What is up with King's X?

Oops, I meant that was the last one before the blandness set in. Even "Tapehead/Bulbous/Moonlight" have a few moments here and there, but those are the least essential to me."Ear Candy was good, but to me it was the first one to dip slightly. I find myself skipping a few tracks, anyway. Train is a great track. Mississippi Moon and Picture too.

King's X is pretty underrated, but then again, most of their middle era output is so bland, it probably works against them. From "Ear Candy" to "Manic Moonlight" is stuff you'll want to steer clear of until you've heard at least "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska", "Faith, Hope,Love", their self titled, and maybe, "XV".

Even at their most progressive, it wasn't in any classic sense, they were mostly just really eclectic, mixing a whole bunch of different sounds and doing it well. Great band. Ty Tabor is a sadly underrated guitarist.

andyman1125 wrote: I've got Dogman, which is some really cool prog grunge. I've heard Out of the Silent Planet is amazing though. I'll investigate it eventually

You heard corectly...let me know what you think when you hear it...

UMUR wrote: I only have one album and it never did much for me ( is it called Black Sunday or something like that?). I too have wondered why they have the "Classic" status stamped on them. A fan might be able to give us some recommendations to clear things up.

Man . . .
Its been awhile to be here, how did I miss this thread ?

Hey fellow Kings Xers

First, they got a little appreciation here :
http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=799&title=kings-x-appreciation-thread
So some here have made comments at that thread, hopefully we can spread the good word.
Ha! Seems I'm the LAST on to post there I hope I'm not a "Thread Killer" here too !

The 3 guys seem like very likable people, so I would imagine anyone working with them-find them alot of
fun to play with (side projects etc.). So I would guess they have garnered a lot of respect from their peers.
I was amazed seeing Pearl Jam, for the 1st time when they were the musical guests on Saturday Night Live
(An American Comedy Skit Show) for the 1st time and the Bassist was wearing a "Faith Hope Love/Kings X"
shirt and Paul Schafers Band (The CBS Orchestra) on Late Night with David Letterman play the
difficult "We were Born to be Loved" on Commercial breaks on a regular basis!

"Black like Sunday", "Manic Moonlight" and "Welcome Home Mr. Bulbus" are the 3 I couldnt get into but
MM's "Believe" is super funky and got a great groove, WHMB gets a bit Avant Garde believe it or not-so its
a bit experimental for them .  "Fishbowl man" is a bit wackey but quite good.
I need to give these 3 another chance.

If I had to recommend the "sequence" of Albums . . .
1. Out of the Silent Planet
2. Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
3. Faith Hope Love
4. Kings X (I have NEVER heard "Black Flag" on LA Radio . . . EVER!   I guess I'm glad because I love
that song).
5. Dogman
6. Ear Candy
7. Tape Head
9. Ogre Tones
10. XV
I think if you go by that sequence, you'll understand where they are going .

. . . I say the rest of my 2� at the Appreciation Thread.  And a new "Jelly Jam" album is on its way .
And I bought The Special Edition of "Live Love in London" DVD as a Christmas Gift for me .

Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_X

". . . If you really do believe, then dont forget to pray for me!"

"Its Love" on The Dennis Miller Show! (Circa 1990-91):

Can you name the "Beatles" song at the end?




Edited by MAVIIIVAM - 27 Jan 2011 at 2:05am

I've only seen some of the footage from Live In London.  I recall their vocal work on it being below their standard (at Doug's age I'm not surprised) , but I haven't heard a lot of it.  Regardless, I'll most likely get the DVD down the line since I've always wanted a King's X DVD.

The new Live in London album is very good - perhaps their best, esp CD 2.

I recently bought and started listening to "Gretchen", and I can't say whether it's the best or not, but to me it sounds like a 'cleaner' Rush. If that's the case, they really don't seem to have offered much to the prog table, which would explain their relatively low popularity for such a classic band.

I thought maybe it was a gimmick where different bonus songs were included on the different colored albums, but I am pretty sure that isn't the case.  I think that I have the yellow cover, but I don't remember for sure.  It might be the blue cover.

Cool.  I love the song myself, but I know people who hate it because it was played on the radio and such.  That is an interesting compilation.  I've heard most of the songs on it, but not all of them. 

Do you like Black Flag, or is it too commercial for you?