The official King's X thread

OMG, d. You have pre-rated reviews ready for posting. You're a master of efficiency, my friend. At least, here's a small smattering of records that I no nothing about. Save these bad boys for a rainy day. Well, we are current experiencing 'April Showers'. I keep on thinking of Vernon Reid and his comment that it is just a matter of time until King's X are the biggest band in the world...Keep waitin, V. Keep waitin'.

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I haven't heard the following: Jughead, The Mob, Xenuphobe, Jerry Gaskill - Come Somewhere (any opinions would be appreciated)

Jughead is pretty Platypus-y
The Mob completely rules! 80's melodic HR. Listen to that and you'll end up getting the old lady in the back seat of your car to make-out for awhile!
Xenuphobe - just Ty noodling with sound effects. Basically unlistenable noise.
Gaskill - Come Somewhere - Total Beatles worship. If JL was still alive, he would have been proud.

Don't forget about:

Man Friday - Songs from the Big Round Thing
dUg's Songs from the Closet series
dUg's Evolution of the Groove series
Ty Tabor's Tacklebox
Ty Tabor - In the New Age
Maston - Tampering with the Laws of Goodness

and if ya wanna go back - Sneak Preview, The Edge, and Servant. They were also Phil Keaggy's [sp?] band and did some work with Morgan Cryar back in the day [I have that album and have been offered big dough for it!].

They all have done a bunch of tribute stuff and I also have some demos dUg did with Dimebag. Then there's some one-off stuff that didn't go anywhere.

My personal favorite is dUg's "Strum Some Up". Every track on there is GOLD!

Uncle Saxon's knowledge is awe-inspiring.

Even though I'm only 2 years younger than you, I'm available for adoption...

I my memory serves, the 3 were never in Keaggy's band together...I want to say it was Doug & Jerry...Doug (supposedly) was also briefly in Petra, but I've never heard him confirm it.

Doug has also done work w/ 24-7 Spyz, toured as fill-in lead vocalist for Living Colour, and has finished his part in an album w/ Mike & Jeff from Pearl Jam...

UNCLE SAXON wrote:

[Don't forget about:

Man Friday - Songs from the Big Round Thing
dUg's Songs from the Closet series
dUg's Evolution of the Groove series
Ty Tabor's Tacklebox
Ty Tabor - In the New Age
Maston - Tampering with the Laws of Goodness

I especially like the Songs from the Closet and Ty's Tacklebox. I usually don't spin re-issued demos that often but these still get quite a bit of play.

Good things, ming. Good things. I haven't heard a single side project from any of the three members. At least there are a few untapped catalogs still left for future consumption. I'm listening to Manic Moonlight right now. Kinda gave up on the band after they delivered Mr. Bulbous. That was sorta stinky and without that drop-D tuning/Beatlesque harmony contrast that had become their trademark. I still got Ogre Tones and Black Like Sunday to make my way through. So, what's the deal with BLS? This album is a re-recording of their first album that got shelved back in the day? Does the modern facelifit that the material gets enough to make it sound like a modern-day recording? Or, is it apparent that these songs were penned a long time back?

Marc Mason wrote:

Good things, ming. Good things. I haven't heard a single side project from any of the three members. At least there are a few untapped catalogs still left for future consumption. I'm listening to Manic Moonlight right now. Kinda gave up on the band after they delivered Mr. Bulbous. That was sorta stinky and without that drop-D tuning/Beatlesque harmony contrast that had become their trademark. I still got Ogre Tones and Black Like Sunday to make my way through. So, what's the deal with BLS? This album is a re-recording of their first album that got shelved back in the day? Does the modern facelifit that the material gets enough to make it sound like a modern-day recording? Or, is it apparent that these songs were penned a long time back?

Point one: Bulbous - this album is really undervalued I think, sure, it's a rather random collection of songs...so it doesn't have the cohesive feel that many of their albums do. But there are some GREAT tunes on there. "She's Gone Away" is one of Ty's best songs ever, "Charlie Sheen" sounds like nothing else in their catalog but that's a good thing. There are tons of Beatles-style harmonies on that album (When I'm Scared, Bittersweet, Move Me). It took a LONG time for that record to actually sink into my brain (years)...but I love it now.

Point two: Black Like Sunday. It wasn't a shelved album, these were older songs mostly written prior to them being signed. Some songs work, some sound very dated. It's a mixed bag affair (and my least favorite KX record)...but it was done as a thank you to their longtime fans who had been begging them to release the original demos for years...but they decided to re-record them for sound quality reasons. The cover art was chosen by an online contest, it was a fan submitted item. The only mistake I think they made is that it should have been released as an "online only" deal, not as an actual KX record. If you're a fanatic, it's a good album to have, if you're a casual fan it can be probably be skipped over.

Bulbous is one of my favorites of King's X.

Black Like Sunday never has done anything for me.

The word 'Negro' has not been used to describe a person who happens to be black/african american since Richard Nixon's first term in office.

SpectreFate wrote:

Bulbous is one of my favorites of King's X.

Black Like Sunday never has done anything for me.

I'll second that on Bulbous. I love that album but it seems to be a polarizing one in that most people seem to either love it or hate it with not many in the middle.

Black Like Sunday has some good tracks but much of it sounds pretty much like a product of the time in which they were written and not as timeless as some of their other material.
I pretty much consider it just a treat for longtime fans to have new recordings of older stuff they may never have heard.

***edit***

Marc,

I don't know you, but I can handle the rap talk and 99% of the rest of the shite that goes on here on this board, but lord help me if I get another hint of racism from you in a post I'll bounce you quicker than one of Allen Stanford's cheques out of this place.

