| Product: |
Faithless in general |
| Date: |
14/03/02 (116 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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I've been feeling a bit down lately. I haven't really laughed for a bit. But last night, I found my mouth naturally forming a big SMILE, all by itself, not forced or fake, but because it wanted to be there.
So what put a smile on my face?
Well, I went to see the band that I have been wanting to see live since I was 14, which feels like a long time ago to me! I first heard Faithless when they brought out the huge club tune Insomnia. I longed to go out clubbing and remember sleeping over at my friends house and listening to Insomnia over and over again and imagining how amazing it must be. I even included Insomnia in my top ten singles opinion here on Dooyoo. Even now when I hear it, the sensations are not dulled and it brings back a lot of good memories. And yes, when I did start going out clubbing, the track sounded so much better in a club.
Some pieces of music are suited to certain locations and just don't sound "right" elsewhere. Can you imagine a rousing hymn being sung on a drunken night out? No, for they belong in church. In God is a DJ we are told that our "church" is wherever we want it to be. In the gig last night Maxi Jazz actually included a rap/speech type thing where he talked about having faith and how your church is held inside yourself. Very deep and spiritual, but then Faithless do not shy away from important issues and sing about meaningless "I love you baby la la la".
I own all of Faithless's albums and like them for a number of reasons. Most people would only know their popular single releases, like We Come 1, God is a DJ and Insomnia. There is a lot more to Faithless than pumping club tracks, in fact much of their album material is quite mellow and chilled out.
So, just who ARE Faithless?
They formed in 1995 and the original members were Rollo Armstrong, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz.
Rollo- You know Dido? Well this is her equally talente
d brother. Dido has actually sang on a number of early Faithless tracks, including Salva Mea. Rollo write, produces and mixes Faithless's music but does not appear live with them. An interesting fact I found out about Rollo is that he has something called syneasthesia, which is a clinical condition where sounds have colour-surreal!
Sister Bliss- a hugely successful female DJ who is also a classically trained musician.
Maxi Jazz- I think it is fair to say that Maxi Jazz makes Faithless what it is. He is a devout Buddhist who started out rapping and MCing on London pirate radio stations. His voice is unique- breathless and full of expression. His raps talk about issues and feelings that everyone can relate to; homelessness (Not Enuff Love), street crime (Baseball Cap) and religion (Reverence) to name but a few.
Other members include singer Zoe Johnston, who sings on a number of tracks on their latest album Outrospective, including Crazy English Summer. Jamie Catto, who co-writes many of their songs and sings occasionally. Even Boy George sings on one of their tracks (Why Go on Outrospective).
For people who think dance music is nothing but computer generated rubbish that anyone could create, you have to see Faithless! Their music is a mixture of dance/house/soul/jazz/rap and probably many other musical genres too. Their sound is created using guitars (classical and electric), a huge array of percussion, keyboards and expert DJ mixing. All of this creates a unique sound which although can be very different on different tracks, is recognisable as the Faithless *sound*.
Faithless's first album was Reverence, which also came out with a second remix CD called Irreverence. To date it has sold over 1.5 million copies. Starting with Maxi's mellow rapping on Reverence, it takes you on a journey through heartbreak (Don't Leave), Love and Everyday life.
Salva Mea is fantastic-"How can I change, the wor
ld-if I can't even change myself?"
It's a mellow club track with a long build up and Dido's vocals are beautiful.. I listened to this for one of the first times in a small village in Spain, on a balcony overlooking a lake which had to be the ideal setting!
I especially like Flowerstand Man- "Bout a month ago..I'd never seen your face, I'd never heard your voice..bout a month ago".
The album closes with the ultra mellow, almost classical repetitive harmonies of Drifting Away, and as the album draws to a close, you really do feel as though you are drifting off. Hold on until the end of the album as there is about 30 seconds of bird song at the end which closes the music perfectly. You may know Drifting Away as it has been used as background music on Trigger Happy TV.
Their second album was Sunday 8pm. God is a DJ is the only "dancey" type song on this album and it's a much mellower affair. It?s a good album to listen to in the evening with the lights tuned low. Why Go, God is a DJ, and Hem of his Garment (vocals by Dido) and Sunday 8pm are recommended. However, although I recommend personal favourites, all of the Faithless albums should be taken as a whole. You can tell that Sister Bliss and Rollo are excellent DJ's as their own songs are mixed seamlessly and lead into one another. I am not really a person who buys music singles anyway, but with Faithless it would be even more pointless as their climaxing dance tracks sound so much more powerful when they are preceded by mellower tracks.
Outrospective is Faithless's latest album and my most listened to at the moment. It has spawned several successful single releases- last summers We Come One and Tarantula. From Crazy English Summer's lazy laid back feel to Maxi's rap to his idol in Muhammed Ali. Faithless have produced yet another musical masterpiece that spans the genres and appeals to a wide array of fans.
"There is no such thing as a typical Faithless fan"
Last night taught me that. From young clubbers jumping madly around at the front, to middle aged couples sitting down and tapping their feet, there was nobody out of place. When the whole place joined together and followed Mazi Jazz's commands to point and shout "One" during We Come One, you really could feel a sense of unity in Wolverhampton.
Sister Bliss has said that "When people come to our gigs, we want them to be lifted. Changed. Empowered". Ambitious? Maybe, but for a band that call themselves Faithless, there was a hell of a lot of faith in the room last night ("can you feel the love in the room?")
The long wait, the ridiculous bar prices and the disappointing support act (Alpine Stars) were all instantly forgotten when the members of Faithless took to the stage, Maxi got the loudest cheer and he was the enigmatic focus point on the stage. He's a funny figure in the flesh, very slim and he was wearing a baggy pinstripes suit with comical "Simon Cowell" braces that pulled his trousers up incredibly high. But he commanded so much respect from the crowd, when he spoke between songs, everyone was listening, when he rapped, hundreds mouthed the words along with him.
The gig last night in Wolverhampton was Faithless's first gig back in the UK for a long time as they have been touring the world (the troubles of touring are expressed in the song Postcards on the Sunday 8pm album) and they genuinely seemed thrilled at the reception they received and not worn down by constant touring.
The highlight of the night for me had to be Insomnia- I have heard that song so many times, but to hear it live, with Maxi Jazz rapping about "tearing off tights with my teeth" just metres away from me (I was right up by the front fence) was incredible. When I heard them start up that tune, with the distincti
ve "tick tock" sound, my heart actually started racing I was so excited. My legs were shaking, and the bass went right through my body, I could feel it through my chest.
When they left and said Thank You, no one was going anywhere..we stamped our feet, shouted and whistled, anything to get the heroes of the night back for more. We were not disappointed, they came back for a triumphant performance of God is a DJ and Drifting Away (played beautifully on classical acoustic guitar).
I can not get out of my head Maxi jumping up and down as he belted out the words of Salva Mea "Just below my Skin I'M SCREAMING" repeatedly. I was certainly screaming under my skin last night and get shivers thinking about it.
I hope I have not bored anyone. I do not normally write in the music category as it is very hard to express feeling about music in mere words. I hope I have managed to get across some of my emotions in this though, and I totally recommend Faithless to anybody.
They have a web site at www.faithless.co.uk which contains tour information and their discography among many other things. There are still a few tickets left for their gigs in April and it is the last chance to see them this year. I am so glad I finally got the chance to see them live as it was well worth it and makes the CD's sound even better now.
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