A CD player failure has left me with the choice between sitting in silence or playing my eighties heavy metal records. The top ten of which I am revisiting, only albums from the eighties will be considered.
The Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #9 The Real Thing - Faith No more (1989)
'The Real Thing' was Faith No More's third album, they had previously released 'We care a lot' and 'Introduce yourself' with vocalist Chuck Mosley. Interestingly Courtney Love was in the band briefly in the early eighties, but it was when they replaced Chuck Mosely with Mike Patton the band really began to up their game. The previous album was ok but only really had a couple of stand out tracks (the title track and a re-recording of We care a lot). That was all to change in the summer of 1989 when the Real Thing was released. The first single released was 'From out of nowhere'. Pattons voice, the heavy stomp and prominent keyboards made a new and exciting sound that blasted away the hairspray and make up of the Glam metal bands such as Poison and Warrant that seemed to be everywhere at the time.
The album was well recieved by the music press and was selling well, then in January 1990 'Epic' was released and the band just took off. Top ten in the US, Top thirty in the UK and number 1 in Australia. It is still their most recognisable track and standard staple on Rock compilations ever since. With Epic, Faith No More have been accused of creating the Rock/Rap monstrosity of Nu Metal but to blame them for Limp Bizkit is unjust and unfair, Epic rocked the sound of scary rock discos worldwide and deserves it's place in Rock history.
 |
The singles apart, the album races along at a heavy pace. Finishing with Woodpecker from Mars, a stonking instrumental that would get live outings. If you were posh and had a CD player you were treated to a couple of extra tracks. The most interesting of which was a perfect cover version of Black Sabbaths Warpigs. I never had a CD player at the time so would listen in envy as my friends album continued for an extra ten minutes. Warpigs was played live for years, this version is from Live at Brixton which followed the Real Thing.
Faith No More would go on to produce more fantastic albums throughout the nineties until finally the back stabbing and in-fighting got to much and they called it a day in 1998. Their biggest hit in the Uk would be an "ironic" cover version of the Commodores I'm Easy, which they had been playing live for while and I fucking hate. They recently reformed for a lucrative festival tour last year featuring the final not original line-up. There are also approximately 25 best of compilations of varying quality available. Stick with the albums they are cheap enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment