Album of the Year (Faith No More album)

Album of the Year
Studio album by Faith No More
Released June 3, 1997
Recorded 1996-1997 at Brilliant Studios, San Francisco, California
Genre Alternative metal[1][2]
Length 43:04
Label Slash
Producer
Faith No More chronology
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
(1995)		 Album of the Year
(1997)		 Sol Invictus
(2015)
Singles from Album of the Year
  1. "Ashes to Ashes"
    Released: May 19, 1997
  2. "Last Cup of Sorrow"
    Released: August 5, 1997
  3. "Stripsearch"
    Released: November 11, 1997
  4. "She Loves Me Not"
    Released: 1998 [cancelled]
Album of the Year bonus limited edition
Cover for the 18 song limited edition released in Europe.

Album of the Year is the sixth studio album by American rock band Faith No More. It was released on June 3, 1997, (June 9, 1997, in the UK and Europe)[3] and is the first album with the band's current guitarist Jon Hudson. It is the final studio album by the band to be released through Slash/Warner Bros., as well as their last studio album before their eleven-year hiatus from 1998 to 2009.

The album was recorded in Billy Gould's home studio, and is described by Allmusic as being "more straightforward musically than past releases."[2] The album spawned three singles: "Ashes to Ashes," "Last Cup of Sorrow" and "Stripsearch."

Background

Recording

Guitarist Jon Hudson joined the band after the departure of Dean Menta. Regarding Menta, Billy Gould said "We didn't fire Dean because he was an asshole, we didn't fire Dean because of anything, it was just because we couldn't write. And he had already written songs but it wasn't working. He toured fine."[4] Producer Roli Mosimann encouraged the band to utilize computer-based recording/editing software Pro Tools during the recording process, something they had previously never done before. Gould stated "he said there were some things that he'd like to change in Pro Tools. A good example of Roli's editing was the song 'Mouth to Mouth.' It wasn't sounding right to us at all. It was almost a throwaway song. But Roli really liked that one, so he ended up taking the [acoustic] drums in the choruses and moving them to the verses in Pro Tools. It gave the song a whole new life."[5]

Songs

"Naked in Front of the Computer" is one of the few songs in the Faith No More catalogue written solely by Mike Patton. When asked about the song's meaning, Billy Gould replied:

"She Loves Me Not" is the eighth song on the album. The song itself seems to draw its influence from lounge music. It was to be the fourth single off the album, but the band ended before this could be accomplished. It has also never been played live. Despite this, it made an appearance on Faith No More's 2006 greatest hits compilation The Platinum Collection. When asked about the song, Billy Gould replied:

Artwork

The photograph on the front cover depicts Czechoslovakia's first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who is regarded as the country's founding father.

The album jacket depicts the funeral of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, with the words "pravda vítězí" (truth prevails) adorning the coffin. The statement is the motto of the Czech Republic. The art was reflected with the band frequently wearing suits during their tour in support of the album. The trend carried over to their 2009 reunion tour.

The album sleeve did not feature printed lyrics; however, Mike Patton and Billy Gould did submit official lyrics to fnm.com,[7] which was a fan controlled site prior to the band reformation in 2009.[8]

Touring and promotion

As with previous albums, it was supported by a large scale tour covering various countries, which lasted from April 22, 1997, to April 7, 1998.[9] The Album of the Year tour is notable for featuring Limp Bizkit, a nu metal/rap metal band greatly influenced by Faith No More, as an opener for several 1997 US dates. In a 2013 interview, Roddy Bottum recalled "I fought it at the time. I had to really push to get a couple bands that I liked to get on the bill in Portland and Seattle on that leg. I had no interest in the sound of Limp Bizkit. It was not how I wanted to be represented at all. Not to be snotty at all, but that guy Fred Durst had a really bad attitude. He was kind of a jerk. I remembered he called the audience faggots at one show when they booed him. Not a good scene."[10]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB[11]
Pitchfork2.4/10[12]
Rolling Stone [13]
Spin[14]

Initially Album of the Year was met with some lukewarm to negative responses from critics in the United States, with the Rolling Stone magazine rating the album one-and-a-half stars out of five and commented that the band "...are floundering around desperately, groping for a sense of identity and direction in a decade that clearly finds them irrelevant".[13] Pitchfork gave the album a similarly negative review, stating "Album Of The Year leaves one feeling like waking up and finding last night's used condom -- sure, the ride was fun while it lasted, but what remains is just plain icky. And you definitely don't want it in your CD player."[12] However, the album developed praise from both critics and fans alike in the years after the band's break-up in 1998. In his retrospective review, Greg Prato of AllMusic gave the album a rating of four stars out of five and described it as being "a fitting way for one of alt-rock's most influential and important bands to end its career."[2]

Singer Mike Patton criticized the album in a 2001 interview, saying "[We split] Because we were starting to make bad music. And that's when you need to pull the plug. Our next record would have been a piece of shit."[15]

Commercial

As of 2015, the album had sold 221,000 copies in the U.S.[16] This nearly matched the total for King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime but was a significantly lower figure than that of the other two albums featuring Mike Patton on vocals. In other charts it fared much better, peaking at #1 in Australia and New Zealand. It also went Platinum in Australia for sales of more than 70,000 copies.[17] The album only had slight impact in the UK charts but it did go Gold for sales of more than 100,000 copies. The biggest downfall for this album was perhaps in the US where sales were significantly lower than previous efforts. Album Of The Year has currently sold just over one million albums worldwide.

Release history

Initial pressings of the Australian, UK and Dutch versions of the album included a bonus remix disc.

Album of the Year would be the second album in the band's discography to be re-released by Dutch music label Music On Vinyl after Angel Dust.[18] Released on August 26, 2013, the album had a limited pressing run of 2000 hand numbered copies on gold vinyl, as well as on black vinyl which remains available in some retailers.

