Beyond and Back: The X Anthology

X | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 1997)
• Original Release Date: October 28, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002HQW
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,509 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #33 in Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > General
  • #35 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > American Punk

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Los Angeles

2. The World's a Mess; It's in My Kiss

3. Yr Ignition

4. Year One [Demo Version]

5. Hungry Wolf

6. We're Desperate

7. Beyond & Back [Live]

8. Back 2 the Base [Live]

9. Blue Spark [Remix Outtake][Mix]

10. Some Other Time [#]

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. The New World [Demo Version]

2. Breathless [Single Mix]

3. Poor Girl

4. What's Wrong with Me [Rough Mix]

5. How I (Learned My Lesson) [Live]

6. The Have Nots

7. Someone Like You [Demo Version]

8. The Stage [Demo Version]

9. See How We Are [Demo Version]

10. Surprise, Surprise

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This two-disc retrospective serves better as a wild gift to fanatical Xtremests rather than as a serviceable overview for the casual fan who never had much time for the band in the first place. Only 11 of the collection's 45 tracks were culled from the nine official albums released over a decade and a half span. Unlike a standard best-of, Beyond and Back is heavily weighted with demos, outtakes, rare singles, and live recordings. Some will no doubt bemoan the supplanting of studio recordings of high-tension band standards such as "The World's a Mess; It's in My Kiss," "The Once Over Twice," and "Johny Hit and Run Paulene" with raw, lo-fi alternates. Still, the candid approach certainly suits the band's original aesthetic, and there are a surplus of enticing rarities to be found that even dabblers will enjoy. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Look for 'Make The Music Go Bang', July 28, 2004

By 

Wilson Ng (Guam USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond and Back: The X Anthology (Audio CD)

Casual fans and folks who want to get introduced to X should first get 'Make The Music Go Bang'. That compilation serves up a 2-CD slice of some of their biggest songs and serves as a proper Greatest Hits package.

'Beyond & Back' is served better as a complimentary collection to 'Make The Music Go Bang' by delving further into the X catalog with rarities, outtakes, B-Sides, and alternate takes on some of their greatest songs.

Together, 'Make the Music Go Bang' and 'Beyond & Back' makes a nice 4 disc set that covers much ground over X's illustrious career.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for fans, but don't think of it as a "best of" album, October 27, 2001

By 

PenaltyShot (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond and Back: The X Anthology (Audio CD)

This album is an anthology of X in the same way as the Beatles' Anthology albums are anthologies of the Fab Four. In other words, as the Amazon review mentions, most of the tracks here are alternate takes, live recordings, rough demos, and heretofore-unreleased tracks.

As such, it is interesting, especially for fans that already have all of the proper studio albums (as I do). But as with the Beatles Anthology albums, a lot of these tracks make me wish I were listening to the familiar versions rather than the almost invariably inferior versions included here.

While true to the rough, homegrown DIY aesthetic that is X, sometimes production and execution DO matter. If these had been the versions that had been originally committed to wax for their studio albums, I probably would not have become the huge fan of X that I became.

Also, a post-Billy-Zoom version of X just doesn't do it for me. Yes, John Doe and Exene were the major songwriting talent in the band, but Zoom's incredible "atomic rockabilly" blasts were the fuel that lifted the songs off the ground into the stratosphere. ANY other guitarist just doesn't fit, especially when X is playing versions of their older classics. Can you imagine the Beatles' "Abbey Road" without George Harrison's masterful guitar work? I can't either. Same effect here with Zoom.

The good news is that a lot of the tracks (at least the earlier ones) DO feature X's original lineup, with Zoom. It's great as a historical document, and it has its rough-hewn charm, but don't confuse this with a best-of album. If you want the real deal, get X's first four albums before you buy this one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real X LA in the late 70s/early 80s, March 10, 2000

By 

Mark Holm (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond and Back: The X Anthology (Audio CD)

If you never made a show of Xs in the late 70s or early 80s this is the one to get! It was 1980 -- I was living in LA going to college and my girlfriend and I just called it quits. A friend of a friend suggested a trip to the Wiskey-a go go in Hollywood to see a band called X. In that show that night I became a X fan. To this day any X record takes me back to those days of the very early 80s of the LA music scene. This CD -- tho not the best technically -- captures the vitality of the scene - I know I saw it at the time. However the lyrics do not speak to just that time but the themes and feelings relevant today. It speak of lust and love, society and justice (or lack there of) and the 'scene' -- thier music - is a thinking person's punk. A must have CD.