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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
TUNNEL VISIONARIES, March 11, 2001
This band was HATED! Hated by fellow Hoosier "Johnny Cougar" whose debut EP was ridiculed in the local newspaper by Rich Stim, MX-80 singer/saxman & all-around wordsmith extraordinaire. Hated by Chris Blackwell later on, because they were signed to his Island label (by a lesser exec, without his knowledge) and didn't play reggae. Hated, finally, by the little fascists in the Bay Area punk scene because Bruce Anderson, the most sonically RIVETING guitar player on any planet, had the audacity to play guitar SOLOS. (Horrors!) Well, as is obviously my opinion, these guys were AMAZING & in no way deserving of hatred! As you know by now, this is a 2-on-1 reissue of 1980's immortal "Out Of the Tunnel & '81's not-as-great-but-so-what "Crowd Control." I actually prefer their debut HARD ATTACK, mostly because it featured their earlier 2-drummer lineup (later reduced) which made for a more off-centre rhythmic approach. (In fact, HARD ATTACK's my alltime favourite LP & is so great I don't even dare write a review for it!) But a lack of polyrhythms is easily ignored when replaced by a more single-minded primal drum attack like you'll find here, & here is also where you'll find probably the band's best-ever (by near consensus) song, "Someday You'll Be King." Pure exhilaration! Not to mention hypnotic, gripping basslines, reckless electronically-distorted sax squawking, and THAT guitar, man, I swear...think of the sophistication of jazz-rockers like McLaughlin, Ulmer & Sharrock added to the gleeful pure-rock dumbness (a compliment) of, I dunno, Ted Nugent or somebody...sheesh
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
classic reissues, June 17, 2000
And it's about time, too! Back in the dawn of the '80s, people just didn't know what to make of these records. At the time, MX-80 Sound (as they were known back then; they've since dropped the last bit in their name) were considered some sort of weird art-rock anomoly from the mid-west (Bloomington, Indiana, to be exact) that pre-dated the punk movement in existence. In fact, the story of MX-80 is a weird one in itself... they'd been around since the early '70s as an instrumental group heavily influenced by Beefheart, Zappa and free jazz, released an EP of their own back in '76 ("Big Hits"), then strangely enough released their debut LP "Hard Attack" on the British wing of Island records. Dropped like a hot potato after that effort, and hooking up with the Residents on the west coast, they hightailed it to San Fran in the late '70s and released these two amazing LPs in '80 and '81, respectively. Gone were the Dada-ist, art-rock antics of their debut, only to be replaced by some serious hard-riffing ROCK ACTION. What were the New Wave geeks to make of it? Were they punk? Were they art-weirdos a la the Residents? (these being on Ralph Records at the time)... or, gulp, were they heavy metal? NO ONE wanted to admit it (especially those who loved the records, since HM was considered the nada amongst the rock cognescenti), but at its core, these were heavy metal records, no doubt about it. Occassionally sludgy, sometimes almost proto-speedmetal in their brutal riffage, both "Out of the Tunnel" and "Crowd Control" were records out of their time, and 20 years later they sound all the better for it. No matter what you may care to call them - "art-metal", "prog/jazz/punk" - the combination here of deadpan, existentialist lyrics, Dada rock, free jazz, punk and 70s metal is astonishing. Imagine, if you will, a weird mix of the Stooges, MC5, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath, Beefheart, Pere Ubu, Zappa, Ornette Coleman and Sonny Sharrock, and it's something almost approximating this. Shunned at the time by almost everyone, MX-80 have now found a healthy cult following amongst those smart enough to dig their flagrantly non-trendy, individualist stylings. You should do the same.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More excellent music from an underrated band, June 15, 2000
"Out of Control" is a disc that is comprised of two original MX-80 albums, "Out of the Tunnel" and "Mind Control". The first half of the album, the "Out of the Tunnel" portion, is the faster of the two, while "Mind Control" is slower and more mellow--"Promise of Love" is a good example. Instrumentally, the first album is stronger, showcasing more of Bruce Anderson's guitar work; check out the solos in "It's Not My Fault" and "Someday You'll Be King" (one of my favorite tracks). However, all of the tracks are excellent and offbeat. Bruce Anderson and Dale Sopheia (bass) are two fine musicians--Buckethead thanked Anderson in "Monsters and Robots", showing the kind of influence this underrated group of musicians has had. An excellent buy, considering the quantity--77 minutes--and quality of music.
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