|
Review Navigator   FeaturesReviews
 | Face to FaceShoot the Moon: The Essential Collection2005 Antagonist 
  Review by: Anchors See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on February 10th 2006
During the 1990s, Face to Face was everything that SoCal punk rock could be. Over It and Big Choice were the absolute embodiment of everything mid-`90s skatepunk strived for: catchy, energetic songs with plenty of drive and rhythm. Singer Trevor Keith’s voice is as unmistakable as the band's most well known song, “Disconnected,” and after playing their last show in 2004, this is just as the album title suggests: the essential collection.
People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
Easily one of the most influencial punk bands of the past 13 or so years. delicious. Thank you face to face! Love or hate 'em....show some respect. With all influx of [wannabe] punk/emo bands, they are only a few that show some uniqueness and talent. They know who they are...the ones that fake ones. Big Choice is F2F's best album period. Don't turn away was great, but Big Choice did not have a flawed song. Yeah, but they did put out a transition album. It's called "Standards And Practices". And the new influences they found weren't the ones that were making it big in the underground at the time. Ignorance sounded more influenced by bands like Sugar and Jawbreaker than it did by bands like the Smiths (Though they did a killer take of What Difference Does It Make? on there). They even covered INXS non-ironically, which I doubt garnered them any cool points. However you feel about Ignorence Is Bliss, I think there's little debate that the album reaked of bandwagon-jumping. This was at a time when the Get Up Kids and the Promise Ring were on the rise, when Vagrant was signing bands like No Motiv (another hardcore band gone emo that Trevor Keith produced), when Jimmy Eat World and At the Drive-In started really getting attention, and everyone was covering the Smiths instead of the Misfits. Ignorence Is Bliss came from a band who had come off releasing a killer studio album (the self-titled CD was much better than "Big Choice) and who covered Social Distortion on their live album. That was a pretty big jump to expect fans to swallow. Even the band photo had all the guys looking at the ground, aping some midwestern high school kids. The least they could have done was give a "transition" album that had something representing the old sound. This is great album and the linear notes are ok. I agree with the ignorance is bliss assment, when I was 21 i bought that album and hated it......I mean really hated it, but a few years later I broke it out again and loved it. I also think that For you, and the whole why aren't you happy ep, is there best work. i dont know about other people, but speaking for myself, i link face to face with hs because their albums(aside from the vagrant ones) came out when i was in late junior high/hs. Score's for this band, and how amazing they were. I just think its bullshit that face to face is playing at a hotel in Lexington KY (where i live and there are NO shows EVER) pabstboy, come on! pay attention! I think he was just making the point that you can't call any band that sings heartfelt songs about girls "Emo", or you'd have to call The Ramones "emo". Ramones is to emo what Sunny Day Real Estate is to hardcore. RKL.. if u donīt know;... not all love/affection based song is EMO.. so grow up and stop blaming EMO.. Why do people here constantly assume F2f to high school years? like if the lyrics are some blink 182 type? What? "you dont know what you want, oit may take you years to find out" So this record starts and ends with the same song? Hahahahahahahahahaha "I have the 'don't turn away' vinyl LP on Dr Strange, still sealed never played. anyone interested? i never said the band sold out, but they DID change their style, and when they did they fucking sucked. A really great band. I remember writing to them to get some stickers in the early 90s and getting a hand-written, two page note thanking me for being a fan in response. This is worth picking up for those who don't have Over It, which is their best release. I hate it when people accuse this band of selling out, or changing their style to sell more records.... If they were looking to cash in so bad, why did they break up when they did? I was on the f2f mailing list and in the email they sent when they broke up they said that they wanted to go out on a high note. I mean seriously, they could have gone the way of green day, blink, nofx, br etc but they got out at the right time in my opinion. Sure How to Ruin Everything isn't their best work, but it could have been a whole lot worse. sounds like Ignorance is Bliss is Face to Faces' Pinkerton LOVED this band. i will pick this up if i can find it used cause i have all the F2F i really need. Score is for this band. Ignorance is Bliss was a monumental album, not fully appreciated until now. The band broke new ground by releasing that album when they did. It's too bad more people didn't appreciate it. I heard a rumor that Antagonist is going to re-release Ignorance is Bliss.... I was all about this band in high school. My old band used to cover Disconnected just in practice, with me on guitar (i'm a drummer) and it was so much fun to play. We still would bust it out now and then even in recent years, cuz it's just such a great song. Big Choice was my fav, which seems like it's no one elses... I used to hate ignorace is bliss when it first came out. I wasn't 'punk enough' for me. Then i busted it out about a year ago thinking 'how can face to face put out such a bad record'. Oh, and if anything they did was money-grabbing, it was Reactionary. While I like the album, it was clearly an attempt to win back fans they turned away with the hard-to-get-into-but-sweet Ignorance Is Bliss. Reactionary sucked. Hard. Well, Smiths-esque, along with influence from most of the other bands on Standards And Practices, Sugar, Fugazi, Pixies, etc... To rkl (just to clarify since there's so many other conversations here): The LIVE album covered everything