I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KING’S X-Ogre Tones (2005).

No one should be made to feel ALONE! And with that Kings X are back.  It’s the most aggressive scream I’ve heard from King’s X (and it comes from Ty, not Doug no less).

After what seemed like something of a hiatus with Black Like Sunday and Live All Over the Place, King’s X seem rejuvenated and excited to be rocking out.  Despite the hardcore opening scream of “Alone,” the song is their catchiest single yet.  Lyrically the song is about tolerance and compassion.  Its also pretty short (just under 3 minutes), as are the next 4 songs.  It’s as if they had these great ideas and just had to get them out.  “Stay”  returns to the style of old King’s X, with a minor change: it’s the vocal harmonies that are dissonant not the guitars.  “Hurricane” also tinkers with the formula where part of the chorus revels in their harmonies of old and the other part plays with a new aspect: gang vocals, bringing power rather than subtlety.  “Fly” is yet another great shoulda-been a single.  And “If”is yet another Stellar ballad, where Doug sings verses and harmonies bring in the chorus.

A controversial song (for fans anyway) is “Bebop.”  This is one of their experimental tracks, and it kind of hearkens back to some of the tracks off of Bulbous with very staccato guitars, unusual bass lines and the nonsense lyrics of “Bebop be alive ya’ll. Awhop boba lo bop a wop bam boom!.”  While it’s not their best work, it’s certainly catchy as anything, and I give them credit for throwing in some experimentation.  And frankly, it’s pretty fun if you loosen up a bit.

The next few tracks play with the basic formula of the album, until you get to “Sooner or Later” which, lets Ty noodle around on the guitar for 5 or 6 minutes, like an extended jam off of Faith Hope Love.  “Mudd” ends the album proper with a really touching, sweet song.  It could easily fit on Gretchen.

The last two songs I don’t really count.  “Goldilox (Reprise)” is, as you might guess a remake of “Goldilox.” I don’t know why they’d remake one of their most beloved songs.  Aside from the fact that they’ve been playing it since 1987, and the band has changed their style somewhat, they could show everyone what it would sound like if they made it now.  Otherwise, why bother.  It does sound good, mind you, but the original sounds better.  The last track, “Bam” is a historical recording of Thomas Edison’s phonograph.  It’s a weird way to end a record.  But nothing can take away from the fact that King’s X are back in form and they still sound great.

[READ: October 24, 2008] “Whyte Avenue Blue,” “Just the Thing,” “Terminal City,” “Red Carpet Caper,” “Beyond the Overpass,” “The End of Pinky”

I had put off reading these stories because I was in the middle of a couple of other things at the time.  When I finally got around to reading them (and they’re all very short…about a page or two each) I had forgotten that the “theme” behind the stories was noir.  When I started reading them, I kept thinking…none of these stories is even remotely believable.  It’s like the authors are trying really hard to craft stories that are transgressive, almost beyond belief in some way.  Well, when I re-read the sub-heading for the stories, I realized: “The Walrus asked Canadian novelists to sketch their cities as grittier, sexier, and darker than you might ever have imagined…”  So that explained it.

The problem for me is that I don’t really like this kind of story.  I can’t say that that’s a failure on the part of the writers.  And, since my complaint coincided with exactly what they were trying to do, I will therefore say that each author succeeded very well with their intentions.  I just didn’t like them very much.

All six of the stories are practically flash fiction: they’re short, compressed views of a slice of life in various Canadian cities.  When I re-read them for this post, I enjoyed them more knowing what they were “doing,” but really these stories just aren’t my thing.

Greg Hollingshead-“Whyte Avenue Blue” [Edmonton]
This is an interesting story of infidelity and kinky behavior.  The main character meets a woman in a store called Lovecraft, which is not, as he imagined, a store for fans of the science fiction writer, but rather a store where she worked on “apparel for customers with unusual girths or interests.” I was a little bummed to see this story end as quickly as it did, as the set up was really interesting, but I felt the rest of the story ended so quickly that it lost its impact.  Although the last line is pretty great.

David Bergen-“Just the Thing” [Winnipeg]
Two boxers spar in the ring and in the bedroom.  But when their intimacy grows too strong, one of the boxers leaves for a woman.  It ends with a brawl on the street.  Not the most substantial of pieces.

Charlotte Gill-“Terminal City” [Vancouver]
This story has the most trappings of noir fiction with lines like, “Mist settled on the shoulders of his suit — ill-fitting or just cheap, she couldn’t decide.”  It follows the conversation of a woman and a man who have known each other for some time as they stand over the body of a young addict who has crashed in front of her shop.  The man shows of his brutal side, while the woman retreats into her organic world.

Donna Morrissey-“Red Carpet Caper” {Halifax]
A young Torontonian actress heads to Halifax for the Atlantic Film Festival.  She plans to use everything at her disposal to meet the right director.  Including what’s hiding in her pocket.

Michael Winter-“Beyond the Overpass” [St. John’s]
A disturbing little story about a family who runs out of gas on the highway.  Some yokels in an SUV pick up the husband as he flags them down for help.  They return several hours later with no assistance or the husband.  Not terribly original, although one assumes it would be original for St. John’s, especially since according to Wikipedia, “St. John’s has continuously had one of the lowest crime rates in Canada.”

Heather O’Neill-“The End of Pinky” [Montreal]
Johnny learns that Pinky, his friend and cohort, has just ratted him out to the police.  Although we don’t learn what Johny ultimately does, the story concerns his plans for Pinky.  The one aspect I liked of the story was the great detail that O’Neill included.  In fact, the story is more of a descriptive piece about Johnny than of a story of gangsters.

All six stories are available online.  Start here and at the end of each story is a link to the next.