself before punk broke, and Billy Zoom was an accomplished and respected Rockabilly player who had toured with the likes of Gene Vincent, and had a knack for jazz clarinet and saxaphone as well. Drummer DJ Bonebrake was a young but experianced player who had done time in big bands, swing, jazz combos, and punk bands alike. And Exene Cervenka, although not coming from a musical background, had a penchant for writing poetry and expressing herself creatively with words. And so what we get on
Live In Los Angeles is not the sound of old punks giving it one last shot or musicians long inactive coming together and stumbling there way through the music and songs at best. This is the sound of a confident, mature, classic Rock N Roll band who know exactly what they are doing and how to do it. The beat is always dead on, the unique harmonys of Doe and Cervenka are as strong as ever, the guitar of Billy Zoom rips and roars as if he had never left the band, and the playing of drummer DJ Bonebrake is precise and thunderous. As said before in this review, this is not a band of old dogs who need to be taught new tricks. They already know them all.
A joy for any existing
X fan or as good a place to start as any for the curious and interested,
X: Live In Los Angeles is as good a document as you can find of this band in full flight and in complete charge of there musical prowess. Superior to any other live material previously released by the band on various compilations and DVD's,
Live In Los Angeles shows that age and years past in Rock n Roll does not necessarily mean the fire is gone and it's time to pack up and go fishing. Armed with great songs, passion in there hearts, fire in there eyes, rock solid musicianship, and a desire to deliver the goods as they are meant to be delivered, on
Live In Los Angeles X suggest that perhaps old punks never die. And in some cases may even get better.
*Also available on high quality DVD with bonus footage and interviews*
