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Angel Dust (Faith No More album)

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Angel Dust, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music), was the fourth studio album by U.S. rock band Faith No More, and the second to feature vocalist Mike Patton, as well as the final with guitarist "Big" Jim Martin.

To this day it is still held in very high regard as one of the most influential records of the 90s, with Kerrang! magazine naming it number one in the fifty most influential albums of all time.

It is a complex and at times hard to approach album. The band began to drift into more experimental territory.

The unusual moments arguably make the album unique amongst the band's output. Other notable features of the album include the white trash-baiting monologue of "RV" (a truly odd song; piano-driven and in waltz-time), and the band's version of the theme from Midnight Cowboy. Fans still consider this album to be Faith No More at their finest. The later versions of the album included the Commodores cover, "Easy", which hit it big in the UK, Australia, and Europe. Still, the album did not match the sales figures of its predecessor The Real Thing in the United States. But everywhere else it matched or outsold The Real Thing, especially in the UK, South America and Europe. In the UK, with little promotion the album went straight to #2 in the Chart Albums and Faith No More had two UK top 10 hits with "Midlife Crisis" peaking at #10 and their biggest hit, "Easy", at #3, making Angel Dust a chart success.

Track listing

(Official songwriting credits revealed by Billy Gould in an email, 2004.)

  1. "Land of Sunshine" (music: Gould/Bottum; lyrics: Patton)
  2. "Caffeine" (music: Gould/Patton; lyrics: Patton)
  3. "Midlife Crisis" (music: Bottum/Bordin/Gould/Patton; lyrics: Patton)
  4. "RV" (music: Bottum/Patton/Gould; lyrics: Patton)
  5. "Smaller and Smaller" (music: Gould/Bordin/Bottum/Wallace; lyrics: Patton)
  6. "Everything's Ruined" (music: Gould/Bottum/Patton; lyrics: Patton/Gould)
  7. "Malpractice" (music & lyrics: Patton)
  8. "Kindergarten" (music: Gould/Martin; lyrics: Patton/Bottum)
  9. "Be Aggressive" (music & lyrics: Bottum)
  10. "A Small Victory" (music: Gould/Bottum/Bordin/Patton; lyrics: Patton)
  11. "Crack Hitler" (music: Gould/Bottum/Bordin; lyrics: Patton)
  12. "Jizzlobber" (music: Martin; lyrics: Martin/Patton)
  13. "Midnight Cowboy" (Barry)
  14. "Easy" (Richie)

Only the later versions of the album feature a cover of the Commodores' "Easy" as the final track, which in some parts of the world was Faith No More's most successful single. The original album release only featured 13 tracks (except Japan). The version of 'Easy' found on this album is not the same one found on the greatest hits album Who Cares a Lot?, the "cooler version" from the "Songs To Make Love To" and "I'm Easy (Cooler Version)/Das Schutzenfest" EPs.

In Japan, the early versions of Angel Dust had 14 tracks, the extra one being a new version of "As the Worm Turns", a song on Faith No More's debut album (We Care a Lot) with original vocalist Chuck Mosely. After the release of "Easy" as a single, both that song and the new Patton version of "As the Worm Turns" was added to Angel Dust in Japan to take the track total to 15.

"Malpractice" contains a sample of Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8, as performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Other versions

The original issue of Angel Dust on vinyl came with a bonus 12" of the "Midlife Crisis" EP which was released as a single weeks prior to the albums release. This release also doesn't contain the track "Crack Hitler", and "Smaller And Smaller" appears as the final track, instead of number 5.

Bonus 12" EP
Side 1

  1. "Midlife Crisis" (Scream Mix) – 3:56

Side 2

  1. "Crack Hitler"
  2. "Midnight Cowboy"

In South Korea the vinyl album had several tracks cut through tough censorship. The reverse of the sleeve which in the rest of the world featured a slaughterhouse 'meathook' image was replaced by a band promo shot. The tracks are in a different order, and "Caffiene", "RV" and "Crack Hitler" are ommitted. "Midnight Cowboy", is however included, despite having been left of the original US and UK versions.

The album was also released on DCC. Information on this is scant due to the failure of the format.

Trivia

  • The lyrics for "Land of Sunshine" include lines from fortune cookies and from Scientology's personality test
  • "Caffeine" as well as "Land of Sunshine" were written while Mike Patton was doing a sleep deprivation experiment [1]
  • "Be Aggressive", written by Roddy Bottum, is about gay oral sex. Roddy later stated "It was a pretty fun thing to write, knowing that Mike was going to have to put himself on the line and go up onstage and sing these vocals." [2]
  • The intro to 'Crack Hitler' features a sample of Iris Lettieri - a Brazilian actress whose voice Mike Patton had become enamoured of whilst on tour - reading a flight announcement.
  • "Smaller and Smaller" and "Malpractice" were never performed live. [3]

Singles

  • Midlife Crisis
  • A Small Victory
  • Be Aggressive
  • Easy
  • Everything's Ruined
  • Land of Sunshine (released as a radio promo single with Midlife Crisis)

Chart positions

Album

Year Album Chart Position
1992 Angel Dust The Billboard 200 No. 10
1992 Angel Dust UK Albums Chart No. 2

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1992 "Midlife Crisis" Mainstream Rock Tracks No. 23
1992 "Midlife Crisis" Modern Rock Tracks No. 1
1992 "Midlife Crisis" UK Chart Singles No. 10
1992 "A Small Victory" Modern Rock Tracks No. 11
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