Fugazi : Classic or Dud ?

Oh, it does sound like him on the chorus.

I mean, at the same time, it's almost more pop than other Fugazi that I remember, more fun. Some good grooves.

that's the one I couldn't get into, and tried again recently, and it sounded very dated to me, in a way that none of their other stuff does.

Ha, that's interesting to me. Something like Steady Diet almost seems so dated to me that I can't imagine putting it on again.

I like it fine (Argument), but it might be my least favorite of their records. With hindsight you can kind of imagine that they were dragging themselves through it a bit before calling it quits. Full Disclosure and and Oh are still classic Guy tunes imo. Some of the Ian stuff has a stripped down feel like proto-Evens, but I don't like the Evens much.

Ian always *sounds* like he's singing about politics no matter what he's singing about

tbh I think the opposite is true if anything

maybe cos there's (I've always assumed) a tendency with a lot of Fugazi lyrics to choose words because of their cadence or w/e

not to say that means they don't work as, like, polemic, just that you can sort of let it... wash over you if you feel so inclined

not to say that means they don't work as, like, polemic, just that you can sort of let it... wash over you if you feel so inclined

― if you are a false nine don't entry (DJ Mencap), Monday, July 16, 2012 11:07 AM (39 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Interesting; this is precisely what I *can't* do with Ian's vocals. I have no problem with "extreme" styles of singing; cathartic black metal screaming, e.g., sort of invites the listener to inhabit it, though, and even if I'm not feeling that level of intensity I actually can let the vocals wash over me ("voice as instrument" blah blah). It always feels like Ian is singing *at* me.

I think I still like Steady Diet more than Repeater (or 13 Songs really, which is wildly uneven). It's hard for me to imagine them being an important band to anyone (esp. anyone who didn't see them live)... their songs/albums just feel slight to me.

I like it fine (Argument), but it might be my least favorite of their records. With hindsight you can kind of imagine that they were dragging themselves through it a bit before calling it quits. Full Disclosure and and Oh are still classic Guy tunes imo. Some of the Ian stuff has a stripped down feel like proto-Evens, but I don't like the Evens much.

― Will Chave (Hurting 2), Monday, July 16, 2012 10:57 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

you're like the first other person i've ever heard from who doesn't think The Argument is all that. and Red Medicine is my favorite and i have a big soft spot for End Hits.

Red Medicine and Steady Diet are my favorites.

I don't think it's a bad album, and I was happy with it when it came out, but probably about half the album is weaker than a lot of their past material. Cashout always grated on me actually -- at the time I said it was Ian's "Another Day In Paradise" moment.

I'm not big on Argument either, but Repeater is my least favorite. Sometimes I'm purposely a contrarian, but in this case it's actually true.

Red Medicine > Steady Diet > Killtaker > End Hits > 13 Songs > Repeater > Argument

is pretty much how they rank for me now, so I hear you. I actually always disliked something about the production on Repeater even though the songs are good. I like it when they play stuff from Repeater live.

I love Fugazi, but I think I find Red Medicine lovers even more baffling than people who are defensively dismissive of the band. I need to relisten to that album but it's always felt like a relative slog compared to everything else.

Argument > Repeater > Instrument > 13 Songs > Steady Diet > Killtaker > End Hits > Red Medicine

shoo instrument away entirely and that's relatively where i'm at

I love Instrument, but I know most consider it a weird throwaway.

ez snappin have you heard the albini version of killtaker that out there in the ether?

Yeah. It's an interesting curio. I'd rate it below the released version of Killtaker.

Instrument is ok. It has "I'm So Tired" and the better imo version of Guilford Fall

13 Songs: ATTENTION! this is Fugazi! DEAL!
Repeater: Attention! Fugazi now includes a second guitar! DEAAALLL!
Steady Diet of Nothing: ATTENTION! this remains Fugazi! Continue to deal!
In On The Kill Taker: ATTENTION! This remains Fugazi......hurm....
Red Medicine: ATTENTION!............this remains Fugazi.......*blurt of clarinet*....WE MEANT TO DO THAT!
End Hits: Hey, this is Fugazi! GROOVE!
Argument: ATTENTION! THIS IS THE FUGAZI UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA! *GONG*

i dunno if steady diet was just business as usual

I think they were at their best around Kill Taker, it just has the greatest amount of good material basically. Their best 'guitar' album, Sweet and Low their best album instrumental. Red Medicine, I dunno, sounds great but there's some throwaway stuff on there no doubt - more so the second side. Comes out of the blocks really well though.

