Failure - Golden: Unreleased Sounds and Images

Failure enjoyed a nice, albeit limited run during the 90’s, releasing three albums, each building upon the previous both thematically and creatively. They didn’t benefit much from record sales but built a sturdy fan-base due largely to opportunistic touring and across-the-board praise from critics and fellow musicians. In 1997, at their creative and commercial peak, the group disbanded citing internal problems. Golden: Unreleased Sounds and Images, a CD/DVD set, helps shed some light on these problems and throws long-starving fans a few bones in the form of demos and session outtakes. A majority of the CD side is made up of 4-track demos drawn from early-era recordings. Their sharp song writing sensibilities are plainly evident in a few of the tracks ("Shrine", "Mange", "Golden"), but the fact of the matter is these are demos and outtakes, and for the most part they sound like it. The razor sharp production skills they developed during their ascension are faintly present here, and when contrasting this to their later work, it shows what a big part of their sound this production was. Because of their usage of drum machines on demo recordings (a practice explained on the DVD) the few tracks containing real drums ("Petting the Carpet", "Wake Up") carry an added energy, but most of what you’ll find here falls short of their more focused studio recordings. The DVD is where the real…ahem...gold is found. A documentary backed by separate commentary tracks from Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards is what most die-hards will get off on. Home movies, concert footage and stills tell the story of the band as they progressed from the Steve Albini produced misfire Comfort (the band will tell you it was their fault), to the sticky pop-grunge of Magnified and through the cinematic masterpiece Fantastic Planet. Though the documentary seems to be of little value without the commentary, it is laced with rough-cuts and works in progress that highlight the bands spacey-brilliance, most notably the way early live track “I Can See Houses,” which may be the best piece in the set. Three music videos containing commentary tracks (“Undone”, “Stuck on You” and “Destination Unknown” from their one-off project Replicants) are also included along with a handful of slideshows, making the DVD alone a completist’s treasure. If you’ve never heard of Failure or only know them by reference, this won’t make you a fan (go buy Fantastic Planet and thank me later). It is mainly for those who always wondered what brought the band down and for fans who, seven years after the fact, still itch for more. [www.kenandrews.com]