LIVE LOVE IN LONDON

"Good evening London, this is my favourite place to play."

So begins this lengthy concert experience of Kings X. On 22 January 2009 their concert at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London was filmed. The trio are Doug Pinnick on bass, vocals; Ty Tabor on guitar, vocals; and Jerry Gaskill on drums, vocals. The sound is ACDC meets Pearl Jam with a funky gospel vibe.

Kings X Live in London is the first full album I have heard from Kings X. It is a 2 CD live experience capturing some of their most popular material and some very good guitar solos that are always best heard live.

Disc 1 begins with the funkadelic Groove Machine and it took me a while to adjust my ears to the gospel style vocals. By the time Alright begins I have grown accustomed to Doug's vocals. Pleiades has a great sound with riffing guitars, and the different less gruff vocals are nice from Ty.

Move is a highlight with a great melody and I am getting used to that funky sound the band generate. Another highlight is What Is This? It has a deep distorted riff and lyrics that state; "oh lord it gets so complicated, oh lord I don't know what to do", then as I begin to think it's a Christian band Doug curses in anger dropping the F Bomb? searching for what? I thought these guys were Christian, certainly in the beginning they were with Greg X Volz, Petra singer, being involved, but obviously they have moved on unfortunately.

Pray is a grungy dirty guitar like ACDC's style and it has a low distorted 'St Anger' style rawness with a very cool bassline. Dogman has a grooving funky riff, and then Go Tell

Somebody follows, one of my favourites featuring a great riff, and an awesome lead break too, that has been a rarity on previous tracks so far.

This is followed by Julie, a quiet pop ballad with a pleasant tune. So at the end of the first CD, I found myself thinking they are OK with some shining moments but this is going to be a 2 star CD at the most, not very proggish and mainstream the way I don't like my prog.

Then Disc 2 changed my mind. It begins with Looking For Love featuring great drums from Jerry, competing with a crunching riff, and a dirty brilliant lead solo. Summerland follows, a popular one with fans, with another killer lead break from Ty, as if he were saving up all these breaks for the last half of the show. The crowd sing the next verse and it's fabulous to hear their enthusiasm.

Over My Head clocks 12:50 and features a lengthy lead solo and its brilliant! Just with the cymbals and some drums, keeping time we are treated to some awesome speed picking and sweeps, and arpeggios and tapping, just phenomenal. He hits the high notes and screams that axe to the depths of his soul. Then some nice softer guitar melodies follow. Doug tells the crowd "Welcome to the first church of rock n roll we're the pastors?. We bring you music to fill your soul ? music to lift you up, music to make you think, music. I don't know what I would do without music, it got me through a lot of hard times, all purpose music, it's all good, if you make music don't let anybody stop you , or deter your direction, if it's from your heart, I decided I'm gonna make fine music" and after this preaching the crowd sing the chorus like a choir. It's a real moment in a live concert you wouldn't forget if you were there.

It's Love is next, a calming melody and different vocalist breaks things up a bit after the previous showstopper. More lead on this too.

We Were Born To Be Loved is a highlight. Kings X get straight into this without a break and it rocks. Noisy guitars and some harmonies drive it along. There is a proggy mid section, choppy tight guitar drum riff and fractured rhythm.

Goldilox is very popular, in fact the crowd sings all of this song by themselves and its quite moving to hear them sing the sweet melody. Can't hear many women though, if this were surprising. This is a really nice moment I believe in the performance to hear the crowd singing in adoration. The minimalism of a lone guitar and an adoring crowd. Then there is a beautiful lead break with only a drum beating in time. The crowd just keep singing along the whole song, having a good time which is what it's all about.

Visions is next. A feedback intro draws us into this track, and at 7:50 it is one of the longer songs. Ty's killer riffs breaks up the verses, bluesy and grooving hooks, it picks up speed with prog style time sig changes, a great beat, riffing excellence, and the lead is awesome , with shredding fret melting brilliance.

Moanjam is next. After an encore the guitars return, teasing the crowd as such for a while, then there is "1,2,3,4" and then drums kick in and it just rocks along with a jamming feel and a massive beat, and this thing pumps along for 7:30 mins or so. There is some great gospel like singing too. One of the heaviest numbers on the Cd, there are some speed drumming riffing on this, and really dirty guitar sounds, vocals mimicking lead guitar, repetition of riffs, lead solo finesse, hammering excellence, skilful speed fingering and jamming, and the air raid siren effect is great. I love Ty's guitar soloing improvisation, not over bearing but passionate and emotive.

