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GENERATION X
Anthology (Capitol)
Reviewed by Alan Wright
Recently, Chrysalis reissued the first two Generation X albums, remastered with bonus tracks. Now here's a triple disc set that has its pros and cons. First the cons: the liner notes aren't very informative and are awkwardly written and plagued by grammatical and spelling errors. For example, here's a gem of a sentence: "In some cases not all of these albums had even been mixed, but what was recoverable is presented here for the first time in among the groups (sic) hit singles and some classic live material, enjoy." Unless you know something about Gen X, you're not going to learn very much from the short liner notes, that's for sure. Also, the CD goes on to say that disc one is "the complete singles," which it most certainly is not. It has the A-sides of most of the singles, but few of the non-LP B-sides, and is basically the same tracks as the Perfect Hits CD that's been available for years, minus "Triumph" and with a few more songs added. A couple of those, covers of "Rock and Roll" and "The Hunter," aren't even from singles, they're previously unreleased outtakes! A couple of minor quibbles with this disc, too: I also wonder why they always include "Wild Dub," certainly not the band's strongest release, since it's, as the title implies, simply a "dub" version of "Wild Youth." The other quibble is the use of the inferior earlier version of "Gimme Some Truth," which was a single B-side. The best version remains on the still-unreissued American version of their first LP, which substituted three album tracks for three more recent recordings. That version of "Truth" has it all over this one. It's tighter, faster and has a great guitar solo and amazing backing vocals.
Disc two is the legendary Sweet Revenge album, which would've been the follow-up to Valley Of The Dolls had Derwood Andrews and Mark Laff not quit the band after a Japanese tour. Previously available as a Spanish import on Munster, this version sees the tracks mixed up and has better sound overall. It includes the original version of "Dancing With Myself," later rerecorded by the Gen X line-up for the Kiss Me Deadly LP, as well as superior versions of "Triumph," "Stars Look Down," and "Revenge." The totally unreleased tunes like "Anna Smiles," "Psycho Beat" and "Modern Boys" all rock like crazy. They also added a couple more songs to the line-up, including a great speeded up cover of David Bowie's "I Dig Everything," and a completely unnecessary "dub" version of "Dancing With Myself." There is an interesting audio interview with bassist Tony James at the end, though.
Disc three is an entire live show from Osaka, Japan on that ill-fated tour that split the original line-up. I've had this in bootleg form for years, but the sound here is way better, with absolutely none of the hiss of the boot version, and simply amazing sound. A great and enthusiastic show, though I'm curious as to why the last song is listed as "Outro Jam," when it's just the crazed ending part of the last song, "Youth Youth Youth."
The long and short of it is, if you're a major Gen X fan you'll want to get this, but casual fans may be better off sticking with the recent expanded CD reissues of the first two albums.
© 2003 - Alan Wright