F♯A♯∞

Infobox Album
Name = F♯A♯∞
Type = studio
Artist =
Godspeed You! Black Emperor


Type = studio
Released = August 14, 1997 (first edition)
June 9, 1998 (second edition)
Recorded = Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genre = Post-rock
Length = 38:40 (first edition)
63:27 (second edition)
Label = Constellation CST003
Kranky KRANK027
Producer = Don Wilkie
Ian Ilavsky
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Chronology = Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Reviews =
* Allmusic rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:pht67ub0o0jj link]
* CanuckistanMusic (very favorable) [http://www.CanuckistanMusic.com/index.php?maid=11 link]
* Pitchfork Media (9.3/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/18130/Godspeed_You_Black_Emperor_FAoo June 1998]
Last album = "All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling"
(1994)
This album = "F♯A♯∞"
(1997)
Next album = "aMAZEzine! 7""
(1998)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = studio


Lower caption = One of the three different vinyl album covers

"F♯A♯∞" is the debut album of the Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor! (later punctuated Godspeed You! Black Emperor). It was released twice, first in 1997 as a vinyl LP by Constellation RecordsCite web|url=http://cstrecords.com/cst003.html|title=Godspeed You Black Emperor! – "F♯A♯∞" description|accessdate=2006-12-23|publisher=Constellation Records|year=2006|author=Constellation Records|work=Records Index|format=html] and then again on CD in 1998 by Kranky. The tracks are split into various named movements. The CD version was remastered and edited, and includes some extra material, including an extra track and a hidden track. The album focuses on the end of the world and thoughts of a coming apocalypse.

Overview

The original vinyl was limited to a pressing of 500 copies, and came in a handmade package with various inserts, including original photographic prints, posters, and a Canadian penny that had been crushed by a train.Cite web|url=http://cstrecords.com/cst003_artwork.html|title=Godspeed You Black Emperor! – "f#a#∞" artwork|accessdate=2006-12-23|publisher=Constellation Records|year=2006|author=Constellation Records|work=Records Index|format=html] The record sleeve and jacket made no mention of the track titles. The names were instead scratched into the run-off groove space, accompanied by the catalog number and side indication. The final track is a locked groove that loops indefinitely on certain record players. The album's title is technically "F Sharp, A Sharp, Infinity", a reference to the keys in which each side begins and to the endless loop at the end.

The track "East Hastings" is named after a street in Vancouver's blighted Downtown Eastside. With the band's agreement, an edited portion of the track was used in the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's 2002 horror film "28 Days Later", though it does not appear on the film's soundtrack album. Danny Boyle was heavily inspired by this album during the making of 28 Days Later, saying that the entire film was cut with this as the soundtrack in his mind. [Cite web|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,836839,00.html |title=Get used to the limelight]

The vox pop interviewee included at the beginning of the song "Providence" references "A Country Boy Can Survive" by Hank Williams, Jr., and is apparently the same man that quotes Blaze Bailey in "BBF3" on the band's "Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada". This sample was used by the band to end their performance of "Steve Reich" during their live session for VPRO Radio in 1998.

Track listing

Vinyl edition

ide one

# "Nervous, Sad, Poor…" – 20:43
## "The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)" – 6:09
## "Slow Moving Trains" – 3:23
## "The Cowboy…" – 4:16
## "Drugs in Tokyo" – 3:29
## "The Dead Flag Blues (Outro)" – 1:52
## (untitled segment) – 1:34

ide two

# "Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful…" – 17:40
## "…Nothing's Alrite in Our Life…"/"The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)" – 2:00
## "The Sad Mafioso…" – 5:33
## "Kicking Horse on Brokenhill" – 5:36
## "String Loop Manufactured During Downpour…" – 4:29

CD edition

# "The Dead Flag Blues" – 16:27
## "The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)" – 6:37
## "Slow Moving Trains" – 3:33
## "The Cowboy…" – 4:17
## "The Dead Flag Blues (Outro)" – 2:00
# "East Hastings" – 17:58
## "…Nothing's Alrite in Our Life…"/"The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)" – 1:35
## "The Sad Mafioso…" – 10:44
## "Drugs in Tokyo" – 3:43
## "Black Helicopter" – 1:56
# "Providence" – 29:02
## "Divorce & Fever…" – 2:44
## "Dead Metheny…" – 8:07
## "Kicking Horse on Brokenhill" – 5:53
## "String Loop Manufactured During Downpour…" – 4:36
##* (unlisted segment of silence) – 3:32
## "J.L.H. Outro" – 4:08

Edition notes

Vinyl

* Names of movements are not actually given anywhere in the vinyl release; these are taken from the CD release.
* The final movement on side one does not have a corresponding segment on the CD release.
* Time lengths given are approximations. Because of the locked groove of the final track, the vinyl edition technically has an infinite running time.

CD

* "Slow Moving Trains" and "The Cowboy..." are listed as the same movement, but they are actually separate pieces.
* "Drugs in Tokyo" and "Black Helicopter" are listed as the same movement, but they are actually separate pieces.
* "J.L.H. Outro" was named in honour of John Lee Hooker. On the CD edition it is hidden after approximately four minutes' worth of silence at end of "Providence."
* Time lengths of movements given are taken from the [http://www.brainwashed.com/godspeed/music.html official discography] .

Personnel

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

* Efrim Menuck – guitar
* Thierry Amar – bass
* Mauro Pezzente – bass
* Aidan Girt – percussion
* Bruce Cawdron – percussion
* David Bryant – guitar
* Mike Moya – guitar
* Norsola Johnson – cello
* Christophe
* Thea

Production

* Don Wilkie – producer, mixing
* Ian Ilavsky – producer, mixing
* Godspeed You Black Emperor! – producer, mixing

Trivia

* The sung phrase "Where are you going? Where are you going?" in "Providence" is sampled from the song "By My Side," from the 1970 musical Godspell.

Notes

External links

* [http://cstrecords.com/cst003.html Constellation's information page on "F♯A♯∞"]
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36737-staff-list-top-100-albums-of-the-1990s/page_6 'F♯A♯∞' on Pitchfork's Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list]