Failures' Union - Sinker

I started this blog over four years ago and the very first record I wrote about was In What Way by Failures' Union. In the four years between now and then I've written about over 400 records I own, which on one hand is very pleasing, but on the other quite daunting, as I know I have many more to go and increasingly less time in my day. Still, it's about time I wrote about Failures' Union's first album, Sinker.

About a year after I saw Failures' Union in Kingston I bought Sinker in Banquet. The sticker that's still on the plastic sleeve says £8 but I actually paid even less than that as I had a voucher to use as the result of a full-stamped loyalty card.

These days I enjoy both In What Way and Sinker quite equally. It doesn't help that I have mp3s for neither, so they don't get as much play as I'd like. The result is that when I have a craving for Failures' Union I pick one of these two quite arbitrarily and get a very similar enjoyment. There are certainly moments on Sinker I look forward to - like the pairing of Watch the Sky and Independence Blues. Useless Facts, Classic Car Wreck and the slow Carry It Well are great too.

I hadn't realised that Failures' Union had since released a third album; I should pick a copy up.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 16
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 17/01/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Failures' Union + Bedford Falls - Split

This is a nice split, released to support the tour the two bands were going on together. I saw the last night of the tour in Kingston on my first ever trip to The Fighting Cocks, a very fun night. Each band contributes a song of their own and a song by the other band.

The Failures' Union cover of Bedford Falls' Astro City 0.5 is very lovely, but a very good song to start with. As you'd expect, their own song sounds a lot more like them and the harmonica that appears at the end is particularly nice. The piano-led cover of Useless Facts works really well. I think I get a lot more out of covers when I know the original well, and Sinker is a great record. Wilmington finishes it off nicely (I have a faint memory of someone telling me it was about a cat).


Format: 7"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £3 new
Bought: Gig
When: 11/04/10
Colour: Black
Etching: no
mp3s: no

Failures' Union - In What Way

I've been meaning to start this for ages, so I'm going to start here with the record that's already on my turntable. I hadn't listened to it for ages, not for any particular reason. I bought it the first time I saw them (in the Fighting Cocks in Kingston), so there's no exciting story of browsing through a record shop here. I also picked up the split they did with Bedford Falls that night.

I went to see them mostly because a few people I know raved about them, and also because I'd seen Bedford Falls before and knew they were cool. Anyway, before the show I downloaded the sampler FU had on their website and the standout track on there was The Fall Man. I'm a sucker for female backing vocals. I eventually bought the other record they had out at the time, but I think I prefer this one. The songs are nice, short opener setting the scene, tune after tune afterwards, slow+moody finisher. The Fall Man is still my favourite. I regret a little listening to the sampler so much because those songs stand out in front of the others. Although it might be their fault for not giving me a download card with the record - pretty sure this would have got heavy rotation on the mp3 player/office hifi.

As for the record itself, it was the first (and currently only) record I bought that was a two-colour split. For some unknown reason they chose black and grey, which given the possibilities seems a bit dull. Then again the sleeve is all black and white (with some glossy windows inside) so maybe it's intentional. Also, I'm colour-blind so the grey could be any colour really. You can kinda see it in the picture. Nice gatefold sleeve with lyrics.

So it's a good record. I saw them play live again about a year and a half later. I wish I'd made more of an effort to learn some words. Oh well.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £8 new
Bought: gig
When: 11/04/10
Colour: black and grey split
Etching: none
mp3s: no