& logical follow up?
I'm looking for everything I like in the "progressive sound": in your face odd time sigs, longer compositions, with that balance of melody & heaviness.
Thanks!
& logical follow up?
I'm looking for everything I like in the "progressive sound": in your face odd time sigs, longer compositions, with that balance of melody & heaviness.
Thanks!
If you want just a sampler "Best Of Kings X" covers some good ground and gives you examples of where you might to go further. For full studio abums "Faith Hope And Love" was their most popular. For proggy fans I think most seem to like either "Out Of The Silent Planet" or "Gretchen Goes To Nebraska" the best. I also like "Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous" a lot. There is also a 5 CD box set of their first 5 albums priced very cheaply as well which is a good bargin.
Well, for me it's Faith Hope and Love. The next self-titled one is pretty good, too. I find King's X to be rather "samey" although the latter albums try to get in on the grunge movement and I don't like them as much.
Faith Hope Love.
I don't think you'll find any "in your face" odd time sigs - they're not that type of band. People love 'em for the authentic passion with which they play and killer HOOKS they write, for the combination of Dug's soulful singing and Sly Stone screams, Ty Tabor's John Lennonesque vocals, the complete ROCK abandon they generate, the rhythm guitar that sounds like it's out of Moving Pictures matched with Chris Squire-toned bass and Beatles-esque background vocals. They are not a traditional "prog" band at all; they are a unique FORCE of rock.....Originally Posted by Rickenbacker
Nice description. Yea, they are not really prog in the traditional sense, but a lot of prog fans are into them.
I don't seem to enjoy anything after those first three albums. I've listened to a few and they just don't grab me. Not awful, but not great and at times some cheesy lyrics. Not that that's new or original but that's a minor nitpick.
King's X (the s/t) is a very good, hooky, if more straightforward album, and may have the best actual batch of songs over all, even though I think FHL is more interesting. Dogman is a great heavy, sort of grunge jump-on-the-bandwagon alabum with more more organic production than the previous ones (which have a really weird drum sound to them). After that I got off the bus for the most part.
I'd say start at the beginning with the early albums. A tough band for me to figure out; anytime I see live stuff it's compelling but the studio albums don't really connect with me. I keep thinking I should like this band more than I do. I mostly like Ty's contributions but he seems to defer to Doug with the songwriting so there's not enough Ty in the equation for me. Consequently I much prefer Ty's other projects such as Platypus, Jelly Jam and solo albums.
You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...
They are actually playing in my area in the not too distant future. Are they worth checking out live?
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Oh hell yes.They are the kind of band that puts out 110% for 50,000 people or 5, makes no difference. I've seen them about 5 times and have never been disappointed, but I like what they do.
Could not have said it better. I have seen them as an opening act and as a headiner in front of big crowds and small, and they always give it their all. Great live band for sure.Oh hell yes.
I wholeheartedly concur with Steve Sly that Best of King 's X is the way to go for the uninitiated. There's a live version of Over My Head from Woodstock 2 with a 5 (or so) minute jam. Great musicians and even nicer guys.
'The smell of strange colours are heard everywhere'- Threshold
You Tube has about 1000 videos to check out.
This my favorite of the 15. Chariot Song,Lost In Germany,The Big Picture,Not Just For The Dead,Black Flag,The World All Around Me. OMG! There's not a bad song on it.
If Kings X are prog, then so are Metallica and Iron Maiden (which are a lot "proggier" than KX ). Never understood the prog/metal tag put on them but then I never would've stumbled onto them if it wasn't for that erroneous label put on them. It just happened that I was searching on AMG (is that what it was before Google took over the universe?) some music database and I noticed they were labelled as "prog/metal" and "Christian/metal." Then by chance I found a bunch of their early albums at a used CD store. The one I bought at random was Faith Hope Love. For a long time it was my favorite album of their's. I still like it a lot but I'd place it behind Dogman and Ear Candy.
Where to begin? I'd stay either FHL, or Gretchen Goes To Nebraska. Those are the albums that solidified their classic sound. I lost interest in them after Manic Moonlight. Have no idea what they're up to. I just lost interest because they kept tuning lower and lower, and I just got tired of the sound.
First four albums, 'nuff said. The fifth, Dogman, was the beginning of their grunge era (not that it's a bad thing).
They started the Seattle Sound in Katy,Texas 2 years before Nirvana was ever heard of. According to DUg it was PLEIADIES that was the beginning.
True, within the eclectic mix of their early material was an element of "proto-grunge" that would be further developed. I know that a member of Pearl Jam credited King's X for inventing grunge. Even though I believe that remark was more emotion-based than objective, there is a shred of truth in it.
Start with a trio of albums, Gretchen, Faith Hope Love and the self titled album 4. Dogman may be a bit more raw sounding, but a lot of great songs on it. I remember not caring for the song "Cigarettes" when Dogman came out. But today it's one of my favorites of theirs. And live, they just kill when they play it. The debut, "Out of the Silent Planet" has some great melodic rockers like "Shot of Love" and "Goldilox" and "King", so it should not be ignored. For my money, FHL is a near perfect album, I love every song.
After Dogman, it does get a bit samey, I admit. "Ear Candy" has good melodies, but they over-simplified their sound for this. Too repetitious. Of the post Dogman era, I think "Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous" is their best. The lyrics are really quirky and bizarre at times, and the music takes some surprising twists and turns, and the production is a big improvement over the previous couple albums. I like this one a lot. Another interesting one is "Manic Moonlight". Not saying it's for everyone though, the sound is a bit on the funky hard rock side, not quite as melodic. More a Doug album than anything. After this, the albums just repeat the same King'x X formula, though each have a few good rocking songs on them. "Black Like Sunday" stands out for me as it's recording made in 2003 of songs that date back to the early days of the band. Some of it works, like the stellar "Finished", some doesn't. It's really the last album of theirs I like a lot. At this point I'm not too interested in new music by them. Nice catalog though, and they are still a great live act.
For those who would like to hear King's X live, I'd recommend the 2cd 'Live All Over the Place'. I prefer this one better than the one InsideOut Music released a couple of years ago, but that one is good also. I just prefer the sound of 'Live All Over the Place' better.
Last edited by Gerardo; 02-16-2014 at 06:06 PM.
The only ones to stay away from are Manic Moonlight and Black like Sunday. Just can't get into either one of those at all, esp. MM. The Top 5 for Me:
1)Dogman
2)Faith,Hope, and Love
3)Gretchen
4)Ear Candy
5)Ogre Tones
OT was a real return to form for me. some pretty dark lyrics but great songs. XV has about 4 or 5 really strong songs on it. Same with s/t and Out of the silent planet. Tape Head is pretty weak, but has a coupla strong songs.
The off-shoot bands with Ty like Platypus and Jelly Jam are pretty good too, as are Ty's solo efforts.
Dogman is just soooo heavy, in a funky groove sort of way ... But I love cigarette too. They're great. Saw them open for porcupine Tree in T.O. Great show. You can't go wrong with anything the 'X' does ...
I love Manic Moonlight. That being said, their most prog-like records would be their 1st 4 albums, aka the Sam Taylor produced records, Out of the Silent Planet, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, Faith Hope Love and King's X.
Live Love In London isn't as good as LAOTP because DUg is seriously drunk and it's such a shame because they had waited so long for the perfect night to film and it is quite sub par. They admit this in the bonus features of the dvd so it's not just my opinion.
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