Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
La Traviata: Callas First Violetta
Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp KV 299; Concerto for Clarinet, KV 622
Music: Color of My Skin (Limited Edition) [CD-single] [Limit
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at 'The Club' [Live]
J. Joachim Quantz: Trio Sonatas
Amazon.com
By the time the title track's triumphant riff chime-growls out midway through Under the Big Black Sun, the listener has already been through the most wrenching sequence of X songs yet assembled. After the thumping bike-club anthem "The Hungry Wolf" opens this 1982 major-label debut, its tough-ass romanticism is quickly plowed under by memories of a motel bed "with rubber sheets" and two heartrending songs about Exene Cervenka's sister Mirielle, who'd been killed in a car crash. In fact, even without "Blue Spark," this would easily qualify as the group's most indigo record yet; the second half offers a lovingly surf-music-tinged remake of an old Tin Pan Alley tune, "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" and "The Have Nots," whose alcohol-soaked social comment clings so fiercely to mournfulness that hardly a wisp of punk anger can take hold. Rootsier than X's previous albums, Sun updates noirish dread with guitar wisdom. This remaster includes five bonus tracks, including the original mix of their Jerry Lee Lewis cover "Breathless." --Rickey Wright