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Who Cares a Lot?

Faith No More - Who Cares a Lot? Audio CD

A fair review of the Faith No More "Who Cares a Lot?" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Faith No More reviews here, or go back to the Faith No More tabs.

Band: Faith No More
Title: Who Cares a Lot?
Rating:

Release Date: 1999-10-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: We Care A Lot (Original Version) 2: Introduce Yourself 3: From Out Of Nowhere 4: Epic 5: Falling To Pieces 6: Midlife Crisis 7: A Small Victory 8: Easy 9: Digging The Grave 10: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies 11: Evidence 12: I Started A Joke 13: Last Cup Of Sorrow 14: Ashes To Ashes 15: Stripsearch 16: The World Is Yours 17: Hippie Jam Song 18: Instrumental 19: i Won't Forget You 20: Introduce Yourself (4 Track Demos)

I like a lot. 85/100
It was a tremendously good song which was different to anything around at the time.
It was through this band's song "Epic" that I first came to know them. Even now, that song is amongst the band's best and is still a favourite of mine. . . it has proved to be anything but a fad for me.

Today, in Australia, "Epic" is still a staple of classic rock radio stations. In fact, unfortunately, it's pretty much the only song by Faith No More you hear here. At the time of their releases, I remember quite liking what I'd heard of songs like "Falling to pieces" and "We care a lot", but since it is so rare to hear them here, it was great to get re-acquainted with them on this compilation.

At the moment, I have to say that "We care a lot" is my favourite FNM song. The cool intro, hip-hop beat and the funky, steroid fuelled bass guitar are an aural treat. Backing vocals are featured and the lyrics drip with punk sarcasm. Great song.

"Epic" is as good today as the day that it was released. Yet again, FNM deliver a great introduction to the song, feature brass instruments, and have more beefy bass guitar in store for you. A band like AC/DC is my all time favourite rock band. However, it's a surprise to learn that they have a bass guitarist, you so hardly notice it. Not with FNM. As with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the bass guitar is a funky centre-piece to the band's music. The song has a great beat and great lead guitar work, and features a Beatle-esque production sound. The piano outro at the end is nice too.

The third best song on this compilation is "Falling to pieces". If you really like the bass guitar, there's more in store for you here. Synthesisers are also used to good effect. Mike Patton's vocals are nicely cracked, and the chorus melody is nice and catchy.

The rest of the songs I wouldn't describe as memorable in the way the above songs are, but that is probably due to them being less played. A song like "Last cup of sorrow" is something that may have gotten radio play here in Australia years ago, but I don't really remember it. This, or some other song struck me as being kind of familiar, but didn't really ring any bells for me. "Rage" played the video for this recently, so the guest vee-jays remember and like it. It has a grungy guitar sound to it. . . a touch of Nirvana about it. The vocals sound different to what else is on this album. (In the meantime, somebody's mentioned to me that Nirvana's song "In bloom" is the one which "Last cup of sorrow" reminds me of. )

After the 'big three' songs, something like "Ashes to ashes" would be my favourite "Easter egg" song on the album. It has a more hard rock/heavy metal guitar sound to it, with good riffing and terrific chorus vocal. Lead guitar is good and the vocals demonstrate variety.

"Strip search" is an enjoyably mellow song, with nice synthesiser notes. Patton gives his vocals a light touch but cuts across that with some deeper sounding vocals. The outro has a nice, mellow sounding heavy nmetal guitar sound to it, if that makes sense!

"The world is yours"-not sure which song came out first. . . this or Metallica's "One". . . they remind me of eachother, in any case, sound-scape wise. Has a sound in common with, say, Metallica's orchestral version of "One", as this song also features orchestral instruments. I like the riffing in this song and the bass too.

The last two songs that I sort of like are:

"Midlife crisis": has a beat which sort of has a reggae sound to it. The vocals are cool, breathy and menacing all at once. The guitar has a variety of sounds to them as well, which is always appreciated, as well as the good riff. The doubled up lead vocals work well too.

And, lastly, "A small victory": the intro sounds a bit oriental to my ears at least. I like the chanting in the song as well.

It should be noted that, unusually, the band does some very respectful covers of what are essentially 'easy listening' songs, like The Commodores "Easy" and The Bee Gees "I started a joke".

Some impressions of mine of other songs featured:

"Introduce yourself": has laddish, punkish singing, features an organ with an interesting melody.

"Digging the grave": hard rock song, which reminds me of the vocals from a band like "System of a down" and the music reminds me of The Foo Fighters.

"The gentle art of me": a schizo song! the intro reminds me of an Australian band like The Church, the outro reminds me of something in The Sex Pistols oevre, and the middle bit is sort of a bit heavy metal!

"Evidence": has a jazz lounge feel to it, bass guitar, and vocals a la Nick Cave.

