Wild Gift

Wild Gift
Studio album by X
Released May 1981
Recorded March 1981, Clover Recorders, Los Angeles, Golden Sound Studios, Hollywood
Genre Punk rock
Length 33:02
Label Slash
Producer Ray Manzarek
X chronology
Los Angeles
(1980)		 Wild Gift
(1981)		 Under the Big Black Sun
(1982)

Wild Gift is the second album by the American punk rock band X, released in 1981. It was very well received critically, and was voted #2 for the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.[1] In 2003, the album was ranked number 333 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[2]

In 1988, Slash released Los Angeles and Wild Gift jointly on a single CD. Wild Gift was remastered and reissued in 2001 by Rhino Records, with seven bonus tracks.

The track "White Girl" was sampled by The Red Hot Chili Peppers on their 1989 album Mother's Milk during the song "Good Time Boys".[3] Ensuing lyrics mention John Doe specifically, "whose voice is made of gold".

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Record GuideA+[4]
Entertainment WeeklyA[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[8]

In a review published in his "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau gave Wild Gift a rare A+ rating, writing that "hippies couldn't understand jealousy because they believed in universal love; punks can't understand it because they believe sex is a doomed reflex of existentially discrete monads. As X-Catholics obsessed with a guilt they can't accept and committed to a subculture that gives them no peace, Exene and John Doe are prey to both misconceptions, and their struggle with them is thrilling and edifying...Who knows whether the insightful ministrations of their guitarist will prove as therapeutic for them as for you and me, but I say trust a bohemian bearing gifts. How often do we get a great love album and a great punk album in the same package?"[4] Christgau later ranked the album third on his 'Personal Best' list for the 80's, the highest placing of any rock album.[9]

When The Village Voice held their Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1981, Wild Gift was ranked at #2, behind Sandinista! by the Clash.[1] It was listed at #334 in Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums list in 2003.[2]

Track listing

All tracks written by John Doe and Exene Cervenka.

Side one

  1. "The Once Over Twice" – 2:31
  2. "We're Desperate" – 2:00
  3. "Adult Books" – 3:19
  4. "Universal Corner" – 4:33
  5. "I'm Coming Over" – 1:14
  6. "It's Who You Know" – 2:17

Side two

  1. "In This House That I Call Home" – 3:34
  2. "Some Other Time" – 2:17
  3. "White Girl" – 3:27
  4. "Beyond and Back" – 2:49
  5. "Back 2 the Base" – 1:33
  6. "When Our Love Passed Out on the Couch" – 1:57
  7. "Year 1" – 1:18

Bonus tracks (2001 reissue)

  1. "Beyond and Back" (Live) – 2:48
  2. "Blue Spark" (Demo) – 2:04
  3. "We're Desperate" (Single version) – 2:01
  4. "Back 2 the Base" (Live) – 1:40
  5. "Heater" (Rehearsal) (Doe) – 2:32
  6. "White Girl" (Single mix) – 3:29
  7. "The Once Over Twice" (Unissued single mix) – 2:35

Personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1981 Billboard Pop Albums 165

References

  1. 1 2 "The 1981 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. February 1, 1982. Retrieved 23 October 2005.
  2. 1 2 Levy, Joe; Steven Van Zandt (2006) [2005]. "334 | Wild Gift - X". Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (3rd ed.). London: Turnaround. ISBN 1-932958-61-4. OCLC 70672814. Retrieved 26 February 2006.
  3. 1 2 Prato, Greg. "Wild Gift – X". AllMusic. Retrieved September 11, 2005.
  4. 1 2 Christgau, Robert. "X: Wild Gift". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved February 26, 2006.
  5. ↑ "X: Wild Gift". Entertainment Weekly: 75. September 28, 2001.
  6. ↑ Cohen, Debra Rae (August 20, 1981). "X: Wild Gift". Rolling Stone (350). Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2006.
  7. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 889–90. ISBN 0-743-20169-8.
  8. ↑ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  9. ↑ Christgau, Robert (January 2, 1990). "Decade Personal Best: '80s". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
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