Customer Reviews

Ain't Love Grand

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ok, ok. This is not X's greatest album ("Wild Gift"). And even though at the time it was made, it was a rather desparate attempt at an ultra-modern, 80's sound, it is their most dated sounding album. Sure, I was pretty peeved back when this album first came out that my favorite band had "sold out" and made a "big-hair" record. But you know what? I got over it. This album rocks! It's still better than just about any other music that was around at the time and its aged better too, just not as well as the other X albums. The songwriting is actually just as good as anything that came before it. What keeps "Ain't Love Grand" from being another X classic is the BIG 80's production. It's got the huge drum sound so popular then and it's so echoey it could have been recorded on the main altar of St. Peter's Basillica. And those choruses are straight out of a Journey album (eeeewwww).
Still, turn on a song like "Little Honey" or the duet "I'll stand up for You" (which could have been such a huge hit for Peter Cetera & Cher!)(just kidding) and you'll hear for yourself, "Ain't Love Grand" is grand 80s rock from X. Just not their best.

After 4 albums of the bare-bone Ray Manzarek production, this one was a real shocker! They got some wussy pop metal producer, and as a result, sounded shockingly different! BIG guitars, echo-chamber drums, lots of reverb on the vocals, layered synths in the background. It's one of the weirdest combinations I've ever heard. I guess that guitarist Billy Zoom threatened to leave if they didn't have a hit, so they got a commercial producer... the album ended up being marginally more successful than their earlier ones, but a lot of the loyal fans didn't like it, so it really wasn't much of a success, and Zoom left anyway. Overall, a real disaster. So, you might ask, why a 3??? Well, it's a breakup album--Exene and John had gotten divorced, and it could have been a bit like a punk-rock "Rumors" if it had been produced properly. Good, emotional songs, basically--song-for-song, not as good as their (classic) earlier albums, but it could have easily gotten a 4 from me if it had been produced properly. My favorite song on it, My Goodness, is a great torch ballad that is barely affected by the production, but the rockers definitely suffer. Still, it's a worthwhile album if you are willing to sit through the production.

While X is one of the most influental punk bands in the US, this album is usually overlooked by many. That's a shame. While 'Burning House of Love' was primed to be the hit maker of the album, songs like 'My Goodness' and 'Around My Heart' show the maturity the band finally reached with the release of "See How We Are". Although my favorite is the flat out honesty of "What's Wrong with Me". I still play that song full blast on those days when I need to blow off steam.

This album was produced by heavy-metal producer Michael Wagener, and it is obvious he didn't have a clue about who X is and what they should sound like. He tries to produce this album like a Dokken or Motley Crue album. DJ Bonebrake's great drumming gets the heavy-metal thud treatment, and he gets lost in the mix. The guitars sound a lot less edgy, and the whole thing sounds a bit heavy-handed. Having said all that, there is still nothing wrong with the songs included here, many of which are great X classics: "Burning House Of Love," "What's Wrong With Me?," and "Love Shack" are all worthy of the purchase price of this CD. I just wish the CD had been produced by Ray Manzarek or someone who really understood the band.

A lot of folks are overly harsh when discussing this title. True, the Heavy Metal production certainly does NOT mesh with the band's Punk/Rockabilly sensibility but this shouldn't detract from the fact that the album contains fine songs and performances. You gotta give X a break... despite critical accolades and a devoted cult following, their record sales weren't exactly astronomical. Desperate to finally break big, they made the misstep of hiring a "Hair Band" producer and, though not exactly pleased with the results (they have since all but written this album off), they, sure enough, did finally receive radio airplay with "Burning House of Love." Just remember, X was practically incapable of writing a bad song. If you can get past the heavy-handed production, there is a lot to treasure here. The songs reflect Exene Cervenka and John Doe's breakup and divorce and this is the last X title for brilliant guitarist Billy Zoom before he jumped ship. Certainly not their best title but nowhere near as wretched as some punk purists would have you believe. Plus, one should own every X title as they are certainly one of the most criminally overlooked bands in rock history.

