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Face To Face

Reactionary (2000)
Sony Music Entertainment

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Contributed by: Mark Williams
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 30th 2001

For the longest time, Face to Face was my favorite band. Their lyrics were great, their socal sound made my ears ring with joy, and Trevor's voice is the perfect punk vocal. Then they released Ignorance is Bliss. I have heard that the album starts to grow on you(after a year) but what I heard of it made me want to break my stereo and cry at the same time.

After IIB, Face to Face decided to return to their roots of fast punk rock (thank God!) with their new album, Reactionary. They also let their fans vote on which songs would go on the cd, which was really cool. However, excluding songs two and three, the album was suprisingly dissappointing to me. "Out of Focus" might be one of F2F's all time best songs, and the next track "What's in a Name" is also one of their best songs ever, right up there with "I used to think" and "1,000 times". But the rest of the songs are somewhat mediocre in Face to Face standards.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good album, much better than Ignorance is Bliss, but it still doesn't compare with Dont Turn Away or Big Choice. I love Face to Face, but I didn't love Reactionary.

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Anonymous (June 15, 2006)

Oh, my world. It is ok

Anonymous (May 10, 2002)

F2F at their worst. - bigjerk

Anonymous (December 12, 2001)

to the ones that are bitching about this album being weak, you're all right. Just remember though that it was you fucking retards that voted for these weak songs. I will never buy another album where the idiots get the say of what goes on the album. It should have been up to them, I think its safe to say that the fans let them down this time and not the other way around.

coldjuly (June 28, 2001)

Man ive been a F2F fan since '93 and havent let me down yet..."ignorance is bliss" was not punk but i still liked it. A band cant keep the same sound forever or else they would be pennywise.

Anonymous (April 17, 2001)

this album was alright. i think it was kinda hard for me after getting used to iib, until it became one of my favorite cd's, and then hearing this. it's like they didn't put the effort into it they usually do. a few great songs, but a little boring

Anonymous (April 11, 2001)

IIB is great
this is better

face to face are worth more then money(lots of money)

-faceecaf@hotmail.com

Anonymous (April 9, 2001)

IIB would have been alright if it weren't so drastic. they're self titled was some of their best punk rock, and then IIB was on a complete opposite end of the music spectrum. something a little more graduall would have probably avoided all the criticism IIB got and still gets.one more thing, if everyone voted on what songs to put on the album, why didn't nulification get on? it's better than most of the songs that did.

Anonymous (April 8, 2001)

Boo hoo...so they changed on Ignorance Is Bliss. Pardon them for not stagnating. It's a shame that they've regressed like this, since IIB was undoubtedly their creative apex. The whole fan voting thing on mp3.com was a total cop-out because they realized their fan base was ignorant and like their old shit more, so they'd obviously vote for the old-style tunes...oh well, reactionary rocks too.

Anonymous (April 6, 2001)

i never thought of it that way, but i'm glad they did go back cause there are some really good songs on here. i wouldn't exactlly call them thrashing.that's more like deicide and cannibal corpse, not the melodic up-tempo punk rock face to face plays.

Anonymous (April 4, 2001)

I agree, except for ignorance is bliss. Its funny how someone can say all the IIB songs sound the same when hey your reviewing a socal punk album, variety isnt really its strong point. Ignorance was perhaps the only almbum that stretched itself on each song, the production was amazing, and the songs were much more melancholy and developed. If any album, reactionary was when they sold out because they intentionally changed their sound to go back to a more profitable fanbase. But I guess being true isnt good unless it makes more thrashing music.

Or as they say in Ignorance is bliss, 'why did we need to change, when we were perfect yesterday'.

grant

Anonymous (April 1, 2001)

I agree with this review. My favorite album was without a doubt "Don't Turn Away", but "Big Choice" was very close in quality. I hated "Ignorance is Bliss", the songs were just so slow and all sounded the same. But "Reactionary" was definitely an improvement, though not quite as good as the old.

Anonymous (April 1, 2001)

I am what I am, and I didn't like this CD half as much as their old stuff. I'm all for progression as artists, but the old songs just appeall to me more I guess. That didn't stop me from paying the 18 bucks to see 'em with h2o and Sanpcase, did it.

Anonymous (April 1, 2001)

Wow.....

You are really pretty narrow minded.....