X (Australia)

Finally someone decided to send me CDs to review. God bless your souls at Morphius Records. This first CD is by X, not the X from Los Angeles, the X from Australia (though from roughly the same time period). Along with The Saints, these guys were really one of the best bands from the late 70’s / early 80’s Australian rock ’n’ roll scene. Like many other bands of this scene, X’s sound draws directly from the stripped down, raw, raunchy style of proto-punk heroes such as The Stooges. At Home With You is X’s second album, originally released in 1985. It was just recently issued for the first time in the U.S. by Morphius Records. Having never heard anything from this X previously, I was pleasantly surprised with what graced my ears when I popped At Home With You in my stereo: the occasional horns, great bass, perfectly fitting vocals, plenty of raw energy to go around and even remnants of ska guitars in places. Some of the songs even have a post-punk/new wave feel to them, which may seem strange considering their main influence is proto-punk rock ‘n’ roll, but trust me, it comes out sounding great.

The album come together great, at somewhere around 30 minutes, it is short and sweet. There are plenty of standout songs, such as the opening track, “The Feel”, is fucking rocktastic. It has horns in all the right places, enough so to make this one of the best uses of horns in a non-ska song I ever heard. “1/2 Way Round The World” is an up-tempo little ditty, probably the most traditionally “punk” sounding song on the album. “You Really Don’t Care” is a killer track that boasts the post-punk/new wave tint I was talking about earlier. “You say that you love me, but you really don’t care” is pretty much the extent of the lyrics, but what more do you need? I think that adequately sums up the feeling trying to be purveyed in the song. “Degenerate Boy” is about… uh, being a degenerate boy. When Steve Lucas sings the line “degenerate boy”, he does it in such a way that you can't help but smile. I can see this being X's "anthem song". Being a promotional CD, my copy is lacking the last 2 songs from the real LP; however the tenth song does a great job at ending this promo. “Oxford Street Nick” is even faster and more ’77 style punk sounding than “1/2 Way Round The World” now that I think of it, and the verses are sung like a Cramps song, and you can’t go wrong with that.

I definitely suggest you check out these guys if you are a fan of The Stooges, The Saints, MC5, or hell, even AC/DC. Great raw punk rock 'n' roll here. Also, I hear that their debut album "Aspirations" is even better.

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