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jesstherese's review
5.0
Brilliant retelling of a fascinating career. Highly recommended.
My own Faith No More story began with seeing the video for Epic on Saturday morning television, in New Zealand, sometime in 1989. Chapter one was brief. I was 9 years old.
When I was 14, in 1994, I bought Angel Dust, and really didn't know what had hit me. It remains a contender for my favourite record of all. (Isn’t that debate the most fun?) Midlife Crisis quickly became my favourite song. I got King For A Day.. and Album of the Year as they were released, and lived and breathed them. I never had the chance to see the band live before hearing that they had split, while I was in my first year at university, in 1998. I was so disappointed. Chapter two unfolded in real-time.
Moving to London in 2007 meant I was perfectly placed for the 2009 reunion, and I was there at Brixton Academy, losing my shit. I went on to see the band five times in four countries on that tour cycle, making up for lost time, including an intimate and wild show at Dublin's Olympia (capacity: 1240!) During this chapter three period, I revisited all the albums and embraced The Real Thing in particular, it having passed me by the first time (aside from Epic, which passed no one by at the close of the 80s). In subsequent years I caught a couple more live shows, and even met Mike Patton at an after-show at Brixton Academy. I couldn’t speak, which is a blessing as all that came to mind was “you’re my hero”. Can imagine how that would have gone down! Chapter three really delivered.
Now, reading Small Victories has brought about my fourth chapter with Faith No More, and I have loved every minute of behind-the-scenes insight and exposition related to the band's evolution and each album's creation. Seeing official music videos and other content on YouTube has added to my sense of rediscovery, and deepened my understanding of the band's significance and also how much I hadn't known. Now I realise that this band I love have had a whole complicated turbulent career which I was completely unaware of, knowing only the recorded music, and somehow it feels strange to realise that while it was all about the music for me, now I get a glimpse into the personalities and circumstances which created it. Naturally I've been listening to entire back catalogue again, particularly Sol Invictus which I neglected upon release (bad fan), and Introduce Yourself. Thanks Adrian Harte!
My own Faith No More story began with seeing the video for Epic on Saturday morning television, in New Zealand, sometime in 1989. Chapter one was brief. I was 9 years old.
When I was 14, in 1994, I bought Angel Dust, and really didn't know what had hit me. It remains a contender for my favourite record of all. (Isn’t that debate the most fun?) Midlife Crisis quickly became my favourite song. I got King For A Day.. and Album of the Year as they were released, and lived and breathed them. I never had the chance to see the band live before hearing that they had split, while I was in my first year at university, in 1998. I was so disappointed. Chapter two unfolded in real-time.
Moving to London in 2007 meant I was perfectly placed for the 2009 reunion, and I was there at Brixton Academy, losing my shit. I went on to see the band five times in four countries on that tour cycle, making up for lost time, including an intimate and wild show at Dublin's Olympia (capacity: 1240!) During this chapter three period, I revisited all the albums and embraced The Real Thing in particular, it having passed me by the first time (aside from Epic, which passed no one by at the close of the 80s). In subsequent years I caught a couple more live shows, and even met Mike Patton at an after-show at Brixton Academy. I couldn’t speak, which is a blessing as all that came to mind was “you’re my hero”. Can imagine how that would have gone down! Chapter three really delivered.
Now, reading Small Victories has brought about my fourth chapter with Faith No More, and I have loved every minute of behind-the-scenes insight and exposition related to the band's evolution and each album's creation. Seeing official music videos and other content on YouTube has added to my sense of rediscovery, and deepened my understanding of the band's significance and also how much I hadn't known. Now I realise that this band I love have had a whole complicated turbulent career which I was completely unaware of, knowing only the recorded music, and somehow it feels strange to realise that while it was all about the music for me, now I get a glimpse into the personalities and circumstances which created it. Naturally I've been listening to entire back catalogue again, particularly Sol Invictus which I neglected upon release (bad fan), and Introduce Yourself. Thanks Adrian Harte!
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