Unfortunately for me, I came to the X party very late. Still, better late than never, right? For me, "Ain't Love Grand?" was my introduction to this remarkable band. I was listening to the college station while at work and they had an in-studio guest in one Exene Cervenka. I'd heard of X through magazines but had never heard them per se. They started off with "What's Wrong With Me?" and I was knocked out. Work was right across the street from a record store and the rest is history.
Naturally then, it's hard for me to knock this album too much even as I went back and experienced their back catalog and came to see how this recording would be seen as such a giant disappointment to those who knew X when. The knocks generally fall towards the slick pop-metal production, which is clearly the wrong sound for this band. The liner notes feature the band's in-depth analysis of the situation at the time and it answers a lot of questions about not only why poor choices were made for the group and this album, but also how the industry works and how outsiders can ruin something they know nothing about. A perfect example for this record is the way Exene is mixed down on songs, a crime on a parallel with Loretta Lynn being shoved into the background on a duet with Conway Twitty. John Doe and Exene's vocal dynamic is the very core of what this band is about. That's not to say that they are the best part of the band - the band is too strong in too many areas to make that comment. But, their peculiar back and forth is what allows their heart-wrenching and thought-provoking lyrics, Billy Zoom's machine gun Gene Vincent chops, and D.J.'s propelling drums to alchemize into the brilliance that is the music of X. Sadly, this happens on far too many songs that would've been so much better had the controls been in someone else's hands.
The songwriting is predictably good X stuff for the most part, giving us plenty of choice songs to get you from point A to B, it's just a freaking shame that the production took their beautiful ideas and pigeon-holed them into pop-metal schlock sound. Don't get misled that this album sucks. The production is wrong, but the songs are still generally great, and gems like the throbbing classic "Burning House of Love," the angry anthem "What's Wrong With Me," Doe's lament "Around My Heart," and the Cervenka spotlight "My Goodness" are worth the price of admission to these unfortunately misplayed odes to a broken marriage.

I have been an X fan for years, but I never listened to this album until recently. I would have given this 0 stars, but that was not an option. Shocking and disturbing is too mild a term to describe what I thought when I heard the studio version of "Burning House of Love." I recognized the Billy Zoom power chords, but why anyone would think you need to overdub this with all the cr** I have no clue. Some of these songs are included on the "Live at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go" album and sound great, so they were still writing good songs. The production is just not X! Save your money and buy "Live at the Whiskey.."

I hate people that say stuff like "well, real X fans" or "the real X fans." However, I am going to have to say it, the real X fans know that this album SUCKS! It is so over-produced, so pop-heavy, so....awful. The absence of Ray Manzarek is painfully obvious. Look, I saw X numerous times, I own all of their CDs and still worship them. However, this CD does not make the rotation, because it is crap. And I am not saying that all albums suck after the the first four classics. "See How We Are" is very good. So, if you feel I am betraying X by bashing this CD, so be it.

O.K. I agree with what most people have to say about this album, how heavy handed the production is etc. but in defense of the band and the producer lets just look at the facts. Whilst all our opinions count, they will always vary greatly and thats what makes life interesting. Fact 1.You play in of the one more original and underated L.A. bands since the Doors. Fact 2.You have a record company hungry to re-coup the cash they sunk into you're earlier efforts,whilst showing great promise you only had small record sales.Fact 3. Hire Michael Wagener of Alice Cooper fame to produce Ain't love Grand if only to get the record company off you're back.Fact 4. I don't care what anyone says but the Wagener produced albums of Alice Cooper's in the early to mid 70's, rock as hard as any of the new punk rock music that was to come(just listen to the Killer album).Fact 5. unless we we're all there in the studio when X recorded, who really knows what happened, it all just speculation.Now onto the non- facts I love X nearly and dearly with all my heart so much so that I have a great big X tattoed over my heart.In my ears, X never really did make a bad album just different records in a developing career, wether we the fans, agree or disagree with their desicions is entirely up to us as individuals.This album appears to have been fraught with danger from the very beginning, with John and Exene's ensuing personal issues as well as Billy Zoom deciding to quit the band,does this sound like a recipe for creative success , I personally would think not.When I put this album on to listen to I don't go in my head( oh my god I'm listening to the worst X album they ever made) I just let myself get into the music. Songs such as My Goodness crap over the latest effort from over produced pop muppets such as little Miss Kelly (I wanna be the next Avril) Clarkson's latest effort sorry Kelly I'm sure you're not a bad person(hang on yes you are).Sure this album was made in the middle of the big hair era but please don't use this as an excuse to say that this is why X didn't make a great record.From what I can hear they made the album that they had too make, not the album the we wanted them too make. There are still even hints of X's early sneering punk legacy in such songs as What's wrong with Me.Metal-billy makes an appearance in the form of the brilliant Dave Alvin penned Little Honey I think Billy Zoom shines on this track (which you can hear warts an' all on the Xcellent Knitters Poor Little Critter in the Road)and Burning house of Love rocks.The only song that ever really caught me off guard was their choice of the Small Faces All or Nothing(I never really did get this) and song such as Watch the sun Go Down, shows us to which direction The John Doe thing would take in another couple of years time .So maybe when you listen to this album don't be so harsh, maybe X are just victims of circumstances and the times, look out for those huge drum sounds BOOM! BOOM! BOOM ! Please Mr Producer man can I get a little more reverb on the snare thnx it's like record company executives had only just discovered reverb for the first time( it was total reverb mania in the 80's).Anyway after all is said and done you may still not like this album but at least try to be a little open-minded and forgiving. Because when you play in a band you don't always get to do things you want to do on a recording and I feel I can speak from experience, as a musician.As Jerry Dammers (of the Specials fame) once said in an early 80's interview and I still tend to agree with him, he said " there is no such thing as bad music there is only music that I like or that you don't like".

Arena rock, X style. In other words, a messy contradiction. I love a couple of cuts, but really, do we need "Burning House of Love"?