Essentials:
Following up the release of 'Golden', Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards created 'Essentials', a double disc package highlighting the band’s best moments and a few interesting rarities. The first disc includes selected tracks from Failure’s first three studio albums, while the second disc features two early seven inch singles, and the complete demos for the band’s second album, 'Magnified'.
'Essentials' is a must-have for all Failure fans!
Packaging
Click here for a sneak peek of the 'Essentials' artwork.
- 8 panel full color digipak
- 12 page full color booklet including lyrics for both discs
- double sided poster with 14 song critiques by Ken and Greg
Track List
Disc 1
Macaque
Something
Screen Man
Frogs
Bernie
Undone
Small Crimes
Smoking Umbrellas
Blank
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Another Space Song
Stuck On You
Heliotropic
Daylight
Disc 2
Pro-Catastrophe – 7 inch #1, Sweet Smelling Records
Dipped In Anger – 7 inch #, Sweet Smelling Records
Count My Eyes – 7 inch #2, Sweet Smelling Records
Comfort – 7 inch #2, Sweet Smelling Records
Let It Drip – demo
Moth – demo
Frogs – demo
Bernie – demo
Magnified – demo
Wonderful Life – demo
Undone – demo
Wet Gravity – demo
Empty Friend – demo
Small Bird – demo
Order 'Essentials' today!
Golden:
Close to ten years after their demise, Failure continues to inspire and transform those who hear their music. When active, the group was a well guarded secret to their fans that occasionally hit mainstream radar while touring with Tool, or on Lollapalooza. Musically, they were so ahead of their time that only now is the band beginning to receive proper acclaim for their sonic approach. In the last few years, Failure has been name-checked as an influence by such groups as Cave In, Hopesfall, Finch, The Deftones, Thursday and more. Ken Andrews (vocals, guitar, producer), Greg Edwards (bass, guitar) along with either Bob Gauss or Kelli Scott on drums created pop melodies wrapped in arrangements that were as crushingly heavy as any hardcore band or as transcendently space-like as any opus by Hawkwind, Radiohead and mid-era Floyd. Their watermark and final album, 'Fantastic Planet' (Warner Brothers), achieves long waves of cinematic sound and epic production, but at its center remains the cornerstone of good radio, driving melodies and addictively catchy riffs.
Enter 'Golden', a DVD/CD combo that provides a visual diary of the band, a confessional about the inner life of those moments and even a full raid of the band’s closets for all demos and unreleased music. All three elements give the band’s fans full access to everything not yet brought to light, while also providing a fine starting point for those not initiated to their work. Ironically, this material is a lost treasure of sorts, only brought to light when Edwards’s mother stumbled across the video footage while cleaning out her garage.
The documentary contains exclusive footage of live performances from their initial start in 1990 up until their last days in 1997. It details the group recording their debut album, 'Comfort' with famed producer, Steve Albini, two years before Nirvana (whom Failure’s early music was often compared to) did. There is also footage of Ken and Greg struggling to write songs for their second album, 'Magnified' with a difficult drum machine. The commentary tracks, which are usually a throw away feature on most DVD’s actually holds an equally compelling experience when Ken & Greg speak about the footage shown. Surprisingly frank and open, some interesting tidbits gleaned from these comments include how Failure was initially a college hobby for Andrews, who was a film school graduate, how Steve Albini refused to be around when the band’s A&R guy was, later schooling Edwards on how fucked he was for life for signing with a major and eventually how substance abuse played a strong role in the band’s demise.
The CD portion of 'Golden' includes demo versions of Failure material in a much different state than their recorded work, as well as unreleased tracks from the 'Fantastic Planet' and 'Comfort' sessions. Music videos include: "Undone" (which never aired before), "Stuck On You" and one from The Replicants (a reconstructionist cover band Andrews and Edwards did with members of Tool). Commentary tracks also reveal the inside scoop on the making of the videos and completing the package is a photo section containing press, live and private shots retracing the band’s history.
Order 'Golden' today!
Quotes:
I’ve never been shy at telling people my band is basically a carbon copy of Failure. Listen to any of our albums and there is bound to be stuff lifted directly from them. Since Failure sustained a mostly cult following during their existence, it’s always been easy to get away with ripping them off. One of the biggest honors that I’ve ever had is sharing the stage with Troy and Kelli during last year’s Lollapalooza tour when they sat in and played on our version of 'Magnified'. – Stephen Brodsky, Cave In
The thing about Failure is that they created this drone-like, druggie type music but Ken Andrews production is incredible and the instrumentation sounds absolutely humungous! In short it’s beautiful - Joshua Brigham, Hopesfall
Almost ten years after the release of Fantastic Planet very few bands are able to sound so massive and still transcend to such an intimate level. If this album were released today, it would still sound like it came from the distant future. Failure is a great escape from the pretentious and trivial whitewash of today's popular rock music. - Jeff Jenkins, Codeseven
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