Faith No More’s landmark debut, ‘We Care A Lot,’ which was originally released in 1985 and has been out of print for 20 years, is getting a little bit of a dusting off with an Aug. 19 reissue via Bill Gould’s Koolarrow Records.
“This was an album that started as a demo, before any label had any interest in us,” explained Faith No More bass player Bill Gould. “There were a couple of reasons we decided to release this now: first of all, it’s been 20 years since it has been commercially available. Secondly, when cleaning out my basement, I discovered the original master reels, and we all thought that resurrecting this from the original tapes would be a great way to reintroduce ‘We Care A Lot’ into the world. Lastly, this has been a band effort; we are releasing this in the same way as we recorded it, deciding everything amongst ourselves and getting our hands deep into the nuts and bolts… just like we used to.”
Watch the video for the title track via YouTube below.
The original 10-song album, remastered by Maor Appelbaum via the original reels Gould referenced, is enhanced with nine bonus tracks including demo versions (taken from the original 8-track tapes) of Greed, Mark Bowen, Arabian Disco and Intro, live versions of The Jungle and New Beginnings and new mixes, via Matt Wallace, of We Care A Lot, Pills for Breakfast and As The Worm Turns. Liner notes from keyboard player Roddy Bottum and behind-the-scenes photos will be included with the physical release. ‘We Care A Lot (Deluxe Band Edition)’ is available now for pre-order on CD (link), digital (link) and vinyl (link).
“When strangers ask what Faith No More is I’ve always said, ‘well, it’s kind of an art band…’ I say that mostly to distance us from the hard rock world that we’re often times lumped into. I mean, hard rock, sure, that was part of it, but our roots most definitely and pointedly stem from a specific freakout art time and place in San Francisco, a time that no longer exists. In 1982, the hippies mingled with the punks, the artists hung out with the musicians, the dance people and the punks were one and the Satanists and the sexual pioneers… all part of the same scene,” Bottum explains, colorfully setting the scene for the original inspiration for the band and ‘We Care A Lot’. “That weird SF window provided a platform from which we were free to express and cultivate a really uniquely odd sound experience. In Los Angeles, no one really cared much, but SF was always super supportive, encouraging us, directly and not, to get our collective freak on.”
“We felt like it was time to take the next step,” adds drummer Mike Bordin. “We raised as much money as we were able and booked time at Prairie Sun Studios just north of San Francisco. I can’t remember how long it took us to record the album, but not a lot, maybe a few days. The songs were sharp from having played most of them at various shows. Very stripped down, basic as could be. The place was on a farm in chicken country (Petaluma). Hard work, but a ton of fun too.”
‘We Care A Lot (Deluxe Band Edition)’ track list:
We Care A Lot
The Jungle
Mark Bowen
Jim
Why Do You Bother
Greed
Pills for Breakfast
As The Worm Turns
Arabian Disco
New Beginnings
Extra tracks not on the original release:
We Care A Lot – 2016 Mix
Pills for Breakfast – 2016 Mix
As The Worm Turns – 2016 Mix
Greed – Original Demo
Mark Bowen – Original Demo
Arabian Disco – Original Demo
Intro – Original Demo
The Jungle – I-Beam, SF, 1986
New Beginnings – I-Beam, SF, 1986
Pre-orders for the reissue are available here.
For more information on Faith No More, visit fnm.com.
