King's X Goes Back to Nebraska

In recent years, bands have been incorporating complete albums as part of their set.. Judas Priest's last tour featured a complete British Steel. Metallica played all eight songs from Master of Puppets. Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death tour featured that album, complete, much to the chagrin of some fan. And Porcupine Tree's current tour features a complete performance of disc one of their new record, The Incident.

The latest band to plan this kind of "complete album" show is the mighty King's X, who will take to the road next year to present An Evening With King's X including a complete performance of their 1989 platter, the legendary Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

Gretchen was the band's second album. It perfectly captures mix of swirling psychedelia, heavy, de-tuned riff-rock and gospel fervor that came together in this power trio from Katy, TX. From the opening bass chords of "Out of the Silent Planet" to the classics "Over My Head" and "Summerland", this is an innovative rich album and one of the band's finest. It also has "The Difference", an acoustic song that might be among the band's loveliest.

Beatles-esque vocal harmonies and Ty Tabor's wailing guitar are underpinned by the rock-solid rhythm section of Doug Pinnick and Jerry Gaskill. All three guys sing. The blend of their voices, rising over a heavy descending bass-and-guitar crunch, provides this long-lived band with its definitive sound. If you've never seen them, you're in for a treat. If not, get tickets and get exposed to one of the most important, most underrated American rock bands of the last thirty years. And you'll be surprised at how many "grunge" bands ripped them off.

In other news, the band is planning a new album for 2010, and is releasing The Bigger Picture a collection of demos and original versions of songs on their self-titled fourth album. More information is available at Molken Music.