Episode 3 of Podcast Croissant – the new Faith No More podcast – now live
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Episode 3 of Podcast Croissant – the new Faith No More podcast – now live
The third episode of Podcast Croissant, a podcast dedicated entirely to all things Faith No More, is now live. The new episode takes a detailed look at You Fat Bastards: Live at Brixton Academy, Faith No More’s only live album and video release.
The episode also includes detailed discussion based on fan feedback, including comments from here – thanks for them guys and girls.
For the next episode, it would be great to hear your opinions on Faith No More’s guitarists, and also on your favourite and FNM’s best ever concerts.
The new episode, hosted by Mike Hayes and Adrian Harte (author of the Faith No More biography, Small Victories, and this website), is available below and on most podcast platforms.
A big part of every show will be questions and queries from listeners, so please let us know what you would like to hear discussed in later episodes. If you have any general comments, please feel free to comment below.
Podcast 4 about IY? Favorite song would be Anne’s Song, followed by Faster Disco. But I love every song on the album. It is the best FNM album in terms of 5 guys fighting for their part to be heard, yet servicing the songs. It’s got the best guitar tone of all the albums. The only possible criticism I can think of for the album is the one that Chuck gave it…that the drums are a little similar song to song…Puffy would stay intense but add more versatility on later albums. This album has so much tongue in cheek but also goes so dark and goth…that is a tough transition…but is a very consistent album.
Faster Disco – is it about vampires or just people out all night drinking? The quiet background lyrics make it interesting. It is certainly in the FNM tradition of sun worship. The guitar soars on this song. Patton tried this song live once…did pretty well, but he can’t hit Chuck’s high notes full throated like Chuck did on the album or singing it live.
Anne’s Song – one of the most fun songs ever and so relatable. Who doesn’t have those great memories of hanging out with friends and feeling all the world was at your feet? The bassline is great, the keys add a great care free mood, and it’s the best guitar solo in the FNM catalog. And like a great movie that you find out is a true story, this song was about real people who got to enjoy their own song! When I heard the fake ending and then the fade up back into the song with the quick cut to the title track…that was wild, I’d never heard anything like it.
Introduce Yourself – The band’s best short song, it stayed in the live set tour after tour and remained a highlight b/c it is so energetic and fun. I’d never heard a punk-pop song with Spanish lines before…and I’d certainly never heard a band calling out record label executives after listing all their own names! I’ve never heard such a ballsy song that also references wetting your pants.
Chinese Arithmetic – began as a Puffy & Jim instrumental track like Pills and Woodpecker. They performed it as a set opening instrumental originally before Chuck finally put some words to it. Roddy’s keys add great mood. The verse drum pounding with the bass and guitar riffing is possibly the world’s introduction to nu metal. Puffy just seemed to have so much fun with this beat in live shows…and it became the song for Chuck and later Patton to throw ad-libs over the intro. Chuck finally gets to full-on rap and invent a new genre. The title had appeared right around the same time on Eric B. & Rakim’s album, but Chuck’s analogy for the complexity of love is as deep as any other artist’s poetry.
Death March – an old beat and riff from 1983. Fierce Chuck screaming over the loss of a friend. The whole band’s wailing in the background makes for a legit scary song after the silly intro rant that is so memorable. I used to call up my friend’s answering machines when they weren’t home, press Play on my player set right at Chuck’s “Fuck you!”, then hit stop and hang up. They’d tell me someone keeps screaming cursing on their phones…I had to stop when caller ID was invented. The choice of using the Black Plague rhyme adds so much sadness and filth to the song…it’s a brilliant way to close an otherwise fairly upbeat Side A.
WCAL Redux – better in it’s own way, but I also love the original. As a kid, if felt great to hear a band singing about my Garbage Pail Kids cards and my Transformers, as well as the Challenger disaster. Not sure about the rest of the world, but every kid in America was watching the NASA shuttle launch with Kristy McCullough, the first school teacher to go into space, on board. Classroom were this big open pods, so you’re watching multiple TVs in this big room, then slowly as it’s dawning on everyone what happened, pockets of crying open up and it’s our generation’s Pearl Harbor, or Kennedy Assassination, or 9-11. And Chuck is singing it so earnestly, it feels for a second like the band is dropping that snotty sarcasm and empathizing…at least that’s how I felt it. Jim really closed this song out live so well with that extended solo.
