December 2019 Feature Release - The Gateway Edition

The start of December sees us kicking off a new undertaking. We'll be nominating a monthly feature release for each clan & are asking you to rate, review & discuss it for no other reason than because we enjoy it. Ben & I will certainly be contributing & we look forward to hearing your thoughts too. 

This month's feature release for The Gateway is the 1987 sophomore album San Francisco alternative metal legends Faith No More entitled "Introduce Yourself". It's a polarizing record that's a lot less accessible than later FNM releases. Mainly due to the unusual performance from former vocalist Chuck Mosley who is certainly an acquired taste. If you've never experienced Chuck's quirky, off-the-wall delivery style before I can assure you that you WILL find him difficult going on first listen. But I'd encourage you to give him a chance through repeat listens because there's a soft gooey centre beneath his hard exterior. Anyway... we're interested to hear what you think of "Introduce Yourself" so don't be shy.

I can' find a full album YouTube link so this playlist will have to suffice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_CvmMOqJAo&list=PLEAC23D6A5FB3F204

Full review is posted on the album page, but man this was a tough one. 

I gave it about 4 and a half full listens and I just never cracked it. The more I listened to it the more awkward it became as a whole, just not for me. When their style worked it worked really well, like on "Faster Disco", "Chinese Arithmetic", and "We Care A Lot", but everything else ended up sounding...awkward. That's always the word that I kept coming back to when trying to write out the review. 

That’s a very common opinion Xephyr. And in truth it’s how I felt in the late 80’s/early 90’s. But something clicked for me when I returned to this record in the late 2000’s & it seems that I’m not alone in that. It could be fuelled by nostalgia to an extent as I really tried hard to get into “Introduce Yourself” after becoming obsessed with “The Real Thing”. But honestly I don’t think it’s that. As a guitar player I think I just find Jim Martin’s metal riffs to be irresistible & over many years of distance my brain found a way to justify Chuck’s delivery style in my head to the point that I now find him to have an endearing quality. A certain cool factor that I can’t put my finger on. I don’t think this could have happened if I’d simply continued to giving the record relistens back in the day. It’s like absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say. And when I finally returned it was like a visit from an old friend.

I'm with you Xephyr. I always wanted to like this album as I'm a huge fan of Faith No More. But it doesn't come close to the genius that follows, and the vocals are a big reason for that.