Manic Moonlight

Manic Moonlight

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
King's X has never wanted to be a typical band, and this holds true for their ninth album. While the songs are not as immediate as their earlier works, the arrangements on Manic Moonlight are progressive and jazzy with clever hooks that might require a few listens to sink in--but after that they become irresistible. There's also more of a funk influence here, with album opener "Believe" setting the tone with a fine groove. "Skeptical Winds" explores the style more deeply with touches of R&B and soul, and the heavy bass line coupled with hard-rock crunch on "Vegetable" is truly original. "Static" experiments with dark ambient rhythms and odd samples, becoming a wall of metallic noise and screaming guitars. The wonderful lush harmonies that have been a King's X trademark are present on the melodic "Jenna" and the dreamy, uplifting "False Alarm," which stand strong next to the album's harder moments such as "Yeah" and title track. It's another fine album from this very talented and underrated band. --Gail Flug

Product Description
Manic Moonlight, the 9th King's X (Metal Blade), is yet another compelling piece of maximum artistry. Still in abundance are the trademark vocal harmonies, intricate arrangements and catchy melodies.

Tracks:

Believe
Manic Moonlight
Yeah
False Alarm
Static
Skeptical Winds
The Other Side
Vegetable
Jenna
Water Ceremony

Amazon.com

King's X has never wanted to be a typical band, and this holds true for their ninth album. While the songs are not as immediate as their earlier works, the arrangements on Manic Moonlight are progressive and jazzy with clever hooks that might require a few listens to sink in--but after that they become irresistible. There's also more of a funk influence here, with album opener "Believe" setting the tone with a fine groove. "Skeptical Winds" explores the style more deeply with touches of R&B and soul, and the heavy bass line coupled with hard-rock crunch on "Vegetable" is truly original. "Static" experiments with dark ambient rhythms and odd samples, becoming a wall of metallic noise and screaming guitars. The wonderful lush harmonies that have been a King's X trademark are present on the melodic "Jenna" and the dreamy, uplifting "False Alarm," which stand strong next to the album's harder moments such as "Yeah" and title track. It's another fine album from this very talented and underrated band. --Gail Flug

Album Description

Manic Moonlight, the 9th King's X (Metal Blade), is yet another compelling piece of maximum artistry. Still in abundance are the trademark vocal harmonies, intricate arrangements and catchy melodies.

Customer Reviews:

Kings X - Average Album From The Band.......2007-07-20

Not one of my favorite Kings X discs, "Manic Moonlight" is still a decent effort from the band. This one seems to really be Doug Pinnick's baby. He sings lead on all of the tracks and although individual writing credits are not given the majority of the songs at lease sound like they were written by Pinnick. The album is low down a funky and features the great musicianship that Kings X fans have come to expect. Overall I would not rate the songwriting on this album quite up their with the band's best efforts however. Highlights include the title track "Manic Moonlight", the band's trademark vocal harmony effort "False Alarm", "Vegetable", and "Skeptical Winds". Overall this is a decent Kings X release, but in my opinion is not one of the band's best.

The grooves are here but the great songs aren't.......2006-07-16

King's X's Manic Moonlight finds the band attempting to expand their sound. Long known as a killer power trio who excelled both at their instruments and their harmonies, the band added sounds often identified in hip-hop on this album such as deep bass, turntable scratching, and drum loops. However, upon several listens it appears that in expanding their musical palette, they sacrificed the stellar songwriting that was a key to their previous work. Also worth noting is that bassist Doug Pinnick handles all the lead vocals here. While Pinnick remains a fine vocalist, this factor is a minor disappointment since guitarist Ty Tabor's lead vocals were an essential part of their previous release, the excellent Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous.

The album starts off with the funky "Believe", which is the band's best opener since the title track from the excellent Dogman album. The other great track here is "Vegetable" which continues the funk theme and is catchy as hell. "False Alarm" is the most melodic song and is also very good. After that, the songs aren't up to their usual high standard. While "Yeah" and "Skeptical Winds" have wicked grooves, their repetitiveness gives the feeling that they're incomplete. The remaining tracks such as "Static", "The Other Side", and the title track are all musically adventurous but just don't stick in your brain like their songs usually do. All told, while Manic Moonlight is a decent album and is better than most of the music being played on the radio these days, it's also their least focused studio release to date.

They're Back.......2006-04-11

This one has been in my car CD player for awhile now, and I like almost every song on it. To me it feels like the old King's X that fans know and love. Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous drove me nuts because all the songs seemed to sound alike. But on Manic Moonlight the music isn't just a rehash: they have gone in new directions here, but it has the energy of older works. And the lyrics, ah, the lyrics. That's the part that took me back the most. They don't necessarily make sense, they make you wonder what the true meaning is, they catch your attention. Like Mr. Wilson...

If you lost interest in King's X awhile back, this is where you want to step back up to the plate and pick up where you left off.....

WHAT IS THIS!?.......2006-02-22

Hi , I love KX, BUT what is this....well, lets put it like this, its the worst KX album, but STILL puts most "rock bands" today to shame, thats saying something..............LONG LIVE KING'S X.......and matchbox 20 sucks!!

Not very good.......2005-10-12

I stopped buying King's X cd's after this one. I'll still go see them play live but I don't get excited about their new releases.
In my opinion this band peaked with "Dogman".

