I'm sure I've held forth about Failure's "Fantastic Planet" (1996, name and mood inspired by the 1973 Czech-French animated film of the same name, originally titled 'La Planète sauvage') before.
Failure was a band that didn't quite fit the 1990s alternagrunge mold, and this album dropped a little too late to have ridden that wave anyway. It's a damn shame because they hit it out of the park; great songwriting, great playing, great production (Ken Andrews is a genius producer in his own right... this album and their previous one 'Magnified' sound so much better than Steve Albini's work on their first album 'Comfort') and it's just one of those albums that establishes an immersive start-to-end mood. For me that's also enhanced by the perfectly executed artwork by Michael Uhlenkott... it's not directly related to the music but it *feels* like the music somehow. It's easily one of my top ten "Looks like it sounds and vice versa" albums. Truly epic.
This LP was the one that almost got away; Warner Brothers did a limited pressing in 2012 and I *had it in my hand* in the record store, but set it down and bought Rykodisc's pressing of Sugar's "Copper Blue" (another all-time favorite) instead... by the time I went to pick up Fantastic Planet a couple of months later it was completely sold out and already selling for >$100.
When Failure got back together and crowd-funded "The Heart is a Monster" a few years later, they very smartly finagled another pressing as a backer reward, and I couldn't mash that pledge button fast enough. #nowplaying #tootradio #np #failure #fantasticplanet #kenandrews #spacerock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5Hq_5FbT0
The Hollywood Reporter
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Slow Motion Walter
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Paul
