| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Punk rockers, X have only achieved moderate limited mainstream success since forming in Los Angeles in 1977. The four-piece are still active apparently. She’s also dabbled on albums by The Knitters and The Original Sinners and Auntie Christ. Now for the first time since 1991, 54 year-old Exene Cervenka (born Christine Cervenkova) breaks free to show her ‘other side’ with a delicious solo album. She should do it more often. Switching to a totally new code, country folk-rock, Cervenka unveils her fabulous songwriting skills. It feels just like one of her songs suggests – The Sound Of Coming Down away from the rock’n’roll din she’s usually involved with. Gone is the crash -bang din for more sophisticated vignettes about usual matters pertaining to regret, loss, humour and the mother of all things – passion! Many songs clock-in under the 2 minute mark, but not a second is wasted.
Opener Trojan Horse is such a song - a lilting country-infused delight combining acoustic strums and subliminal electric flourishes, though the main feature is her gorgeous voice. What follows – On The Surface Of The Sun - is probably the best track on Somewhere Gone. A laidback mood propelled by the most sublime bass-lines this year, with little effort it ties this superb ballad together like glue. Another feature is the triple string work (violin / viola / cello) by the late Amy Farris. It’s Farris’ work that highlights again on the semi-thrusting title track, adding a menacing and melancholic texture. Bouncy Where Do We Go From Here straddles both country and folk without revealing the join, which would make a strong single for UK radio. Sharp Why Is It So brings backing vocalist Cindy Wasserman a chance to shine, but more like a duet than back-up. She does the same dazzling exhibitionism on stripped back ballad Insane Thing, playing the perfect foil to Cervenka. Good ol’ country jumps out and slaps you across the face on the best album track – the honey drenched (only non-original) The Willow Tree, again massively supported by Farris’ deft fiddle outing, whereas Walk Me Across The Night is an out-and-out honky -tonk boogie bristling with ivory tinklings. Things even out over the next four songs on a more subdued plane, with Farris providing an essential role on Melancholic ballads Honest Mistake (Celtic-like violin) and gypsy tinged Pinpoints. The verdict – Gorgeous.
Weblink: exenecervenka.com
The full list of tracks included are :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
