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).
― ☮ (peace, man), Thursday, 21 November 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
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
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Thursday, 21 November 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link
Your perception re: those two albums is the exact polar opposite of my own.
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 14:44 (four years ago) link
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!'
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 14:45 (four years ago) link
hahaha I've never seen that last lyric written down
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Thursday, 21 November 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
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.
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link
Didn't the KDAF era have a song called 'I Wanna Fuck Myself'?
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link
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
― na (NA), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link
IIRC she was a school friend of Roddy's and was something of a founding member. She was in before Jim, I believe.
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:09 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPQObpikKo0
― ☮ (peace, man), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
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.
― ☮ (peace, man), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:18 (four years ago) link
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.
― chap, Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
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.
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
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.
― cpl593H, Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
Pumpkins and oil are robbing us of two of the greatest guitar players alive in the shapes of Jim Martin and John Squire.
― cpl593H, Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:02 (four years ago) link
what's also missing, I meant
― cpl593H, Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link
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.
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:19 (four years ago) link
It's like they did an album full of "RV" songs
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
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.
― chap, Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link
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.
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
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.
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
Separation Anxiety, Cone of Shame and Matador are the good tracks as far as I remember.
― chap, Thursday, 21 November 2019 16:39 (four years ago) link
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.
― Vernon Locke, Thursday, 21 November 2019 22:51 (four years ago) link
Is being on heroin known to make one compose catchier piano lines?
― chap, Friday, 22 November 2019 08:14 (four years ago) link
Shoulda heard Brad Nowell's unfinished etudes
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 November 2019 12:07 (four years ago) link
xp: Vernon was explaining that's why he has fewer contributions.
Thanks for the book recommendation!
― ☮ (peace, man), Friday, 22 November 2019 12:46 (four years ago) link
The evidence (Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau) would suggest the opposite. Though Sonny Clark was pretty great.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 22 November 2019 17:57 (four years ago) link
Man, Evidence is so good. They were really good at that 'late night search for a car' laidback funk rnb vibe (Stripsearch too)
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Friday, 22 November 2019 18:21 (four years ago) link
"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.
― akm, Saturday, 23 November 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
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.
― akm, Saturday, 23 November 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
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
― Vernon Locke, Saturday, 23 November 2019 22:26 (four years ago) link
They were great on that little tour they did behind the last album.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 23 November 2019 23:34 (four years ago) link
I missed it because I was out of town so I certainly hope to catch them again. I haven't seen them since the Angel Dust tour and that was a fucking show.
― akm, Sunday, 24 November 2019 21:41 (four years ago) link
Christ, I've never seen them. Maybe this will be the year!
― ☮ (peace, man), Monday, 25 November 2019 13:04 (four years ago) link
they were fun. threw Boz Scagg's "Lowdown" into the middle of "Midlife Crisis", did pretty much all of my favorite songs...except "Land of Sunshine", sadly.
Patton ended the show by simulating giving a blow job to the microphone for the last minute then just walked offstage.
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Monday, 25 November 2019 13:06 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I'm definitely interested. Thanks for the heads up!
I remember reading somewhere back in the day that there was a rift between Martin and Bottum which ended up hurting them both, with Martin leaving and Bottum getting sidelined. But I can't remember hearing about that again so I'm not sure there was any truth to it.
― cpl593H, Monday, 25 November 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
Weird to see so many FNM fans on here given the relative dearth of Mr Bungle threads on ILM! I recently revisited the s/t and DV and both hold up pretty well (though parts of s/t have definitely aged pretty poorly)
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 25 November 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link
I've never gotten into Mr. Bungle, despite loving Faith No More and Zorn/Naked City. I just don't like Bungle's players that much.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 14:49 (four years ago) link
The ultimate Mike Patton story is the one about the Farriss brothers from INXS ringing him to ask if he wanted to be their frontman for their upcoming tour. He replied that he would do it on one condition . . . that he be allowed to re-enact Hutchence's death on stage every night.
As for FNM themselves, listened to them a fair bit back in the day (early 1990s) because I had a friend at the time who was hugely into them, but I'd imagine a lot of it hasn't dated too well.
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Monday, 25 November 2019 15:26 (four years ago) link
but I'd imagine a lot of it hasn't dated too well
IDK. Every now and then I go back to the hits and I find it surprising how well they hold up. That combination of erasure + funk metal should be a train wreck but the way they embrace every hook that's available is really overwhelming. Really, they overwhelm you with hooks.
― cpl593H, Monday, 25 November 2019 15:44 (four years ago) link
You've listened to California right? Far and away their most cohesive (and least frenetic) album. One of my two fave Patton records, along with Angel Dust.
― chap, Monday, 25 November 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link
I saw them live in September of 1992 (with Helmet opening) and they were great - I remember them playing Europe's "The The Final Countdown" as they came on stage and all ran around doing calisthenics and my cousin fulfilled his dream of crowd surfing while they played "RV".
I've listened to KFAD and AOTY again for the first time in ages and they still don't do much for me - not terrible or anything, they just feel lackluster compared to the previous two and are kind of boring. It turns out I really like Jim Martin's big dumb riffs and that feels absent in both of these which feel more generic-metally to me, or sound more like Mr. Bungle in a way that I didn't want from my FNM records.
― joygoat, Monday, 25 November 2019 17:09 (four years ago) link
xpost I haven't listened to California since it came out, and I saw them on that tour. I remember it being kind of lounge music? Sort of more the direction of some of other Mike Patton's other projects. That is to say, I don't remember much of a metal or noise aspect to it.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 17:10 (four years ago) link
California is fucking fantastic. it has "Retrovertigo", which is a weird power ballad. "Sweet Charity" does have kind of a seaside feel, but it's a great song.
there are definitely heavy moments on it. it's just less experimental than Disco Volante, but that's a relative statement. it was one of my favorite albums of that year.
― Jordan Pickford LOLverdrive (Neanderthal), Monday, 25 November 2019 17:13 (four years ago) link
To say it has a loungy feel is fair, but the dark weirdness is still there, albeit more subtly than on previous albums. Kind of a Blue Velvet vibe.
― chap, Monday, 25 November 2019 17:27 (four years ago) link
I just don't remember it at all, any more than I remember Lovage or Tomahawk (both of whom I saw live as well). However, I did like Fantomas, that scratched the weird metal itch for me.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 17:50 (four years ago) link
Be interesting to hear your reaction if you do decide to listen to it again.
― chap, Monday, 25 November 2019 17:56 (four years ago) link
Listening to it now, and enjoying!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
this was a GG Allin cover version, and a good one at that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3vx8u7k6Rc
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Monday, 25 November 2019 18:16 (four years ago) link