Customer Reviews

Best of (Ocrd)

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4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

King's X ended their collaboration with Atlantic in the usual way:with a compilation.
Although the content is strong and valuable, the package(you know,you pay your money for both a visual and sonic experince)is minimal and ridiculous.A simple black background and bits of useless information is what you find.A shame when it comes to a band like KX.
Nevertheless,speaking of the music,it covers all the albums cronologically,taking 2 songs from each one(with the exception of Ear Candy,with 3-maybe in order to increase its sales,I don't know-)
A greatest hits package never leaves everyone happy,because it's hard to deal with the likes of each and every fan.Anyway,I think they made it smoothly.No complains about it, because I love almost their entire catalog! ;o)
Let's skip the songs (you can read my reviews of the entire KX catalog,just click on my link)and let's talk about the new ones.
Minus "April showers",a pretty boring song, the rest are fantastic tunes.I was surprised because they use to put leftover and discarted songs on this type of compilations.
"Sally" is a typical Ty song,with a beatlesque and naive groove.It'd fit perfectly on a Ty's solo release.
You will find yourself singing the catchy chorus in your car or in your job.Sure!
"Lover" deals with the eternal feeling struggle:love or friendship.Sometimes you want some of the both and the other person doesn't(or the other way round!).I find this song inspiring and sincere.It sounds raw and naked,almost a Low-Fi recording.A extra star for that matter!
Finally, a live rendition of "Over my head" closes the album.It has loads of energy and punch,I've heard some bootlegs and they sound unstoppeable onstage.Doug's speech in the middle of the song is touching but not falling into self-indugence.Buy this record to check it out because it's a honest and brave confession of a man.And this is always something valuable.
Well,after this hiatus they start to work with Metal Blade,but that's another chapter of the story...read it in my next review "Tape head".

PEACE!

King's X has a core following, a cult following, and that includes anyone that has heard their music.
See them live, and you will understand what true musical prowess sounds like. This is the loudest, the most talented, the greatest ungreat rock & roll act ever.
Doug Pinnick, Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill are 3 guys from Texas that decided to start making albums back in the 80's. Since that day, they have created a truly unique sound that could only be accomplished by such a talented guitarist, a singer/bassist with pipes built for soul, and a drummer that can hammer louder than 100 roofers on top of your house.
These guys rock. Harmonies abound; the 3 voices mix in a way that you must hear to truly understand.
This album covers the first six releases by the band. It is a compilation of some of their best musical pieces and not necessarily an all-encompassing album. You really just need this to break in to the sound. Go back and get all of the albums after you hear the highlights here, because there are no bad tracks on any of their albums.
This album also includes 3 new songs (previously unreleased) and a live version of their most soulful tune to date, Over my Head.

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD, BUY THIS ALBUM. NOW!

THESE GUYS HAVE BEEN UNAPPRECIATED, UNKNOWN AND UNSUNG FOR FAR TOO LONG!

This album compiles their greatest hits or whatever... but the thing that is really sad is that u can buy any Kings X cd ... go home and pop it into the cd player and fall in love!!! Kings X music is just that great. The band is special ... unique ... and i believe should get major exposure but don't. This cd is full of just great music ... from beautiful harmonies to heavy guitar ... to wicked bass and neck cracking drums. 5 star and worth every penny!!!

Here's the thing, folks. King's X ain't your daddy's prog-rock band. You're not gonna find boring 20 minute drum solos and endless keyboard noise with this band. I can't even figure out why they're considered progressive...guess the record company feels the need to label 'em something.

King's X is a healthy combo of rock, funk, blues, and jazz but they lean on the rock end of things most of the time. They can be hit and miss but when they hit, they hit like a ten ton hammer. This greatest hits collection, while nowhere near complete, is an excellent starter kit for someone new to the band. "Goldilox" is a brilliant track with harmonies so dense you could longboard on 'em. "It's Love" offers a tight riff and again delivers on the harmonies. Matter of fact, if you dig lush harmonies, you've found your band. They're all over this album: "Mr. Wilson", "Train", "Cigarettes". "Black Flag" and "Dogma" each offer heavy guitar riffs. About the only thing King's X don't do very well is stay with one sound. Have no fear, this album rocks top to bottom, no matter how much they bounce around. It's a little known fact that Kurt Cobain and the boys in Pearl Jam have all, at one time or another, praised King's X for their sound, a sound that Pearl Jam admittedly tried to emulate.

Bottom line: If you like strong choruses, thick harmonies, and hard edged guitars, I'd like you to meet your new favorite band, King's X.

