X
So all right: Maybe your basic L.A. blast rock band can grow up to become a sentimental bunch of shmoozers who record such songs as My Soul Cries Your Name, Around My Heart or I'll Stand Up for You. Maybe humanity is capable of growth. Then again, maybe Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake, the fanciful foursome who equal X, are just kidding with all this lovey-dovey stuff. Either way, there's fun to be had on this album. Doe, who shares the lewd vocals with Cervenka, has quite a mellow voice; it's possible to imagine him in another era doing the old standard Harbor Lights with Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm. While Exene is not as good a singer as your local fishmonger, she can display a callow sweetness in the midst of musical chaos, as she does on My Goodness. The result is a lot more emotion and a lot fewer decibels than X fans are used to. The group still is not going to crash easy listening stations, but it hereby maintains its reputation as one of the most unpredictable young bands around. (Elektra)
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