X suffers from being front-loaded, and from quite blatantly attempting to replicate the success of KICK almost by numbers. It starts with the undeniable “Suicide Blonde,” and goes straight into the sultry “Disappear.” “By My Side,” its love ballad, is string-filled and working toward a booming crescendo, but it never quite reaches the urgency of KICK’s “Never Tear Us Apart.” Even the videos for “Suicide Blonde” and “Disappear” mimic that of “Need You Tonight,” with the band sliding in and out in mostly black-and-white.

“Bitter Tears” and “The Stairs,” though, are where you see the band further growing into themselves and forging something a bit new that they’d explore more deeply on their next album, Welcome To Wherever You Are. Lyrically, “The Stairs” revisits Hutchence’s obsession with the essential elusiveness of universal human connection over a hammering beat; “Bitter Tears” tones down the overt sex while staying visceral, and it uses horns sparingly to great effect.