Despite their infectious blend of metal riffs and beatlesque vocal harmonies, quality songwriting, a high profile gig at Woodstock '94, accolades from fellow musicians and glowing reviews from both mainstream and specialized media, King's X never managed to reach a massive audience: from 1988 to 1996 the band delivered six top quality hard rock/heavy metal albums on Atlantic records, selling just enough copies to keep their major label contract but always failing to approach gold status. This collection covers that period, with two studio tracks from the first five albums and three from the sixth, plus three previously unreleased songs and an extended live version of Over my Head.
Considering the sheer songwriting and performing talent within the band, any discussion regarding the tracks selection is completely futile, and one can only wonder why songs like Goldilox, Summerland, Pleiades, It's Love, Dogman and Looking for Love didn't become the massive hits they deserved to be in the first place. I can only infer that the trio's unique sound made it really hard for the label to market them properly, since they always sounded completely out of place within the different musical trends of those years: too hard and complex for hair farmers, too sweet and poppy for thrashers and finally, too polished and ambitious for alternative rockers.
I won't give this album this album five stars for two reasons:
a) The packaging is inexcusably bad considering it's a major label release.
b) As good as the live version of Over my Head is, it's almost ten minutes long. The disc space could've been much better used with a studio version of that track and two additional songs.
That said, the sheer quality of the music in this album will appeal to hard rockers, AOR fans and open minded headbangers alike and it's a great way for discovering one of the greatest and least known rock bands ever.

I'm writing this review celebrating the fact that King's X is coming back to El Paso in concert. I saw them here in the early 90's so it's been a long time. I simply can't wait until this show. This band is classic.

Kings X is one of my favourite bands, which is a credit to them since i only usually listen to 80's metal. There are many songs on this best of that rock, like Summerland, Dogman and Its Love, but i find it hard to listen to many of the other songs they put on there. I thought it was missing many too, like In The New Age from there first album(kick ass song) and a decent version of over my head. I have the studio version of it and listen to it all the time, but live one gets dragged on and spoils it. I dont understand why there biggest fan favourite song had to be ruined in their best of.
Its still a decent best of, and is a good buy for anyone who likes them but doesnt want to go out and buy all there CDs just to listen to a few of their biggest songs.

I knew tht King's X existed, but didn't know much about them, so I decided to give this cd a try because it was recommended as good prog-rock/metal. The first few listens, I really wasn't into it, and was thinking about giving it to a used cd shop. But now, 1 month since owning it, I've been listening to it nonstop, and I've been thinking of trying some of their albums. I'm goning to do a short summary on each of the songs. "King", is an excellent heavy opener with catchy vocal harmonies- 5/5. "Goldilox", is a beautiful power ballad- 5/5. "Summerland", the guitar parts reminds me of Rush.-4/5. "Pleiades", a very artsy-metal song. The last half of the song is all instrumental- 5/5. It's Love, isn't a favorite of mine on the disc, is still a good song- 4/5. "Mr. Wilson", is kind of weird ,yet good. Love the "chipmunk" vocal effects-4/5. "Black Flag", is another favorite of mine on the disc. Heavy and catchy-5/5. "Lost In Germany", features some of the greatest musicianship ever heard. 4/5. "Dogman", very excellent song. Probably the heaviest on the disc.-5/5. "Cigarettes", I'm not too big on this song, but once again it's still good-4/5. "The Train", is another favorite of mine as it sounds very Hendrix-like, which features space/funk/metal. Great song-5/5. "Looking For Love", once again gets funky and heavy-4/5. "Life Going By", isn't bad either-4/5.

The outtakes are good but not favorites. The live version of "Over My Head", is probably the best out of them. The message at the end by Doug Pinnick, was very inspiring.

Overall, this is a great disc, a great band and I think Doug Pinnick has one of the best singing voices ever. Majestic and Soulful.

Thanks

Showcasing 10 years of power and beauty on one CD, you get your money's worth and then some with 73 minutes of genuinely fantastic music. This compilation of "hits" (remarkably, King's X has not had any major hits that your average AOR radio listener can name - I think a byproduct of poor record label marketing) spans the range of sounds King's X is capable of - heavy power rock, slower ballads, great vocals and harmonies, killer bass and guitar riffs. The disc displays the enormous talents, both individually and collectively, of this tight threesome. For me, having seen and felt the power they deliver in a live performance on several occasions, the highlight of the CD is Over My Head, in which Doug describes his upbringing in a way that really makes you believe (not to mention, the bass and guitar work here is awesome). People, buy this disk, share it with your friends, and put out the word that King's X is one of the premiere rock bands of this era.

Ty remastered the first half dozen or so songs from earlier albums (which now sound 80s), and it shows (I wish they'd remaster and rerelease all of the earlier albums). I played "It's Love" from FHL and this CD, and it sounded seemingly twice as loud at the same volume, with better sound all around. So, my opinion: if you like the selected songs from the earlier CDs like OOTSP, Gretchen, and FHL, and you'd like more of their live (heavier) sound, then I'd recommend this CD.