Face to Face

Face to Face: LiveLive (1998)
Vagrant Records

Reviewer Rating: 2

User Rating:

Contributed by: CosCos
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on May 1st 2009Of all the bands I liked in high school, Face to Face has faded the quickest from my CD player. Maybe it's the over-generalness of their lyrics; maybe it's Trevor Keith's naked careerism; or maybe it's because I only really liked one album start to finish (Don't Turn Away, 1992). I definitely loved .

Of all the bands I liked in high school, Face to Face has faded the quickest from my CD player. Maybe it's the over-generalness of their lyrics; maybe it's Trevor Keith's naked careerism; or maybe it's because I only really liked one album start to finish (Don't Turn Away, 1992). I definitely loved them at the time -- they were fast, tight, catchy as hell and lots of fun. But they lacked a bit of depth.

Regardless, Face to Face isn't entirely to blame for only getting two stars. The larger problem is live punk albums in general. They're either extremely disposable, poorly recorded or exist for no good reason. The Clash's From Here to Eternity came about 20 years too late; Social D's Live at the Roxy seemed released just to satiate fans. And those are the ones I LIKE. F2F's Live seems to exist to bookend their career transition -- the next album by the only band to ever make something of themselves from Victorville was the widely divisive Ignorance Is Bliss.

Anyway, the songs: There's a good split between the first three records (DTA, Big Choice, the self-titled one) and it wisely downplays Big Choice in favor of the other two. The most surprising thing about this record is that it doesn't feature "Disconnected." I'd bet my life that the band played that song at the show, but didn't want to have FOUR CDs with that song on it.

In all honesty, this album is pretty useless. It doesn't have any sermonizing (hello, Mike Ness) or drunken banter, á la NOFX. Just 18 songs played fast and tight with an occasional hoot from the audience. Nothing on here makes the songs sound better than on their studio records. Okay, there's a Social Distortion cover, with the band doing their best impersonation of Fullerton's finest. But that's about it. Unless you're a completist, just stick with the studio stuff.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

nocomply (November 18, 2011)

Today I am dropping my rating of this album to 4.5 stars. It's a great piece of work and still my favorite Face to Face record, but it's not 5-star territory.

Dycelot (May 11, 2011)

I think there are plenty of bands from High School that never faded away, but unfortunately the idea of "growing up" had nothing but negative impacts on the music. unfortunately face to face followed that suit, (though now, at 33, i like ignorance is bliss alot more than i did at 21). That said: Laugh Now, Laugh Later in a week. see you there!

Dedricthere (May 27, 2010)

Of all the bands I liked in high school, Face to Face is the only one that Hasn't faded away. Maybe it's because the Lyrics will apply to my life no matter what age I am and also because their one of the catchiest, most melodic yet rough around the edges pure deliciousness I've ever heard (With Tiltwheel). Don't turn away is punk rock perfection.

This review is straight up bullshit.

Best live punk album next to Social Distortion's

evildeadalive (May 5, 2009)

This and Descendents Liveage, Misfits Evilive, and Social D are the only live albums I really put on...

I would probably consider this F2F's best album. And I liked them a lot...

I don't really understand going out of your way to review an 11 year old album to give it a bad review...

At least now I know who's opinion to not trust...

Cos (May 5, 2009)

BEAT your review.

Cos (May 5, 2009)

Hey Paul--

I'm not sure if you know how it works around here, but nearly all of the reviews are written by readers of the site. I just happened to have pulled out this disc recently, and looked it up to see what the punknews review said. I was pretty shocked to find it hadn't been reviewed yet, so I figured I should write one.

If my review is 10 years late, then I still your review.

kojak420 (May 4, 2009)

This guy is insane, i have 300 cds, including more than 20 live punk, there is no live album better than this. "i heard they suck live", the name says it all, most of fat´s "live in a dive" are overproduced pieces of crap.

paulrulzdood (May 4, 2009)

yea i gotta disagree with the reviewer here....first, you say the Clash live album was about 20 years too late, well your review of F2F's live album is about 10 years too late.

but changing trends & the aging of 90's skate punk rock aside, this is one of the best live punk albums ever.

the production & recording quality is top-notch as is the setlist. plus, as history has shown as as 11 years have gone by since this albumc ame out, this WAS indeed, F2F at their best and at the peak of their career. after this album came a few lineup changes and a trio of underrated & underrappreciated albums as the 90's gave way to the 2000's and F2F faded a bit and then respectfully called it a day in 2004.

but make no mistate, 1997-1998 was the peak of their career and this album captures that moment, when their lineup was still a 4-piece, their sound was at it's fullest, their live show as at it's best, their songwriting had hit it's creative peak and when this sub-genre of punk rock was also at it's peak.

this album serves as the greatest hits for the first and more impressive & important half of F2F's career, 2 stars is just unfair.

borntaloze (May 4, 2009)

i agree with the reviewer...as live albums go this ones pretty boring. barely any difference with the studio versions. and i consider myself a fan of these guys and had a good time both times i saw them live. i cant believe how many people are putting this up there with their top live albums of all time. personally my faves are night of the living dead boys, who's got the 10 1/2, we're the meatmen and you still suck, thin lizzy live and dangerous, and both live avail albums. also alot of the neil young archive stuff that's been coming out is pretty fantastic too, sorry if that's not punk enough for everybody though.

