| XV | 
 enlarge | List Price: $17.98
Buy New: $11.46
You Save: $6.52 (36%)
Buy New/Used from $11.46
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 73 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1717
Category: Music
Artist: King's X
Publisher: Inside Out Music
Studio: Inside Out Music
Manufacturer: Inside Out Music
Label: Inside Out Music
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 79690
UPC: 693723969022
EAN: 0693723969022
ASIN: B0015UGNSC
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | Pray | | • | Blue | | • | Repeating Myself | | • | Rocket Ship | | • | Julie | | • | Alright | | • | Broke | | • | I Just Want To Live | | • | Move | | • | I Don t Know | | • | Stuck | | • | Go Tell Somebody | | • | Love And Rockets (Hell s Screaming) (bonus track) | | • | No Lie (bonus track) |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
As a music consumer you ve got to be extremely cautious with a term such as cult band . It is often used to describe acts who are commercially unsuccessful or by groups trying to disguise their musical inabilities. With all due respect, this is certainly not the case with King s X. Doug Pinnick (vocals, bass), Jerry Gaskill (drums) and Ty Tabor (guitars) are consummate professionals who enjoy a brilliant reputation amongst fans, media and their peers. King s X s status as a cult band stems from their long time significance on the international rock scene as an all encompassing, fresh and innovative band. Their brand new album XV again proves to be a classic example of intelligent, varied and imaginative rock, on which they combine flawless skills, great compositions and superb production. Produced by sound maestro Michael Wagener in Nashville, Tennessee, the Texan power trio have produced one of the best albums of their successful career. And that is saying something!
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 68 more reviews...
 Infectious! August 20, 2008
pushing 4.5 stars...
I cannot stop listening to this album - and it's been awhile since I've said that about ANY album. XV, for all of its simplicities, is still hard to categorize; and that's what makes it great. It's the type of album that, while packing a legitimate punch upon first listen, doesn't necessarily blow you away upon first listen; and again, that's what makes it great! Your brain goes through the mechanical intellectualizations the first time around, taking inventory...no real soloing, no epics, nothing incredibly new sounding or adventurous... all tunes are short and "sweet." And frequently, the danger with such a recipe lies in the fact that this sort of thing may trigger you to permanently retire the album to your shelf (or out of your ipod) after just one shot - forever forgotten.
But not this album! This is King's X we're talking about!!! What other group can write an entire song around "One day it's gonna be alright alright yeah alright alright yeah," with all the background vocals and trimmings of anthemic sing-along, AND have it come out sounding so damn... ARTISTIC!!! And so it is for reasons like this, that King's X proves to have [once again] escaped the chasm of a one-listen-toss-away, because there's something subconscious in you that wants you to return to track one and blast through it again.
And again and again. Until finally you give yourself permission to sing along with the "na na na na" syllable chorus of "BROKE" with all the serious, soulful, heartfelt fist-pumping urgency that is deserved. While I'd still file this as a "grows on you" album, if only because you will (I PROMISE) become more obsessed with it with each new listen, I do confess it grows on you very quickly - so watch out! The only heartbreak for me is the "straight-A-kid-has-expectations-set-even-higher" syndrome. We all know the band's potential...and given the electric energy in the air here, it pains me when I think perhaps this coulda-woulda-shoulda been a...dare I say...masterpiece, had they taken their newfound energy and pushed the envelope of adventurousness a little more - but while still leaving all the "whoa yeah's" firmly intact!
Alas, I'm sure a lot of fans will disagree with me, triumphantly applauding this release as a sigh-of relief "return to form" in a way, that still feels fresh and in a phase all of its own. But don't get me wrong, who am I to disgree? Right now, I'm addicted.
Ok fine, 5 stars - the Brian May guitar harmonies at the very end are a knockout punch
 King's X Shows They Still Got It August 19, 2008
I'm a long-time King's X fan and was hoping that Dug, Ty, and Jerry would put out at least one more high-quality album before they call it a day. Their latest album, "XV", is indeed a great album and a wonderfully pleasant surprise. By surprise, I mean that their past few albums have been somewhat disappointing to a long-time KX fan like me and made me think that they didn't have any more great albums left in them.
My own personal opinion is that the guys in King's X have done so many solo and side projects in recent years that their other work has taken away from their core King's X music. Whether that is true or not, "XV" is a wonderful King's X album from start to finish.
The production on the disc is fantastic, Dug's voice sounds better than it has in a while (it sounds GREAT on this disc), and the tunes are catchy and enjoyable to listen to. I've been playing this CD a lot since buying it a few weeks ago, and I'm very happy to be excited about a King's X release for the first time in years.
If you are a fan of King's X who is wondering whether to buy this album because you've been somewhat let down by their recent releases, I think you'll love this album and will be happy you bought it. If you're unfamiliar with King's X but like hard rock with excellent harmonies and musicianship, consider buying this disc. Better yet, buy this disc and see King's X live if they play in your area! They're INCREDIBLE in concert!
Refreshing new tunes from a veteran rock band August 15, 2008
I've been a huge King's X fan for a long time, and I ordered this album not long after it came out. The few tracks I'd heard off their MySpace page sounded great, and I was looking forward to hearing the latest from them.
I wasn't disappointed - I really enjoyed XV. Doug, Ty, and Jerry's songwriting is as strong as it always was, and songs like "Blue," "Repeating Myself," and "Julie" fit right in alongside some of their classic tracks from the Gretchen and Dogman days.
It's great to hear these guys continue to create innovative and exciting music. A definite must-buy for hard rock fans and a worthy addition to the King's X discography.
another great album. August 6, 2008
I've never been a fan of the term 'this album grows on you',but i'm pleased to say this one did, unlike every other King's X album i've bought(manic moonlight apart maybe) that i've loved from first listen, this one did'nt hit me staight away.
it took me a few listens to get into it(sending the wife out for a couple of hours so i could turn it up helped) and whats happenened?.
i cant take it out of my cd player its that good!