R N’ R – Bill used to use this riff to check his tuning on some of the live bootlegs I have. It’s such a great, nasty bassline. This is the first example of Chuck recycle a rap, something he said he liked to do, reference back to other songs but with a twist. Earlier he was trying to teach his nephew to walk (though live it was to Fuck…just like how they got to Patton on Epic for “do it some more”), now in a less serious song, he’s teaching how to fart. This is another FNM song referencing the power of the sun and how it can burn. Jim’s guitar lick also adds a lot of edge on this song. Chuck has a great call and response effect going here again, which goes back to early American slave labor work lines. The building keyboards give the song it’s momentum.
The Crab Song – deeply touching and poetic, FNM never quite got here again b/c Patton keeps us all at a distance from his real thoughts. Then the groaning bass leads into sick drums and deep guitar bends. Every piece is a weapon in this song. The keys turn this song into a high art opera. Early live versions sound like a space-age psychedelic song, then they sped it up and it got so intense. I was blown away when I was sitting next to my parents and I saw Patton singing live on MTV in Brazil in ’91 “Love hurts, hurts, hurts, like a motherfucker!” and they both busted out laughing! After the song, they looked absolutely confused, “But that was a rap song…since when do you like rap music?”
Blood – probably the least talked about song on the album but it rocks just as hard. It’s a propulsive song with Jim and Chuck in the mix, whereas it was a little more ethereal with Courtney Love on vocals. She laid the ground work, making it about Blood, but Chuck’s lyrics are clearly better. A flowing river crimson, a flowing river burning with desire!!! Then the lyrics start referencing the Blarney Stone but I never quite hear Chuck mention it. The beat and keys of this song were somewhat re-used in Rise Of The Fall later, another song written by Roddy. Live, Chuck put a lot of energy into the ending.
Spirit – so glad this song re-emerged finally in the setlist in recent years. The song began as a Joe Pye lyric he stole from “Jamal”. It is an intense jam after a harmony intro. A nice return to Faster Disco references of being out for the night and partying and the power of the sun. It has a “Lola” moment that’s funny and then we get into existentialism. Ghe lyrics of this song were written by Bill, just like his great writing on Why Do You Bother and his lyrical contributions to “The Real Thing” along with Patton. As a kid at the time, I had convinced my parents to stop making me go to Sunday School. I didn’t know that my parents weren’t really religious either, but they thought I should be referenced with such things. My father actually went through a midlife crisis a few years after hearing this album, and he read all the world religions and all the philosophers searching for some meaning and goodness. He was always my book supplier, so I read all these materials as a pre-teen with him. The closing line of the album has always remained a powerful summary of the big questions in life…”So do me a favor don’t talk to me about freedom. From a quintessential existential nightmare…to a sanctuary waiting in the sun”.
My favorite FNM album, and my favorite album of all time.
KingCol
February 3, 2019 at 12:02 pm
I always though that Patton on video croissant sounds like “ZIG” from “ZIG AND ZAG”
KingCol
February 1, 2019 at 10:59 pm
I still watch video croissant on my vcr .. I love the live footage of the bottle throwing and i loved the everything’s ruined video at the time too ..
The best thing about phoinex 93 is the fact that the audio was released long before the shaky footage was synced together. I listened to that audio for years and had so many questions about that show that the video answered… I think it was hot Canada who actually shared the show with me in exchange for the Slane 92 bootleg ..
Benrun
January 30, 2019 at 4:25 am
The earplugs comment came from me, I sort of chastised him with my facial expression over that one…it was backstage at Detroit 2015 that he told me that. Somehow we got on it because I work as a Speech Language Pathologist and had almost become an Audiologist. Great observation about the nasal shrillness cutting through. I feel like the keyboards remained harsher all the way through the AOTY tour and were more tame in the mix on the reunion shows, I missed the old harsher sound. One of the greatest things about the Phoenix Festival show in 93 is how dominant Roddy’s keys are.
Benrun
January 30, 2019 at 4:12 am
Me and many other listeners…”DUNE!!!!!!!” A great choice to walk out to…David Lynch directed movie (ambitious but complete shit!!)
