Faith No More – Album Of The Year

How is the sound on this pressing, better than the reissues?

Is Helpless skipping at the end saying "Help me please someone" repeatedly by design? On my record, it seems like a perfectly timed loop... and I need to manually move the tone arm to Mouth to mouth, in a separation groove that feels larger than usual.

Since no reviews can be found on the internet (regarding the sound or anything else), I decided to pull the trigger and have a listen. Here's my take:

Though prior to AOY album every FNM album was all-anlogue, AOY was the first FNM recording to utilize some digital magic in the recording process (tracked to tape, then some parts - like drums and guitars - were transfered to ProTools to make some arrangements, then the whole thing was transfered back again to tapes, and in the end songs were mixed to tape). Honestly, I'm not sure about the mastering on this one. Since it wasn't released in the US on vinyl at that time, this is the only "frist" pressing from 1997. It was released in the UK (and was produced mainly for the EU market), pressed by MPO (France). Not sure if MPO had (or even possibly were given) access to the original masters or not... there's not enough info on the wax to know. In the '90s it was standard practice to master everything to 44.1/88.2 so this release could well be digitally sourced. Lacquers of 1st US pressing of KFOAD were cut by Masterdisk (and it is a killer sounding record - they cut that from the fresh master tapes), and though this album was also mastered by Masterdisk, I think it only refers to the CD mastering not to all other versions/iterations. It would be great to know, maybe someone wil give me an answer on this.

So how does it sound? Well, songs were crammed to two sides (instead of four like KFOAD), so knowing this... it sounds mainly good (to sometimes just OK) to my ears. I definitely can hear some improvement in the top end compared to the digital (CD) versions, and drums also do sound fuller and better to me. Due to having only just two sides, the end of side A is generally quiter and _just_ OK (not distorted, but way quiter than side B), while side B is louder and dynamic all along (this side is shorter so I'm pretty sure it was a mastering choice). I don't own the MOV version (that version was also spread to two sides and cut from a digital source) or the Rhino reissue (four sides, but also digitally remastered) to compare, but I have a feeling that the differences are not that huge.

So should you buy it? If you're a fan then sure, it can be a treasured record in your collection. Unfortunately this was a super minimalistic release, the outer sleeves are so thin (really cheap material) that chances of getting an NM copy are very slight. No printed inners (lyrics) or anything like that so for some it will hold only just a collectors value. Nonetheless, I am glad to own this version (now I have almost all the originals or the best versions of FNM's top albums). Hope to see a pure AAA press one day of AD, KFOAD, AOY!

This FNM album is just a music treasure. Everyone who loves 90's he MUST HAVE this album! The best FNM album for me.

One of my favorite records ever! Countless Feelings......................................................................................................