Is Wild Gift X's best album?

Under The Big Black Sun by far for me. Just feels like they made the record they hadd been struggling to make before - and find themselves kind of defeated by that success. Kind of a Peggy Lee-style "Is that all there is to the circus?" world-weariness to the whole thing. They're firing on all cylinders as musicians as songwriters, but it's not enough. There's death, and drinking, and what sounds like infidelity and a marriage falling apart. It's maybe the most grown-up album that still feels completely punk to me - and that might be part of what's so sad about it.

Is it weird that "True Love Pt. 2" is one of my favorite X songs? I want to DJ a big dance party just so I can play it.

My brother has that as his ringtone. It's the only X song he listens to.

I've had problems with "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" for years but I've learned to like it with reservations. John and Exene are trying not to think bad thoughts about those Brits with synths and lip gloss, which is honest.

I always thought True Love Pt 2 was trying to be Tom Tom Club in a kind of cheesy way, but I always liked the super-medley of lyrics at the end, wish that part went on a bit longer.

More Fun is a bit of a wreck but at least it's got some desperation and fight left in it.

Are Ain't Love Grand and See How We Are worth giving another shot? Found them completely dull years ago, never revisited.

Ain't Love Grand was the sound of X trying to sell out but not being capable of it. There's a few great songs on it (Burning House of Love, My Soul Cries Your Name, Around My Heart, What's Wrong With Me), and a few indifferent ones. The production definitely hurts it, but it could have been worse (witness the atrocious bombast of the "Wild Thing" cover they recorded at the same time).

See How We Are is a marked improvement--better songs and better production throughout. Some of their best ballads (Dave Alvin's Fourth of July, When It Rains, and especially the title track) and lotsa rock (I'm Lost, Left and Right, and In the Time That It Takes will crawl thru your back yard and whack your yappin' dog). Plus a great heartbroken Exene song (You) and those John & Exene harmonies all over the place.

The forgotten 7th album Hey Zeus! is pretty much fans-only; some good songs but overall weak.

The live acoustic Unclogged is definitely worth hearing.

The forgotten 7th album Hey Zeus! is pretty much fans-only; some good songs but overall weak.

i quite liked "country at war" from that album. can't remember anything else from it though.

This is the first X I ever heard, and I was really disappointed when the corresponding album didn't sound much like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjbyYxdNI-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjbyYxdNI-o

^ great stuff

He's such an amazing singer. Love the part where he cracks up.

There's a fair number of late X demos out there that are far, far better than the released albums.

I randomly decided to fix my X-sized blind spot a few days ago, having only knowingly heard a couple tracks from Los Angeles before. This might be honeymoon phase hyperbole, but I think Wild Gift is the greatest punk rock album I've ever heard. Every second of this thing is smart, seedy, sexy, and exploding with hooks. Exene and John's vocal chemistry is magical. The riffage is outrageous. "Got a hole in my heart the size of my heart." I'm kicking myself for sleeping on this band for so long.

I'm digging the other classic-era albums too, especially More Fun In the New World, but Wild Gift is on a whole other level

this post adds joy to my world

it needs that, it does

<3

Cervenka’s first solo LP is amazingly underrated, but Doe’s work outside of the group is just so consistently solid

Do you mean "Old Wives Tales"?

I love John's solo best-of, it shows that consistency you mentioned.

A lot of folks from that era have strong but somewhat overlooked solo catalogs. John Doe, Dave Alvin, Chuck Prophet, Peter Case ...

Yes, Old Wives Tales. Her later work outside of X is really solid, too. It’s only Zoom who’s never really recorded much of note outside of the band, but I think he still operates a very high-end custom guitar company?

I like this album better than Los Angeles, but it feels like the quality control drops suddenly at the finish. Ending your album with three progressively weaker up-tempo throwaways is maybe a way of proving your punk bonafides, but it doesn't result in a great record 40 years later.

I'm a huge fan of Back 2 The Base, but otherwise yeah.