Angel Dust (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Angel Dust
Type = Album
Artist = Faith No More


Released =Start date|1992|6|8
Recorded = Coast Recorders and Brilliant Studios San Francisco, California January – March 1992The Making of Angel Dust, Mike Bordin interview. MTV. Retrieved Date|2007-12-22]
Genre = Experimental rock, alternative metal
Length = Original: 58:49
Reissue: 61:54
Label = Slash
Producer = Matt Wallace, Faith No More
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ahmazefbkhgf6 link]
* "Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/faithnomore/albums/album/321678/review/6068107/angel_dust link]
*Review-Christgau|hm3|artist=449
* "Entertainment Weekly" B [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,311002,00.html link]
* "Q" Rating|4|5 small|July 1992, pagenbsp91
Last album = "Live at the Brixton Academy"
(1990)
This album = "Angel Dust"
(1992)
Next album = "Video Croissant"
(1993)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = studio


Lower caption = The cover of the 6 track promo CD Singles
Name = Angel Dust
Type = album
Single 2 = Land of Sunshine
Single 2 date = as an album sampler
Single 1 = Midlife Crisis
Single 1 date = May 26, 1992
Single 3 = A Small Victory
Single 3 date = August 3, 1992
Single 4 = A Small Victory (Remix)
Single 4 date = September 1, 1992
Single 5 = Everything's Ruined
Single 5 date = November 9, 1992
Single 6 = Easy
Single 6 date = December 29, 1992

"Angel Dust" is the fourth studio album by American rock band Faith No More, first released through Slash on June 8, 1992 in Europe and the United States. It's the final studio album with long time guitarist "Big" Jim Martin and the second to feature Mike Patton on vocals however it is the first album in which he had an influence on the band's sound, [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=8&id=932 |title=Last in, First Out? |accessdate=2008-08-30 |last=Hobbs |first=Mary Anne |date=August 1993|publisher="Select"] as Patton hadn't previously had input on the musical composition of the albums predecessor, "The Real Thing", as it had all been composed and recorded prior to his joining.cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=6&id=980 |title=Faith No More: Angel Dust in the wind |accessdate=2008-06-15 |first=Jem|last=Aswad |month=June | year=1992 |work=Issue 25 |publisher="Reflex" magazine]

It remains as Faith No More's highest-selling album outside the United States in which, as of July 2007, the album has sold 664,000 copies there. The album and subsequent tour were very successful in Europe where it went Platinum for sales of more than 1 million copies and Gold in Australia for selling more than 35,000 copies. Worldwide sales are around 3.0 million copies for this record.

Background, title and artwork

Following the success of their previous album, "The Real Thing" and the subsequent tour that followed, Faith No More took a break for about a year and a half off before beginning work the follow-up, "Angel Dust". During this time Mike Patton went back with his high-school band Mr. Bungle to record their eponymous début album.cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=12&id=1260 |title=Interview with Mike Bordin |accessdate=2008-08-29 |last=Moses |first=Peter |date=December 1992 |publisher="Metal Maniacs"] Mike Bordin said:

They decided not to "play it safe" and re-do their last album and went off in a different direction musically,cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&id=1279 |title=Angel of Weird |accessdate=2007-12-22 |first=Jeremy|last=Sheaffe |date=Mid 1992 |publisher=Hot Metal] much to the dismay of Jim Martin, [cite web |url=http://www.fnm.com/band/ |title=Faith No More - Bio, paragraph 6 |accessdate=2008-01-23 |publisher=FNM.com] who also didn't approve of the album's title, which Roddy Bottum chose, in an interview taken while they were in the studio he said:

Roddy stated that he chose the name because it "summed up what [they] did perfectly" in that "it's a really beautiful name for a really hideous drug [Phencyclidine] and that should make people think."cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=1&day=27&id=815 |title=Talking music and zoning with Roddy Bottom of Faith No More |accessdate=2008-06-21 |last=Ammons |first=Nathan |coauthors= Newman, Tim|date=January 27, 1993 |work= |publisher=Public News, Houston, Texas] The artwork has been described as in a similar fashion in that on the front it depicts a soft blue airbrushed egret, photographed by Werner Krutein, and the back depicts a meat hook scene, by Mark Burnstein, with the head of a cow hanging among plucked and decapitated chickens. It has been stated by both Billy Gould and Mike Bordin that it isn't based on any vegetarian sentiments but rather a reflection of the music and its balance of being "really aggressive and disturbing and then really soothing", the "beautiful with the sick".cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=12&id=1261 |title=Faith No More - Dusted |accessdate=2008-06-21 |last=Putterford |first=Mark |month=December | year=1992 |work= |publisher=Rip magazine]

" single, was originally going just the five members faces on a black background but wasn't well received by the band in this manner. Mike Bordin described the situation in these words:

cquote|That was a thing the record company really tried to foist on us. They really tried to fuck with our layout, and sent us these fucking pictures of us, just our heads. It was like this, they wanted us to have a poster inside the record consisted of our five heads on a black background, everything was black, the whole inside, and it's like, 'Fuck you.' We're going to make our cover, we made our record, we produced it our way, we wrote our songs, we played them our way, it sounds like us.

