Without warning, they just did it: here’s Alphabetland. Los Angeles’ original punk rockers X just released their first record in 35 years with their original lineup. Dropped via Bandcamp and Fat Possum Records with no advance warning, Alphabetland is an absolute revelation.
X have been road warriors for decades, and I was lucky enough to see them at Charlotte’s Neighborhood Theater a few years ago. The members are now in their mid 60’s, yet this band rocked like a bunch of teenagers. I left bewildered at how good they were and seeing them honestly helped me pick up a guitar again and start playing. Totally inspirational.
So, to Alphabetland. The record jumps out of the speakers on the opening title track, guitarist Billy Zoom hitting a muted riff very reminiscent of The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated,’ while singer Exene Cervenka never sounded better:
Blue you wear like martyr blue
Atom bomb bruises, cold war flu
Blue you wear like martyr blue
Atom bomb bruises, cold war flu
This song smashes into ‘Free,’ following a long tradition of X with lyrics about personal liberty and responsibility, bassist Joe Doe singing:
The church is burning
Bullets are flying
You hurt my sister
She didn't do nothing
The sky is fire, the rocks are sighing
It's all so quiet at the end
‘Water and Wine’ has that pseudo-rockabilly stomp that X perfected through songs like ‘Breathless,’ with a killer Zoom solo and Exene singing about the class divide:
The divine that defines us
The evil that divides us
There's a heaven and a hell
And there's an "oh well"
Who gets passed to the head of the line?
Who gets water and who gets wine?
‘Strange Life’ is a punk rager, Exene and John singing together as they do on their seminal Los Angeles release. Drummer D.J. Bonebrake is all over this record, smashing, crashing, and with the addition of Doe’s fluid bass and Zoom’s raw growl, this is X. Not some new, slicked up version, but the old friends you knew from Wild Gift and Under The Big Black Sun.
‘I Gotta Fever’ has a cool, inverted chorus progression, and ‘Delta 88 Nightmare’ (a very old X song) is one minute and thirty seven seconds of slam dancing punk; it’s just the best. “Star Chambered’ is a classic X tune in that it mixes the very personal and the outside world, think of songs like ‘The World’s A Mess, It’s In My Kiss’ as an example:
I could have been star chambered
On the tree of rock 'n' roll life
Or maybe a railroad wife
I was railroaded once or twice
I might've dodged a bullet chambered
In the alley running for my life
I'm sure that I dodged a knife
I finally learned my lesson once or twice
Where did I put my wings?
I can never find those things
Now I'm running, running late
I might be stuck here at my gate
Though you may be dearly departed
Dearly departed
I'm just getting started
‘Angel On The Road’ is a tale of being on the road, full of Zoom’s buzzsaw guitar and Bigsby vibrato chords. ‘Cyrano DeBerger’s Back’ was a song John Doe wrote for the Flesh Eaters, but here is a great, almost funky take with some of the best singing I’ve heard from John and Exene, and a Billy Zoom saxophone solo (!).
Ending up with the thrashing ‘Goodbye Year, Goodbye,’ X is getting a little nostalgic:
Beats keep beating my brains in
Everyone's talking so loud
Why can't we stop for a minute
And pull away from the crowd?
What gives us the right to be so loud this silent night?
Guzzling tequila, spilling cups of coffee
One lover died but another is hoping
Chimes are chiming for hearts that are broken
Goodbye year, goodbye
Please don't make us cry
So long year, so long
We'll sing you out with a song
This is a powerful, triumphant record. If you thought X was played out, they have a clear message for you: they are as vital and important as ever, maybe even more so. Reviews I’ve read say Alphabetland doesn’t stand up to their first few records. I’m not so sure about that. I know I need this new X album in my life. I think you do, too.
----Steve McGowan
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