mikexdude (May 3, 2009)

I love everything Blink put out and I think that the jokes are funny because when I first heard them, I was in 5th grade, and that's the kind of humor they have. So I guess it always stuck with me. Also, I think some of the versions are better than the originals: "Going Away to College" and "Voyeur" in particular.

skaboy32 (May 3, 2009)

One of the best Live albums out there Hands Down

IllegalLeft (May 3, 2009)

I'm the guy bashing "The Mark Tom & Travis Show". I love Dude Ranch and Cheshire Cat, but that live album really blows. 90% of the songs are from Enema and most of the songs were produced in a studio with 13 year old crowd noise added after the fact. I dig Blinks humor, there poop and fart jokes seem forced on this lame effort.

jbigwig (May 3, 2009)

This is easily one of the best punk live albums you will ever hear and have no idea what you are talking about.

Sounds like you have early signs of head in ass syndrome, you should check that out before it gets worse.

Cos (May 3, 2009)

For everyone wanting a positive review, its in the last paragraph:

"Just 18 songs played fast and tight with an occasional hoot from the audience."

I guess that's fine for some of you, I'm just looking for a better reason to hear live versions of the songs I already had.

mikexdude (May 3, 2009)

I don't really like Face to Face at all, but I do love live music and this is pretty damn sweet. For the guy trashing the Mark Tom and Travis Show, FUCK YOU!

m1tch (May 3, 2009)

It's been said, but this is one of my favorite Face to Face records, and it really is a great live record. I'm going to throw it on right now.

otter (May 3, 2009)

This is one of my top five, Dont know how this got such a bad review

slymer (May 3, 2009)

One of my favorite live albums ever, and probably the Face to Face album I listen to the most. Pretty much a perfect greatest hits.

mpc (May 3, 2009)

Oh yeah, forgot to add my score.
Always thought this was a solid live album.

belfast-sxe-vegan-madman (May 3, 2009)

face to face equals jawbreaker crammed into a fridge with discount and slowly being defrosted by the get up kids

thepuglife (May 3, 2009)

Lame review.

And this is one of the better live albums out there. I would even prefer to listen to this over their studio albums.

oldpunkerforever (May 3, 2009)

To give this 2 stars is just wrong, this is well known as a brilliant live record and one of f2f best cds-oldpunker-

mpc (May 3, 2009)

My favorite punk live album -
Avail "Live at the Bottom of the Hill".

miniblindbandit (May 3, 2009)

inb4 facetofacreunion

Chadreligion (May 3, 2009)

for anyone who has never listened to Face to Face and wants to check them out, listen to this album... it says it all!

Probably one of the top 10 LIVE punk albums of all time

rob-o (May 2, 2009)

so did Ignorance lack the depth you were looking for?

Oh wait, it was "too much" depth hahaha.

rob-o (May 2, 2009)

These guys get shit on so much, but people still buy tickets to the shows. The live versions of "not for free" and "dissension" are great.

Score is for album, not the review.

88fl_rules (May 2, 2009)

I red one time that the reason why there's no disconected is that they play the song, and joe d, jughead's revenge singer came on stage and sang the song with them and it sounded weird on the record

IllegalLeft (May 2, 2009)

This review blows! This is a great live album. Great song selection and sound quality is stellar. Who the hell wants to hear crowd banter? This album has great crowd interaction during the breakdown in songs like "Walk Away". Pleae listen to Blink 182"s "Mark Tom and Travis Show" and you will hear how a shitty live album is made. Leave this disc alone. Please never listen to it again...

whoostin (May 2, 2009)

This is one of my top 5 live albums!

spec (May 2, 2009)

I love this live album. 9 out of 10 for this bitch.

Phantom_Maggot (May 2, 2009)

I don't really care at all for Face to Face but I do own this album and enjoy it every once in awhile. I think you're too hard on this album, and with the exception of not having "Disconnected", I feel that this hits pretty much every other song you could want. A "meh" band with a "meh" release.

pufferfish (May 2, 2009)

What a shit review. Great album, a sort of "greatest hits" of the early stuff. Good production, very tight band. If you dig the band, you'd dig this record. Enough said.

nocomply (May 2, 2009)

IMO this album was actually the best Face to Face has put out. Drunken banter between songs gets old after the 2nd or third time through. Instead Trevor and co. stick to what they do best, which is playing their music. The songs on here come through with a greater sense of tangibility and emotion than on their studio records. No they're not perfect and polished, but that's because they're live FFS! I always thought Face to Face was a good live band, and as far as live records go I think this is a really good one.

pinkerton (May 2, 2009)

i dont entirely agree with the "comp band" comment but they were really nothing special.

very tight, but in terms of raw creativity they make nufan's "more betterness" look light sgt. peppers lonely hearts.

Wonton (May 2, 2009)

wtf???
why so serious?

Fuzzy (May 2, 2009)

Does this have the live version of "Blind" on it? Only F2F song worth a damn. Live version is killer. Totally a "comp" band in my eyes - only one great song and it usually is on every comp, then when you buy the album everything else is meh city.

tenwestchaser (May 2, 2009)

I've never really been one for "real punk" type music always preferring the hardcore side of the genre. I love Face to Face, though. Especially the Self Titled, Reactionary and How To Ruin Everything. I'm going to be murdered here, but I've always thought Dont Turn Away to be a bit overrated.