Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by 'the X-Files'

Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by 'the X-Files'

Track Listings

1. X-Files Theme - Mark Snow

2. Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing

3. On the Outside - Sheryl Crow

4. Down in the Park - Foo Fighters

5. Star Me Kitten - William S. Burroughs

6. Red Right Hand - Nick Cave

7. Thanks Bro - Filter

8. Man of Steel - Frank Black

9. Unexplained - Meat Puppets

10. Deep - Danzig

11. Frenzy - Screamin' Jay Hawkins

12. My Dark Life - Elvis Costello, Brian Eno

13. Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn) - Alice Cooper, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie

14. If You Never Say Goodbye - P.M. Dawn

15. X-Files Theme [P.M. Dawn Remix] - Mark Snow

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
An influential TV series of the '90s has generated a dark, eerie, and vaguely campy set of "inspired-by" songs from a diverse group of musical fans. Pride of place here goes to three tracks: the Foo Fighters' delicious cover of Gary Numan's "Down In The Park," a filthy remake of R.E.M.'s "Star Me Kitten" by literary lion William Burroughs, and a titanic, cross-generational collision between Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper on "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)." Sheryl Crow's "On The Outside" is a toss-off in this company, while Mark Snow's famous X-Files theme loses its creepy edge in both extended and P.M. Dawn-remixed incarnations. --Jeff Bateman

Tracks:

X-Files Theme - Mark Snow
Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing
On The Outside - Sheryl Crow
Down In The Park - Foo Fighters
Star Me Kitten - William S. Burroughs & REM
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Thanks Bro - Filter
Man Of Steel - Frank Black
Unexplained - Meat Puppets
Deep - Danzig
Frenzy - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
My Dark Life - Elvis Costello With Brian Eno
Hands Of Death (Burn Baby Burn) - Rob Zombie And Alice Cooper
If You Never Say Goodbye - P.M. Dawn
X-Files Theme (P.M. Dawn Remix) - P.M. Dawn

Amazon.com

An influential TV series of the '90s has generated a dark, eerie, and vaguely campy set of "inspired-by" songs from a diverse group of musical fans. Pride of place here goes to three tracks: the Foo Fighters' delicious cover of Gary Numan's "Down In The Park," a filthy remake of R.E.M.'s "Star Me Kitten" by literary lion William Burroughs, and a titanic, cross-generational collision between Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper on "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)." Sheryl Crow's "On The Outside" is a toss-off in this company, while Mark Snow's famous X-Files theme loses its creepy edge in both extended and P.M. Dawn-remixed incarnations. --Jeff Bateman

Customer Reviews:

Pure 90s.......2006-09-28

Not only is this something for X-Files fans, but also for anyone who is a fan of 90s music. Love the Foo Fighters version of "Down In The Park". Also Nick Caves' "Red Right Hand",that song you always heard but wern't sure who sang it. The opening theme song is so powerful sounding you almost forget that this is music for some sci-fi telvision show on Fox; Full length version too. No heavy metal from Filter however. Rob Zombies song is pretty loud and intense. The REM song is just some music with some old guy talking rather than singing, pretty dumb. I know an X-Files sdrk should have some weirdness but the REM song is one to forget. There are two hidden tracks on this cd. The only way to hear them is to rewind past the first track on your cd player.

For the most part, a great album.......2006-01-25

If you're looking for variety, you would do well to purchase "Songs in the Key of X". Being a fan of "The X-Files" would probably help, but it's not neccesarily required. Where else could you find Sheryl Crow, Rob Zombie, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins all in the same place? Not only is this album a worthy soundtrack to one of the great shows of the 1990's, it's also an interesting collection of music that you probably don't get to hear quite often. While there are some big-name musicians like Foo Fighters, REM, and Sheryl Crow (as mentioned above), their contributions to "Songs In the Key of X" are significantly different from their more popular songs. REM's contribution is noteworthy, for it features novelist William S. Burroughs reciting the vocals to their song 'Star Me Kitten' with music done by the band. It's a moment that's as strange as anything Burroughs devised for one of his novels. While this song doesn't have much in common with the show, it's still one of the finer tunes on here.

In addition to mainstream alternative rock, there's also music by bands who didn't quite make it to the top. Meat Puppets and Soul Coughing both offer up musical tributes to paranormal phemonena, while the normally aggressive Filter tones things down a bit with their song 'Thanks Bro'. Not the best song on this album, but it's worth a glance if you enjoy their other music.