Benrun
January 30, 2019 at 3:20 am
Wow…3 hours of FNM! Thank you guys, great show!! So much ground covered! Still listening, here are some thoughts:
I am a fan who was introduced to the band on “IY” and discovered TRT 2nd & WCAL 3rd. I can give you an okay story about it. I’ll send it by email.
My favorite side project work by any members: I think the Tomahawk s/t is the best album 5 stars, followed by a bunch of 4.5 star albums: Imperial Teen’s “What is Not to Love” and “Feel the Sound”, Mr Bungle “Disco Volante” & “California”, Moonchild “Six Litanies for Heliogabolus”, and Tomahawk “Anonymous”. Chuck’s VUA album “Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food” is exceptionally good, I gave that one 4 stars.
Benrun { Ugh...I keep hoping for some peep out of FNM...but nothing. It's getting rather depressing. I feel like I have a sado-masochistic relation with this band. } – Aug 07, 4:14 AM
KingCol { I believe trey too but it kind of took me by surprise given that he is so talented and seems to play with no effort and is one of those guitarists that could have popped out of his mother at birth with the feckin thing - in fact at the time when kfad was released i was so impressed with the guitar sound on “the last to know” that my first assumption was that it must have been written by trey - after a brief Colombo miniature investigation it was uncovered to be written by the big boys in fnm... } – Jul 30, 10:42 PM
Benrun { Unfortunately, not that I have seen. I think my favorite version is from Nancy, France in April 95, but the London one is pretty good as well. They are all audience recordings though. I remember that Trey interview...I believe him in that there is no point in reinventing the wheel. Jon had already figured out how to have his guitar tone fit in the mix and to modify chord progressions to fit the live playing by Bill, etc. I did notice some nuance by Trey in the songs, but I mostly enjoyed the never before played songs (Star AD &... } – Jul 30, 3:09 AM
KingCol { Is there any decent quality (soundboard) live versions of “The last to know” that I’m not aware of ? London 95 seems to be the best out there unless there’s a bootleg version I’ve not heard . Watched a good interview with trey in relation to his role on the kfad tour — he wasn’t comfortable playing in front of huge crowds and was in a way star struck by fnm as a band . Had to get tips and tricks from Jon Hudson on how to play that particular style . Don’t know if he was being modest. } – Jul 30, 12:21 AM
KingCol { Well Adrian , the next time you see them ? Would you by any chance let me know in advance if you meeting up with any of them ? Iv never met any of the band and If it wasn’t too much hassle I’d have some questions i would forward to you that perhaps they wouldn’t mind trying to answer at their own volition of course.. If it was a case of they being sick to the teeth of being burdened with the chore of politely having to answer every question put to them by the normal Norman’s of the... } – Jun 26, 12:51 PM
KingCol { It seems like there's not as much humour or general wackiness evident these days "For the first few years you put humour first, everything's a big joke and so on. But then you look back and see that the humour is overshadowing other things, and you realise it can't be that way all the time. There's so many things about this band that have never made it to print or photos, people haven't seen there's a lot of dimensions here. It's easy to talk about what a bunch of smart arses we are, how our 'funky grooves' or 'metal' clashes... } – Jun 25, 2:38 PM
KingCol { Bloody iPhone spellcheck —*sounds like* The laugh SOUNDS like his laugh . I always wondered where the origins of that laugh came from because it always sounded familiar as if from a particular tv show or film character. Maybe it’s roddy but it kills me not knowing ... “The world is yours” is another massive musical sample jigsaw . } – Jun 25, 1:39 PM
admin { Hi Col No idea but will ask next time I see them. I know that some of them watched Rocky and Bullwinkle. } – Jun 25, 11:55 AM
Benrun { FNM 2.0 is back! I missed you everyday you were gone! } – Jun 20, 1:36 AM
KingCol { Another good topic /// has any got a favorite riff , drum solo or a part of any of the bands songs that stuck with you ? I always liked “return to your own vomit like a dog” I also like the Kronos quartet bit they sampled The whole song “Khad” is one huge wow weeeeee But what has blown me away recently was Fantomas / suspended animation - Sunday ————- the start of that song with the classical vibe to it is superb —— anyone know who wrote that part or was it a sample from else where.? } – Apr 24, 1:57 AM
Benrun { Hello KingCol…I do the exact same thing! Everyday I just look at the latest post and check the comment number. You asked a very difficult question...I know Bill picked Midnight Cowboy, Bill and Patton together picked I Started a Joke when they heard it in a karaoke bar in Guam...I get a sense that it was because it was so sappy in a powerful way, but that's a guess. I'm sure Bill had his hand in the Serbia song and the Chilean Violeta Parra cover. I'd love to know the stories behind these choices. Jon played Rich Girl, Strawberry Letter... } – Apr 18, 3:26 AM
