X
Under The Big Black Sun

THE REVIEW

The X were one of the most original bands of the Californian "beach punk" scene. Compared to many other hardcore bands from Los Angeles in the early '80s, the X stood out for a more eclectic, imaginative, relaxed, melancholic approach, and above all, for being more inclined to recover the sounds and styles of the previous two decades. The music of X is roots-rock for the punk and new wave era. It is a compromise between past and present, capable of reviving the rock masters and viewing them with the disillusioned spirit of the '80s. The charm of their tracks lies mainly in the magical vocal duets of the John Doe/Exene Cervenka couple, able to evoke the epos of the best Jefferson Airplain. "Under The Big Black Sun" (1982) is their third album and one of their peaks.

The start is explosive: "Hungry Wolf" immediately gives us a captivating emotional crescendo, supported by Billy Zoom's "voodoobilly" guitar work, dictated by Don Bonebrake's sudden drum tempo changes and ennobled by the dizzying flights of two suggestive voices that can evoke Jim Morrison and Grace Slick with touching grace. The unrestrained boogie of "Motel Room In My Head" alternates moments of tension and relaxation, while "Riding with Mary" indulges in a mood that oscillates between restless and exhausted. If "Come Back to Me", the romantic and revivalist slow song, helps to ease the tension, it's the ringing riff of the title track, as well as the overwhelming "Because I Do", that awaken and invigorate the spirits affected by the first songs.
"Blue Spark" is the most cryptic track on the album, with its martial beginning and its hypnotic and circular progression, while "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" is again a call to the roots, a serenade in which one also manages to revive the ghost of Abba. "Real Child of Hell", with its charging step and epic tone, shakes the atmosphere once more, while the epileptic chant of "How I" (with Exene's mischievous singing) paves the way for the final showdown of "Have Nots", a vigorous and heartfelt boogie that encapsulates the group's philosophy.

"Under The Big Black Sun" is therefore a dazzling work, thanks mostly to inspired songwriting. Despite the evident call to the "classics," X's music almost always stays far from pure revival: X represents the nostalgic soul of punks, or even the (disenchanted) way the new wave generation looked at the hippie generation. In this sense, the metaphor of the title (the "black sun") is perfect to describe the group's attitude.