Faith No More: Angel Dust v. The Real Thing

Oh I've heard the "War Pigs" cover, I didn't realize it was on the album. I'm indifferent to it. Actually, looking at the tracklist, I realize I've heard six (!) of the tracks before, should just hear those last five for completeness. Of the ones I know, I don't think the songs are all that bad, but the sound is a little thin and Mike's voice is quite nasal, as was mentioned upthread

Yeah, that stuff is dated and also things they pivoted from with "Angel Dust." But the songs are solid.

Mike's voice is quite nasal

He's said he was putting that on as he thought that was how hard rock singers 'should' sound - helps to remember he was only 19/20 when they recorded it. Don't think he found himself vocally until Angel Dust, a big part of why it's a better album.

I've definitely heard The Real Thing and Angel Dust but I grew up with King For A Day and it just feels so... consistent in its eclecticism? I know AD is the fan's choice but it's spikier and less of a piece. KFAD just flows from idea to idea really nicely for me

As a huge fan of the previous two albums in real time, I'm oddly not into King for a Day.

Same here, I loved the previous two but just didn't like King for a Day at all when it came out nor any of the times after. I'm listening to Real Thing - AOTY in order right now for the first time in years and I'm curious to see if I feel differently about it now.

The release of King for a Day... was a legit 'counting down the days' EVENT. The album fell far short of those monumental expectations but I'm not sure to what extent the album itself is at fault.

Hell, Songs to Make Love To was a similar EVENT in my little world.

i was a big FNM fan based on the real thing and angel dust and while i didn't love KFAD as much as those two, there are some great songs on there

Is everyone in this revive ignoring Sol Invictus deliberately or

NO! i'm legitimately forgetting that it ever existed

It's a forgettable album imo. I don't remember it being bad per se, but I listened to it several times and can't remember a damn thing now. And for FNM that feels like a failure?

KFAD just flows from idea to idea really nicely for me

I'd say this more about AD! The genre experiments on KFaD feel more compartmentalised (a metal song, then a loungy r&b song, then another metal song, then a big band pastiche), whereas AD is this contastly shifting and surging stew of textures and ideas.

I woke up and put AD on. It's a really great album but I'm less familiar with it than KFAD, clearly. I feel like the vocals on KFAD are a lot more prominent than Angel Dust - like on Angel Dust they're mixed so low Patton gets lost on there.
Ugly In The Morning, Evidence, Cuckoo For Caca, Digging The Grave - all god-tier FNM in my book. And you know I'm a sucker for a good 90s genre-experiment album. Totally get why people prefer the previous two records though. 100% a matter of familiarity.

Yeah the mix of Angel Dust is a little muddy sometimes.

Angel Dust is pretty mysterious to me, in that the band started to lose its luster as soon as Jim was fired (see: S-K thread), so my brain assumed he was responsible for all those awesome hooks and cool arrangements. Except the reason he was fired was for supposedly barely contributing to Angel Dust, so it's odd to me that nothing they did since featured that same mix of giant hooks and (er) epically shifting arrangements (imo).

I never felt Patton was buried in the mix on AD, fwiw.

Angel Dust is a strong contender for my vote in that hot new poll that absolutely everyone is talking about, Roughly contemporaneous albums that I acquired during my first two years of high school.

It was just as totemic as The Real Thing, just a couple years further down the road (see also, albeit to a lesser extent: the first Mr. Bungle album).

I had no idea Courtney Love was the singer in FNM for a little while... She was all over the place wasn't she?

I love King For a Day. Angel Dust has it's high points, but feels like a semi-awkward transition album between original Faith No More and KFAD-era. On Angel Dust, which is really remarkable for its experimentation, Jim Martin's chunka chunka guitar tone really makes the whole thing sound cluttered, even though it's further back in the mix. Like, the band is audibly changing and he's kinda staying his course.

Although I miss Roddy on the songs where he is absent on KFAD, the sound they get on that album is just fucking killer. For sure, my second-favorite overall album. First is Introduce Yourself although side B of The Real Thing is my favorite run of songs (i.e. The Real Thing>Underwater Love>The Morning After>Woodpecker From Mars).

Yeah.. I feel like songs like 'Small Victory' have a smadge of classic rock blandness to them whereas KFAD is very much 'the sound' of FNM to me. Not sure if it's just the album covers but AD is a bright daytime 'yo yo yo' sounding album to me, whereas KFAD is cloaked in this portentous, dusky lycanthropic veneer

Your perception re: those two albums is the exact polar opposite of my own.

