SOUNDTRACK: KING’S X-King’s X (1992).
I was rather disappointed by this album when it came out. After the glories of Faith Hope Love, this was a return to some pretty straight ahead metal. And, boy is it heavy–well, the first song is anyway, and it does rather set the tone. Nevertheless, the rest of the songs have subtleties that I have grown to appreciate.
“Black Flag” was the single from the album. There has always been something about it that I don’t quite like. I can’t put my finger on it. However, the should-have-been single “Lost in Germany” returns stylistically to the sounds of Out of the Silent Planet, and contains a great sing-along chorus and harmonies. In fact, the bulk of the middle of the disc keeps up those mildly progressive traits.
Overall, however, the disc is quite a bit darker than Faith Hope Love. It comes as a shock after the previous record, but then King’s X are a much heavier band than I remember.
[READ: September 6, 2008] “Clara”
This is the first story I’ve read by Bolaño (although I have been planning to tread The Savage Detectives).
I know that this story was translated from Spanish, and I can’t help but wonder if I would have guessed it was translated while I was reading it. There was something just slightly off abut the use of language…not that the translator did a bad job, just something that made me think the author was not writing in the same language that I use.
The story is told from the first person. However, the unnamed narrator is telling the story of a woman named Clara, whom he dated twice, and who had a profound impact on his life, despite or because of her bizarre behavior. They dated when they were very young. And he stayed peripherally in touch with her until they eventually dated again when they were in their twenties. Many years later, long after they have broken up, she gives him some bad news about herself, and he is left trying to comfort her new husband.
It was a very intimate story, but what I found was that I didn’t really care about Clara or her problems; yet I couldn’t stop reading. There was something about the writing style that made me want to keep reading. I hope Savage Detectives has this same prose (and the same translator perhaps?), but I hope the storyline is more interesting to me.
This was translated by Chris Andrews. It’s available here.
For ease of searching I include: Bolano.
I Just Read About That... 