Faithless
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| Faithless |
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- For the term meaning perfidious, see, for example recreant. For other uses of the term, see Faithless (disambiguation).
Faithless are a UK group of musicians whose music is described by one of their band as a cross between hip-hop and dance. While they are mostly famous for their notorious dance songs ("Insomnia" "God Is A DJ" and "We Come 1") the band try to produce albums which offer a blend of styles.
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[edit] History
The three principal members of Faithless are Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo. Jazz acts as a vocalist mostly rapping and elevates the euphoric, ambient music to a spiritual and socio-political level with many of his lyrics; Bliss, as arguably the most popular female DJ not to mention her talents in playing the piano, violin, saxophone and bass, constructs most of the music while Rollo heads and produces the band's genre-defying sound. Lead female vocals for many of their songs are peformed by Pauline Taylor, who also peformed lead vocals for singles Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.
As well as these three members, Faithless have employed a guest member for each album. Jamie Catto was an original member of the band, but left after their second album, Sunday 8PM and in a way is viewed as a two-time guest member. On their third album, Outrospective, Zoë Johnston joined the lineup while their fourth album, No Roots saw LSK as Faithless member number four. The band often has various people do one-off features on their tracks, though one artist has managed to make a regular feature of her appearances. Pop singer Dido, who is Rollo's sister recorded her first studio track with Faithless, "Salva Mea", and was reportedly paid with a curry. She has since featured on one track on each album, in order: "Flowerstand Man", "Hem Of His Garment", "One Step Too Far" and finally "No Roots".
It was reported that Faithless were to split up after their latest tour in mid-2005. Speculation started after Rollo wrote in the liner notes of the No Roots booklet "We set out thinking it would be our last album, feeling maybe we have had our time in the sun".<ref>Quotation from album inlet, Outrospective (2001)</ref> However, a fresh clutch of live dates meant the tour actually lasted until December 2005. They have currently released a greatest hits compilation, called Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits, which reached number one in the UK, and are continuing to tour.
[edit] Music
Faithless have released four albums of their own work each time gaining higher positions on the album charts. They are called Reverence (which reached number 26), Sunday 8PM (reaching number 10), Outrospective (peaking at number 4) and No Roots (which debuted at number 1) between 1996 and 2004, with a greatest hits album out in 2005. In light of their dance roots, each of the four studio albums has been followed with a subsequent bonus disc of remixes.
As well as their own studio albums, all three members actively engage in other people's work as solo figures. Sister Bliss, as previously mentioned, is a prominent dance DJ and has for a long time toured the circuit on her own, remixed others' albums and even appeared in music videos, such as Paul Oakenfold's "Weekend". Maxi Jazz brought out an album before the formation of Faithless and also worked on pirate radio and would later work on the digital music project album "1 Giant Leap" guesting on a song with Robbie Williams. Finally, Rollo founded the label Cheeky Records and has produced the music of other artists, most notably his sister's two albums, as well as using various monikers to create popular dance music under the names Rollo Goes ... (Camping, Mystic and Spiritual), Felix, Our Tribe (with Rob Dougan), and Dusted.
- "Insomnia" excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
As well as this other work, the band collectively indulge in mixtapes of other musicians' work, either mixed by the group or merely selected by them. This includes the long running Back To Mine sessions, of which they are the fifth of over 20 people selected to choose the music, as well as The Bedroom Sessions and more recently the Renaissance 3D music project, in conjunction with the Renaissance nightclub.
On September 29th, 2006, the first single Bombs from their upcoming studio album To All New Arrivals made its debut on Radio 1's Pete Tong show. The album is set to be released on November 27th of this year. "Bombs" generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV's refusal to air it<ref name=shots>BOMBS AWAY. Shots. www.shots.net (1 November 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-28.</ref>. The music video featured interchanged clips of war scenes and daily life; symbolizing the presence of war all around us. As said by the director of the music video Howard Greenhalgh, "War infects all our lives; recently it feels that this has increasingly become 'our way of life'".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
[edit] Studio:
 <center>(18 September 1998) <center>#10 UK |
 <center>(18 June 2001) <center>#4 UK |
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 <center>(27 November 2006) <center> |
[edit] Companion Releases:
 <center>(1996) |
 <center>(25 October 1999) |
 <center>(26 August 2002) |
[edit] Compilations:
 <center>(16 October, 2000) <center> (various artists, selected and mixed by Faithless) |
 <center>(16 May 2005) <center>#1 UK |
 <center>(10 July 2006) |
[edit] DVDs
[edit] Singles
From Reverence:
- "Salva Mea (Save Me)" - 1995 #30 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play
- "Insomnia" - 1995 #27 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #62 US Hot 100
- "Don't Leave" - 1996 #34 UK
- "If Lovin' You Is Wrong"
- "Insomnia" - 1996 re-release #3 UK
- "Salva Mea" - 1996 re-release #9 UK
- "Reverence" - 1997 #10 UK
- "Don't Leave" - 1997 re-release #21 UK
- "Insomnia" - 2005 re-entry #48 UK
From Sunday 8PM:
- "God Is a DJ" - 1998 #6 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play
- "Take The Long Way Home" - 1998 #15 UK, #5 US Dance/Club Play
- "Bring My Family Back" - 1999 #14 UK, #17 US Dance/Club Play
- "Why Go?" - 1999
- "God Is A DJ" - 2005 re-entry #66 UK
From Outrospective:
- "We Come 1" - 2001 #3 UK, #3 US Dance/Club Play
- "Muhammad Ali" - 2001 #29 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play
- "Tarantula" / "Crazy English Summer" - 2001 #29 UK
- "One Step Too Far" (featuring Dido) - 2002 #6 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play
- "We Come 1" - 2005 re-entry #73 UK
Non-album single:
- "Dub Be Good To Me" (featuring Dido) - 2002 promo vinyl
From No Roots:
- "Mass Destruction" - 2004 #7 UK
- "I Want More" - 2004 #22 UK
- "Miss You Less See You More" - 2004 #38 UK
- "No Roots" (featuring Dido) - non official release (promo)
From Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits:
- "Why Go?" (featuring Estelle - 2005 remix) - 2005 #49 UK
- "Insomnia 2005" - 2005 #17 UK
- "Fatty Boo" (2005/2006)
- "Reasons (Saturday Night)" (2005/2006)
From To All New Arrivals:
- "Bombs" - 20 November 2006 (Download 23 October 2006) #26 UK
[edit] Other appearances
Note: This list is probably incomplete and not in chronological order.
- Maxi Jazz (from Faithless) & Robbie Williams - "My Culture", on the album 1 Giant Leap by 1 Giant Leap - 2002 #9 UK
- Faithless - "Addictive", on the soundtrack to the film Cruel Intentions
- Faithless - "Woozy", on the soundtrack to the film The Beach
- Faithless - "Like Ice In The Sunshine", featured on a German ice cream advert.
- Tiesto feat. Maxi Jazz (from Faithless) - "Dance 4 Life" (2006)
[edit] See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
[edit] Notes
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Official web site (UK)
- Official web site (ZA)
- Faithless at MySpace
- Faithless at MusicBrainz
- Unoffical fansite (uk)
- Faithless Lyrics
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