KingCol { I dunno if there are more recent comments on other threads here but I normally just check the article at the top of page and the number of comments attributed to it . If it’s at the same number as the last time I checked i move on . Maybe a good idea for this site would be a comment section that’s not assigned to any thread so random thoughts/opinions etc can be posted .... like this one —-> In relation to past fnm cover versions and song samples and snippets, does anyone know or have an opinion on whether... } – Apr 17, 9:16 PM
Benrun { I remember an interview with Bill and he was asked what songs he does or does not enjoy playing live anymore. I remember he liked playing Epic which surprised me...he definitely no longer enjoys playing Death March. But there are quite a few shows in the 2nd half of the 97 tour where they omitted Epic. They didn't play it at the Chile show with Trey and there were a few 2015 shows they didn't play it either, mostly when they played SI in it's entirety. } – Mar 01, 2:49 AM
KingCol { The inclusion of “epic” in their set lists actually puzzles me - since for the most part the band normally doesn’t give into public demand and if anything would normally go against the grain - probably the bands most popular and well known song and i actually skip by it when listening them live and the only thing i like about the song is the end of the track when they include a sample from another artist. } – Feb 28, 9:01 PM
Benrun { Agreed. On live bootlegs, Jim does a great job of take a 1/2 measure he and there to add in a little solo fill. On WCAL, Midlife, Epic, he works in great little bits. } – Feb 28, 3:13 AM
KingCol { Listening back (to random where ever my finger lands at on the podcast scroll bar) a good example of Jim martins ability to insert on the spot solo brilliance was in phoenix 93 when pattons microphone died at the end of ‘midlife crisis’ and we got to hear what Big Jim brought to the fnm table. The band hasn’t been able to fill that guitar level of greatness. And it probably would have went unnoticed only for the malfunctioning mic. Maybe he consciously upped his game on recognition of the loss of vocals. Wasn’t much of a dean menta fan... } – Feb 27, 7:03 PM
Benrun { Podcast 4 about IY? Favorite song would be Anne's Song, followed by Faster Disco. But I love every song on the album. It is the best FNM album in terms of 5 guys fighting for their part to be heard, yet servicing the songs. It's got the best guitar tone of all the albums. The only possible criticism I can think of for the album is the one that Chuck gave it...that the drums are a little similar song to song...Puffy would stay intense but add more versatility on later albums. This album has so much tongue in cheek but... } – Feb 08, 3:05 AM
KingCol { I always though that Patton on video croissant sounds like “ZIG” from “ZIG AND ZAG” } – Feb 03, 12:02 PM
KingCol { I still watch video croissant on my vcr .. I love the live footage of the bottle throwing and i loved the everything’s ruined video at the time too .. The best thing about phoinex 93 is the fact that the audio was released long before the shaky footage was synced together. I listened to that audio for years and had so many questions about that show that the video answered... I think it was hot Canada who actually shared the show with me in exchange for the Slane 92 bootleg .. } – Feb 01, 10:59 PM
Benrun { The earplugs comment came from me, I sort of chastised him with my facial expression over that one...it was backstage at Detroit 2015 that he told me that. Somehow we got on it because I work as a Speech Language Pathologist and had almost become an Audiologist. Great observation about the nasal shrillness cutting through. I feel like the keyboards remained harsher all the way through the AOTY tour and were more tame in the mix on the reunion shows, I missed the old harsher sound. One of the greatest things about the Phoenix Festival show in 93 is how... } – Jan 30, 4:25 AM
Benrun { KingCol, I email back and forth with that member regularly and have definitely benefitted from the connection because they have been a very generous trader of bootlegs. I've also loved getting bootlegs off of Dime a Dozen, still do. Pretty sure it is a "he" and "he" is a really cool guy. Not sure he is a big commenter on websites, and while he's definitely a FNM fan, he also loves a lot of other music. If you search for it you can find his trading website. I haven't messaged with him in a while though, I should check in. } – Jan 25, 2:50 AM
KingCol { The real thing song itself is such a wonderful composition - I was blown away by the live donnington reunion version .. (on a side bragging note , I was also lucky enough to attend the gig in Dublin in the Olympia with a capacity of just 1200) As everyone else mentioned here already, the other obvious stand out tracks are “the morning after” and “under water love” . Ps : there is a loyal faith no more fan base here who continually comment on the various updates... was anyone here a member of the website “dime a dozen” I... } – Jan 24, 9:29 PM