"Hippie jam song": reminds me of Stevie Wonder, vocally speaking. Rock guitar, organ and piano feature. Has some lead guitar fretwork happening too.

"I won't forget you": has a touch of AC/DC hard rock to it and heavy metal guitar sounds. . . features screeching vocals as well.

"Instrumental": the only instrumental on the album as well.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this album for its variety both within and between songs. The guitars can be mellow to punk sounding to hard rock sounding and even heavy metal at times. At all times, the tone of the guitar is just right. . . many bands have a bland sounding guitar (like Iron Maiden or Pearl Jam). The bass guitar is prominent and adds value to many of the songs.

Lead singer Mike Patton also demonstrates variety in his singing style. . . from crooning (what Frank Sinatra used to do!) to punk style vocals to heavy metal style vocals.

If you haven't heard this band before. . . introduce yourself to this album. As I haven't heard any other albums by this band, I can't say if there are any great songs that are missing from it. It does seem that "Arabian Disco" features on more than one FNM compilation, and it doesn't make this one. Not sure if this is a big deal.

Don't care too much
It's not the songs that make this a bad deal but the fact that it says it has extra tracks as an added bonus. Trust me, I am not saying that this is a bad collection, Faith No More is one of the most influential but also most underated bands of all time. In truth, the American version has a second disk with two or three extra songs on it, including "This Guy's In Love With You" which if you ask me is a true FNM clasic, and yet you don't even get it on this import. Trust me, buy the American version, there's absolutely nothing "extra" on this disc in the least.

The band that changed Heavy Metal and Hard Rock forever
Faith No More changed the path of heavy music with their very unique style full of overwhelming versatile sounds they were capable of play hard rock, heavy metal, funk, pop , soul, very heavy songs and even ballads they were that unique and Mike Patton surelly can be described as a genious and all that mixture of sounds is included in this cd , you have to listen this compilation so you realize whos responsible for the progresion of 80s and 90s sound
HM .

One Last Cup Of Faith No More
I will miss them dearly in fact. Like another reviewer of this compilation, I too will miss Faith No More. I remember vaguely when I was first exposed to FNM, it must have been about 12 years ago. That would have made me 12 years old. . . ! The point I am trying to make is that FNM was a major part of many people's lives. If you are now in your mid to late 20's, you would have been in the age group that was probably heavily exposed to this music. As a result, it is not just the music that is an important factor in the extent to which individuals will miss FNM (that said, it was great music!), it is the meaning those individuals attached to the songs that FNM played. I met friends over FNM, passed exams over FNM, broke up with girlfriends over FNM etc, etc, as did countless others. A generation and myself learnt nearly every single lyric that Mosley and Patton ever recorded. These are the reasons why so many people feel that they have personally lost something that was held so dear to them. All of those memories, all of that vicarious learning, all of that meaning. I think this compilation does a reasonably good job of covering the deep tracks of the legacy that FNM left behind. It takes you through the early Mosley days through to the espousal of Patton. Patton's voice appears to drop in pitch dramatically from the "Real Thing" album relative to all subsequent albums. When I first heard "Angel Dust", I must admit, I felt slightly disappointed with the changed voice and the changed sound. However, with time I learnt to divorce myself slightly from the more commercial (I would argue) "Real Thing" FNM sound to appreciate this new darker sound, which seems to have pervaded into all of the successive albums. Of course, the rest is well covered elsewhere as the band produced two more fine albums without their original guitarist (whether he left or was ousted is not mutually agreed upon by James B. Martin and the rest of Faith No More), subsequent to which they suddenly broke up. I briefly met FNM once, just after they had released "Angel Dust". I was surprised to see that Patton had completely changed his physical appearance, a new look he would pretty much retain for the rest of his career with FNM. The others looked exactly the same as I had remembered. All of the members, contrary to the media reports, seemed extremely polite and subdued. Perhaps they had seen one too many airports, or maybe they were tired from touring or something at that particular time. I remember telling Patton how much I admired his work, to which he coyly replied that he was "flattered". As a musician myself, FNM have been a major influence. They will be sadly missed for their wonderfully open minded approach to music, their idiosyncrasies and for what they meant to their fans.

The End of an Era
Not me. Who would of thought that one of the most experimental, and influencial heavy metal bands of the past two decades would have broken up and relased a greatest hits album. I didn't even know they had any hits before or after Epic, a song that more resembles a noose than it does the band. They were a bunch of unknowns until then, and after they started experimenting crawled back to where they came from. I miss them, Just knowing that no more albums will be released makes me sad. If you don't know the band that well, pick this up. You can hear the humble begining's to the bitter sweet end.

You can see a complete list of all Faith No More discography, or go back to the Faith No More tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.