REVIEW: King's X, Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous (Metal Blade)
- Scott Hudson
King's X eighth studio release Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous could have easily been titled Crime Of The Century , and for good reason. When the Houston trio consisting of Ty Tabor (Guitar), Doug Pinnick (Bass) and the underrated Jerry Gaskill (Drums) released their debut album, Out Of The Silent Planet in 1988, they brought to the table a unique blend of seamless Beatlesque harmonies amidst a wall of heavy-rock riffs, Revolver-era psychedelia and driving prog/metal rhythms. The result was sheer musical magic. There was every reason to believe, at that time, that King's X were mega-stars in-waiting. But that didn't happen!
While the world bandwagon-jumped from fad-to-fad, King's X unceremoniously released five brilliant records that went largely unnoticed by the record-buying public. As a matter of fact, the albums that followed, Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, Faith Hope Love, King's X and Dogman sold just under 500,000 units, combined.
Despite the lack of mainstream support, Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous proves the band's unwillingness to alter their direction or to conform for the sake of commercial success.
If there is a weak song on this set, it is the record's opening track "Fish Bowl Man" with its chaotic intro. Although not a bad song, actually the chorus is rather catchy, it does contain a lengthy, meaningless spoken dialogue about two-thirds of the way through.
The tracks that follow, "Julia," "She's Gone Away" and the trippy-smooth "Marsh Mellow Field" are outstanding tunes and prove, once again, that the band has lost absolutely nothing.
"When You're Scared" harkens back to the Dogman album and is reminiscent of "Flies and Blue Skies", although a bit darker. The song captures Pinnick's knack for creating a vocally haunting atmosphere.
And there's "Charlie Sheen" which features a classic Ty Tabor intro, melodic and flowing with an almost Dickey Betts feel, but your guess is as good as mine as to where the title comes from.
The disc is also graced by one of the most beautiful King's X tunes ever written in "Bitter Sweet." The song features the band's excellent three-part harmony, with Tabor's atmospheric guitar lines carefully carrying the song to the heavenlies.
Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous is an excellent disc, worthy of any collection. After 12 years and eight amazing albums, these guys ought to be mega-stars, but they're not. And that, my friend, is a crime.
Perhaps we should take this disc and the rest of the King's X collection and put it into a time capsule, not to be unearthed for 100 years. No doubt that those listening several generations from now would wonder what kind of fools we were for not allowing this band the success they so richly and justly deserve.