Emayan { Episode 2 was awesome! So much fun to go back over this classic of an album. Not a weak song on it...including Underwater Love (what an outro) and The Morning After (what an intro). The Real Thing is still one of the greatest rock songs ever. Pure perfection, an all-time favorite. } – Jan 23, 12:12 AM
Rob { Podcast 2 a success!! Please don’t feel the need to speed up your analysis. I’ll totally be happy with a 3 or 4 hour analysis of TRT. My own notes on the TRT: 1. Underwater Love is underrated and those keyboard flourishes are beautiful. Also, I often link this song thematically to Nick Cave’s “Where the wild roses grow”. 2. Zombie Eaters lyrics to me are more about the thoughts of an autistic or seriously handicapped young adult man. 3. From Out of Nowhere, The Real Thing and Woodpecker are the best tracks on the album. 4. Have you heard... } – Jan 21, 12:23 PM
Jaffa { You mentioned Greta Van Fleet I agree but even Them Crooked Vultures was a cash in very unoriginal and just a derivative blend of QOTSA Zepp & Foo’s ! When they really could have explored music they just did a paint by mumbers album! } – Jan 17, 7:46 PM
Benrun { Jim's cover of The Pogues' Navigator on his Milk & Blood album is excellent...I listen to that one all the time. I also really like Hunter Shepard a lot. It was a really good album that I think just didn't get enough attention or sell well enough. I think he's got a family and perhaps staying in music to not quite make a good living while also always being away from them may have resulted in his staying home and pumpkin farming. When he played for Infectious Grooves he had commented that he may make more music and to stay... } – Jan 12, 3:05 AM
Benrun { So Jim can take credit for all the music for Jizzlobber and for going out and recording that swamp cricket sample in the beginning by himself. Bill Gould wrote the keyboard outro. Interestingly during live sets, while Roddy mimes playing it, it actually one long sample that he plays...this is clear from that one clip where Patton totally tackles Roddy and his keyboard and they are out of commission, but the outro plays out just fine! Patton wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies. Now whenever someone writes the meat of the song and has a vision for it, it still... } – Jan 12, 2:54 AM
Benrun { Adrian's book sheds light on this topic quite a bit. But here is an entertaining link where Bill and Jim again squabbled in the press/blog world: https://music.mxdwn.com/2012/11/14/news/faith-no-mores-bill-gould-responds-to-former-guitarist-jim-martins-songwriting-claims/ } – Jan 12, 2:49 AM
KingCol { I especially like pattons lyrics because they are all mostly metaphors and similes and not shoving any message or opinion towards me as a listener - (can’t listen to rage against machine for that reason) but although I’m a big fnm fan my real musical love is live performances and musical poetry and uniqueness.. and it just so happens that fnm (Patton era) really delivers in large abundance in that area . The unity of the band, the energy and fussiness for perfection in Pattons live performances and their consistency to deliver a good show every time is outstanding. Other... } – Dec 24, 12:49 AM
Benrun { That's a good way of putting it...I agree Patton gave FNM a 5th instrument that was as strong as the others, the winning hand. Chuck served to set the mood and feel of the band for years to come however...that sardonic, witty, theatrical, and emotional balance. What Chuck had in his delivery was the conviction of his personal feelings and the best his voice could do (which wasn't that much for sure). With Patton, I don't doubt his conviction to the songs and I enjoy his lyrics better than Chuck's in many songs, but he's in character and detached, even... } – Dec 23, 11:05 PM
KingCol { I also remember a conflicting interview with Patton slatting artists who moan about people recording their live shows (phones etc) saying that it never annoys the band (fmm) In relation to chuck being a boring singer (my opinion) yes he comes from a different vocal style background but in contrast to pattons background - mr bungle , in which like Fnm is surrounded by a wealth of musical madness and top of the pile talent , the vocals are exciting, different and basically a musical instrument. Layne Staley was another vocalist who just had it and just finished off the... } – Dec 22, 2:48 PM
Podcast 4 about IY? Favorite song would be Anne’s Song, followed by Faster Disco. But I love every song on the album. It is the best FNM album in terms of 5 guys fighting for their part to be heard, yet servicing the songs. It’s got the best guitar tone of all the albums. The only possible criticism I can think of for the album is the one that Chuck gave it…that the drums are a little similar song to song…Puffy would stay intense but add more versatility on later albums. This album has so much tongue in cheek but also goes so dark and goth…that is a tough transition…but is a very consistent album.
