| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 7 |
| Interest | 7 |
| Melody | 7 |
| Performance | 7 |
| Lyrics | 8 |
| Enjoyment | 7 |
| Recording Quality | 8 |
| Commercial Appeal | 5 |
| Overall | 7 |
'Faithless' is ,at it's heart a rather bitter, nihilistic message, securely aligning itself firmly within the 'nowt out there but thin air, and whatever perceptions yer wanna take from that' camp.
The conclusion (more a dejected sigh than an outro) is as pitiless it is short, speaking of wasted lives, futile clinging to the same 'faceless gods', and then death... without even a decent reward for having suffered the indignity of the treadmill.
It's not a new message by any means, and, one that would be equally relevant (and tonally at home) in 1966, as it is today.
It's hardly out of place, whatever context you'd choose to put it into. Little has changed in terms of power balance and the same old 'faceless gods' keep on rearing their ugly heads, poking their unwelcome noses into our personal business, like it or not, they are not going away any time soon.
Of course, at some point, they are going to tell you that it's time to put on your combat fatigues, pick up your gun (Or strap on that bomb) and march....
I find the contrast between the decidedly upbeat musical score, and the downbeat subject matter interesting.
Musically, I found many elements of this one to have quite a 'synthetic' feel; the real warmth of the track brought about by the sporadic (and well executed) guitar licks that punctuate the verses and outro, and propped up by the piano which - though occasionally feels intrusive as it collides and colludes with the double-tracked vocals; still works extremely well as a fine instrument in it's own right.
By way of nit picking, the strings and bass pads do sound somewhat 'midi-like' in places, entwining a workmanlike performance into what is, at it's heart, a very human song. I personally found the drums to be not only a little 'artificial-sounding', but also slightly overloud loud within the mix. I do feel that a much softer approach would have worked better (like the old saying about speaking softly, whilst holding a big stick). Perhaps simply turning down the physical volume on the drum tracks would have solved much of the issue? - though any re-workings of this track might benefit from more subtlety within the drumming.
Despite the slightly 'synthetic' aspects of the song's support elements - they are still executed very precisely, and with plenty of flair. The bass in particular is pleasingly melodic, adding a great counter-refrain, complementing rather than covering.
Overall production is very crisp, and tightly-mapped. It's a touch on the dry side too, which perhaps adds to the slight disconnection between the song's very human central topic, and it's actual delivery. Regardless, each instrument is distinctly presented and solidly rendered. The overall effect, though sparse, works as a whole. The vocals, though lacking the dry humour that comes with much of the artists other works, are performed with flair and imagination - though I get the impression that Tony is holding a little in reserve, and is (probably deliberately) understating the performance.
Overall, I found 'Faithless' to be an interesting and enjoyable track, and certainly very much of a grower, whose gravitas expands upon each listen. Though sparsely rendered, and suffering from having a slightly detached/synthetic feel in places, there's enough imaginative instrumentation within the piano parts, together with the bitterly unveiled central theme of the song to keep the listened interested throughout it's running time.
Marks:
Please, basically ignore the ratings/score that the review system forced me to give, they don't really reflect how I feel about the song at all. I absolutely despise attaching arbitrary numeric values to a piece of music, or performance, but I was given no choice by the automated procedure.
I basically just gave across-the-board 7s with a couple of 8s as I felt the lyrics and recording quality both stood out.
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