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Red Medicine

Fugazi - Red Medicine Audio CD

A fair review of the Fugazi "Red Medicine" 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 Fugazi reviews here, or go back to the Fugazi tabs.

Band: Fugazi
Title: Red Medicine
Rating:

Release Date: 1995-06-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Do You Like Me 2: Bed for the Scraping 3: Latest Disgrace 4: Birthday Pony 5: Forensic Scene 6: Combination Lock 7: Fell, Destroyed 8: By You 9: Version 10: Target 11: Back to Base 12: Downed City 13: Long Distance Runner

excellent and a half
Red Medicine cuts it down the middle. Kill Taker was Fuguzi starting to work with avant gaurde textures and more complex dynamics, and End Hits took that process to its extreme reaches.

Of course, with bands this good, it is never that simple, and the contraditions abound. You knew if you listen to the bent guitars on "Posseson" from the first album, Fuguzi was far too smart and musically curious to be a "punk" band. If that is not ironic enough, Red Medicine is, besides End Hits, the trios most expermental, and melodic album.

Listen to the melodics on "Do You Like Me," or the funk of "Birthday Pony," and this is music that could almost pass as mainstreem if Fuguzi dumbed it down. Fortunately, they won't, and the searing guitars--do I sense early Robert Fripp on the second track solo?--treated panios and moans and growns keep this far enough from mainstreem rock or punk to keep me worshiping this band. This is music fans of the Sex Pistols AND Sun Ra can like.

Speaking of which, where the hell is Fugazi? This guys are a once in a decade find. I WANT MORE. .

Red Medicine
But once I do listen I am reminded why this is such a great album. Red Medicine is the album I personally always over look and forget when it comes to Fugazi's work.

The only gripe is going to be placed right out front, nothing on the album really stands out among the groups canon of music other than a few tracks. Thats not to say the rest is weak or anything because it is anything but.

Red Medicine is very riff heavy, which I love about it. Some of the greatest guitar work by the band can be found here on Red Medicine, like 'Bed For The Scraping' and 'Latest Disgrace. ' McKaye's lyrics and vocals are some of the best of his carer on Red Medicine. Just give 'Birthday Pony' a listen.

Red Medicine is a unique album in the Fugazi canon and one that really has to be heard to appreciated.

Can't pick a favorite
I really can't pick a favorite Fugazi album. . ironically, the only two not in my running for a favorite are the first two (which everyone else seems to love). . . For me, Fugazi is a band that has gotten better and better with age, so basically starting from Steady Diet on, it's all classic in my opinion.

This album, Red Medicine, is so good, though. Target could very well be my favorite song. . . ever. For that reason, this record will always be special to me. There are just amazingly creative moments here, you can't miss it. I mean, you have almost like classical melodies on "Forensic Scene", pop-sensibility and dissonance at the same time on "Latest Disgrace". . . a straightforward punk song with this interesting high-pitched riff thrown in on "Bed for the Scraping" and then just noise on "Birthday Pony". . . like each song has it's own identity and showacases the best of Fugazi. I'll always love it. .

Kickin' album

Why some people rate it 1 star, then talk about how it is a 3 and a half star is beyond me. If you've never heard a fugazi album, this is a great one to start with. This album is great!
Tons of energy, each song is a real driver.
Fugazi's brilliance comes from the complexity of music that comes from indenpendant simplicity.
Don't get it? Check this one out and you will.

An essential taste of the real alternative
Fortunately, this crossroads managed to merge the best of both worlds, resulting in what I consider to Fugazi's most consistently compelling effort. Red Medicine occupies a special place in Fugazi's discography--the righteous indignation that fuelled rampaging early classics like Repeater was giving way to a more complex, technically advanced approach, but the polished machine that showed up on the band's swan song The Argument wasn't yet in full effect. The band still had two talented frontmen in the howling Ian MacKaye and the sneering Guy Picciotto, the musicianship continued its progression in terms of virtuosity and intricacy, and most importantly the songs here are never less than unpredictable and involving. Many bands that hang their hats on anger and aggression suffer from their inability to write a song to save their lives, but Fugazi (along with the similarly dearly departed Refused) knew how to how make you wait for the big payoff, how to ramp up the intensity at just the right moment, how to manipulate noise rather than just bowl listeners over with it. Interestingly enough for a rock album, the guitar often isn't even the lead instrument--check out how many songs are driven by the intricate, mathy, at times even funky rhythms laid down by Brendan Canty and Joe Lally. Odd rhythms, time signatures, and song structures prevail throughout (not much verse/chorus here, and not much 4/4 timing either), and the band hadn't yet incorporated all the melodic elements that popped up on The Argument, making for a challenging and occasionally frustrating listen that offers up more looks than an NFL defense. There's aggressive post-hardcore that sounds like Repeater with a higher IQ (Bed for the Scraping, Back to Base); swirling noise rock (By You); eerie indie rock propelled by whip-smart guitar lines and angular rhythms (Do You Like Me, Target, Latest Disgrace); a freaky-sounding tune that interrupts some intensely rhythmic jamming with Ian's throaty screams (Birthday Pony); even an experimental horn-driven piece that dispenses with the guitars entirely (Version). Of course, its diversity and occasional difficulty are part of what make Red Medicine such a great album, as well as the epitome of Fugazi's approach to music: freed from the constraints of genre boundaries and commercial considerations, they were free to defy perceptions of what rock music could and couldn't be. As much all the brilliant material they produced, that may well end up being their enduring legacy.

You can see a complete list of all Fugazi discography, or go back to the Fugazi tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.