FriendBurst Blog

Reverence is basically an album of ‘filler’ plus two epic songs (Insomnia and Salva Mea).  Insomnia became an instant dance classic, upon its release in 1995.  Faithless released a much better album in 1998.  Sunday 8PM is more focused and consistent, compared with the debut.  It contains another epic single (God Is A DJ).  Three further singles were released from Sunday 8PM.  Then the album was re-released with a bonus disc full of remixes (Saturday 3AM).  Reverence was also re-released.  The bonus disc (Irreverence) contains remixes.  The third (and best) Faithless album received the same treatment (Outrospective was later re-released, as Outrospective/Reperspective).  It’s a pretty bad batch of remixes though.  The album includes the singles We Come 1, Muhammad Ali, Tarantula and One Step Too Far.

Rollo also released a solo album – under the alias Dusted.  His sister (Dido) was a regular contributor on Faithless albums.  After the disappointing No Roots and the accompanying ‘instrumental’ album (Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow) Faithless released a singles collection (Forever Faithless) and announced there would be no further albums.  Eighteen months later, a new album arrived.  For All New Arrivals is mostly very gentle.  It is loosely conceived (so to speak) around the subject of birth (and the hopes and fears which accompany the arrival of a child in one’s life).  The Dance, as the title suggests, is an album full of juicy dance tracks.  The singles Sun To Me, Tweak Your Nipple and Not Going Home stand out.  The Dance Never Ends was released later the same year.  It includes the whole album, an extra track and a bonus disc of satisfactory remixes.  Faithless officially split last year.

Eight years after The Housemartins split, bassist Norman Cook released his first album as Fatboy Slim.  Better Living Through Chemistry is a purely electronic ‘big-beat’ album (nothing like The Housemartins).  Norman Cook had already dabbled in the club scene, under the pseudonym Pizzaman.  Nobody noticed.  His tracks were unremarkable.  It was a transitional period.  By the end of the nineties, Fatboy Slim was a household name.  Norman Cook clearly had loads of fun creating his best album.  You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby is fantastic.  Four singles were released – including Praise You and Right Here, Right Now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ULVQOneeZE

The fun continued on the next two albums (Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars and Palookaville).  Four singles were released from each album.  The singles collection (Why Try Harder) was released in 2006.  It contains two exclusive Fatboy Slim tracks plus a couple of Norman Cook’s remixes.  I recommend the CD/DVD set, as most of the videos are suitably fun-filled.  If you want ALL of the videos, a separate DVD is available.  Norman Cook released an album under the pseudonym Brighton Port Authority in 2009.  Collaborators include David Byrne, Iggy Pop and Justin Robertson.  I haven’t heard I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat.  It received positive reviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dins1tqcoAw&feature=relmfu

Felix Stallings Junior is another musician who has operated under several pseudonyms (eg. Rocketmann and Thee Maddkatt Courtship).  He has settled on Felix Da Housecat and has released five albums.  Kittenz And Thee Glitz (2001) is the best of them.  It is an electroclash classic, featuring Miss Kittin on some of the tracks.  There have been four albums since then (if you include Son Of Analogue, which was released exclusively by Mixmag).  Each of them contain some good dance tracks, but they are few and far between.

Taking his cues from punk and industrial music, Frank Tovey fused elements of these genres with pop.  The result was dark and disjointed synth-pop (not unlike Cabaret Voltaire and The Human League’s early output).  He was the first artist to sign to Mute Records – as Fad Gadget.  He was supported by Depeche Mode in the early eighties.  He later supported Depeche Mode, on the Exciter tour in 2001.  Four Fad Gadget albums were released between 1980 and 1984.  From 1986, Frank Tovey dropped the pseudonym.  After The Fad Gadget Singles and Snakes & Ladders, he went on to release four more albums (between 1988 and 1992).  He lost a lot of fans when he started writing acoustic protest songs.  It was a complete change of direction (it was basically folk music).  He became less popular with each album.  He was in the process of making a comeback as Fad Gadget, at the time of his death in 2002.  He was forty five years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP2TJpNcjPM

Further listening