The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Failure

[#] Golden (2004)

Outtakes as good as the legit songs.

Reviewed June 11, 2024

An outtakes album floats roughly around "techno remix EP" on the list of things people don't want from rock bands, but that didn't stop the then-posthumous Failure from realizing what they had and delivering unto us Golden in 2004. Self-released through CD Baby, Golden is a DVD/CD combo set of music videos, a documentary covering the band's original run in the 90s, and what we're interested in, a sequenced record of songs that didn't make it onto their proper three albums. It might sound incredibly vain for a no-hit-wonder 90s rock outfit, but truth be told, I'd rather take Golden than some of the lesser Failure records. What by all accounts should be chaff is actually Failure at their catchiest, grimiest, and most haunting—and maybe Failure having a laugh, if you listen until the end.

Songs from Failure's earliest recording sessions (fretless bass and vaguely gothic guitars in tow), Comfort rehearsals, apartment demos never re-recorded for Magnified, and the poppiest song attempted for Fantastic Planet all feature on Golden. I'm especially surprised about the Magnified outtakes—the title track has possibly the nastiest bass tone I've ever heard in its bridge, and songs like "Mange" ("Found a dog downstairs/Locked him with the bikes/Cried 'til he went hoarse/Scratched the door to shreds") and "Lucky Shoreline" ("Brought her back okay/She's dead/But nothing's missing") are thick with the kinds of grim, dissonant bleakness you love to hear from Failure. These are not presented in chronological order, and their sequencing helps give such disparate sounds, recording styles, and eras a feeling of cohesion. All credit due—when Failure makes an outtakes album, the emphasis is still on the album.

Essential:	"Golden", "Lucky Shoreline", "Wake Up"
Quintessential:	"Untitled"
Non-Essential:	"Don't Look Up" (is that cheating?)
Rating:
Further listening:	Download from Failure's Bandcamp