Faithless – All Blessed
By Mark Dohmann
| Genre: | Electronic, Reggae, Pop |
|---|---|
| Style: | Dance-pop, House, Dancehall, Dub |
| Released: | 2020 |
Shove it brother, just keep walking!
Some of you might recall that to become an overnight success it took 20 plus years of sweat and toil to reach your goal. A close friend of mine lives in a part of the world where the roads are 5 lanes wide and long sweeping bends and crests provide the opportunity to open the throttle a little (OK let’s be frank – mashed to the floor) and let the under 3100 pound, carbon-ceramic braked, carbon seats, 502hp, 9000RPM, 4 litre naturally aspirated, manual 6 speed (no fan required for downforce) weekend toy out for a run to blow out the cobwebs.
This gentleman shall remain incognito on account of the story I’m about to share and its relevance to an album and one song in particular.
It’s Saturday late afternoon early evening. We are mucking around with hifi and making changes to chokes and transformers and wiring and we a missing a critical few items to get the prototype finished. I was leaving on a jet plane at 6am the next day so we had to make a call. Can we get to the hardware store that is 15 minutes’ drive away in the 10 minutes left before they closed for the night?
My companion is in his late 60’s, very fit, and able to shimmy into the carbon bucket seats easily. Me, I’m going to go all pretzel and jam in (and place a bit of mid corner ballast on one side). Like Batman and Robin it’s “to the Batcave!” as he fires up the weapon and reverses out of the drive. I notice he’s donned leather driving gloves. Holy smoking shark repellent Batman… this is going to get all serious for a bit.
As he starts pushing the car into a mode few of us will ever get to experience outside of an XBOX or PlayStation I realise “he’s done this before”. That wry grin about making a 15-minute trip in 10 minutes was not mission impossible. At a few points I could have sworn we were flying and not driving as the car launched over gently bending crests, not a car on the highway on either side of the road. I think we used a few of the five lanes on our side of the barrier.
All I can remember is the focus and intensity of the driver and watching that clock. As the carbon brakes kicked in to the final slow turn into the hardware store carpark, the staff had already begun to pack up the outdoor items and I was let out by the front door to be reminded the store was about to close. I pleaded to be allowed to quickly get the tools I needed to complete the job. Thankfully the fancy transport distracted the door attendant some and I was able to get the items with no fuss.
The journey back was more sedate and clutch friendly. We returned to complete the build before listening till late that evening to an amazing system.
Green fields, Grass and earth, Broken bottles, Bricks and dirt
Sunshine soothing, Clouds are hazy, Dark street corners, Feeling lazy
Fast car driving, Sleek and modern
Public transit, Photos waiting
Blood and glass, Three points of rain
Carpet lining, Seats reclining
Clever words on smooth tongue talking, Shove it brother, Just keep walking
City penthouse, The kitchen living
A country home, It’s a kitch living
Money can buy almost anything, But anything’s nothing when you’re dead
Fast car driving, Sleek and modern
Public transit, Photos waiting
Blood and glass, Three points of rain
Carpet lining, Seats reclining
Clever words on smooth tongue talking, Shove it brother, Just keep walking
So sang INXS on Just Keep Walking off their debut album INXS. Tim Farriss of INXS remarked that the lyric “Shove it, brother / Just keep walking” from the song “sort of summed up their attitude as ‘angry young men’ because they were working their guts out and still starving.”
So in 2020 a UK dance band active since mid-1990’s released a new album titled ‘All Blessed’. Some of us remember their hit Insomnia from the Reverence album. Their collaborations with other artists is unique often with them taking a back seat to the lyrics and views of the artists they collaborate with.
There are few dance acts with the track record like Faithless. Not one dud album or dud song on any album. No one hit wonders with backfilled songs to make up an album. Each album is carefully crafted thematically with ebb and flow of the beats from driving dance to chillout vibes.
The group has become one of the most important British musical acts of the past three decades. Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo are the main protagonists with successful solo careers as individuals. Their songs contain strong messages about global conflict and oppression and racism.
They released their last album The Dance in 2010 and that was supposed to be the end of the group, but in the maelstrom of 2020 they released All Blessed.
This time they are just a duo of Sister Bliss and Rollo without vocalist Maxi Jazz, which gives the album a very different feel. Other collaborations allow the Faithless ethos to be expressed.
The album is seamless and is perfect for late night listening. The songs flow from one into the next with thematic integrity. Lots of synth and dub reggae beats with amazing lyrics. Thoughtful “doof”!
There is even a touch or wry humour in one of the tracks “Synthesizer”. This track alone is worth the admission price. Late night listening sessions you tend to keep the volume at reasonable levels. As the night progresses the volume tends to creep up a little but occasionally you want to go to “11”.
If your system has the headroom then you can let it fly.
Hence the long winding intro to this album review. Like my buddy with the amazing sports car, if you have an amazing system which scales and doesn’t compress under load and strain there are pieces of music where “mashing the accelerator to the floor” can reward you with an amazing experience.
At one recent listening session I had a few friends over and we listened to All Blessed in its entirety. As we got to the “Syntheziser” track I warned them that I would “goose” the volume a bit during the track.
For a pale facsimile you can find the track here.
At about 4:02 into the track, mash that accelerator and you will blow out some cobwebs and instantly be racing down that road to musical “Sister” bliss.
After that track finished I felt just like that moment I stepped out of the car and walked to the hardware store having compressed time and warped space.
The audience were left in a similar state of “wow” what the heck just happened.
If you have not added Faithless to your vinyl collection, you need to grab them quick. They do not last and the prices go stratospheric very quickly.
For those on streamers or CD you are lucky in saving precious pennies and still being able to enjoy this great band.
“Walk In My Shoes” brings the positive message to stop judging based on pre-conceived barriers such as race, religion or creed and walk in someone’s shoes to try and understand them.
Somehow Faithless restores faith in humanity and helps break down artificial barriers.
Like my friend who overcame immense adversity of race, religion and creed to become a successful person in life and whose integrity was never for sale, the work of Faithless is for those who can retain the energy in life to overcome any adversity and “Shove it brother, just keep walking!”
Track listing
Poetry 3:39
Gains 3:27
I Need Someone 4:54
Remember 7:05
Synthesizer 6:15
My Town 5:54
What Shall I Do? 4:26
Friendship 2:17
Walk In My Shoes 2:44
All Blessed 4:38
Innadadance 4:07
Take Your Time 6:39