I was a Faith No More fan back in the days of Epic/Angel Dust but lost track of them and only realized long after they broke up how good their later stuff is. Now I’m getting into Mr. Bungle. Mike Patton seemed to have had an Axl Rose-type rep for a while, but he kept putting out good material that shied away from pop (or made fun of it), mixing genres in a sometimes baffling but always interesting way… I mean, just when you thought you had this guy figured out he’d cover a Lionel Ritchie or a Bee Gees song (and do it well!) He’s also done an entire disc of Italian pop songs from the 1960s (and did it well). Curious if there are other fans, especially ones who know more than “Epic” and the cover of “Easy,” which spawned big videos. A couple of personal favorites are “Evidence” and “Small Victory” by FNM and “Retrovertigo” by Mr. Bungle.
I used to listen to all the Faith No More and Mr. Bungle albums back in the day. “Midlife Crisis” and “Epic” are some of my favorite songs.
Mr. Bungle’s disc California is one of my favorites; very easy to listen to compared to most of their stuff but still interesting. Lots of Patton’s collaborations/side projects are worth checking out, if only because of the wide range of stuff that’s in there.
Everything’s Ruined off their Angel Dust Album is my favorite song. I would put that album up against just about anything. But I can listen to any album that Patton has put out, they’re all great.
I really love “Evidence” and “Last Cup of Sorrow,” along with essentially all the Angel Dust album. Their covers of “Easy” and “War Pigs” are standouts, as are “Take This Bottle” and “Ricochet” from KFADFFAL. Their earlier stuff, from before “The Real Thing,” clearly isn’t as good, but you could already see some of the musical style coming through on “We Care A Lot”: snarky lyrics, driving drums, and a blending of non-rock vocal styles into rock.
I’d love to meet him – he seems like such an interesting guy. Of his output that I’ve heard, I most like his work with Lovage and Fantomas. His cover of the theme to Cape Fear is kickass.
The Fantomas stuff is excellent (even though its basically just a copy of John Zorn’s Naked City project). He has an incredible vocal talent – I can’t really decide if I like him or Tom Jones as my favourite male vocalist.
Lovage is the album that got me started loving Mike in the first place. My favorite songs are God Hates a Coward and his Easy Like Sunday Morning cover.
Mike Patton is awesomely maniacal. I love all of FNM’s and Mr. Bungle’s stuff. Disco Volante, so strange and twisted, is truly a work of mad genius.