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For their second long-player in May, 1981, the Angelenos Punks remain: John Doe (28, bass, vocals), Exene Cervenka (25, vocals), Billy Zoom (33, guitar) and D.J. Bonebrake (25, drums). The great Ray Manzarek plays a key role as producer and (to a lesser extent) keyboards man, to all intents and purposes like a fifth group member. “The Once Over Twice” opener is Punk bathed in Rock n Roll, re-imagining Eddie Cochran's “C'mon Everybody” in the post-Ramones era. The vocal interplay between John and Exene is as cool as boy-girl duos get. Living up to the starter, the hoped-for hook-laden Punk-n-Roll-fest is duly delivered, with never a dull moment during the 33 minute rumble and not a bad song in the set. The frantic “We’re Desperate” remains coherent at breakneck speed and shows all players to be thoroughly ace in their sphere, as does “I’m Coming Over” which again showcases the fabulously natural and easy synergy between John and Exene's vocal interplay. The same could be said for most of the songs on the album, but “In This House That I Call Home” is especially excellent in this regard, featuring vocals which are not only sung, but dragged and wrestled all around the place. I believe the word I'm looking for to describe X is chemistry. The four (and Ray) have the magic formula; let X=X.
The Jukebox Rebel
28-Sep-2018
| A1 | [02:31]  X - The Once Over Twice (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| A2 | [02:00]  X - We’re Desperate (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| A3 | [03:19]  X - Adult Books (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) New Wave |
| A4 | [04:33]  X - Universal Corner (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| A5 | [01:14]  X - I’m Coming Over (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| A6 | [02:17]  X - It’s Who You Know (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| B1 | [03:34]  X - In This House That I Call Home (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| B2 | [02:17]  X - Some Other Time (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| B3 | [03:27]  X - White Girl (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Indie |
| B4 | [02:49]  X - Beyond And Back (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Proto-Punk |
| B5 | [01:33]  X - Back 2 The Base (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| B6 | [01:57]  X - When Our Love Passed Out On The Couch (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
| B7 | [01:18]  X - Year 1 (John Duchac, Christene Cervenka) Punk |
