Editor's Choice...
And this time Faith No More's sixth album "Album Of The Year" was released on June 3, 1997
You are probably familiar with the cliché: "It does not take much to move you" so we will take it and make avant-garde use of it here and now. We will momentarily and deliberately ignore the whole album which is excellent and an unequivocally provides the incredible thrill that this band causes us and we will refer to one song, only one song!
For us, a masterpiece... maybe not a crazy symphony, not extravagant riffs, or complicated chords, maybe not varied and complex dynamics but there is one... just one small sentence, one sentence that makes us fall to pieces and a tear down some drops in the corner of our eye:
“Smiling with the mouth of the ocean, And I'll wave to you with the arms of the mountain”
Just click on either links Spotify, Apple Music, and choose the song "Ashes To Ashes", or just click below...
John caresses the guitar strings softly with Mike singing the first verse in a deep voice and then with a big roar the chorus enters and just tears you to pieces. Imagine yourself floating in the air over the ocean with a huge smile, with your hands spread to a side where the sea and you are circling a huge green and gray mountain range.
You probably think we are hallucinatory but that's what's amazing about music, we feel, experience, and drift where we want and we don't care what it looks like or what it means, now it's our world and we are present in it !! It can end here but since we must provide more let's have a few details (because we are addicted to this band).
Writing the album was very challenging as the band members were busy with their independent projects and also were not present in the same place, so it was difficult to create together. The album was remotely recorded and recorded in a three-week time, a window attended by all the band members in San Francisco. The song we referred to above is a good example, it is one of the first songs written for the album. The four band members wrote the music and sent it to Mike who was in Italy at the time. Mike immediately wrote the lyrics and sent them back to the other friends. Gould said it was one of those songs that has an instant click and the pieces are aligned together like magic.
(Photo: allmusic.com)
Do not think that there are no more good things on this album, God forbid !! This is an excellent album that holds several other glittering and exciting treasures. The second song on the "Stripsearch" feels like it was written during Mike's first time with the band, a charming and moving song. "Last Cup Of Sorrow" is An ingenious and powerful work, the avant-garde "Helpless" and more good and varied.
The album garnered harsh reviews from critics and was the last album the band released until the seventh album, "Sol Invictus" which came out 18 years later. We still love the album and it is an integral part of this amazing band's amazing repertoire !!