BUT "disconnected". One of the best bands ever. Their live album is the best album in my opinion because it covers everything. Its got there best song of all time "Not For Free" Is anyone going to review The Ladies album? I am really diging it in all it's pink glory. id like to say i am, but im not. First, did I actually type "How To CLEAN Everything" down there? How could F2F be whinny?? shut the fuck up! Great record. I'm actually listening to it right now. Bought it several weeks ago. everything this band ever put out was great " I think Don't Turn Away is overrated, and How To Clean Everything gets a bad rap (though it's not that great). Honestly, while the songs are good, I don't like Reactionary that much, because it was reactionary and kind of lame to revert after a stylistic change didn't work out too well. Big Choice is almost as good as self-titled, but the self-titled album is freaking amazing." Chill out dude. I have the 'don't turn away' vinyl LP on Dr Strange, still sealed never played. anyone interested? Yeah, what Brian said, I didn't get the actual version of this until like Monday. But everyone is right, the packaging is undoubtedly some of the best I've ever seen. Where'd the Bigwig review go How in the fuck do you not mention the spectacular packaging for this? If albums like Ignorance is Bliss don't prove to you that this is sincere and not fake, then I can't help you. The guy has a hard-on for Social D and Jawbreaker. the liner notes are great to read i hate greatest hits albums but i highly recommend this for the liner notes and disconnected live. i always thought 'how to ruin everything' was incredibly underrated, and 'don't turn away', like lagwagons 'trashed' was incredibly overrated. also, i'm 25, so dont write my opinion off like i'm some kid who got into them on how to ruin everything. How could F2F be whinny?? shut the fuck up! i always thought this band should have stuck to the big hair and spandex. same with goldfinger. bunch of fucking fakes. "Am I completely insane or was there a Bigwig review above this a little while ago?" Anchors: I remember when Face to Face came out with an amazing album on Dr. Strange. Then they got signed to Fat, toured with NOFX and then signed to major all within a year. I thought they were going to be the biggest band ever. I used to find it hard to get over Trevor's metal roots, but then I grew up. What I respect most about Trevor is that when asked why he doesn't swear in songs, he said something to the effect of "it's too easy - it's more challenging to write insightful lyrics without the cliche cop-out of swearing". I never even noticed that he didn't swear but when I read that it made me appreciate his lyrics even more. Absolutely the best retrospective gereatest hits ever! I also am a little hurt no Ignorance tracks but damn it anyways. I couldn't stop listening to it for a week. i hate that there's no ignorance is bliss material on this... one of my favorite records of all time. Am I completely insane or was there a Bigwig review above this a little while ago? Dang right Ignorance Is Bliss is awesome. Great band, one of my favourites for the longest time. This compilation is pretty strong overall and really covers most of the bases. and the liner notes are good, they get into each and every song as well as describe each album a little more in depth, neat pics too-oldpunker- BRILLIANT, one of my favorite shows was the DC show, they played with snapcase,sick of it all and h20-oldpunker- Definitely one of my all time favorite punk bands and quite possibly #1 "I was going to see them on the 1st date of their farewell tour. Then Hurricane Charley came on by messing things up. They rescheduled it and I traded in my ticket. But then out of nowhere, without any explination it got cancelled. I sat there wondering why. Maybe they got tired of touring and finished early. But to this day I still wonder. Why Face to Face?" i was a face to face junkie in hs, but as i got older it started getting a bit whiny(for my tastes, at least). "Somewhere between indie and emo" fuckin right anchors. this stuff is just fantastic. really good review, i know almost everything on here and i'm still gonna get it. Face To Face is a good example of a band that started out by latching onto style (nothing wrong with that) then hit the wall when they tried to change and really make some kind of artistic "statement". They made three really good melodic punk albums (well, Big Choice was just kind of ok), then brilliantly capped off the era with a live record. Then what? Unfortunately, that was "Ignorence is Bliss", which sucked ass. Somewhere between indie and emo, it seemed way too fake and contrived (I saw one of their "small" shows before that album came out and they looked so awful). They limped on for two more albums when they should have just died then and there. Thank god they finally called it quits. In a weird way, I have more respect for them than their peers like Guttermouth, Pennywise, or the Offspring. They tried something different, failed, and later had the good sense to quit. I'll spin "Don't Turn Away" tomorrow. im going to be honest, i didnt really read the review because i already know about face to face, but someone tell me... Is this a dvd or cd? and if its only a cd when are they coming out with the dvd they promised a year and some time ago? I was going to see them on the 1st date of their farewell tour. Then Hurricane Charley came on by messing things up. They rescheduled it and I traded in my ticket. But then out of nowhere, without any explination it got cancelled. I sat there wondering why. Maybe they got tired of touring and finished early. But to this day I still wonder. Why Face to Face? "I always thought this was one of the weakest and most overrated 90's skate punk band around." i miss this band. glad i got to catch them on their farewell tour. I always thought this was one of the weakest and most overrated 90's skate punk band around. i dont need this album so score is for the band i probably won't pick this up, but face to face played an integral party in my early high school years. |
