F♯A♯∞

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F♯A♯∞
F♯A♯∞ cover
Studio album by
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Released August 14, 1997 (first edition)
June 9, 1998 (second edition)
Recorded Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genre Post-rock
Length 38:40 (first edition)
63:27 (second edition)
Label Constellation CST003
Kranky KRANK027
Producer Don Wilkie
Ian Ilavsky
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Professional reviews
Godspeed You! Black Emperor chronology
All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling
(1994)		 F#A#∞
(1997)		 aMAZEzine! 7"
(1998)
Alternate cover
One of the three different vinyl album covers
One of the three different vinyl album covers

F♯A♯∞ is the debut album of the Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor! (later punctuated Godspeed You! Black Emperor). It was released twice, first in 1997 as a vinyl LP by Constellation Records[1] and then again on CD in 1998 by Kranky. The tracks are split into various named movements. The CD version was remastered and edited, and includes some extra material, including an extra track and a hidden track. The album focuses on the end of the world and thoughts of a coming apocalypse.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The original vinyl was limited to a pressing of 500 copies,[1] 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.[2] The record sleeve and jacket made no mention of the track titles. The names were instead scratched into the run-off groove space, accompanied by the catalog number and side indication. The final track is a locked groove that loops indefinitely on certain record players. 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.

The track "East Hastings" is named after a street in Vancouver's blighted Downtown Eastside. With the band's agreement, an edited portion of the track was used in the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's 2002 horror film 28 Days Later, though it does not appear on the film's soundtrack album. Danny Boyle was heavily inspired by this album during the making of 28 Days Later, saying that the entire film was cut with this as the soundtrack in his mind.[3]

The vox pop interviewee included 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 Bailey in "BBF3" on the band's Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada. This sample was used by the band to end their performance of "Steve Reich" during their live session for VPRO Radio in 1998.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Vinyl edition

[edit] Side one

  1. "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

[edit] Side two

  1. "Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful…" – 17:40
    1. "…Nothing's Alrite in Our Life…"/"The 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

  1. "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. "The Dead Flag Blues (Outro)" – 2:00
  2. "East Hastings" – 17:58
    1. "…Nothing's Alrite in Our Life…"/"The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)" – 1:35
    2. "The Sad Mafioso…" – 10:44
    3. "Drugs in Tokyo" – 3:43
    4. "Black Helicopter" – 1:56
  3. "Providence" – 29:02
    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
      • (unlisted segment of silence) – 3:32
    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. Because of the locked groove of the final track, the vinyl edition technically has an infinite running time.

[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.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Godspeed You! Black Emperor

[edit] Production

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The sung phrase "Where are you going? Where are you going?" in "Providence" is sampled from the song "By My Side," from the 1970 musical Godspell.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Constellation Records (2006). Godspeed You Black Emperor! – F♯A♯∞ description (html). Records Index. Constellation Records. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  2. ^ Constellation Records (2006). Godspeed You Black Emperor! – f#a#∞ artwork (html). Records Index. Constellation Records. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  3. ^ Get used to the limelight.

[edit] External links

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Efrim Menuck · Thierry Amar · Mike Moya · Aidan Girt · Sophie Trudeau · Norsola Johnson · Mauro Pezzente · David Bryant · Bruce Cawdron
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