Album Of The Week #63: Fugazi - 13 songs

insinkerator

Artist: Fugazi
Album: 13 songs
Label: Dischord
Tracks: 14
Length: 40:10
Release Date: October 1989

A comilation of songs from their first two EP's "Fugazi" and "Margin Walker", that reached number 36 in the charts, but made it to 29th in "Spin's Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". A remastered version was later released in 2003

indiewindy

Surprised, but very happy to see this as cd of the week, featuring waiting room the only fugazi song most people know, but plenty more goo songs on i, this you tube clips sums it up for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGJFWirQ3ks

13 SONGS combines the eponymous EP and the MARGIN WALKER mini-LP on one CD.

Lifted this off cduniverse site http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1021970

Combining the band's first two EPs, Fugazi's 13 SONGS is nothing less than a landmark hardcore album. From the unmistakable opening bass line of "Waiting Room" ... Full Descriptionto the cathartic finale of "Promises," the record is DIY post-punk at its finest. And though the quartet would become known for its anti-corporate/consumerism stance, 13 SONGS is all about unapologetically intense music.

Founded by ex-Minor Threat and Embrace frontman Ian MacKaye, Joe Lally, Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty (the latter two from Rites of Spring), Fugazi had a remarkably fully formed sound on this set of songs, with alternately fierce and chiming guitars exploding over fluid bass grooves and tight, propulsive rhythms. Already a revered figure on the Washington D.C. hardcore scene at the time of this 1989 release, MacKaye opted to share lyric, vocal, and guitar duties with Picciotto, giving the group an even greater sense of dynamics. "Bad Mouth" boasts an almost ska-like vibe, and "Margin Walker" is angular aggro-rock, while "Provisional" carries elements of atmospheric pop. True, the roots of emo-rock are present, but as Fugazi proves here, they are a band whose music transcends labels.Spin (5/01, p.110) - Ranked #33 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...Modernized hardcore overnight....Earnestly explosive."
Alternative Press (3/02, p.96) - Included in AP's "Essential Punk Influences '02 Style" - "...This is the album that first showed a million lesser-known bands it was possible to make it on your own terms..."
New York Times (Publisher) (3/7/91) - "Fugazi has broken free of hard-core's conventions...the music is all muscle and bone; songs riff, blare, riff, pause and crunch, then stop dead, as terse and Apollonian as a string quartet."

John

I used to really hate Fugazi. I couldn't stand them, particularly this album. However, something clicked with me earlier this year and I ended up buying and thoroughly enjoying this album. I keep meaning to buy more but always forget.

R.F.R

"The Arguement" is so much better than this as is "Repeater", 13 songs is probably my least favourite Fugazi album!


The production and mastering on this album is also horrible!

JC 2K3

Been a while since I listened to this, but I think I quite enjoyed it, although I'd prefer something like Husker Du more for something in the same vein.

insinkerator

^^I agree, Repeater is definitely a better album, but this one is up there imo also