By Scott
I'm not generally one for live albums, especially from rock or metal bands that don't change up their material much in a live setting. I'd rather stay at home with a studio album or see the band live, in person. And I can rarely justify buying a live album by a band I know over a studio album, whether it's another album by that band or someone else entirely. There's just too much shit out there.
I've made some exceptions, of course, one being the album Live All Over the Place by King's X. I'm
not sure why -- I think I was just on a big King's X kick, and it seemed like a
good idea at the time. King's X is an interesting band, certainly among my
favorites. (I still remember the first time I heard of them, watching the VH1
program counting down the best 100 hard rock bands, or some such bullshit, and
hearing all these musicians talk about what an underappreciated but fantastic
band they are. The music sounded cool enough, but a brief clip from the song
"Pretend" -- after the solo, around 3:09, when everything cuts out
but the drums and some reverby, harmonized vocalizing -- caught my attention,
and got stuck in my head immediately. I decided I needed to know about this band,
and got the fantastic album Gretchen Goes
to Nebraska shortly after.)
King's X gets lumped in with other progressive rock bands,
but their sound is much leaner and groovier than some of their noodling, wanky
contemporaries. (They're really more like a progressive variation on
alternative rock -- whatever that means.) To me, they have more in common with
bands like Living Colour and Faith No More, and maybe later Rush. Like Rush,
King's X is a power trio that draws on the unique sound of each member: Doug
Pinnick's gospel-inflected vocals and heavy, groovy bass lines; Ty Tabor's airy
(sometimes nasally) vocals, unusual chords and riff formations, and virtuosic
but lyrical solos; Jerry Gaskill's rock-solid, always-appropriate drumming.
Then there are the three-part harmonies, Beatles-style, that lend the songs a
beautiful shimmer to complement the heaviness.
The interesting part about King's X, though, is how their
lyrics have changed thematically. At first, you could probably call them a
Christian rock band (although they never really embraced that label), kind of
in the way that you could call early U2 a Christian band. The Christian imagery
and themes are pretty obvious on the first few albums. But over the years, the
lyrics became darker, more self-reflective, and began to convey a feeling of
turmoil -- a crisis of faith, at least on the part of Doug Pinnick, who ended
up renouncing his beliefs and, to the surprise of many fans (and, it should be
said, horror of their more bigoted, religious fans), came out as a gay man.
This aspect of the band really deserves its own essay, but suffice it to say
that the lyrics of King's X are rich and often moving in a way that many other
bands can't touch (even if, like me, you don't have much patience for the
religious message of their earlier stuff.)
I enjoyed Live All
Over the Place, especially for a few extended songs and Doug's stage
banter, brief sermon-like bits about being true to yourself, that sort of
thing. But as tight as they are live, their sound, with all its harmonies and
great guitar and bass tones, is just better suited to a studio recording. I
didn't think it was likely that I'd pick up a second live album by King's X.
But Burning Down
Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91 was released under special circumstances.
Not long ago, Jerry Gaskill suffered a near-fatal heart attack, and, at the
time of this writing (to my knowledge), is still in the hospital recovering.
And despite the fact that we live in a society capable of producing more wealth
and abundance than ever before in human history, a medical tragedy like this
still ends up being extremely expensive for the victim, even if they have
insurance (which Gaskill does). So the band decided to release Burning Down Boston as a download only,
with all proceeds going towards Gaskill's medical bills.
As an album, it's pretty cool, and the kind of thing most
King's X fans would enjoy. By '91 the band had released three stellar albums,
and the set draws on all of them (although I wish there was more from Gretchen). Over time Pinnick's vocals
have become deeper, but here a younger Doug is wailing away like a
motherfucker, with a good dose of reverb. The rest of the band is in top form,
and I can't even imagine what it would have been like to wander into this club
in '91 and stumble upon King's X. But you can kind of imagine what it would
have sounded like, because this album was recorded from the soundboard and has
something of a bootleg quality. It's a little raw, but that's ok. Like any good
power trio, King's X produces a sound that seems to be more than the sum of
three dudes playing, and you can't help but marvel at the band's power through
the course of the album. It rocks, and it makes me jealous that I was too young
to see King's X during this era (although I've seen them a few times since, and
while they sound a little older and mellower than the band recorded here,
they're nothing if not tighter and more accomplished players).
So King's X is the rare band of which I own not one but two
live albums. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't have picked up Burning Down Boston if it wasn't for the
circumstances surrounding the album and the chance to give some direct support
to Jerry Gaskill. But I'm glad I did, and I've found myself going back to this
album more often than expected. In the end, though, every King's X fan with the
money to spare should download the album in solidarity with Jerry -- and I
encourage everyone else to do the same. Even if you don't know the band, this
might be a good place to start. You can download Burning Down Boston here:
http://molkenmusic.com/store/shop/details.php?id=50
I have been meaning to devote some time to King's X. Sounds like I should act on this. Thanks for the suggestion.
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