Joe Keaton

On Los Angeles/Wild Gift, Slash Records pairs the first two (and best) X albums. The patina (dig those male-female duets, that flash rockabilly guitar), and the gutter-shot brevity with which it hits, is bracing. The music is cow-punk, as defined by Venice Beach bohos. Recorded straight to tape as though the endeavor was a matter of life and death, and steeped in the subculture of the city of fallen angels, the set means to take rock & roll back to the base, the British Invasion be damned. The star couple at the wheel, Exene Cervenka and John Doe, gun it with their paws around each other.