X
Under the Big Black Sun
Label:  Elektra 
Date:  9/18/2001
Length:  0:00
Format:  CD
Genre:  Rock; Punk
  Category:  rock
    Track Listing:
      1.  
      		 Hungry Wolf    
      2.  
      		 Motel Room in My Bed    
      3.  
      		 Riding With Mary    
      4.  
      		 Come Back to Me    
      5.  
      		 Under the Big Black Sun    
      6.  
      		 Because I Do    
      7.  
      		 Blue Spark    
      8.  
      		 Dancing With Tears in My Eyes    
      9.  
      		 Real Child of Hell    
      10.  
      		 How I (Learned My Lesson)    
      11.  
      		 Have Nots    
      12.  
      		 Riding With Mary [Single Version]    
      13.  
      		 Paso [X Rewrites "El Paso" Rehearsal]    
      14.  
      		 Because I Do [TV Mix][Instrumental]    
      15.  
      		 Breathless [Single Mix]    
      16.  
      		 How I (Learned My Lesson) [Live]    
    Additional info: | top

      By the time the title track's triumphant riff chime-growls out midway through Under the Big Black Sun, the listener has already been through the most wrenching sequence of X songs yet assembled. After the thumping bike-club anthem "The Hungry Wolf" opens this 1982 major-label debut, its tough-ass romanticism is quickly plowed under by memories of a motel bed "with rubber sheets" and two heartrending songs about Exene Cervenka's sister Mirielle, who'd been killed in a car crash. In fact, even without "Blue Spark," this would easily qualify as the group's most indigo record yet; the second half offers a lovingly surf-music-tinged remake of an old Tin Pan Alley tune, "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" and "The Have Nots," whose alcohol-soaked social comment clings so fiercely to mournfulness that hardly a wisp of punk anger can take hold. Rootsier than X's previous albums, Sun updates noirish dread with guitar wisdom. This remaster includes five bonus tracks, including the original mix of their Jerry Lee Lewis cover "Breathless." --Rickey Wright