Even the most ardent, ear-to-the-ground indie rock connoisseurs in the late '80s can be forgiven for letting Iowa City, Iowa's Full Fathom Five slip by with nary a trace. Given their circumstances of hailing from a flyover state, coupled with less than adequate record distribution, FFF's dilemma was a not uncommon one of their era. On their Link Records debut, The Cry of a Falling Nation, Eric Melcher pins half-crooned bronchials to a tapestry of buzzsaw riffs that would do the brothers Reid proud. The songwriting is slack in spots, and there isn't a single defining moment here to really put this record over the top, but listenable nonetheless. If anything, Cry... cemented a reasonably durable foundation for more convincing moments to come, specifically 1989's improved Multinational Pop Conglomerate, which may see the light of day on Wilfully Obscure in the coming months. As for the Hendrix retread, it's just kind of...there.
The front sleeve was considerably defaced with radio station call letters and catalog stickers, so I've opted to depict the reverse instead. Boogie 'til ya puke ya'll.
01. The Way We Communicate
02. Isaac's Eyes
03. What He Needs
04. Words
05. Hours
06. The Order of the Space
07. Moving Too Fast
08. Listen
09. Hard Times
10. It Wasn't Jesus
11. Foxey Lady
12. The Cry of a Falling Nation
15 comments:
Ha-- I've got a couple of FF5 records of my own that I've been waiting to post.
I saw them in Boston around '87 or so, not really knowing who they were before they played (I was there to see the headliners), and they were pretty impressive. All they had out at the time was a 7" EP, which I promptly bought from them for two bucks (yay, Eighties!).
The other record I have of theirs is their third LP, the name of which I forget... I don't like it as much as the 7", in any case.
I loved these guys...looking for "multinational pop conglomerate" by them. would love to hear that one again. thanks for the memories!
Thanks so much for this. I have all
the records on Vinyl, but miss hearing them.
govango
BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for these! Do you have 4 a.m.? That's the album that I've been looking for going on 15 years now.
Just put on FF5 - Multinational Pop Conglomerate on for the first time ... found in a record shop in Brimingham ... UK. John Peel played them a bit in the late 80s and the name stuck in my mind ... 25 years later. Indie-pop, aive and very well. What a sweet sound they made
The link has just been updated.
Can you update this link please :)
Hi Chris. Here's that one, and a few others by FF5: http://hugefiles.net/oxnfsvi8hqm8
Thanks dude! Just saw your reply. Nice little Christmas gift IMO :D
Can you update the links for all the full fathom five stuff?
Try this: http://upload.af/ei4abscxxpxr
Or this: https://www.sendspace.com/file/te6fp7
I blame college radio for almost all of my collection. MTV takes some blame. My warehouse job allowed me to crank KTRU Behind the Hedges Rice University radio all day and the silky voiced DJ played The Way We Communicate, announced her playlist at the end of the set and said this was not a bad album, meaning she listened to the whole thing. That's all I needed. Don't own the EP but I do have 3 LP's. NFS. Bring this band back to alt radio.
Walking back through time....#*@&#$ ... These guys played at our venue (my very large garage) called Club REC in Albuquerque NM in the late 80’s ... as did many others...We were a gas money stop for a lot of bands thanks to my friend Joey Abbin and his connections to the So Cal thing.... they were really nice kids..... stayed on my floor, couches and chairs..... gave them shitty biscuits and gravy in the the morning.... they took pictures of themselves with the graffiti in the alley behind la casa .... (remnants from an previous show!... long story)
Fun to see this and hope they are well....
P.S. ..... other bands from then..... 7 Seconds. Bulimia Banquet White Zombie Big Drill Car All MDC Bomb ... many others... no kidding
Shout to Joey Abbin, Ryan Green and Genive Sprinkle wherever you are....You guys started it,
I discovered their song "Talking About Business" on youtube a few months ago and because it was good rock and I'd never heard of them, I was curious to know more. There doesn't seem to be much out there. Just faded away... lol
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