Repeater, nails their band dynamics - especially now Guy's on 2nd guitar - but I find the material as it's produced doesn't have space to breathe and a lot sounds rushed - the example for me is the Instrument live version of 'Shut The Door' compared to the album version. Steady Diet suffers a little less from this but on the other hand sounds really flat production-wise.

End Hits, I dunno, I think that run of songs in the middle is among their weakest material. Fair play to them for using what they had and fucking around a bit but I don't that side of them was as interesting as it could have been. Again, good start to the album. I think, with Lally and Canty, there was something there with 'Sweet and Low', melodically, that wasn't developed or tapped into as well after IOTKT. The Argument I like more than EH and a worthy send off but I still think the likes of 'Full Disclosure', 'Ex Spectator', 'Epic Problem' etc are the best songs.

end hits is my favorite record of theirs b/c it's the grooviest, croupier otm

"run of songs in the middle" includes "closed captioned" which is totally gorgeous yo

I think they were at their best around Kill Taker, it just has the greatest amount of good material basically.

^ da troof!

nah. Might have been their best live period though - they were tight as hell and one of the best dance bands around.

I like all Fugazi styles and albums to some degree, so I can appreciate how everyone has their own favorite period...but In on the Kill Taker so clearly seems like their finest work that idgi when people shrug it off.

I think it's definitely their loudest and most confrontational, that's for sure. I like to play the first couple tracks for people and ask them to identify a single word.

I mean, like, YAAAARGH!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoEkMD-1dCk

Yeah that song. I always hear it in my head as something like "Banned and blubber and definition, everybody wins and always plays, danny bones in another position" and then I can't even make up lyrics for the next line

Of course it has the great line "Irony is the refuge of the educated, always complaining and they never quit", which I would never have understood if I hadn't read it somewhere

This is my last picture!

I love Fugazi, but I think I find Red Medicine lovers even more baffling than people who are defensively dismissive of the band. I need to relisten to that album but it's always felt like a relative slog compared to everything else.

― da croupier, Monday, July 16, 2012 2:53 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

it's their pop album! i really think you're overstating how much the clarinet and whatnot interfere with the songs

it's a pretty grimy, spiny, unfriendly album in a way. like "combination lock" would have been a lot more...supple a couple years earlier or later. it's also my favorite album of theirs, but then i don't get tetchy when former hardcore dudes make grimy, spiny, unfriendly albums.

it's their pop album!

you're on crack

lol i like that you bused your insult in special from 1995

you still haven't explained your glitch

they were tight as hell and one of the best dance bands around.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, July 16, 2012 5:59 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

many many people are on crack in this thread

but none so much as the h8rs! talk to the hand h8rs!

Fugazi were totally a dance band! Live they swung like motherfuckers.

totally i recall doing all the dances, the twist, the cabbage patch, wild punching

do you mean dance as in what people do at dance clubs or dance as in what people do at phish concerts

i am a patient boy
i frug i frug i frug i frug

i dunno it's obviously a facetious statement but if not RM what is their pop album? i guess maybe Repeater, not really familiar with 13 Songs. but when i think of Red Medicine i think of catchy stuff like "Target" and "Do You Like Me" and think of "By You" as their epic power ballad.

hardcore kids talk about "dancing" even more than hippies (and mean it even more loosely)

i dunno it's obviously a facetious statement but if not RM what is their pop album?

would argue that 13 songs, repeater, kill taker and argument are all consistently more anthemic/catchy than medicine

fugazi were funky as hell. i mean they weren't *always* funky as hell because they were a rock band. but still.

13 songs and repeater are definitely the "pop" albums. argument simmers too long in the middle.

kill taker is probably the most pop in the sense that what they were doing was making mint for majors at the same time, argument the most lush production-wise, and yeah 13/repeater are non-stop anthems.

could see a couple of those. the noodly atmospheric stuff breaks The Argument's momentum way more than RM's for me (but in End Hits it feels all deliberately threaded into the songs in a satisfying way). maybe i'm just imagining it but i feel like RM has less of Ian's drill sergeant voice than a lot of the other records, a little less brute force in the riffs?

a lack of strong riffs doesn't make it their "pop album" by any stretch