Faster Disco – is it about vampires or just people out all night drinking? The quiet background lyrics make it interesting. It is certainly in the FNM tradition of sun worship. The guitar soars on this song. Patton tried this song live once…did pretty well, but he can’t hit Chuck’s high notes full throated like Chuck did on the album or singing it live.
Anne’s Song – one of the most fun songs ever and so relatable. Who doesn’t have those great memories of hanging out with friends and feeling all the world was at your feet? The bassline is great, the keys add a great care free mood, and it’s the best guitar solo in the FNM catalog. And like a great movie that you find out is a true story, this song was about real people who got to enjoy their own song! When I heard the fake ending and then the fade up back into the song with the quick cut to the title track…that was wild, I’d never heard anything like it.
Introduce Yourself – The band’s best short song, it stayed in the live set tour after tour and remained a highlight b/c it is so energetic and fun. I’d never heard a punk-pop song with Spanish lines before…and I’d certainly never heard a band calling out record label executives after listing all their own names! I’ve never heard such a ballsy song that also references wetting your pants.
Chinese Arithmetic – began as a Puffy & Jim instrumental track like Pills and Woodpecker. They performed it as a set opening instrumental originally before Chuck finally put some words to it. Roddy’s keys add great mood. The verse drum pounding with the bass and guitar riffing is possibly the world’s introduction to nu metal. Puffy just seemed to have so much fun with this beat in live shows…and it became the song for Chuck and later Patton to throw ad-libs over the intro. Chuck finally gets to full-on rap and invent a new genre. The title had appeared right around the same time on Eric B. & Rakim’s album, but Chuck’s analogy for the complexity of love is as deep as any other artist’s poetry.
Death March – an old beat and riff from 1983. Fierce Chuck screaming over the loss of a friend. The whole band’s wailing in the background makes for a legit scary song after the silly intro rant that is so memorable. I used to call up my friend’s answering machines when they weren’t home, press Play on my player set right at Chuck’s “Fuck you!”, then hit stop and hang up. They’d tell me someone keeps screaming cursing on their phones…I had to stop when caller ID was invented. The choice of using the Black Plague rhyme adds so much sadness and filth to the song…it’s a brilliant way to close an otherwise fairly upbeat Side A.
WCAL Redux – better in it’s own way, but I also love the original. As a kid, if felt great to hear a band singing about my Garbage Pail Kids cards and my Transformers, as well as the Challenger disaster. Not sure about the rest of the world, but every kid in America was watching the NASA shuttle launch with Kristy McCullough, the first school teacher to go into space, on board. Classroom were this big open pods, so you’re watching multiple TVs in this big room, then slowly as it’s dawning on everyone what happened, pockets of crying open up and it’s our generation’s Pearl Harbor, or Kennedy Assassination, or 9-11. And Chuck is singing it so earnestly, it feels for a second like the band is dropping that snotty sarcasm and empathizing…at least that’s how I felt it. Jim really closed this song out live so well with that extended solo.
R N’ R – Bill used to use this riff to check his tuning on some of the live bootlegs I have. It’s such a great, nasty bassline. This is the first example of Chuck recycle a rap, something he said he liked to do, reference back to other songs but with a twist. Earlier he was trying to teach his nephew to walk (though live it was to Fuck…just like how they got to Patton on Epic for “do it some more”), now in a less serious song, he’s teaching how to fart. This is another FNM song referencing the power of the sun and how it can burn. Jim’s guitar lick also adds a lot of edge on this song. Chuck has a great call and response effect going here again, which goes back to early American slave labor work lines. The building keyboards give the song it’s momentum.
