Reviewed by Julia Talbot
Released: July 1 1982 X Under The Big Black Sun Genre: Punk (more specifically west coast punk) Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5 Julia’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Highlights: The Hungry Wolf Come Back To Me Dancing Tears In My Eyes (I loved all of it) Since I loved, loved, loved X’s “More Fun in the New World” all through college and pretty much everything else of theirs I have ever heard, I was especially excited to tuck into this album. Back in the day, I was too poor to buy a lot of albums or go to any shows. I recall with some awe (and a tinge of melancholy) my college days when my weekly “allowance” was $10. Yeah, it was 1987 but even with inflation, that isn’t a ton of dough. X wasn’t being played on the radio much in Madison, WI and clearly no one made me an X mix tape, so there you go. X deficit. Gotta make up for lost time. Under the Big Black Sun is a great listen. It was X’s third album, and their first with Electra records. It was produced by Ray Manzarek (formerly of the Doors). Manzarek produced their first four albums. He did an excellent job. No surprise there. The album is universally regarded as one of X’s better albums (and lead singer Exene’s favorite). I don’t’ disagree. While there are many themes, it is worth listening more critically (in these COVID times, especially) to “Riding with Mary”, “Dancing with Tears in my Eyes” and “Come Back to Me” all of which address Exene’s grief over the death of her sister Mirielle who was killed in a car accident on her way to an X show at LA’s Whiskey a Go-Go in 1981. The band found out about her death just before they went on stage. Yuck. One of the things that I appreciate about X’s unique sound is how they are determinedly punk rock, and west coast punk at that, but successfully incorporate other musical influences and sounds into their music while still maintaining a lyrical commitment to the punk ethos. As I have discussed on these pages before, I love punk rock. My love is sparked in equal parts to the music itself and punk rock’s general willingness to write lyrics that are about life, politics, and passions beyond the love songs, romantical longings, and trials and tribulations of (usually but not always) white, heterosexual, men (and to be fair, occasionally women) that dominated the airwaves and Billboard charts. X in general, and Under the Big Black Sun specifically do not disappoint lyrically. The music itself is a harmonious blending of X’s country and rockabilly influences into the more dissonant (standard) punk chords and rhythmic tropes, creating something truly delicious. Their cover of “Breathless” which was included as a bonus track on the 2001 re-release, is almost as good as the original in my opinion. Breathless is also one of the tracks on “More Fun in the New World”. I am not following the thinking on why this was included as a bonus track to this album. (Obviously) a lot of this album’s success can be explained by the talent. The original X line-up played this album – John Doe on bass and vocals, Exene Cervenka, vocals, Billy Zoom, guitar, sax and clarinet, and DJ Bonebrake on drums. Manzarek played keyboards on “Riding with Mary”. Unlike so many albums I have reviewed, this one was reviewed extensively – all with better, more cogent things to say then I have said here. I found the following reviews to be particularly insightful. Reading them definitely enhanced my listening experience, moving it past just enjoying the energy that Doe and Cervenka bring to all of their songs and the music itself which I find to be most agreeable. Check them out! Or don’t. https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/4973/X-Under-The-Big-Black-Sun/ https://www.punknews.org/review/11277/x-under-the-big-black-sun https://soundblab.com/reviews/albums/classic-albums/20130-x-under-the-big-black-sun
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