Ain't Love Grand is the fifth studio album by American rock band X, released in July 1985 by Elektra Records. The album was their first not produced by Ray Manzarek. It was reissued with four bonus tracks by Rhino Records in 2002. The album included the minor radio hit "Burning House of Love", which the band performed on American Bandstand in September 1985, their largest television exposure to date.[4][5] The album also includes a cover of the Small Faces song "All or Nothing". Lead guitarist Billy Zoom left the band after this album but he later returned to the group in 1998 during a tour and the original line-up released their next full-length studio album in 2020 with Alphabetland.
At the time of release, Zoom said, "I think it's the best songs we've ever done, and the best-produced record, and the best-engineered, and the best-sounding record we've made. It's the first one I'm really happy with. The others were always kind of hit-and-miss." Doe said, "Sonically, it's designed to fit into radio airplay. We're waving a typical... somewhat typical sounding carrot under radio listeners' noses. Then they've got the opportunity to see that there’s more going on."[6]
Reception
Bart Bull at Spin said the band's record company, "found a new producer for them, Michael Wagener, who's given them a bigger sound, a crunchier sound, a real 'rock' sound. He's given them a laughably homogenized sound that succeeds — X now sounds like everything else on AOR radio.[6]Christgau said, "they appease their major mentors and keep Billy in the band by taking X to the same producer as Christian heavy metal boys Stryper. Michael Wagener can't make John and Exene sound commercial enough to convert anyone."[2]
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