If there were ever to be a wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame for most underrated bands, one of the first inductees would rightfully be
progressive metal act King’s X. This trio out of Texas has been trudging the
club and small theater circuit since the late 1980s, never really breaking
through, though they produced some of the most compelling videos
on MTV at the time—when the M in MTV actually stood for “music.” And they are
the musician’s musicians, well-respected by other members of the rock-and-roll
community, but close to anonymous among the general public—even the head
banging subgroups.
At the time, they produced three strong albums coming out of
the gate: 1988’s “Out of the Silent Planet,” 1989’s “Gretchen Goes to Nebraska”
and 1990’s Faith Hope Love.” Of these, “Gretchen” was overall the strongest.
With Doug Pinnick on bass/vocals, Ty Tabor on guitar/vocals and Jerry Gaskill
on drums/vocals, King’s X produced a wall of sound that many five-piece combos
would be hard-pressed to produce.
Working in conjunction with manager Sam Taylor on organ and
piano on some tracks, “Gretchen” has a very clean but unpolished production
value that really rings true. It represented quite the antidote to the classic
rock radio virus that broke out in the 80s and has ravaged the airwaves ever
since. Taylor was a veteran of the ZZ Top organization so he was very familiar working
with rocking trios on solid albums. As an allegorical journey, the album “Gretchen
Goes to Nebraska” is quite the trip.
The standout track on “Gretchen” has to be “Over My Head” as
Pinnick hears music, music, music over his head. While not a gospel-inspired
song, it has the feeling of an old time faith revival meeting with the
singalong chorus. Tabor really smokes on the guitar solo. To close it out, the
three of them shift into fourth gear and push the pedal to the floor.
“Summerland” is a nice melodic mid-tempo number to simmer it
down a bit from “Over My Head” with an aching for a forgotten place to which we
need to get back. Seems a bit like “Paradise Lost.” You’ll notice that
throughout most King’s X compositions there lies an undercurrent of Judeo-Christian
figurative language. Fortunately, they don’t take it much beyond that, relying
mainly on allusions and symbolism to get their point across to the listener.
An exceptional track on “Gretchen” takes form on “Mission”
where the congregation is gathered behind the stained glass windows, but we’re
not sure if they know why they are there. It could just be for an assembly of a
social get-together. King’s X really makes the indictment that many
parishioners simply go to church as an affectation and are not necessarily there
for salvation—or could just be scared of hell!
“Pleiades” and “The Burning Down” strike a similar yearning
chord. These are the most spiritual cuts on “Gretchen” with the latter one
closing it into one of those Easter egg type hidden tracks at the end. It’s
sped up and very faint, so you’ll have to crank up the volume to make it out,
but the payoff could well be worth it.
-Derek Handova
Appreciative Listener
Appreciative Listener
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