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September 17, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

The 1001 Albums Challenge # 89: X – “Wild Gift”

I absolutely expected to hear a few more duds doing this challenge. But shit it’s been good. A lot of great albums I knew about and therefore kinda knew I’d missed and a lot of things I genuinely didn’t know about or certainly didn’t know just how great they would be. I guess there’ll be some duds further into the 90s perhaps – when the datedness of chasing trends/fads plays out a bit more.

Here we are still in the early 1980s though and it’s gem after gem.

X – I knew about them. But mostly because I have followed John Doe’s solo career fairly closely. I am still really gutted I missed his local show here a decade or so back; not sure why, I think I had to be at another show for reviewing reasons…bummer.

Anyway, through following Doe and through reading about music I knew of X and in fact I had a live album and a double compilation – but I can’t say I played them loads. And they’re gone now. Lost in the confusion of whether to stick with any sort of CD collection or use it to fund the continuation of my stacks of vinyl…

Anyway, nice to finally hear Wild Gift, the second X album and the only original studio album by the band I’ve heard. At this point. The tension – and release – between Exene and John Done; so good, so crucial to this sound here. Punk and rockabilly ideals combine for a pop music that is both “outsider” and totally in and always on.

I’m reminded that the X that I have heard was great. So I’ll be deep-diving from here no doubt.

I’m going through the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and playing all of the albums I haven’t (previously) heard. It’s a pointless goal, but it’s my goal…

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with #89, 1001, 1001 Albums, 1001 Albums Challenge, 1001 Albums To Hear Before You Die, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, 1980s, 1981, Eighties, Exene, John Doe, Pop, Punk, Rockabilly, The 1001 Albums Challenge, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 89, The 1001 Albums Challenge # 89: X – “Wild Gift”, Wild Gift, X, X – “Wild Gift”. RSS 2.0 feed.
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