King's X

Item: Live All Over the Place
Author: Dan Singleton

Live All Over the Place

(2004)

Reviewed by Dan Singleton

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Label Metal Blade RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2004

alternative rock hard rock progressive rock

I tend to judge live albums using three criteria. Does it have something for fans of the band? Does it have something for people who are not already fans of the band? Does it capture the unique feel of the band in concert?

It's usually difficult to achieve all three, but this long-awaited album by King's X accomplishes the task. The fact that there is a King's X live album at all is worth a few bonus points. Considering the terms on which band members Doug Pinnick (lead vocals, bass), Ty Tabor (guitar, vocals) and Jerry Gaskill (drums, vocals) parted with their first label, Atlantic, and manager, Sam Taylor, it was once a foregone conclusion that a live album encompassing their entire career would never happen. Apparently someone got them all to the table because the CD is out.

Hardcore fans like myself have always had access to dozens of concert bootlegs. Live All Over the Place assembles and masters some of the best recordings while still giving the collection the plausibility of being the fruit of a single concert. We are also treated to live performances of four of the best tracks off their newest album, Black Like Sunday, a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" with Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament, and a rare acoustic set.

If you're not their biggest fan, they've got something for you too. They have plenty of new material since their Best Of... album so this isn't just a live rehash. But they still give you their most popular live songs and enough to make your mouth water to see them in person.

Having seen the band live about ten times, I can say this album is the next best thing. It captures King's X's live energy and thickness. This especially benefits songs from their earlier albums, which had the advantage of manager Sam Taylor's progressive influence but the disadvantage, in some people's opinion, of his tendency to "overproduce." I also enjoy the "flaws and all" approach they took with this collection. With all of Pinnick's vocal improvisations, he's bound to miss a few notes now and then. They're in here too. And it shows he's human and captures how the band identifies personally with its fans, even when we do tend to view them as minor deities.

Live All Over the Place is a pretty representative sample of the band's set selection. It begins with "Groove Machine" and "Dogman." You're pretty much guaranteed of hearing one or both of those in the lead-off position at a concert, with an outside chance of "Train" which doesn't make it on to this collection. While "Believe" and "A Little Bit of Soul" are some of their weaker songs in my opinion, they are also live staples, and this album gives us some good versions.

Pinnick gives us a little preaching in "Believe," and later in "A Box." The man has already been so psychoanalyzed in magazines and newsgroups that I'm not even going to go there. It suffices to say that I and probably most Tollbooth readers are not going to agree with everything he says, but I still believe his heart is in the right place--his criticisms are usually valid even if he misidentifies "religion" as the culprit.

"Mr. Evil" is possibly my least favorite King's X song, but the acoustic live version they give us here is refreshing. As they do in concert, they also throw in a few curve balls, some in the acoustic set followed by "Talk to You" and, from their first album, "Visions." They round the album out with perennial closers, an extended "Cigarettes," "Summerland," "We Were Born to Be Loved," and an extended "Moanjam." And, yes, we get not one, but two versions of "Over My Head."

We can argue all day over song selection, especially the omission of any tracks from Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous, which I rank as one of the top five albums of the past five years. But it's easier to just trade for the live bootleg of the song you think should have made it--after, of course, you go out and purchase this must-have collection.

5 tocks