At the end they just smash their instruments with a ferocity you can feel, creating an intense concert vibe. By the end of it I know I have been treated to a passionate full blown concert experience. The crowd go wild. They are thanked and loved, "for making this such a great night". And she's over. 4 stars for this second CD, 3 stars for the first. Let's round her off at 3 ½.

I know Ty Tabor from collaborating with The Jelly Jam. KING'S X are a recommended heavy rock band which comprises some prog substance. They have already been on my orbit for some time, which means I've already heard some songs before, but never got into a complete album. After reaching for this live recordings by accident (as a promo) it was about time of course. Now first of all - they surely rock the house (London's Electric Ballroom), please their fans, play a setlist consisting of spotlights from 15 albums in the meanwhile.

Not being familiar with the discography, of course I must fail to point to the corresponding album at present when it comes to each song. It would be a puzzle for me - so I will leave this to the fanboys (and girls). First CD starts with two relatively simple straightforward rock songs which are not really striking, maybe just have the task to handle the band's warmup, to reach for full speed. Which means Pleiades comes much more substantial as for my impression, if only because also provided with some relaxed jamming approach. And at the end they catch their fans with the statement 'This is our favourite place to play' - nothing won't go wrong yet!

Groovy heavy rock with a proper grunge proportion is the name of the game now - starting with the excellent Move Ty Tabors' guitar playing is sometimes psychedelic tinged, which makes the songs more attractive to me. On the other hand - I find the drum playing too simple in the whole. So all in all, concering prog standards, this is often limited, I'm missing trickiness, stylistical variety. Want to point out Dogman especially when it comes to the exceptions - the guitar is striking, very heavy but also Robin Trower styled in some way. And Julie is played very accessible, charming, provided with some pleasant contrast, unfortunately too short because there is so much substance available.

The rest of the songs are not really attractive to me, it sounds too professional and single tracked ... and so we are going over to CD2 with rather mixed feelings .. but that will be more challenging ... they are accentuating the live character from now on. Just take the lengthy Over My Head - groovy, changing time signatures, provided with irresistible guitar work, even drummer Jerry Gaskill comes out of hiding - a highlight for sure ... and the crowd is on cloud nine. They get a band in genial mood, hence, now at the latest, they don't have regreted the coming, I'm sure. Then Goldilox is dedicated to the fans - they simply adopt the vocal parts. This sounds impressing!

The last song Moonjam - obviously an encore - is played with some Jimi Hendrix inspiration - and aimed at getting the last drop of sweat from all attendees .. and the band members too of course. Coming to a conclusion 'Live Love In London' is a good album in its entirety, but only due to the second part of the gig which appears more ambitious. So this can be treated as a couple - the first part is professionally mainstream oriented, the other more seeking into variety and inspiration. A tad heavier - but this reminds me of Phil Lynott's Thin Lizzy in parts. Not really necessary to emphasize - a must have for the fans - but also a good choice if you are interested in some pleasant heavy rock songs played live.

'Live Love In London' - King's X (4/10)

A band that has no doubt stood the test of time, all the while maintaining a highly loyal fanbase, there's no denying that American groove rock act King's X has what it takes to make it in the music world. As a very casual listener of the band, I had grown a meager appreciation for their eclectic, distinct style and a handful of the songs I had heard, but until listening to the band's double disc live album 'Live Love In London,' I had little experience listening to this group, and therefore little preconception as to what I would hear on it. While I can certainly see King's X's performance here being an enjoyable ordeal for an existing fan, some questionable recording value, a generally unremarkable performance and some fairly inconsistent song quality makes 'Live Love In London' a pretty mediocre, if functional live release from this band.

The vast majority of the songs picked for 'Live Love' take the shape of groovy, riff-based hard rockers, mostly led by the gospel-derived vocals of frontman Doug Pinnick. With your typical live album opening of crowd ambiance and cheering, 'Groove Machine' kicks in, and instantly gives a general impression of what a good three quarters of the two discs is comprised of; some basic, but interesting grooves, some minor improvisations here and there, and the bluesy vocals of Pinnick driving the melody along. While the songwriting here (and on many of the other songs listed here) are quite good, the live performance does not feel as if it adds anything to the original recorded versions of the songs, which- to me- is what a live album should be all about.