Writing process

A large portion of the songs were written between Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum and Mike Bordin, as with many of their previous albums but, unlike their previous albums Mike Patton, who had previously only written the lyrics on "The Real Thing", has input on its musical construction. Some attributed this to its difference in sound to its predecessors, however, Mike Patton credits it to being "better at playing what [they] hear in [their] heads" and went on to say:

In a trend carried on from when their vocalist at the time, Chuck Mosley, lived in Los Angeles while the rest of the band resided in the Bay Area they would record demo tapes of the songs and exchange them between each other then send them to Jim Martin for him to work on his own the guitar arrangements, which he always did separately before sending them back for approval. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=9&id=1079 |title=Faith No More: Get the Funk Out |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author= Lee Sherman |date= September 1992 |work= |publisher=Guitar Magazine]

The lyrics for "Angel Dust" were written for the most part by vocalist Mike Patton. He got his inspiration for the lyrics from many places including questions from the Oxford Capacity Analysis, fortune cookies and late-night TV, from which he wrote "Land of Sunshine" and "Caffeine" during a sleep deprivation experiment.Songs with lyrics written by someone other than Patton include "Be Aggressive" by Roddy Bottum, about oral sex, [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=6&day=15&id=890|title=Heavy Metal Homo |accessdate=2008-06-22 |author=Lance Loud |date=June 15, 1993 |publisher=The Advocate|quote=It was a pretty fun thing to write, knowing that Mike was going to have to put himself on the line and go up on-stage and sing these vocals.] "Everything's Ruined"; which was written by Mike Patton and Billy Gould, "Kindergarten"; by Mike Patton and Roddy Bottum, and "Jizzlobber"; by Jim Martin and Mike Patton which, according to Patton is about his fear of going to jail although it has also been said to be about a porno star by Billy Gould.

Recording process

For the recording of "Angel Dust" Faith No More, as well as self producing, once again had Matt Wallace, who had produced all their studio recordings to date with them. They started recording in January 1992 and originally went in studio to record a total of 17 songs, including the covers of "Midnight Cowboy" "Easy" and the rerecording of "As the Worm Turns". However after writing two more while in studio, a total of 19 were recorded. [The Making of Angel Dust, Billy Gould interview. MTV. Retrieved Date|2008-02-26] At the time they had not officially titled them, so they were known by these working titles, some of which were continued to be used later as set list titles:

* "Shuffle", "Triplet" – "Caffeine"
* "Madonna" – "Midlife Crisis"
* "Macaroni and Cheese", "Country Western Song" – "RV"
* "Arabic", "The Arabian Song" – "Smaller and Smaller"cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=7&id=1020 |title=Faith No More's Savage Democracy |accessdate=2008-07-25 |author=Erin Culley |month=July | year=1992 |work= |publisher=CREEM magazine]
* "F Sharp" – "Kindergarten"
* "I Swallow" – "Be Aggressive"
* "Japanese" – "A Small Victory"
* "Action Adventure" – "Crack Hitler"
* "The Sample Song" – "The World Is Yours"
* "The Carpenters Song"
* "The Funk Song"

It is unsure if the recording session included "Das Schutzenfest" as the production is only credited to "Faith No More", and not "Matt Wallace and Faith No More", as is the album. "Let's Lynch the Landlord" was recorded prior to the album recording session, originally scheduled to be on a Dead Kennedys covers compilation album on Mordam Records, it was however released on Alternative Tentacles Records.