The Crab Song – deeply touching and poetic, FNM never quite got here again b/c Patton keeps us all at a distance from his real thoughts. Then the groaning bass leads into sick drums and deep guitar bends. Every piece is a weapon in this song. The keys turn this song into a high art opera. Early live versions sound like a space-age psychedelic song, then they sped it up and it got so intense. I was blown away when I was sitting next to my parents and I saw Patton singing live on MTV in Brazil in ’91 “Love hurts, hurts, hurts, like a motherfucker!” and they both busted out laughing! After the song, they looked absolutely confused, “But that was a rap song…since when do you like rap music?”
Blood – probably the least talked about song on the album but it rocks just as hard. It’s a propulsive song with Jim and Chuck in the mix, whereas it was a little more ethereal with Courtney Love on vocals. She laid the ground work, making it about Blood, but Chuck’s lyrics are clearly better. A flowing river crimson, a flowing river burning with desire!!! Then the lyrics start referencing the Blarney Stone but I never quite hear Chuck mention it. The beat and keys of this song were somewhat re-used in Rise Of The Fall later, another song written by Roddy. Live, Chuck put a lot of energy into the ending.
Spirit – so glad this song re-emerged finally in the setlist in recent years. The song began as a Joe Pye lyric he stole from “Jamal”. It is an intense jam after a harmony intro. A nice return to Faster Disco references of being out for the night and partying and the power of the sun. It has a “Lola” moment that’s funny and then we get into existentialism. Ghe lyrics of this song were written by Bill, just like his great writing on Why Do You Bother and his lyrical contributions to “The Real Thing” along with Patton. As a kid at the time, I had convinced my parents to stop making me go to Sunday School. I didn’t know that my parents weren’t really religious either, but they thought I should be referenced with such things. My father actually went through a midlife crisis a few years after hearing this album, and he read all the world religions and all the philosophers searching for some meaning and goodness. He was always my book supplier, so I read all these materials as a pre-teen with him. The closing line of the album has always remained a powerful summary of the big questions in life…”So do me a favor don’t talk to me about freedom. From a quintessential existential nightmare…to a sanctuary waiting in the sun”.
My favorite FNM album, and my favorite album of all time.
I always though that Patton on video croissant sounds like “ZIG” from “ZIG AND ZAG”
I still watch video croissant on my vcr .. I love the live footage of the bottle throwing and i loved the everything’s ruined video at the time too ..
The best thing about phoinex 93 is the fact that the audio was released long before the shaky footage was synced together. I listened to that audio for years and had so many questions about that show that the video answered… I think it was hot Canada who actually shared the show with me in exchange for the Slane 92 bootleg ..
The earplugs comment came from me, I sort of chastised him with my facial expression over that one…it was backstage at Detroit 2015 that he told me that. Somehow we got on it because I work as a Speech Language Pathologist and had almost become an Audiologist. Great observation about the nasal shrillness cutting through. I feel like the keyboards remained harsher all the way through the AOTY tour and were more tame in the mix on the reunion shows, I missed the old harsher sound. One of the greatest things about the Phoenix Festival show in 93 is how dominant Roddy’s keys are.
Me and many other listeners…”DUNE!!!!!!!” A great choice to walk out to…David Lynch directed movie (ambitious but complete shit!!)
Wow…3 hours of FNM! Thank you guys, great show!! So much ground covered! Still listening, here are some thoughts:
I am a fan who was introduced to the band on “IY” and discovered TRT 2nd & WCAL 3rd. I can give you an okay story about it. I’ll send it by email.
My favorite side project work by any members: I think the Tomahawk s/t is the best album 5 stars, followed by a bunch of 4.5 star albums: Imperial Teen’s “What is Not to Love” and “Feel the Sound”, Mr Bungle “Disco Volante” & “California”, Moonchild “Six Litanies for Heliogabolus”, and Tomahawk “Anonymous”. Chuck’s VUA album “Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food” is exceptionally good, I gave that one 4 stars.