Los Angeles
Product Type: Music
Product Price: $11.98
Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
Purchase
Description
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No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: X
Title: LOS ANGELES
Street Release Date: 09/18/2001
Genre: ROCK/POP
Steeped in poetry and class issues, X was the first L.A. punk band to fully incorporate a dark West Coast sensibility. Singer/lyricists/spouses John Doe and Exene Cervenka forged a stray-cat approach to vocal harmonies while spieling reports on crash-pad sex and drugs, casual hatred, and the occasional spotting of the "idle rich." Full-powered and intelligent, X's sound also spotlighted Billy Zoom, a pompadoured guitarist schooled by Gene Vincent, and flexible drummer D.J. Bonebrake. Los Angeles, the first of four productions by ex-Door Ray Manzarek, made an excellent case for the group, though its ambitions were to be quickly outstripped by the evolving personal takes of Doe and Cervenka. For the most part, the album is fast, hard, and fleet, like the motorcycles Zoom loved: "Your Phone's Off the Hook," "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline," the title track, and a Ramones-style cover of the Doors' "Soul Kitchen" are touchstones that reach beyond their era. Only "The Unheard Music," a turgid bit of suburbia-bashing, mars the original LP, which is augmented on this reissue by five bonus tracks that bring the running time close to 40 minutes. --Rickey Wright
Reviews
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-08
Summary: "X-cellent Debut"
"Los Angeles," X's debut recording, is an essential CD for any punk fan and an excellent introduction to the music of this technically proficient, high energy band from LA. The bonus tracks are okay, but the original nine songs are the real meat from this offering. The stinging surf-rock(abilly) guitar riffs and the propulsive drums beats set the tone for the dark, highly impressionistic lyrics and discordant harmonies. Highlights include "Your Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not," "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene," "The World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss," and the title track, "Los Angeles." As others have noted, the original album was produced by Ray Manzarek of the Doors, whose organ work adds a nice wrinkle to several of the tracks, including the speeded up cover of the Door's "Soul Kitchen." X also put out many other great CD's, including "Wild Gift," "Under The Big Black Sun," "More Fun In A New World," and "See How We Are," but I often have a special fondness for a band's debut production, and this one is highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-08
Summary: "The strongest, smartest, toughest X record."
No one is united
All things are untied
Perhaps we're boiling over inside...
Couldn't this come out today?
X had such a huge impact in this country when this record came out. (I don't get what the reservations of some of these "reviewers" are.) "Los Angeles" mixed punk with Raymond Chandler; like his best books, the songs on Los Angeles implied the struggle to hold on, to stay human in a messed up society. They were writers with a handle on utopian vision, and they were Beat crime reporters. This record scared people, but there was a broad consciousness in the writing. The music is very solid.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-10-01
Summary: "thank Rhino Records for releasing a must own punk rock album from 1980 on CD"
I own the album from Slash Records, 1980, but it does not have some of the bonus tracks on the release from 2001;
I'm Coming Over
Adults Books
Delta 88
Cyrano de Berger's Back
Los Angeles
The release has a 14 track selection.
Again a must own
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2008-09-10
Summary: "Street Life in the Shadows of High Society"
In a few seconds more than 28 minutes, X revolutionized the American punk movement and delivered incredible punch to the emerging West Coast sound.
Produced by Ray Manzarek - who also plays organ - the 1980 release had nine selections and featured the unique vocal interplay between Exene Cervenka and bassist John Doe, with the rhythm pounded out by drummer DJ Bonebrake and guitar licks from Billy Zoom.
The sizzling cover of the Doors' Soul Kitchen is alone worth the price of admission. Johnny Hit and Run Pauline, Los Angeles, Your Phone's Off the Hook, But You're Not and Sex and Dying in High Society are landmark originals. There are five bonus tracks that brings the total CD time to nearly 40 minutes.
The California punk scene was smashing into gear as the East Coast version was nearly finished imploding. X shows the way for the new wave of punk that valiantly kept the movement alive through music chronicling street life in the shadows of high society.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2008-08-07
Summary: "catchy, melodic sonic assault on your ears"
I can't add much more than most of the reviews here have already gushed. I bought this shortly after it came out in the early 80s. Some of the songs are quite short, but they pack quite an aural punch.
The thing that set X apart, I think, is that (as some already mentioned in their reviews) the individuals in the group weren't merely using punk aesthetics, enthusiasm and DIY chutzpah that epitomized that time and era of independent music; they were already good MUSICIANS.
I would add that above and beyond good musicianship, the members of X knew how to craft great songs. The songs stick in your mind because they are quite catchy, but not in a sickly-sweet, pop-music, commercial sense. Unlike some punk bands who barely knew how to play their instruments (not that there's anything wrong with that; to this day, I don't think Keith Richards can sight read music at all), X knew how to play their instruments WELL and how to write songs. Thus they created a specific, unique sound that carefully married song structure (verse, chorus, verse, etc.) with melody and rhythm sections, upbeat tempoes (for the most part), and without the annoying dissonance and amateurism that mars many efforts of bands who were flashes in the pan.
I saw X several years ago at a local House of Blues show and they STILL pack the same punch live. The songs stand the test of time, even those that refer to low-tech dodges that, for the most part, no longer exist (Your Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not) (everyone's got cell phones or land lines that go to voicemail or answering machines, now).
Great stuff, highly recommended.