Customer Reviews

X (The Band) - The Unheard Music

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

X holds the title of quintessential L.A. rock band, brushing past such contenders as the Doors (too psychedelic) and Love (too ephemeral). W.T. Morgan's jittery "X: The Unheard Music," finally surfacing on DVD, captures the band in the mid-1980s, standing tall atop the ashes of the city's punk scene.

Morgan makes the most of the band's Hollywood vibe. Stylized segments feature guitarist Billy Zoom (part Buck Owens and part Gorgeous George); singer Exene Cervenka (a rag doll with Bette Davis eyes); and singer-bassist John Doe and drummer D.J. Bonebrake (both blessed with leading-man looks).

"Unheard Music" covers some band biography ("Billy put an ad in the Recycler ...") but mostly it's X performing amid a blitzkrieg of images that range from Edsel ads to death squads shooting up El Salvador. A ghostly night scene shows a house transported across a freeway bridge as the title song plays. How L.A. How X.

The 1986 film, shot in 16mm, looks decent aside from persistent speckling. DTS and stereo audio options sound fine, but the Dolby 5.1 had a weird effect that sent vocals to the rear speakers. The Image Entertainment DVD offers no extras.

X were an amazing, amazing band and this DVD really drives this point home. The live club performances show their incredible musicianship--DJ Bonebrake and Billy Zoom are PHENOMENAL! The studio performances show what incredible songwriters and artists John and Exene were. The video montages throughout put it all into context, and made me feel really nostaglic, there's nothing quite like superimposing a cruise missile over Ronnie Reagan's face to bring a tear to your eye. There's also this groovy, artsy video of Exene to White Girl that really sticks with you. No band in the last 20 years comes close to X--X were the real thing, and luckily there's The Unheard Music to remember them by. Buy it, watch it, and lend it to your paperboy, and afterwards the two of you can burn all his Emo CDs and start a band together.

This is a documentary about the MOST important punk rock band ever. X was accessible on so many levels whether you were truly hardcore or coming up on the poetic beat-side. This film is a wonderful time capsule about the band. I was lucky enough to see X play live about a half dozen times and EVERY time was unique and incredible. I won't apologize for the hyperboly because X truly were and are the BEST of the best.

Even though I would have probably enjoyed this due to my predisposition to the criminally marginalised music of X I was thoroughly surprised on how well made this film was ,particularly the fictional opening. With it's freewheeling editing and inspired montages it's almost like watching a cinematic version of a punk zine. Regardless of how you feel about the music this really is exceptional.

until the license arrangement changes, please seek out VHS copy or at least buy DVD 2nd hand, theres plenty on a well known auction site.
support the band not Martin W. Greenwald & Image Entertainment ($97,000,000 in revenue last year).

This is the best documentary I have ever seen on a Punk/Rock N Roll band.
At present, I have the "Los Angeles", "Wild Gift", and "Under The Big Black Sun" albums and this DVD pretty much covers songs from those albums.
The art direction in this is superb. Everything from the stock footage, to live footage to interviews to photo's, looks amazing.
I'd give this 6 stars if I could.
If any X fans like me, haven't seen this but own those albums, GET THIS NOW. Trust me.

This is a fantastic documentary - if you're at all interested in the LA Punk scene, this is a goody. It looks great, it sounds great, and it's a lot of fun. A highlight: Exene as the silent-film ghost in "Because I Do", the mobile home cruising down the streets of LA, the shots of the Whisky and the LA skyline, DJ showing off with a 3-4-5 beat, the hilarious interviews with record cmpany execs. It's funny, it's poignant, it's rockin'. Amazing art direction, too...

... No, really, this is a WONDERFUL documentary, of interest to people other than punk fans. Brilliantly edited, it tells the story of not only X's beginnings, but is a wonderful commentary on the state of the music industry, as timely now as it was in the early 1980's.But if you're looking for a "then we auditioned for a record label" kind of documentary, forget it. Their story is interspersed with sometimes hilariously insightful vintage film clips, and terriffic live footage.This happens to be one of my favorite movies about one of my favorite bands, a band that made some of the best music, with some of the most creative, "meaningful" lyrics, ever written.No John, Exene, Billy, & D.J., your music was and is not "unheard".Mesmerizing.

In the outstandingly well-made documentary X: The Unheard Music, we see two of the most underrated songwriters in rock history have a quick exchange that (unknowingly to them at that time) turns out to have defined their careers. It goes like this:

Exene Cervenka (referring to the song "Real Child of Hell"): "I think it's gonna be a hard song for people to understand the words."
John Doe: "F--- 'em."

And there you go. Sadly (yet proudly), X has always been somehow too poetic and "artsy" for some to consider punk, yet too defiantly punk to break through into the mainstream.

In the parallel universe that I live in, John Doe is a much bigger star. And to my twisted ears, no one in punk has ever sung so tunefully out of tune as Exene Cervenka (although Rancid's Tim Armstrong comes close). There's something so gosh-danged MUSICAL about the way she can coyly circle around a note, getting close but not quite close enough to hit it.

Plus, the supposed "supporting" players are such fascinating people themselves and are real multi-instrumental virtuosos (Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Mr. Billy Zoom on the clarinet! Mr. Bonebrake on the vibraphone!).

Thankfully, this beautiful film has forever etched out and preserved some magical moments in time, capturing X at their peak in the early to mid-80's. And, fan-leanings aside, I cannot emphasize enough how great this movie is, regardless of any affiliation or affinity one may or may not have with the band itself.

This film is so exquisitely and painstakingly pieced together that in the end it was not a surprise for me to see four editors listed in the credits. The syncopated, ingenious editing never lacks for imagination or interest, and you could arguably get as much satisfaction watching this movie in soundless slow-motion (or even frame by frame) - the individual shots are that beautiful (and sometimes very fleeting, but with great effect).

In the beginning, even the voiceover interviews are assembled as a kind of audio montage, and the result is nothing short of brilliant.

But don't be fooled: this multitude of editors does not mean that the movie lacks for a unified vision - quite the contrary, in fact. In addition to seamlessly intercut live and offstage footage that fans will just eat up (the studio footage of the recording of "White Girl" is sumptuous indeed, even though it is staged. Also, the writing and first tentative playing of "Real Child of Hell" is a total must-see/hear), there is an overarching subtextual and contextual examination of commercialization in its many forms. We are bombarded with images of mass production, from eggs to pre-fab houses, from vinyl car seats to vinyl records.

The simple yet effective contrast of some schlepp at the big record company (I'll call him "MCA Bonehead") espousing the virtues of the go-nowhere band Point Blank juxtaposed with the head of the Slash record label (which released X's early albums) exposes everything you ever wanted to know about what can go wrong with major record labels.

I think this film will appeal not just to X fans but to fans of good filmmaking in general. That said, I've heard that there's a special edition DVD looming on the not-too-distant horizon, so you might wanna hold onto that beer money and wait for that one to come out, because this edition ultimately lacks any features worth typing about (which is the reason for my four-star rating, even though the actual film deserves five).

This film is a fine look at a punk-rock band comprised of reasonably ordinary people (though Exene Cervenka seems a little out there at times). It is a documentary / commentary piece occasionally featuring performance and home-made music video interludes, and it presents the band members as real people. The part I enjoyed most was drummer John Doe by the stove in his kitchen, simultaneously knocking out three different rhythms with, respectively, his right hand, left hand and one foot -- and a close second to that is the "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline" video. Can you believe Exene was once married to Viggio Mortgensen, however you spell it, the guy who played Aragorn?

I wish I had seen this when I was about 12, and had realized that rock band folks were ordinary people before they became rockers. Such is life.