In terms of the band's performance here, the vocal work of Pinnick can take some getting used to, but it's clear after a few tracks that he has a powerful voice that he knows how to use well. Better still are the vocals of Ty Tabor which pop up in a few songs, which while aren't as booming as Pinnick's, feel as if they have a wider emotional range, as is well- shown on the first disc's highlight 'Pleiades'. Instrumentally, the real star is Tabor, whose rocking solos are one of the album's biggest saving graces.

While the first disc is pretty basic and doesn't offer much more than the typical funk/groove hard rock songwriting of King's X, things do start getting more interesting with the second half of 'Live Love.' The cornerstone of disc two is certainly the jam-based piece 'Over My Head,' which finally shows the band taking advantage of the live milieu, and letting loose for a while. While the track begins as a pretty typical piece of funk rock, the track begins to break down into some more solo-based improvisation, finally culminating in a passionate speech from Doug Pinnick concerning music, it's power, and how much it truly means to him. While I'm not a King's X fan, it's hard not to be moved by the voice of sincerity in the words, and the absolutely wild crowd reaction that his oratory provides, as if Pinnick was speaking to each person in the arena individually. The other highlight on the second disc is 'Goldilox,' which again shows the potential for magic in live performance; this time around, it is the entire audience that sings the lyrics from start to finish! These moments of hope in 'Live Love' are quite sparse however, being interspersed amidst plenty of unmentionable tracks that would be better listened to as a studio recording any day.

One of the other issues 'Live Love' suffers from is the production. While you can hear each musician and the audience, the mixing here is pretty poorly executed. The vocals and rhythm guitar sections unfortunately tune out much of the bass and drum work, and the entire thing is pretty muddy in the way it sounds. Once or twice, some tracks cut out almost entirely, only to return a few seconds later. Even if the performance here was exemplary, a bad production and recording of a concert can spell instant death for a live album.

'Live Love In London' is clearly an album meant to cater to the very fans that have kept King's X going for so long. However, it is far too flawed to be worth much more than the small handful of standout moments the performance here lends.

A cool night, good show!

The first time, or maybe the first couple of times I listened to it, I was not that enthusiastic and actually I felt bored after half an hour, but fortunately I've given it more spins and now I can say I enjoy most of the concert. King's X are a cool hard rock trio with some prog rock connections (limited I would say, but connections anyway) who have been together since the eighties and have released a considerable amount of albums. Now that I review I must admit my only reference before listening to this live show was their 'Gretchen goes to Nebraska' album, which is pretty good, but honestly I was not that attracted by this band.

When I got this digital promo my knowledge regarding the band was almost inexistent, then I realized that the most of the songs performed here are well known pieces and favorites of their audience (because they have a huge amount of followers,, as I've seen) and cover practically all their discography, with songs from their debut album such as 'Goldilox', to some of their latest release, like 'Pray'.

So 'Live Love in London' is a double CD album performed in the 2009, but released last year (2010) with a total time of almost two hours; a show that their fans surely enjoyed. This time I will not review song by song, It would take me ages to finish and I would bore the readers, so I will limit to talk about my favorite (and not that favorite) moments of the concert.

In the first CD I like the power and feeling of some hard rock songs such as 'Alright', 'Move' and 'Pray'. The voice of Doug Pinnick is good in spite of his sixty years, however I believe in moments his voice sounds tired and not as great as in his best years, but that's understandable. There are some good riffs by Ty Tabbor, and also a couple of songs he sings, which sound great. However some songs such as 'Black Flag' sound like fillers, or well, I simply don't like them.

In the second CD, a long version of 'Over my Head' appears, with Doug saying a speech about the church of music, not that I like that, but it moved the crowd and made them scream louder. The classic 'Goldilox' sang by the audience is a nice experience, I actually love when the fans sing with all their souls, because they transmit a lot of things, and put smiles over the musician's faces. The last song is 'Moanjam' which I really enjoy, the instrumental jam is exquisite and it lights on the rock power that rests in our soul.

After all, I finished liking this concert, despite I did not dig it at first; however I believe it is just a cool show which can be loved by King's X and hard rock fans. For progressive rock fans I think this is not really what would make us happy, but it can bring us some nice moments anyway. My final grade will be three stars, though I must admit I was tempted to rate it with two, since I believe it is mostly for the band's admirers.

Enjoy it!