SilentScream213 Most people seem to either love or hate Mike Patton, and while I don’t hate the man, I certainly don’t love his style. I don’t think he really changed Faith No More as a band or even stylistically because they were never a serious group, but Mike tends to just make whatever he touches… goofy. He’s got a good voice when he sings normally, but he’s also prone to making weird voices almost like he’s doing character impressions or something.

Anyway, the album is pretty standard fair from what anyone’s come to expect from Patton and Faith No More. An eclectic collection of funky Alt. Metal that doesn’t take itself seriously and occasionally has a good hook or two. None of the music here was memorable to me except “Take This Bottle” which is a Country-tinged track and seemingly a rather serious one at that, having themes of alcohol induced abuse and relationship breakdown complimenting the beautiful piano and simple melancholic chords. The title track and penultimate “The Last to Know” similarly had a more serious tone to them and succeeded in capturing my attention with commanding hooks and strong progression.

Other than that, nothing really grabbed me. The tracks here aren’t bad (save for “Ugly in the Morning”) but they don’t bring much to the table other than the band’s trademark quirkiness. And quirkiness alone isn’t winning any points.

Unitron While Faith No More gets the respect they deserve for being one of the most groundbreaking bands in metal, unfortunately the albums before Mike Patton joined are often forgotten in that. Introduce Yourself does just what the title says, and Faith No More introduces themselves as a band like no other and one that couldn't care less about fictional genre boundaries and just wanted to combine everything they liked into an incredible unique sound.

This is basically nu metal for the 80's. Funky bass, synthscapes right out of Kraftwerk, thrash metal riffs, post-punk/new wave melodies, rapping, and whatever else they could throw in there. Original vocalist Chuck Mosley is both underrated and underestimated, unfairly compared to Mike Patton. Both are great vocalists but in very different ways, Mosley is like the sound of the album if it was a person. He's too much of a beatnik for the punks, he's too thrash for the beatniks, he's too new wave for the thrashers, he's just who he is. No song better exemplifies this than Death March, with his beatnik meets skater rambling. Also, anyone wanting proof that Faith No More would've continued experimenting and expanding their influences even if Patton never joined, just check out Mosley's post-FNM band Cement.

Everything on the album sounds so gigantic, and combined it's just ethereal. Jim Martin's meaty riffs hit so damn hard, every slap and pop of Billy Gould's bass is felt, Mike Bordin's drums are hammers on an anvil, and it's all wrapped up in Roddy Bottum's grandiose synths which might be the most underrated part of Faith No More's sound. It creates an atmosphere like no other metal album at the time.

We Care a Lot!

SilentScream213 Faith No More make a bit of a leap on this one. They keep their weirdo funky Alt Metal sound and knack for variety and experimentation, and slap a heavy dose of consistency on top. Before, Faith No More produced about as many good songs as total duds in their search for a sound. Here they continue changing things up, but the quality remains very good across the entire album. The keys do a fantastic job of adding some grandeur to the otherwise very generic instrumentation. The vocals are hit or miss, not really my thing, but pretty unique at the time and employ a wide variety of techniques. Overall a great improvement without straying from their roots.

SilentScream213 Very similar to their debut, Introduce Yourself has the same funky grooves, prominent keys and oddball lyrical delivery. The Funk influence is turned all the way up, and it even features some rapping (I assume from Chuck, but most of the members do backup/gang vocals as well). Overall, it’s more focused with better riffs and some good vocal melodies as well, but it’s no huge leap. Most of the material still sounds like an immature band trying to find itself. A very juvenile, mediocre Alternative Metal record, great for fun, but not so much to sit down and have a serious listen.

martindavey87 What can truly be said to accurately sum up Faith No More’s 1985 debut, ‘We Care a Lot’? It’s a complete smorgasbord of styles and influences, all mashed up together in a brief 34-minute flurry of experimentation.

And yet, while it’s a little rough around the edges (okay, maybe more than a little), there’s an interesting charm about it that shows a band who, underneath all the random madness, knows what they’re doing. The low-budget production gives the album a very rough sound, at times making certain instruments indistinguishable, and sometimes the vocals can be a bit jarring, but overall, there’s a lot of potential here for what the band can achieve.

Songs like ‘We Care a Lot’ (which will be re-recorded on the bands next release), ‘The Jungle’, ‘Arabian Disco’, and the hidden gem, ‘As the Worm Turns’, are all decent tracks that, while inferior to the bands later output and somewhat hindered by vocalist Chuck Mosley’s repetitive style, show a band that are not following any particular blueprint or trend.

Blending rock, metal, funk, punk, hip-hop, synthpop, and anything else you can throw into the mix, it sounds like this should be a complete mess, but the Californian five-piece do manage to string it all together. And while the compositions are very raw and unpolished, you can already hear just in this short release that the band can, and will, improve over time and go on to release much stronger albums.

Stooge The Brixton Academy show captures the band in 1990, just as they were beginning to explode in an “Epic” fashion. Supporting their 1989 release “The Real Thing”, the setlist contains all but “Surprise! You’re Dead!” and “The Morning After” from that album. Two tracks from the pre-Patton era are performed “As The Worm Turns” and “We Care A Lot”, both of which are a good fit with Patton’s voice. This concert is well shot, and the band performs great. It makes me wish for a more extended Faith No More show to be released in the future.

The other part of the package is mainly to showcase their promotional videos. Music video compilations aren’t normally my cup of tea, but at least they integrate some other things into the mix to keep it interesting. You get snippets of interviews, behind the scenes footage, and outtakes to bridge some of the music videos. The music videos span going all the way to the Chuck Mosely days through to Album of the Year, ranging in quality to low budget/amateur rank (“Everything’s Ruined”, the Mosely era ones) to great production values (“Stripsearch”). However, I believe there are some official videos missing from the collection (“Ricochet” comes to mind). I guess having “Greatest Videos” in the title covers their a$$es in that regard.

This is a great package for those new to Faith No More, and it has strong re-play value.