F♯a♯∞

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The correct title of this article is f#a#∞. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

Professional reviews
f♯a♯∞

Studio album by Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Released	October 1997 (First edition) June 9, 1998 (Second edition)
Recorded	May 1997 at the Hotel2Tango
Genre	Post-rock
Length	38:40 (First edition) 63:27 (Second edition)
Label	Constellation CST003 Kranky KRANK027
Pitchfork Media (9.3/10) June 1998 All Music Guide link CanuckistanMusic link
Godspeed You Black Emperor! chronology
All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling (1994)	f#a#∞ (1997)	aMAZEine 7" (1998)
Alternate cover

f♯a♯∞ is the debut album of the Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor! (later known as "Godspeed You! Black Emperor"). It was released twice, first in 1997 on vinyl by Constellation Records and then again on CD in 1998 by Kranky. The tracks are long and split into various named movements. The CD version was remastered and has some extra material (such as an extra track and a hidden track) and some material removed.

The original vinyl was limited to a pressing of 500 copies, and came in a handmade package with various inserts, including original photographic prints, posters and a Canadian penny that had been crushed by a train.^[1] The track titles on the record are nowhere to be found on the jacket or sleeve; the closest it comes to naming one, specifically "Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful...," is on the insert with the credits, albeit in modified way for grammatical purposes. Interestingly, the names are instead scratched into the run-off groove space, accompanied by the catalog number and which side it is, among various other strange numbers and symbols. The final track is a locked groove. The album's title is technically F Sharp, A Sharp, Infinity, a reference to the keys in which each side begins and to the endless loop at the end.

With the band's agreement, a portion of "East Hastings" (the track is named after a street in Vancouver's blighted Downtown Eastside) was used by Danny Boyle in the soundtrack to his film 28 Days Later, though it does not appear on the film's soundtrack album.

The vox pop interviewee talking at the beginning of the song "Providence" references "A Country Boy Can Survive" by Hank Williams, Jr., and is apparently the same man that quotes Blaze Bayley in "BBF3" on Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada.

1 Track listing
- 1.1 Vinyl edition
- 1.2 CD edition
2 Edition notes
- 2.1 Vinyl
- 2.2 CD
3 References
4 External link

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Vinyl edition

"Nervous, Sad, Poor..." – 20:43
1. "The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)" – 6:09
2. "Slow Moving Trains" – 3:23
3. "The Cowboy..." – 4:16
4. "Drugs in Tokyo" – 3:29
5. "The Dead Flag Blues (Outro)" – 1:52
6. (untitled segment) – 1:34
"Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful..." – 17:40
1. "'...Nothing's Alrite in Our Life...'/Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)" – 2:00
2. "The Sad Mafioso..." – 5:33
3. "Kicking Horse on Brokenhill" – 5:36
4. "String Loop Manufactured During Downpour..." – 4:29

[edit] CD edition

"The Dead Flag Blues" – 16:27
1. "The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)" – 6:37
2. "Slow Moving Trains" – 3:33
3. "The Cowboy..." – 4:17
4. "(Outro)" – 2:00
"East Hastings" – 17:58
1. "'...Nothing's Alrite in Our Life...'/Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)" – 1:35
2. "The Sad Mafioso..." – 10:44
3. "Drugs in Tokyo" – 3:43
4. "Black Helicopter" – 1:56
"Providence" – 21:20
1. "Divorce & Fever..." – 2:44
2. "Dead Metheny.." – 8:07
3. "Kicking Horse on Brokenhill" – 5:53
4. "String Loop Manufactured During Downpour..." – 4:36
5. "J.L.H. Outro" – 4:08

[edit] Edition notes

[edit] Vinyl

Names of movements are not actually given anywhere in the vinyl release; these are taken from the CD release.
The final movement on side one does not have a corresponding segment on the CD release.
Time lengths given are approximations.

[edit] CD

"Slow Moving Trains" and "The Cowboy..." are listed as the same movement, but they are actually separate pieces.
"Drugs in Tokyo" and "Black Helicopter" are listed as the same movement, but they are actually separate pieces.
"J.L.H. Outro" was named in honour of John Lee Hooker. On the CD edition it is hidden after approximately four minutes' worth of silence at end of "Providence."
Time lengths of movements given are taken from the official discography.