Everything about Faithless totally explained
Faithless is a
British band whose music is described by the band as a cross between
hip hop and dance. While they're mostly famous for their dance songs ("
Insomnia" "
God Is A DJ" and "
We Come 1"), they've produced albums which offer a blend of styles.
History
The three principal members of Faithless are
Maxi Jazz,
Sister Bliss and
Rollo. Jazz acts as a vocalist in mostly rap format with lyrics that have strong spiritual or socio-political content. Bliss constructs most of the music herself electronically, but is talented in playing the piano, violin, saxophone and bass. Rollo heads and produces the band. Lead female vocals for many of their songs are performed by
Pauline Taylor, who also performed lead vocals for singles Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.
As well as these three members, Faithless has employed a guest member for each album.
Jamie Catto was an original member of the band, but left after their second album,
Sunday 8PM. 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. 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", "No Roots" and finally "Last This Day".
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've had our time in the sun". However, a fresh clutch of live dates meant the tour actually lasted until December 2005. The band then released a
greatest hits compilation, called
Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits, which reached number one in the UK.
Following the release of their greatest hits album, Faithless released a new studio album on 27th November 2006. The album,
To All New Arrivals, from which the first single released was Bombs. The new album was followed by a major tour, The Bombs Tour.
Music
Faithless have released five albums of their own work, the first four gaining successively higher positions on the album charts. The albums 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. Their fifth album,
To All New Arrivals, was released in 2006.
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.
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're 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 29,
2006, the first single
Bombs from their latest studio album
To All New Arrivals made its debut on
BBC Radio 1's
Pete Tong show. The album was released on
November 27,
2006. "Bombs" generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV's refusal to air it. 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'".
Albums
Compilations
(16 October, 2000) (various artists, selected and mixed by Faithless)
The Bedroom Sessions (August 2001) (various artists, selected by Faithless, released with August 2001 issue of Mixmag)
Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits (16 May 2005) #1 UK
Renaissance 3D (10 July 2006)
DVDs
Live at The Melkweg Amsterdam (2001)
Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits (16 May 2005)
Live at Alexandra Palace (October 2005)
Singles
From Reverence:
"Salva Mea (Save Me)" - 1995 #30 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #16 NL
"Insomnia" - 1995 #27 UK, #1 US Dance/Club Play, #62 US Hot 100
"Don't Leave" - 1996 #34 UK
"Insomnia" - 1996 re-release #3 UK, #13 NL
"Salva Mea" - 1996 re-release #9 UK, #36 NL
"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, #1 NL
"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
"God Is A DJ" - 2005 re-entry #66 UK
"Why Go (featuring Boy George)" - cancelled in UK but released in other countries
From Outrospective:
"We Come 1" - 2001 #3 UK, #3 US Dance/Club Play, #3 NL
"Muhammad Ali" - 2001 #29 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play
"Crazy English Summer" / "Tarantula" - 2001 #29 UK
"One Step Too Far" (featuring Dido) - 2002 #6 UK, #4 US Dance/Club Play, #47 NL
From No Roots:
"Mass Destruction" - 2004 #7 UK, #15 NL
"I Want More" - 2004 #22 UK, #6 NL
"Miss You Less See You More" - 2004 #38 UK, #29 NL
From Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits:
"Salva Mea 2005 - 2005 #101 UK
"Why Go?" (featuring Estelle - 2005 remix) - 2005 #49 UK
"Insomnia 2005" - 2005 #17 UK
"Reasons (Saturday Night)" (2005) - #225 UK
From To All New Arrivals:
"Bombs" - 20 November 2006 (Download 23 October 2006) #26 UK
"Music Matters" - 12 March 2007 #38 UK
"A Kind Of Peace"
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 - "No Roots", on the soundtrack to the video game FIFA 2005
Tiësto feat. Maxi Jazz (from Faithless) - "Dance4Life" (2006)
Faithless - "If Loving You is Wrong", on the soundtrack to the film Forces of NatureFurther Information
Get more info on 'Faithless'.
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