Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
One More From the Road [Original recording remastered] [Live]
Piano Concerto 1 / Liebestraum 3
Music: Eine Reise Nach Indien [Import]
Nothing Left For You Here{maxi-single/EP}
Marcoscunhantoniosaraiva [Import]
Mozart: Requiem / Bonney, von Otter, Blochwitz, W. White, Gardiner
Amazon.com
As much as any group, X established punk as a coast-to-coast movement, and these two albums staked out the sunny West Coast as territory for the slash-and-burn set. Originally released as separate records in 1980 (Los Angeles) and '81 (Wild Gift), the first albums by X were distinctive statements that perfectly captured a time, a place, and an outsider perspective. Singers and songwriters John Doe and Exene Cervenka (then a married couple), flash guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebrake adapted the aggression and speed of Brit and East Coast punks to suit their own purposes. The likes of "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene," "The World's a Mess, It's in My Kiss" from the quartet's debut, and "White Girl" from the sophomore release captured the desperate ("get used to it!") mindset of pasty-white punks who inhabited the dark side of Hollywood. Literate, frenetic, and brutally honest, Los Angeles and Wild Gift stand as cornerstones in the history of punk, and, indeed, California rock & roll. --Steven Stolder