Album of the Year was released as a deluxe edition on 2016 with two discs; the second disc contains eight bonus tracks.[19]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Collision"Jon Hudson, Mike Patton3:24
2."Stripsearch"Mike Bordin, Billy Gould, Hudson4:29
3."Last Cup of Sorrow"Gould, Patton4:12
4."Naked in Front of the Computer"Patton2:08
5."Helpless"Bordin, Gould, Patton5:26
6."Mouth to Mouth"Bordin, Gould, Hudson, Patton3:48
7."Ashes to Ashes"Bordin, Gould, Hudson, Patton, Roddy Bottum3:37
8."She Loves Me Not"Bordin, Gould, Patton3:29
9."Got That Feeling"Patton2:20
10."Paths of Glory"Bordin, Bottum, Gould, Hudson, Patton4:17
11."Home Sick Home"Patton1:59
12."Pristina"Gould, Patton3:51
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."The Big Kahuna" (Japanese or limited Edition bonus track)3:07
14."Light Up and Let Go" (Japanese or limited Edition bonus track)2:20
15."Last Cup of Sorrow" (Rammstein mix) (Limited edition bonus track)4:23
16."Ashes to Ashes" (Hardknox Alternative mix) (Limited edition bonus track)6:47
17."She Loves Me Not" (Spinna Crazy dub mix) (Limited edition bonus track)4:41
18."Last Cup of Sorrow" (Sharam Vs FNM Club mix) (Limited edition bonus track)7:24
Bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."Last Cup of Sorrow" (Bigfoot and Wildboy mix)8:44
2."Last Cup of Sorrow" (Bonehead mix)4:54
3."Ashes to Ashes" (Hardknox Horned Hand mix)6:47
4."Ashes to Ashes" (Automatic 5 dub)6:10
5."She Loves Me Not" (Spinna Main mix)4:41
6."Ashes to Ashes" (Dillinja mix)5:30
Bonus disc (2016 Deluxe Edition)
No.TitleLength
1."Pristina" (Billy Gould mix)4:14
2."Last Cup of Sorrow" (Roli Mosimann mix)6:23
3."She Loves Me Not" (Spinna Main mix)4:36
4."Ashes to Ashes" (DJ Icey & Maestro mix)6:05
5."Light Up & Let Go"2:17
6."The Big Kahuna"3:04
7."This Guy's In Love With You" (Live)4:19
8."Collision" (Live)3:28

Personnel

Faith No More
Production
  • Roli Mosimann – producer, mixing
  • Paul Ceppaglia – mixing assistant
  • Atom – engineer
  • Mike Bogus – engineer
  • Daniel Presley – engineer
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering
  • Katherine Delaney – art direction, design

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Kerrang! United Kingdom "Albums of the Year"[20] 1997 10

Chart positions

Album
Chart Peak
Australian Albums Chart 1
Czech Republic Top 40 1
New Zealand Charts 1
German Album Charts 2
Finnish Albums Chart[21] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 7
Swedish Top 50 11
U.S. Billboard 200 40

Year-end charts

Chart (1997) Position
German Albums Chart[23] 64
Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions
US Main[24] AUS
[25]		 FIN
[26]		 NOR
[27]		 NZ
[28]		 SWI
[29]		 UK
[30][31]
1997 "Ashes to Ashes" 228714395015
"Last Cup of Sorrow" 1466——32—51
"Stripsearch" —83—————
"—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart.

References

  1. ↑ "Faith No More – King for a Day/Album of the Year Reissues". mxdwn.com. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Prato, Greg. "Album of the Year – Faith No More : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ National Music Express: 27. May 31, 1997.
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVNbegr8N8&t=4s
  5. ↑ http://www.faithnomorefollowers.com/2015/06/faith-no-more-album-of-year-18.html
  6. 1 2 "Faith No More – The Making of Album of the Year". Keyboard Magazine. September 1997. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
  7. ↑ "OFFICIAL LYRICS: Album Of The Year". Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  8. ↑ "::official FAITH NO MORE site:: About FNM::". Faith No More. February 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Faith No More Gig Database". Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Roddy Bottum Fan Q and A – The Answers". Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ Helligar, Jeremy (June 20, 1997). "Album of the Year". Entertainment Weekly (384). Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  12. 1 2 Stomberg, Jeremy. "Faith No More: Album of the Year: Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on October 31, 2001. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Faith No More: Album Of The Year : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  14. ↑ "none". Spin: 114–115. August 1997.
  15. ↑ Mike Patton, June 30, 2001, Wâldrock Festival Link
  16. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on May 15, 2015.
  17. ↑ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 1997 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  18. ↑ Vinyl, Music On. "FAITH NO MORE – ALBUM OF THE YEAR – Catalog – Music On Vinyl". Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  19. ↑ "FAITH NO MORE KING FOR A DAY AND ALBUM OF THE YEAR DELUXE EDITIONS AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 9" (Press release). Rhino Media. July 25, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Kerrang! – Albums of the Year". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on March 27, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
  21. ↑ Suomen virallinen lista Archived January 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ↑ "Faith No More | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Artist Chart History – Faith No More". Nielsen Company, Billboard magazine. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  25. ↑ "Discography Faith No More". Steffen Hung, australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  26. ↑ "Discography Faith No More". Steffen Hung, finnishcharts.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved June 3, 2008.
  27. ↑ "Discography Faith No More". Steffen Hung, norwegiancharts.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
  28. ↑ "Discography Faith No More". Steffen Hung, hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
  29. ↑ "Discographie Faith No More". Hung Medien, hitparade.ch. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
  30. ↑ "UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts". everyHit.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
  31. ↑ "Chart Stats – Faith No More". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2008.
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