While this album earns points for its eclectic lineup of artists and the high quality of the music featured on it, some of the songs are total disappointments. Danzig's 'Deep' is a monotonous dirge about the usual topics: evil and death. He's done better in the past. PM Dawn's remix of the classic X-Files theme is tolerable, but not as memorable as Mark Snow's original. Perhaps someone like Moby or the Chemical Brothers would have been a more appropriate choice to redo the theme?

So yeah, "Songs In the Key of X" is not the perfect soundtrack. But despite some weak offerings, anyone who enjoys offbeat music and 90's alt-rock should give this album a try. Out of the two X-Files compilation albums released, it's by far the superior choice to the movie soundtrack. At least this album didn't have Sting trying to sound like Bob Marley...

not bad.......2005-09-03

i always wanted to but this when i was a kid, it got some kick ass tunes on it

A classic collection of rare, dark masterpieces!.......2003-09-02

Fantastic songs here collected beside fantastic artists, each one a bold and artistic masterpiece. Artists include R.E.M., Nick Cave, Sheryl Crow and a William S. Burroughs' take on "Star Me Kitten" that you will not soon forget. For sure an adult album, appreciated only by the outsider or paranormal-infatuated abductee-wannabe, or artist with the respect for briliance. The music is hard to classify, as it usually borders between rock and alterative, sometimes to the acoustic-style soft rock-meets-techno hybred. The music is so well-recorded and performed that it is often hard to imagine that it is nearly ten years old. I think that age will only add to the deeply hard core occult factor of this music, which can truly be discribed as the genuine article.

Okey, so I'm rambeling. It's incredible music! (Not the kind you listen to once and throw away!) My favs here would include "Man of Steel" by Frank Black, "My Dark Life" by Elvis Costello and "If you never say goodbye" by P.M. Dawn, but I love each and every one of these songs intimately. In short, Songs In the Key of X is an occult gem. So turn down the lights, put all chores aside, lay back, crank up the volume and let your imagination be guided along a seamy world of dark paranormal suspicion, lonely fear and optimistic intrigue. My god, the more I think about it the better I really realize that it is! (Rambeling again!)

So enjoy!

X-File fan or not, this is a great CD.......2003-04-08

Songs in the Key of X cannot really be called a soundtrack; it consists not of songs necessarily from The X-Files but songs inspired by and worthy of inclusion in the show. It's quite an eclectic mix, featuring many dark songs that sparkle with the horrid electricity one associates with The X-Files. The premiere track has to be Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This song is itself part of the lore and mythology of the show; any X-Files fanatic can tell you the story of how Chris Carter heard this song driving home from work one night and fell in love with it. Besides highlighting the road trip of abductee Duane Barry in Season Two, the song has also been featured prominently in the Scream movies, so this one will be familiar to many. Clearly, most of these songs are in the same dark, forceful vein - e.g., Danzig's Deep, Screamin' Jay Hawkins' Frenzy, and Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn) from the powerhouse duo of Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper. Soul Coughing's contribution Unmarked Helicopters may best fit the milieu of The X-Files and is an excellent song to boot. The Foo Fighters, a band that has never really captured my attention, makes a nice addition with Down in the Park. Frank Black's Man of Steel was a pleasant surprise to me, having only heard a much different kind of performance from him on Gordon Gano's Hitting the Ground.

The great variety of songs here means two things: there is something for everyone here, but every individual will also undoubtedly have a few tracks he/she doesn't particularly care for. Sheryl Crow's On the Outside is a perfectly good song, but it doesn't seem to fit here in my opinion. Elvis Costello's My Dark Life has potential but never succeeds in grabbing my attention. Star Me Kitten from William S. Burroughs & R.E.M. is just strange and almost unexplainable (it also is the primary reason for the Explicit Lyrics sticker on the cover). The big mystery here for me, though, is P.M. Dawn. Not only does their song If You Never Say Goodbye seem out of place, their remix of Mark Snow's excellent X-Files Theme is quite unnecessary given the greatness of Mark Snow's original version that starts this CD off with a bang.

You don't have to be an X-Files fan to enjoy this CD, but fans will have much more appreciation of the ingenuity and creative track selection that went into this album. The liner notes feature some perfectly odd artist drawings of X-Files characters and scenes as well as statements about the album from X-Files bigwigs Chris Carter and David Was. One should not think this album was released just to make money off of the hot X-Files name; there is a lot of quality music here that one might not ever have the chance to discover on one's own.

Music Info:

Music Info

music info

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