Faith No More - The Real Thing (Deluxe Edition) (2015)

Starting with the careening "From Out of Nowhere," driven by Bottum's doomy, energetic keyboards, Faith No More rebounded excellently on The Real Thing after Mosley's firing. Given that the band had nearly finished recording the music and Patton was a last minute recruit, he adjusts to the proceedings well. His insane, wide-ranging musical interests would have to wait for the next album for their proper integration, but the band already showed enough of that to make it an inspired combination. Bottum, in particular, remains the wild card, coloring Martin's nuclear-strength riffs and the Gould/Bordin rhythm slams with everything from quirky hooks to pristine synth sheen. It's not quite early Brian Eno joins Led Zeppelin and Funkadelic, but it's closer than might be thought, based on the nutty lounge vibes of "Edge of the World" and the Arabic melodies and feedback of "Woodpeckers From Mars." "Falling to Pieces," a fractured anthem with a delicious delivery from Patton, should have been a bigger single that it was, while "Surprise! You're Dead!" and the title track stuff riffs down the listener's throat. The best-known song remains the appropriately titled "Epic," which lives up to its name from the bombastic opening to the concluding piano and the crunching, stomping funk metal in between. The inclusion of a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" amusingly backfired on the band at the time, Sabbath's hipness level was nonexistent, making it a great screw-you to the supposed cutting edge types. However, all the metalheads took the band to their hearts so much that, as a result, the quintet dropped it from their sets to play "Easy" by the Commodores instead.

TRACKLIST

CD1:

01. From Out Of Nowhere
02. Epic
03. Falling To Pieces
04. Surprise! You're Dead!
05. Zombie Eaters
06. The Real Thing
07. Underwater Love
08. The Morning After
09. Woodpecker From Mars
10. War Pigs
11. Edge Of The World

CD2:

01. Sweet Emotion
02. Epic (Radio Remix Edit)
03. Falling To Pieces (Matt Wallace Remix)
04. Cowboy Song (B-Side)
05. The Grade (B-Side)
06. From Out Of Nowhere (Extended Remix)
07. War Pigs (Live in Berlin 11.9.1989)
08. Surprise! You're Dead! (Live in Sheffield)
09. Chinese Arithmetic (Live in Sheffield)
10. Underwater Love (Live in Brixton)
11. As The Worm Turns (Live in Brixton)