The Faith Band recorded four albums between 1977 and 1979: ‘Excuse Me, I Just Cut A Record’ in 1977, ‘Rock N Romance’ in 1978 with the minor hit ‘Dancin’ Shoes’, and two albums in 1979, ‘Face To Face’ and ‘Vital Signs’, this review deals with their third album ‘Face To Face’.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Faith Band
ALBUM: Face To Face
LABEL: Mercury
SERIAL: SRM-1-3770
YEAR: 1979
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Carl Storie – vocals, harmonica * David Bennett – guitars * John Cascella – vocals, keyboards, saxophone * Mark Cawley – bass, vocals * David Barnes – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Touchy Situation * 02 You’re My Weakness * 03 Big City Lights * 04 Hopeless Romantic * 05 Diamond In The Rough * 06 Leave This Love * 07 Fools Love * 08 Long Distance Runner * 09 Forever
b>WEBLINKS: Wikipedia Page
Background
Here’s an Indiana band with a connection to AOR/pomp favourites Roadmaster. But more interestingly, Faith Band in their earlier days were caught up in the hullabaloo and verbal warfare going on between self-styled rock promoter Terry Knight and monolithic rag Rolling Stone.
The summer of 1973 was an interesting time for those who can remember back that far. Knight had formed Brown Bag Records, after his well-publicized fall-out with Michigan rock legends Grand Funk Railroad.
One of his signings was an Indiana band called Limousine, who upon being signed to Brown Bag and nesting under the tutelage of Knight, had their name changed to Faith.
Lauded as a new mysterious supergroup to the media, Faith were the victim of a Terry Knight gimmick which backfired on the band. Rolling Stone exposed the hocus pocus, and Faith were derided in the press.
It was something which took them years to get over. Even Robert Christgau from Creem Magazine remarked: ‘I was curious enough to play the first side of this record the day I got it. It took me two months to get to side two.’
With tail firmed tucked in-between leg, Knight folded Brown Bag Records shortly after this debacle, and Faith‘s planned headline gig at Madison Square Garden with Styx playing support, never eventuated.
The album, however, was not a total write-off, as the intervening years would see many fans pick up the pieces. Recovering from an event like this took its toll. However, four years later, the band were back in business, this time as the Faith Band.
Their sound had retained a little of their earlier funk/R&B leanings (something that Knight was quite keen on initially), and combined it with a west coast sheen. Both the Faith Band and Roadmaster were signed to the same label (Village Records/Mercury), and were familiar to each others fan base, considering they were playing many of Indianapolis’ regular haunts.
Whereas Roadmaster veered down the pomp path, Faith Band kept to a R&B/west coast direction. The band recorded four albums between 1977 and 1979. ‘Excuse Me, I Just Cut A Record’ in 1977, ‘Rock N Romance’ in 1978 with the minor hit ‘Dancin’ Shoes’, and two albums in 1979: ‘Face To Face’ and ‘Vital Signs’. This review deals with their third album ‘Face To Face’.
The Songs
By this stage of their history, the band had merged a number of different influences into their mix. Player, Toto and Little River Band being at least three that I can identify. Singer Carl Storie definitely has a Glenn Shorrock similarity, while the band’s arrangements are tight, with a smattering of interesting pomp-like keyboards, and some blazing sax work on occasion.
‘Touchy Situation’ could best be described as Toto with Glenn Shorrock doing lead vocals. The synth work though understated is kinda cool. ‘You’re My Weakness’ is the principle west-coast tune here. It’s very Player like, with some funky bass lines and scorching guitars.
By this stage, Faith Band appear to be geographically challenged. Forget Indiana and think Los Angeles with a track like ‘Big City Lights’. There’s a ton of tinkly piano on ‘Hopeless Romantic’ provided by John Cascella, he also provides the honky-tonk like tinkling on ‘Leave This Love’, but mainly this one compares well to bands like Rock Rose and Blue Steel.
‘Diamond In The Rough’ has a feel-good vibe and street appeal to it, while ‘Fools Love’ is a return to that smooth west-coast sound that was prevalent at the time. The album finishes up with the mild AOR appeal of ‘Long Distance Runner’ and the Michael Stanley Band sounding affair of ‘Forever’.
In Summary
This would be the penultimate of their studio albums, the finale album being ‘Vital Signs’. I get the impression the band were veering more down the AOR path by this stage. As far I can ascertain, none of their albums has seen a CD re-release.
In the case of the Faith Band, I think it would be ideal to see a compilation album at least, taking the best cuts of their albums and bringing it all together in one package I’m certain the liner notes would make for interesting reading, lol!
Faith Band on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
