King's X - Tape Head
1998, Metal Blade
1. Groove Machine
2. Fade
3. Over and Over
4. Ono
5. Cupid
6. Ocean
7. Little Bit of Soul
8. Hate You
9. Higher Than God
10. Happy
11. Mr. Evil
12. World
13. Walter Bela Farkas (Live Peace in New York)
Is it possible for King's X to have a "worst album"? Sadly, the answer is yes - and here it is: Tape Head. After the bid for commercial success failed the band just went into the studio and banged out this album. It's very simplistic and very basic. I also don't think there's as much life in these songs as on previous releases. It's almost like they were tired of being King's X and didn't really want to even make a King's X album but did anyway. They've completely abandoned any sort of progressive sound by now, which isn't bad per se, but the songs are just not as catchy or as strong. I can only think of a few tracks that I really like, some of which include "Fade," "Hate You," and "Happy." "Groove Machine" is alright too and has become a concert staple. This is not the band's finest hour by far. Tape Head was the second King's X album to appear in Christian bookstores. Just in time for Dug to come out about his sexuality. Predictably, in their overwhelming Christ-like love bookstores pulled the album.
Useless Fact: Wally Farkas (from Galactic Cowboys) appears on the last track. Also, that's Dug's head wrapped in tape on the cover. "Happy" was originally a profanity laced song called "Quality Control" that was supposed to be on Dogman if I remember correctly.
While not my favorite (I gave it a 7 in my dork scale) I thought that Manic Moonlight and Black Like Sunday were worse. Then I had the pleasure of hearing the band play "Static" live (off the Manic Moonlight album) and was completely blown away. If they could have captured the energy and sizzle of that live performance instead of the flat rendition on the album it would raise that 7.
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