Under the Big Black Sun (1982)

X turned out to be one of those bands where each member had something giant to offer, and the sum of the parts exceeded, etc., etc. A situation where people choose favorites (not forgetting the "fifth X," producer/evangelist Ray Manzarek either). For me, it was always Billy Zoom who mattered most, and this is his shining moment, his real life rock 'n' roll guitar ringing over and ruling all that it surveys, which is simply everything. Of course, it doesn't hurt that D.J. Bonebrake's drumming is on the order of Charlie Watts here -- he's hitting hard and right at an astonishing level all the way through. Nor that Exene Cervenka's and John Doe's songwriting and singing collaboration takes several significant steps deeper (particularly Cervenka taking on the death of her sister) into the collaboration that would ultimately burst apart and spit out a poet and a country singer. You don't want to miss this one.