Alphabetland - X: Review
is a California punk and alternative rock band who released some of the genre's most essential and acclaimed work in the early 80's. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal 1980 debut album Los Angeles the original line-up of the band reunited for the first time since 1985's Ain't Love Grand.
Review By Lavender:
I would say that X is among my favorites of the original punk bands of the 1980's and 95% of that is due to my huge admiration for their debut Los Angeles. While I do enjoy pieces of their next few records the most essential moment of the bands catalog is their consistently underrated first record. When this record was surprised dropped out of the blue I was certainly caught off guard given how long it has been since we last heard anything from the band, and even more excited once I heard that the original line-up was writing and recording together for the first time in a long time. I had hoped that the band came back because they had something important that they felt they needed to say, or a change of sound that inspired them to write music in a new way, but neither of these are particularly true. On Alphabetland X attempt to wind back the clock on the crossover of punk rock and alt rock that they made their name off of, with mixed results.
The record had no singles so lets jump right into it starting with the title track that opens up the album. The track is a campy but self-aware piece of alt rock with a strong punk riff at its core that is energetic and doesn't bother taking its time to let you settle in. The next song Free is also pretty good despite a few lyrical cliches the song gets my heart pumping with a 70's blues rock guitar riff and some kooky vocals. I Gotta Fever is one of my favorite songs of the bunch with a punchy blistering guitar lead and some wild lead vocals. The lyrical imagery is pretty vivid and it all adds up for the most full and compelling tune here.
Star Chambered is one of the weirder moments mostly because of the strange pairing of vocals that is definitely attention grabbing. The track is quick, to the point and most importantly unashamed. The record ends off on a solid run starting with Cyrano deBerger's Back a re-recording of a track originally written for Los Angeles but never included, and you can tell. It is by far the grooviest song on the record with a snappy rhythm and some of the most exciting songwriting on the album with its quick and effective changes of pace and more dense instrumentation. Goodbye Year, Goodbye is one of the only original songs here that genuinely sounds like you could slide it into the bands 80's catalog without much protest. It has an up-tempo instrumental and an emotionally crooning hook that makes for an all around pretty satisfying song. I also have to mention the spoken word closing track that ends this all off as it is incredibly corny but in a way that is almost charming and funny sometimes. The sentiment of the lyrics is so nihilistic and I think its actually really funny to just end the record off on a note like that despite the fact that it isn't the best writing or performance I've ever heard.
The record doesn't let me down as much as I feared it might, but when it does serve up a miss they are almost always huge misses. Water & Wine is a terrible song with a really hammed up surf rock riff and drowns the track in rock music cliches until the song sounds like something from the new Green Day record. Strange Life is tolerable and has a good instrumental at least at the start. However the hook on this song is a total disaster that ruins all the songs momentum as soon as it comes up, and is revisited so many times in such a short song that it makes me nauseous. Angel On The Road is a painfully generic alt rock track that does nothing to impress me with its obvious structure and sanitized lead guitar riff. The worst of the bunch is the fittingly titled Delta 88 Nightmare, This particular nightmare is terribly corny and features by far the worst performances on the record all around, thankfully it is also the shortest song on the record because I can't even tolerate what little of the track is here already.
Alphabetland isn't going to bring X back with a roaring vengeance, but it doesn't sound like that is even what the band wants. They are clearly having fun playing together like it is 1985 all over again and on the tracks where that translates over well they have some seriously compelling music on their hands. But for every good moment on the record there is a dated and corny opposite which makes it hard for the album to build up any momentum and for me to get excited about anything X may do going forward. 5.5/10
Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:
I love this cover so much! Mainly because of the artist behind it Wayne White, whose work gained popularity from Pee Wee's Playhouse. His style is so striking and I think it brings this cover to life with the childlike colors and type that matches the title of the album 8/10
For more punk check out my review of Wire's Hive Mind here