Locky wrote:

Marc,

I don't know you, but I can handle the rap talk and 99% of the rest of the shite that goes on here on this board, but lord help me if I get another hint of racism from you in a post I'll bounce you quicker than one of Allen Stanford's cheques out of this place.

I'm gonna add my support to this. I don't give a damn how you 'meant' it, the fact of the matter is that terminology has been used in a racist fashion for quite some time now. Intent can hardly be seperated from emotional response after such an amount of time. You'd better think of such before you post again, cause if I see it again you're gone.

Mr Mason is no longer with us. My personal apologies to anyone whom he has offended in any way. I should not have allowed him as free of a berth as I did.

So, talk more about the greatest band in the world. Has anyone here heard the Sneak Preview album? They were big into U2, R.E.M. and such back in the early/mid 80's. I have a live boot from June '85. Check out this setlist!

FIRST SET
1-INSIDE OUTSIDE
2-LINDA [Tribute to Mrs. Boden]
3-SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY
4-QUESTION MARK
5-HERE COMES THE SUN
6-SAVE US
7-YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE
8-IN A BIG COUNTRY
9-I WANNA BE LIKE YOU
10-MODERN MAN
11-NEW YEAR'S DAY
12-I WILL FOLLOW

SECOND SET
1-THE EDGE
2-HAMMER IN MY HEART
3-HOW WILL THEY KNOW?
4-I WILL RETURN
5-I WANNA BE SEDATED
6-ROXANNE
7-HANG ON
8-THE LOCK
9-SHANDALA
10-WINNERS [KX WOULD LATER RECORD THIS]
11-WILD THING/WE'RE AN AMERICAN BAND
12-PURPLE HAZE

Cool!!

So I guess this would be an inopportune time to say I don't like this band?

The only album I like is "Gretchen Goes To Nebraska".

Seriously, this really seems to be a love/hate band. People either adamantly support them or can't stand them. Personally I recognize the talent but don't appreciate the prog nature of the songwriting.

Carry on...

I've got a friend with the Sneak Preview album so I've heard it. It's definitely very '80s and while I'm a huge King's X fan I haven't been willing to part with the asking price its gone for in the past.

You'd be one of the few that I would think would completely "get it", To. It's "Thinking Man's Metal", nuber one. And they are very progressive with one of the most talented and creative guitarists alive.

Svengo wrote:

I've got a friend with the Sneak Preview album so I've heard it. It's definitely very '80s and while I'm a huge King's X fan I haven't been willing to part with the asking price its gone for in the past.

I have a copy as well.

One more I think you would find interesting, that is my oldest KX boot, is The Edge - A Night in the Twilight Zone - Springfield, MO 1981. They actually had a fourth member named Kirk in the band as second guitar!

UNCLE SAXON wrote:

You'd be one of the few that I would think would completely "get it", To. It's "Thinking Man's Metal", nuber one. And they are very progressive with one of the most talented and creative guitarists alive.

I'm not sure if this was directed to me or not but...

It's definitely "thinking man's metal" and I think that's part of my problem. The thing I value above all else in songwriting is memorability. I need to hear a song once or twice and be able to sing along after that.

Other than "Gretchen", King's X just doesn't have the memorability factor for me. I definitely appreciate the musicianship and vocal talent but when it's all said and done, I can't remember the songs. Then again, that's my problem with a lot of prog metal (see Dream Theater, Symphony X and the like).

tohostudios wrote:

UNCLE SAXON wrote:

You'd be one of the few that I would think would completely "get it", To. It's "Thinking Man's Metal", nuber one. And they are very progressive with one of the most talented and creative guitarists alive.

I'm not sure if this was directed to me or not but...

It's definitely "thinking man's metal" and I think that's part of my problem. The thing I value above all else in songwriting is memorability. I need to hear a song once or twice and be able to sing along after that.

Other than "Gretchen", King's X just doesn't have the memorability factor for me. I definitely appreciate the musicianship and vocal talent but when it's all said and done, I can't remember the songs. Then again, that's my problem with a lot of prog metal (see Dream Theater, Symphony X and the like).

Yeah, it was.

I gotta disagree somewhat with the rest of that post though. Songs like: King, Black Flag, Dogman, It's Love, Cigarette, and, like you pointed out, Summerland and Goldilox, are all good examples.

Memorability is in the brain of the listener.

I've heard lots of Kings X but the only songs that ever stuck with me were on Gretchen.

I do actually prefer Kings X to other "prog gods" like Dream Theater though. Kings X has far less "wankery" IMO and that scores points in my book.

Sax, I downloaded the original recording of "Freedom" from the old Kramer's Korner King's X site YEARS ago. I have since lost that file. but of course, they re-recorded it on Ogre Tones (not as well as the original, IMO). Was the original recording on a single or something?

I got here late, but I know what happened. Let's avoid, as Trog put it, archaic, racist terminology. Consider yourself warned, Marc.

As for King's X, dUg is black, merry, 59 years old (this year), left-handed & a serious weed-hound...and he's my HERO!!

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I got here late, but I know what happened. Let's avoid, as Trog put it, archaic, racist terminology. Consider yourself warned, Marc.

As for King's X, dUg is black, merry, 59 years old (this year), left-handed & a serious weed-hound...and he's my HERO!!

I think Marc has already been "dismissed".

Personally I don't give a rat's ass about an artist's sexual orientation, race, age or anything else. I'm all about the music. And Kings X music is just too prog for me I guess.