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I'm going to try to write a short review, but you know that's not going
to happen...
For those of you who don't know about X, they came together during the
late 1970's in LA, meeting through poetry workshops (John and Exene) and
ads placed out and about town. X basically came to be one of the most
important and influential bands of the LA scene (or at least that's
what I like to say because in my mind, it's true), and while they were
doing that, they created and recorded some of the best
intellectual-esque punk that I've ever heard. Wild Gift was their
second album to be released on Slash Records, and it is probably my
favourite X album (it's also the first X album I ever bought on vinyl).
I feel that the album showcases their writing at its catchiest and
it also displays emotions and ideas of everyday life that relate to
people on all levels. The Once Over Twice, We're Desperate, In This
House That I Call Home, Beyond and Back, I'm Coming Over, Adult Books,
Some Other Time, Year 1 and Back to the Base all grab the
listener with their bouncy guitar lines and equally syncopated vocal
lines; they have excellent lyrics paired with a more punk-ish approach
that showcases nice shared vocals between John and Exene and some great
guitar by Billy Zoom. The songs Universal Corner, It's Who You Know,
White Girl, and When Our Love Passed Out on the Couch
showcase the hardships and difficulties of everyday people in
relationships through both the lyrics and the change of pace in
instrumentation. These songs tend to be the slower ones of the album,
and they often feature some wonderfully sung vocals by John and vocal
accents by Exene. I like the fact that different stylistic accents
(a touch of a rockabilly riff here, Ray Manzarek's organ flourishes there)
were incorporated in on the album, and I also like that it appeals
to the listener both lyrically and musically. If you get no other X
album, it should be this one.
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X: Wild Gift