IN THE MIX Billy Zoom Edition Vol. 1

IN THE MIX Billy Zoom Edition Vol. 1

In the 1986 documentary, X: The Unheard Music, Billy Zoom says he read a review of The Ramones that said "all their songs were too fast, to short, only had three chords, no guitar solos, & the lyrics were dumb, and those all sounded like real positive things to me."  He (rightly) credits The Ramones with starting punk rock, & his edition of IN THE MIX includes a number he recorded with the instrumental group The Ramonetures.

Unlike other members of the LA Punk Scene he'd been a professional musician for years before forming X with bassist John Doe.  Zoom had gigged with Gene Vincent, and Billy’s first recordings were rockabilly tracks for Rollin’ Rock—the last label to record Vincent.  

This comp starts with Zoom’s Bad Boy & Say When, his contributions to the soundtrack of the X-Rated Serena vehicle YOUNG, HOT ’N’ NASTY TEENAGE CRUISERS.  Crazy, Crazy Lovin’ is from an ART FEIN compilation of the best of L.A. Rockabilly, & Pinball Heaven was Zoom’s final single on Rollin’ Rock.

There are two tracks of Billy playing with The Alligators, an early 70's roots rock combo that recorded an early version of his Bad Boy entitled I'm A Bad Boy (But An Awfully Good Man) with lead singer Dollar Varden providing vocals.

In addition to playing with Vincent, Zoom also backed Etta James, Big Joe Turner, The Blasters, & Mike Ness who featured Billy on track 10, Dope Fiend Blues.  I found a later live show online—hoping to feature Billy’s jazzier side—but pulled Breathless from it--which is straight ahead rock & roll.  It’s rare that anyone can match Jerry Lee Lewis for sheer intensity, but X does.  The Way It Is the only track from their farewell album 2024’s Smoke & Fiction but it’s not because there aren’t plenty of good tracks to choose from.

Zoom said in one interview that Johnny Hit & Run Pauline is his favorite X song, so I included it.  

Another stand-out track is X's demo for Dave Alvin's song 4th Of July.  By the time it found its way onto one of their albums in 1987, Alvin had replaced Zoom, who reportedly left because he was frustrated by the band’s lack of commercial success.  

The Blasters' former guitarist was highly regarded in his own right, but stepping into Zoom's cowboy boots wasn’t easy. He told The LA Weekly: “I was amazed when I had to actually sit down and learn 32 songs in two weeks,” says Alvin. “How Billy Zoom put his parts together was amazing. For a three-piece band, his orchestration on guitar was really tremendous. They were almost mathematically perfect arrangements. Billy likes tinkering with machines and electronics, and in some ways, his guitar parts are put together like schematics. I'm more of a primitive. I lack that kind of technique, and Billy was very, very advanced. I learned a lot; my guitar playing improved a lot after I had to sit down and learn all of his parts. There's a part of me that's forever in his debt, from having my Billy Zoom guitar lessons.”

Some of my favorite X tracks round out the collection, along with something that I haven’t seen elsewhere on the web.  If memory serves, I acquired a 1988 audience tape of Billy playing in a Los Angeles bar that I digitally converted.  In the audience is the infamous Top Jimmy of Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs whose shows were alcohol-fueled, and often ended in brawls.  Jimmy numbered Tom Waits & David Lee Roth among his friends, but the first friend he made upon moving to LA (straight out of reform school) was Billy Zoom.  It’s clear on the recordings that Billy has real affection for Top Jimmy, whose presence seems slightly disruptive.  He joins Zoom for one song (that isn’t included here) & just before Billy sings Only Make Believe (which is) he gently says: “Put the girl down, Jimmy.”