Tapehead/Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous/Manic Moonlight

Average customer rating:

Great Music Value in this 3CD set!
The Worst King's X Is Still Better Than 99 % Of Most Music
Bittersweet...

Tapehead/Please Come Home Mr. Bulbous/Manic Moonlight
King's X
Manufacturer: Metal Blade
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Ogre Tones
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Out of the Silent Planet
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ASIN: B000AQKYQE
Release Date: 2005-09-20

Tracks:

Groove Machine
Fade
Over And Over
Ono
Cupid
Ocean
Little Bit Of Soul
Hate You
Higher Than God
Happy
Mr. Evil
World
Walter Bela Farkas (Live Peace In New York)

Tracks:

Julia
She's Gone Away
Marsh Mellow Field
When You're Scared
Charlie Sheen
Smudge
Bitter Sweet
Move Me

Tracks:

Believe
Manic Moonlight
Yeah
False Alarm
Static
Skeptical Winds
The Other Side
Vegetable
Jenna
Water Ceremony

Album Description

Hard rock

Customer Reviews:

Great Music Value in this 3CD set!.......2007-01-04

These guys ROCK with outstanding creativity. If you like music more interesting than the usual radio fare then this 3CD set will delight. I highly recommend at this great price.

The Worst King's X Is Still Better Than 99 % Of Most Music.......2005-10-28

To those who ask what is the draw of the King's X, I normally give the answer of where else can you find Sly and The Family Stone jamming on the same stage/album with the Beatles and Led Zeppelin? If that doesn't scare them, I go from there. Are these the best King's X albums in their weighty portfolio, now complimented by the awesome new "Ogre Tones"? No, but as the title of this review suggests, so what? "Tape Head", the first Metal Blade effort is still one of their best studio efforts, from the powerful "Groove Machine", to the rocking thickness of "Fade", to the soulful "Over and Over". "Higher Than God" is another highlight from this disk, with the cranking "World" to pretty much finish things up. I love the pre-Metal Blade disks, and pray for the day when the King's X will blatantly again merge a love for Jesus with their incredible artistry such as on efforts like "Out Of The Silent Planet" or "Faith Hope Love", but this one stands as another condemnation of record companies and radio stations that would rather waste their time with groups that can't hold a drumstick, much less Doug's 12 string bass, to this music.

Briefly, highlights from the other two disks include (is the price for this box set really this low?) the aforementioned "Fish Bowl Man" in all it's looneyness, "Julie" for quick burst intensity that compliments the slower parts rather than being an emotional ploy, "Charlie Sheen" with one of the prettiest guitar runs never heard on radio, the Lennonish mourning of love lost in "Bitter Sweet", to the final plea of "Move Me, Parts 1 and 2" of "Please Come Home... Mr. Bulbous". For me, the third disk of this collection, "Manic Moonlight" is worth the price if only for the one song it includes of "Vegetable". This is the quintessential King's X funk/metal/blues song that makes one wonder if Hendrix would have been making similar music at this stage of his life if he had survived the 60's. IMHO.

Bittersweet..........2005-09-29

I'm a King's X fan of the first order, but when I heard about this box set, I had to ask...why? Don't get me wrong. The guys from King's X could fart into a microphone and it would be worth hearing simply on principal. But generally speaking, the first three Metal Blade albums are nothing to commemorate.

When Sam Taylor left the soundboard after their self-titled 4th album, fans nervously anticipated the next release without him. They were rewarded with Dogman (Brendan O'Brien) and Ear Candy (Brain Garcia) - both worthy additions to the King's X cannon. Then Tapehead came along - arguably the weakest effort at that point in history. Ty Tabor produced, the band had moved to a smaller label, and the following albums (included here) - Mr. Bulbous and Manic Moonlight - are anything but characteristic of the band's unique sound that influenced so many during the early 90's. Many have complained that these two albums are filled with left-over material from solo albums, half-finished songs with thrown together choruses, and only a glimmer of the creativity that seemed to seep from every pore of earlier albums. Lyrically speaking, these are the three darkest KX records, replete with a chronicle of Ty's divorce from his wife, dUg's divorce from God, and Jerry's divorce from....sanity? (See Mr. Bulbous' first track 'Fishbowl Man' for an example). This is the era in which many of the band's trademarks disappeared as well. Where is the 12-string Hammer bass? Where is Ty's fat, sweet guitar tone? Where are the guitar solos for that matter? dUG sings 90% of the vocals on these three albums - miles away from the shared vocal duties that permeated Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and Faith, Hope, Love. It seemed the band was changing, and not for the better.

Their latest release - Ogre Tones - is a truimphant return to their roots, but these albums are a record of a band that seems to be searching for a new identity, both on a corporate and invidivual level. While similiar changes have produced some great albums from other bands (U2, Metallica, Rush, etc.) - King's X frankly sounded like a mess on these releases. With the exception of the shockingly amatuer release 'Black Like Sunday' these are the worst of the worst KX albums. Why buy them a second time in a boxed set?

Though a seminal nightmare of red tape and legalities, fans would probably rather see a 'Sam Taylor' boxed set - the first four albums remastered, with a bonus disc of outtakes and unreleased material.

This is purchase for the die-hard fan who must have everything (and that would be me), but if you're just getting started as a KX fan, your money is better spent on the Jughead, Jelly Jam, or Supershine side projects.