amples

There were many samples used on "Angel Dust", to the point of being called a "gratuitous"cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=2&day=26&id=828 |title=The Power of Negative Thinking |accessdate=2008-08-30 |last=Stolder |first=Steve |coauthors= |date=February 26, 1993 |work= |publisher="BAM"] amount and concerning record label executives, with some from sources such as works by Simon and Garfunkel, Diamanda Galás, Z'EV and music from The Wizard of Oz. The Simon and Garfunkel sample is from the first bar of their song "Cecilia" and appears throughout the drum track of "Midlife Crisis". "Malpractice" contains a four second sample of the second movement of Dmitri Shostakovich's "String Quartet No. 8" as performed by the Kronos Quartet, on their album "Black Angels"; track 8 , "Allegro molto", at 2:10. It features in four points towards the end of the song at 2:56, 3:02, 3:22 and 3:26. Many of the original samples used in the songs were recorded by Roddy on a Digital Audio Tape recorder whilst "just whilst wandering out and about". "Crack Hitler", as well as featuring samples of sirens in the background, features a sample in the intro of Iris Lettieri reading a flight announcement at the Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, [cite web |url=http://www.irislettieri.com.br/release_espanhol_fotos.htm |title=Iris Lettieri - Release em Espanhol com Fotos |accessdate=2008-09-03 |language=Spanish |publisher=irislettieri.com.br] who then tried to sue the band for using her voice without permission.cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=7&day=17&id=922 |title=Rod against the Machine |accessdate=2008-08-30 |last=Chirazi |first=Steffan |date=July 17 1993 |work=Issue 452 |publisher="Kerrang!"] There are also samples of aboriginal chanting, amongst the sound effects from Sound Ideas, Richmond Hill, Ontario, in the background of "Smaller and Smaller".cite web |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/faithnomore/albums/album/321678/review/6068107/angel_dust |title= Faith No More: Angel Dust : Music Reviews |accessdate=2008-08-29 |last=Sinclair |first=Tom |date=September 3 1992 |publisher="Rolling Stone"]

Touring and support

Faith No More started the tour to promote "Angel Dust" shortly after the albums completion on the European leg of the Use Your Illusion Tour with Guns N' Roses and Soundgarden,cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&id=1285 |title=Faith No More - The Long & Dusty Road |accessdate=2008-06-17|author=Marina Zogbi |year=1992|publisher=] which Roddy described as a "complete European vacation" due to their light concert schedule. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&id=1277 |title=On Tour with Guns is Boring |accessdate=2008-06-17 |author= J.D. Considine |year=1992 |publisher=Des Moines Register] In an interview taken on June 6, 1992 Billy said: cquote|This is really just the beginning for us, Last time we toured, with The Real Thing, I left home at the age of 26 and got back when I was 28. Some of my friends had moved away, some had gotten married, some had had kids—I had a hard time dealing with that. This time I'm 29, and I know I'm gonna be on the road until I'm 31. Fuck, I don't even wanna think about it. They continued on this tour through the North America leg with Guns N' Roses and Metallica before splitting off on their own European tour through Finland, Sweden, [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=10 |title=Faith No More - 1992 - October |accessdate=2008-06-17 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] Denmark, Norway, seven performances from November 4 – 11 in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, 3 more performances in Germany, Belgium, Germany again, the Netherlands, Wales, England, where they played at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on November 23 then 3 nights straight at the Brixton Academy from November 25 – 27 and on the following night at the NEC Arena in Birmingham before going through Ireland, [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=11 |title=Faith No More - 1992 - November |accessdate=2008-06-17 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] Scotland, where they played the first 4 nights of December in the Barrowland Ballroom before going back through England, Belgium, 3 performances from the December 8 – 10 in France, 3 performances from the December 12 – 14 in Spain, France again, Italy, Switzerland and Austria again before having a break for Christmas and New Year. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1992&month=12 |title=Faith No More - 1992 - December |accessdate=2008-06-17 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] They began touring America again in mid January 1993 in Seattle, Washington, [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=1 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - January |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] and finishing in Utah a month later in mid February. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=2 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - February |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] Towards the end of April [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=4 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - April |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] till mid May they toured through Australia and New Zealand before returning to Europe for a show in Germany on May 29 and the following day in Vienna. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=5 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - May |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] On June 2 the played at Ahoy Rotterdam followed by 4 performances in Germany from June 3 – 7 and one in the Slovak Republic on June 10. Towards the end of June they performed on individual nights in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Portugal [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=6 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - June |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante] then a few days later on July 3 – 4 in Torhout and Werchter, Belgium followed by one last show in Germany, on July 9, and the final show of the tour in Stratford Upon Avon on July 17. [cite web |url=http://negele.org/db/index.php3?band=2&year=1993&month=7 |title=Faith No More - 1993 - July |accessdate=2008-07-01 |author=Stefan Negele|publisher=Caca Volante]

