Monday, August 6, 2012

King's X - "Ear Candy"



King's X - Ear Candy
1996, Atlantic

1. The Train
2. (Thinking and Wondering) What I'm Gonna Do
3. Sometime
4. A Box
5. Looking For Love
6. Mississippi Moon
7. 67
8. Lies in the Sand (The Ballad Of...)
9. Run
10. Fathers
11. American Cheese (Jerry's Pianto)
12. Picture
13. Life Going By

When Ear Candy first came out I tore a path through my hometown trying to find a copy. I was excited about the band returning to form, so to speak. Not that they were really out of form for Dogman but that's what I thought at the time. Ear Candy is a lot more commercial than anything the band had done before. This was also about the time the band was doing profanity laced interviews in all the metal magazines. Ironic given that this disc was probably the first to appear in Christian bookstores. I liked this one even though it's kind of hit and miss. It starts strong with "The Train," "(Thinking and Wondering) What I'm Gonna Do," etc. Also, I count "Mississippi Moon" as one of my favorite King's X tracks ever. It peeters out toward the end with some boring ballads and run-of-the-mill King's X fodder (granted, that's still better 99% of pop music, but still).

About the lyrics - while I do miss the C.S. Lewis type lyrics I have to respect the honest on here. I really feel for what they guys must have been going through. Especially on "Looking for Love" and "Run" both most likely inspired by Doug's struggles. I've totally been there.

Useless Fact: This would be the last album the band would record for Atlantic before moving onto Metal Blade.

1 comment:

  1. So you're finally coming out? :P

    I remember hearing a song from this album on song Christian radio rock show and thinking that it was odd that they were finally getting airplay for the album that, to that time, had the least "Christian" content. Plus it had "American Cheese." Time has given me an appreciation of this album but it's not my favorite.

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