I loved 'ogre tones', a return to form from this great band.
This is better, buy with confidence!.
True to King's X, Worth the Money August 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I saw King's X open for Dream Theater and Joe Satriani way back in 2003. It was the first time I had ever heard either band, and although King's X played only 3 short songs, they were without a doubt the "loudest" act to go on stage that night in terms of volume as well as brute force. Although their music was far less "delicate" than Dream Theater or Joe Satriani, they had imbued their sounds with all of the creative little musical twists and turns that originally turned me on to progressive rock while managing to maintain a rather straightforward groove that almost seemed to contradict what they were doing. It sounds like pop music, but it's not.
It was very soon after that I picked up their Best Of album at a discount, which gave a little bit of insight into their work, but after browsing through their catalog I realized that there was a whole other story to this band, and their presence in InsideOut's catalog is a high mark in their favor. Realizing that I needed to explore them in more depth, I casually picked up Ogre Tones when I saw it on a store shelf years later.
Ogre Tones had an unusually high production value compared to what I expected, and this is something that fans have been eager to note with their two recent albums (Ogre Tones and XV). It was refreshingly new music, and although it didn't quite stack up to my favorite songs of theirs (Black Flag, Over My Head, King, It's Love, Complain, and more), it stood very well on its own and represented what was a valiant effort by the band to continue producing vital music.
I never hesitate to buy a King's X album because they have created a sound that is unique and can't be found anywhere else. Not only that, but their music maintains a level of complexity and sophistication that, while sometimes dangerously close to pop on occasions, still usually manages to raise the bar a sizable distance above contemporary rock bands.
Unfortunately, King's X is one of the few "hit or miss" bands I bother to listen to, because I normally limit my catalog to artists that are consistently spot on. King's X has this tendency to write songs that I feel are either too terrible to listen to or are absolutely fantastic--usually on the same disc! It might have to do with the input of different band members when it comes to songwriting (maybe they should put notes on their discs showing who wrote which songs exactly).
Either way, sometimes I just feel frustrated that they don't truly seem to understand what they are doing, or maybe they are just being too experimental for my tastes, but even experimentation shouldn't stop them from being able to recognize the difference between "good" and "bad" songs. When writing your own music, it can be extremely hard to be objective, but King's X could benefit from being more self critical and less indulgent. We, the fans, are probably one of the most patient and loyal listening base a band could EVER have, which accounts for their enduring critical success. Many of us (myself included) are musicians.
XV, in a nutshell, characterizes everything that the band is in my eyes--for better or worse. They pull out their unique sound and style that has a tendency to blow its listeners away at key moments but throughout the albums tempts the inattentive listener into boredom. The more you pay attention to their music, the more you are rewarded, which means that you have your work cut out for you. Like any worthwhile album, it takes several listens to understand and appreciate (this could take weeks to months of patient listening).
Awkward lyrics sometimes leave people feeling uncomfortable or confused. I can't say that these guys are the best with lyrics, but they manage. I understand very well where they are coming from, but sometimes they sound a little bit naive. I don't know if I can really blame them for it, but as a Muslim, I find that their references to Islam are distasteful and uninformed at best. For example, the song Pray makes a reference to "Allah" probably with the idea that it is a distinctly Muslim idea (other lyrics reference to Jesus in order to specify Christianity and other concepts to specify Judaism), but this reference amounts to little more than racism since Allah is an Arabic word that means only "God", which is the word that all Arabic speakers use to refer to God, including Jews and Christians. This basically singles out an ethnic group (Arabs) for no reason even though Arabs represent a small minority of the Muslim population (about 20% at best, leaving an 80% non-Arab majority). It's true that all Muslims pray in Arabic, so we all know the meaning of the word Allah, but in discussion it is common to use our native language to say "God" so that the meaning of the dialog is clear. You notice that, however, than whenever somebody wants to intentionally alienate Muslims as foreign or outcast from society, they intentionally say "Allah" because it is different from their native language even when there is no reason for them to be speaking Arabic because there is no way for their non-Arabic speaking audience to understand what the word means. All it does is make the audience think they are referring to a concept that is foreign and alien to them--something ethnic that they don't understand. While the band decries this type of racist and nationalist discrimination and division of humanity, they themselves are using language that only serves to enforce it.
I won't analyze the lyrics any further, but you get the idea--there are some parts where all you can do is shrug and say, "well they just don't get it, but at least they care." What is important to remember is that the band is honest, so even when they make mistakes you know that they are not to be blamed; where else can you find bands that express themselves this way? As people mentioned earlier, the band is not as famous as they deserve, and one of the key reasons is that any band which refers too strongly to religion or politics are automatically excluded from the mainstream; lots of otherwise famous artists have been pushed into obscurity because of that.
In spite of all my complaints, it's important to impress the point that this is art that makes you think and ask questions on your own. King's X is one of the few bands that actually treat music as a form of self expression rather than a product to be sold. If I could go back and buy this album again, I would.
I can't give XV five stars because it has many flaws, but the flaws are what make it worth having. Music that is "too perfect" can get boring and lose your attention over time; I may not buy the next album by so-and-so band that I like, but I will always buy the next King's X album. XV is part of what King's X truly is, and even if it is not their best work, it doesn't fall short in capturing who they are.
If I may be so bold, I wouldn't just recommend that King's X fans buy this album, nor would I only recommend this album to rock fans; rather, this album is valuable to any person who does or might appreciate music. They don't even have to like it--just understand what it is. ;)
|
|
|