Basically:

Angel Dust = 'My skin is a layer of soot. I'm spending my days scrubbing.'
King for a Day... = 'Take it from our drummer, Puff: being good, it gets you stuff!'

hahaha I've never seen that last lyric written down

And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that either album skews heavily in either direction (given the band's eclecticism) but the lyrics I cite reflect the mood I generally associate with the respective albums.

Didn't the KDAF era have a song called 'I Wanna Fuck Myself'?

I had no idea Courtney Love was the singer in FNM for a little while... She was all over the place wasn't she?

― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Thursday, November 21, 2019 7:14 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc early early faith no more didn't have a permanent singer, they had a rotation of vocalists, so i had assumed that's when "was the singer for FNM" but i could be totally wrong

IIRC she was a school friend of Roddy's and was something of a founding member. She was in before Jim, I believe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPQObpikKo0

She was the second Faith No More vocalist and according to wikipedia lasted from 1982-1984, but I have no idea how many shows or how much activity that represents.

Except the reason he was fired was for supposedly barely contributing to Angel Dust

I've seen some amusing AD era footage of Big Jim moaning about how wacky the other guys' ideas are.

songs like 'Small Victory' have a smadge of classic rock blandness to them

I love the stadium rock influences in AD! How they take these very radio friendly hooks and put them in a spiky, absurdist, post-punky context.

Jim Martin basically the Mike Love of FNM except instead of wanting to reheat the same tepid surf tunes for decades and be the angriest practitioner of TM on planet earth he just wants to grow giant pumpkins.

I think The Real Thing's more consistent, but the peaks in Angel Dust are higher. Both are amazing, and I've always assumed what Martin was responsible for were those gigantic killer guitar riffs, which FNM would never ever produce again.

I suppose what's missing in the post-Angel Dust output are those catchy Bottum piano lines. From then on he went mostly for the atmosphere? And I'm not sure it was down to the band going in a different, more Patton-controlled direction.

Pumpkins and oil are robbing us of two of the greatest guitar players alive in the shapes of Jim Martin and John Squire.

I suppose what's missing in the post-Angel Dust output are those catchy Bottum piano lines. From then on he went mostly for the atmosphere? And I'm not sure it was down to the band going in a different, more Patton-controlled direction.

what's also missing, I meant

Jim Martin was good for adding the big dumb metal riffs cos that was his thing.

Spruance had a lot more range and variety in his playing. Sometimes i don't think it fit FNM but I do enjoy King for a Day.

AOTY is a good album but it suffers from lack of audible bass and personality-less guitar playing. I love "Stripsearch".

Sol Invictus's problem isn't that it isn't good, it's that it's like an entire album of their b-material and not much really hits major heights. I've barely returned to it.

It's like they did an album full of "RV" songs

Oh god I forgot Sol Invictus. Had about a month of thinking it was decent then never listened to it again.

I love Stripsearch too.

I also love RV!

I do too! But that song benefits from being a sorbet after three high energy tunes to begin AD.

If all i get is sorbet i get sick.

ILX ate my previous attempt at saying as much but: I have yet to really check out any of the 21st Century comeback albums from the bands I dug in my teens. Feels like I'd be courting disappointment. I think I heard one song from Sol Invictus and it was fine but not exactly a rousing endorsement to go all-in.

Separation Anxiety, Cone of Shame and Matador are the good tracks as far as I remember.

I suppose what's missing in the post-Angel Dust output are those catchy Bottum piano lines. From then on he went mostly for the atmosphere? And I'm not sure it was down to the band going in a different, more Patton-controlled direction.

Roddy was on heroin for a fair amount of this time.

The biography Small Victories, released last year, is a decent read for those interested.

Is being on heroin known to make one compose catchier piano lines?

Shoulda heard Brad Nowell's unfinished etudes

xp: Vernon was explaining that's why he has fewer contributions.

Thanks for the book recommendation!

Is being on heroin known to make one compose catchier piano lines?

The evidence (Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau) would suggest the opposite. Though Sonny Clark was pretty great.

Man, Evidence is so good. They were really good at that 'late night search for a car' laidback funk rnb vibe (Stripsearch too)

"I had no idea Courtney Love was the singer in FNM for a little while" . so was Paula Frazer from Tarnation, for one show. There's a fairly poor sounding recording of it floating around. She told me she thought it was awful but I think it's pretty good, sounds like Siouxsie.

I don't think Sol Invictus is any worse than any of the other post Angel Dust albums. None of them do much for me. Angel Dust was epochal for me but then my tastes went elsewhere.

Vernon was explaining that's why he has fewer contributions.

yeah, exactly. apols for the lack of clarity, must be the heroin.

In other news,

psssst... pic.twitter.com/yKxiM2913S

— Faith No More (@FaithNoMore) November 23, 2019