608 X - Los Angeles (1980)

 608 X - Los Angeles (1980)

Studio Album - Punk



About the Act:

X are a band from LA, formed in 1977. They have not been commercially successful but are regarded as influential in several genres, the main one being Punk. They have had 8 studio albums.

About the Album:

This was their first album.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Actually, it's not at all bad.

So, as I explore the world of critically-acclaimed music, I am reading up on what I review, and my understanding of pop/rock history is improving. This comes under the category of American Punk. The American Punk scene seems to have been somewhat dominated by The Ramones, and I have not yet heard a Ramones album I was particularly impressed with. One thing I have picked up, though, is that American Punk had this relationship with Rockabilly that UK Punk didn't have so much. Apart from Ten Pole Tudor, that is.

Rockabilly - well really you can think Rock and Roll, of the Elvis, Gerry Lee Lewis, and Eddie Cochran variety. The word is a combination of Rock and Hillbilly, and I guess the term Rockabilly implies white guys doing black music.

Well, this album has an edge of rockabilly to it. Wikipedia even said so, but I recognised it. The other thing it has is both a female and male vocalists, often doing intertwined things or call-and-answer, in a way that makes me think of the B-52s. Actually very like that. On my first listen through, my initial impression was that it was tuneless and lacking in talent. On my second listen, though, I recognised that the tunelessness is limited to the vocals, and the instruments are in tune, in time, and played pretty well. The drummer especially can play fast - an essential punk skill. Musically, it's mostly kind of punky rock, occasionally with those rockabilly guitar riffs, and reminds me a little of Billy Idol. It's the vocals that push it into more anarchic areas, playing very fast and loose with the idea of singing and tune, and sometimes being more like talking anyway. It kind of works. It doesn't have the sheer energy of the best of UK punk to my mind, but it does have an attitude. The lyrics are quite anti-social in the main, where I can make them out, and I guess they were the poster children for rebelliousness in the early 80s. I'd be prepared to accept that live they were quite formidable. 

So yeah, I enjoyed it. Not a huge amount as punk is not really my thing, but this may be the most Dan-friendly American Punk album I have heard yet. I think it says something though that my favourite tracks are the least punk ones.

7/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4lgW2v8MOtBxyuQ7erHLgj

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-cHDTXElYhg1Qtuud7VOjl-D1Fb3vumJ

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_(X_album)



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