Critical reception

Reviews of "Angel Dust" were generally favourable. One critic write that the album is "one of the more complex and simply confounding records ever released by a major label"cite web | last = Erlewine | first = Stephen Thomas| title = Faith No More Biography | publisher = allmusic| date = | url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:m7rvad5kv8wo~T1 | accessdate = 2007-06-04] and similarly, another called it "the most uncommercial follow-up to a hit record ever". [cite web |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,311002,00.html |title=Angel Dust | Music Review |accessdate=2008-07-09 |author=Janiss Garza |date=1992-07-10 |work= |publisher=Entertainment Weekly] The single "A Small Victory" is described as a song "which seems to run Madame Butterfly through Metallica and Nile Rodgers, reveals a developing facility for combining unlikely elements into startlingly original concoctions"cite web | last = Robbins | first = Ira| title = Faith No More Biography | publisher = Trouser Press| date = | url =http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=faith_no_more | accessdate = 2007-06-04] while another calls "RV" a "Frank’s Wild Years-esque tale of a guy talking about his miserable life" adding that "you can almost smell the Spaghetti-O’s and beer on his wife-beater" and describes Mike Patton's vocals as "like silk-lined meat hooks". [cite web |url=http://www.wirenh.com/Music/Long_Play/%91Angel_Dust%92_200708072286.html |title=The Wire - ‘Angel Dust’ |accessdate=2008-07-09 |author=Liberty Hardy |date=2007-08-07 |work= |publisher=The Wire] The songs "Malpractice" and "Jizzlobber" were have been called "art-damaged death metal" and "nerve-frazzling apocalyptic rock" with a contrast to the "accordion-propelled" "Midnight Cowboy" theme cover that follows. Allmusic calls the album a "bizarro masterpiece", described the vocals as "smarter and more accomplished", compared to its predecessor "The Real Thing" and gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, calling it one of their album picks. [cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3ifixqy5ld6e |title=allmusic: Angel Dust - Overview |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last= |first= |author=Ned Raggett |publisher=Allmusic] The album was also called an "Album of the Year" in 1992 by seven different publications in four countries, making the top 10 in three of them and the top position in one, and the "Most Influential Albums of all Time".

Track listing

tracklist
collapsed = | headline = | lyrics_credits=yes | music_credits =yes
title1 =Land of Sunshine | lyrics1 =Patton | music1 =Gould, Bottum | length1 =3:44
title2 =Caffeine | lyrics2 =Patton | music2 =Gould, Patton | length2 =4:28
title3 =Midlife Crisis | lyrics3 =Patton | music3 =Bottum, Bordin, Gould, Patton | length3 =4:21
title4 =RV | lyrics4 =Patton | music4 =Bottum, Patton, Gould | length4 =3:43
title5 =Smaller and Smaller | lyrics5 =Patton | music5 =Gould, Bordin, Bottum, Wallace | length5 =5:11
title6 =Everything's Ruined | lyrics6 =Patton, Gould | music6 =Gould, Bottum, Patton | length6 =4:33
title7 =Malpractice | lyrics7 =Patton | music7 =Patton | length7 =4:02
title8 =Kindergarten | lyrics8 =Patton, Bottum | music8 =Gould, Martin | length8 =4:31
title9 =Be Aggressive | lyrics9 =Bottum | music9 =Bottum | length9 =3:42
title10 =A Small Victory | lyrics10 =Patton | music10 =Gould, Bottum, Bordin, Patton | length10 =4:57
title11 =Crack Hitler | lyrics11 =Patton | music11 =Gould, Bottum, Bordin | length11 =4:39
title12 =Jizzlobber | lyrics12 =Martin, Patton | music12 =Martin | length12 =6:38
title13 =Midnight Cowboy | lyrics13 =— | music13 =Barry | length13 =4:12
title14 =Easy | lyrics14 = Richie | music14 =Richie | length14 =3:04
title15 =As the Worm Turns | lyrics15 =Mosely | music15 =Bottum, Gould, Mosely | length15 =2:39
note14 =Re-release only)
note15 =Japanese bonus track) tracklist
collapsed = | headline =Promo track list | lyrics_credits=yes | music_credits =yes
title1 =Midlife Crisis | lyrics1 =Patton | music1 =Bottum, Bordin, Gould, Patton | length1 =4:21
title2 =Kindergarten | lyrics2 =Patton, Bottum | music2 =Gould, Martin | length2 =4:31
title3 =Land of Sunshine | lyrics3 =Patton | music3 =Gould, Bottum | length3 =3:44
title4 =Everything's Ruined | lyrics4 =Patton, Gould | music4 =Gould, Bottum, Patton | length4 =4:33
title5 =Epic | lyrics5 =Patton | music5 =Gould, Martin, Bottum, Bordin | length5 =4:51
title6 =We Care a Lot | lyrics6 =Mosely | music6 =Gould, Bottum | length6 =3:50
note6 =Live at Brixton

Bonus Discs

There were several different bonus discs released with various editions and formats of the album.

ingles

Cassette history

Digital Compact Cassette history

Footnotes

Reflist