Ms. Exene Cervenka's solo debut landed as if to finally torch all the one-note, punk-uniformity-insisting, Doubting Thomases that dogged her monumentally excellent previous band, X toward the end of their outstanding reign as the greatest American Rock band of the Eighties. 'Old Wives' Tales' sonically resides somewhere between the Hillbilly, drunken-twang and bluegrass mutations __first affectionately revealed on her X-side-project, The Knitters__ and mixing in ill-willed folk styles with her obvious penchant for good ole kick-a** Cow-Punk fury. Songs like "Leave Heaven Alone", "She Wanted", and "Here Come The Crucifiers" are 3 of the most ravishingly beautiful songs Exene has ever composed, and HER VOICE is simultaneously infused with vitriol and sincere, heart-breaking sweetness. And her smashing lyricism here justifies every bit of it. Just try to top that, all you hardcore fascists. "Famous Barmaid" is a perfectly phrased and delivered spoken piece,(half-autobiographical, perhaps?)rhythmically recited over a jazzy, dive-bar band live backdrop. An absolute gem. "White Trash Wife", and "He's Got A She" are great hollering Punk numbers reflecting her uniquely dark take of post-modern womanhood. Three-quarters of the way through the disc, she pulls out all the stops and treats the listener to an amazingly conceived recitation of her prose, sans any music. "Gravel" has to be heard to be treasured. All I'll say it involves Native Americans and their ponderings while gazing at the preposterous faces blasted into their mountain homeland, aka Mt. Rushmore. Rock And Roll doesn't know how lucky it is to have Exene Cervenka injecting her arch intelligence and dissent into its bang-fest. This disc is a genuine masterpiece, pure and unsimple.