File Under: Punk Rock rating: A- tracks 1. Your Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not 2. Johnny Hit And Run Paulene 3. Soul Kitchen 4. Nausea 5. Sugarlight 6. Los Angeles 7. Sex And Dying In High Society 8. The Unheard Music 9. The World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss 10. I'm Coming Over (Demo) 11. Adult Books (Demo) 12. Delta 88 (Demo) 13. Cyrano De Berger's Back (Rehearsal) 14. Los Angeles (Dangerhouse Version) related links X

Rhino has begun to reissue the first three X albums with some remastering to compliment them. But, they also include some demo’s, alternate takes, and unreleased stuff. Pretty typical package. So, why should you buy this? BECAUSE IT’S FUCKING X! X is easily one of the best punk bands of all time and there is no doubt that the original version of Los Angeles sounded a little rough (even though it was leaps and bounds ahead of most punk records of that time). The remastering brings out Exene and John Doe’s vocals with a much fuller and warmer sound. They’ve done a really good job of balancing out their harmonies perfectly. The goodies at the end of the album are nothing to scream about. Basically songs that appear on other albums but different versions. A little gratuitous but they have to give you incentive to buy the same album twice ya know.

Jay Debauchery is a staff writer. Contact him at jay@rockzone.com.