Drawn from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
Pop fans have stacks 'n' stacks of stories about favorite almosts and shoulda-beens, cherished acts that seemed to have everything--everything--one could look for in a rockin' pop success story, missing only the success part. Springfield, Missouri's Fools Face were a prime example, a nonpareil group that wrote great songs, reportedly put on dynamic live shows, made some fantastic independent records in the '70s and '80s, and did not get noticed.
Within the pop underground, however, Fools Face are renowned. By turns confident and vulnerable, Fools Face were always literate, intelligent, musically accomplished, rooted in '60s songcraft but forged in the crucible of '70s punk and new wave.
Outside of a splendid eponymous reunion album in 2002 and a subsequent live set preserved as Live At Last in 2005, Fools Face have been completely unrepresented in the CD format, nor will you be (legitimately) streaming their catalog any time soon. I think one of the 2002 tracks made its way to an International Pop Overthrow compilation. And even the Fools Face and Live At Last discs are difficult-to-impossible to snag nowadays. Fools Face's album output during their original 1979-1984 album career--Here To Observe, Tell America, Public Places, and the cassette-only self-titled sayonara usually referred to as "The Red Tape"--are rarer'n rare. I remember once seeing a copy of Here To Observe at a record store in Arlington, Virginia. I own the only other copy of that album I've ever seen, and I've never seen any copies of Tell America or Public Places except for the ones I bought and have held on to for years. (I've never seen the Red Tape either, but I have a CD-R a friend made for me.)
The Fools Face library is one of American indie pop's greatest gaps. I have heard that there are labels who would love a chance to bring this magnificent stuff back to retail. I have also heard that members of the band just ain't interested in that prospect.
My first exposure to Fools Face was via Trouser Press magazine, my first listen to their sound courtesy of a Trouser Press flexi-disc single of "L5" from Tell America coupled with the title tune from Public Places. Tell America absolutely blew my mind on first spin, and it's been one of my all-time favorite albums for four friggin' decades. And I wish you could all experience its wonder, on vinyl, CD, mp3, 8-track, streaming, a series of cereal box 45s, whatever. "Nothing To Say" is the greatest end-of-the-affair teen kiss-off you've never heard. And it's only one of the incredible treats to be found on Tell America.
In the unlikely event you could find it all.
The fact that Fools Face (like the Morells and the Skeletons) were from Springfield, Missouri enhanced my interest. My mother was born and raised in Southwest Missouri, and summer visits to the area were an essential part of my youth. The bus or plane from Syracuse brought us as far as Springfield, and my grandparents would pick us up there and bring us back to their home in Verona or (later on) Aurora. We occasionally made it back to Springfield's Battlefield Mall, where my cousin and I could see a movie (What's Up, Doc? was a favorite), and buy books or records. I never got to see any rock bands, mind you, but the idea of such utterly cool bands as the Skeletons and Fools Face coming out of that region always pleased me. I much, much later got to see the Skeletons a couple of times at shows in Syracuse; I regret I never had an opportunity to see Fools Face. But I have the records! And I still cherish them. I never lived in Missouri, and it's likely I'll never find myself back there again. But I have roots there. And I dig some of the music that came out of Springfield.
For me, the moment of Fools Face revelation came via the first track on Tell America. "American Guilt" is an acid-tongued critique of both gung-ho Reagan-era jingoism and mushy-headed neo-hippie naivete, lyrically as incendiary as a testimonial from the MC5, but with a perfect pop sheen. When the chorus soars with the lines, "When push comes to shove/All you need is love," the transcendent effect of the Beatles quote nails everything into place. "Land Of The Hunted" and "Stand Up" compress paranoia and determination into an irresistible 1-2 punch. "L5" even manages a compelling pop tune about space colonization.
Above all of that, "Nothing To Say" is the best break-up song ever, encompassing casual heartache (or heartlessness?) and a matter-of-fact recognition of the need to just move on. After all these decades of adoring this track, I still haven't decided if the song's narrator is basically a good guy struggling to express the end of a teen romance (and let his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend down easy), or if he's just, y'know, an insensitive dick.
I regret to admit I've been that guy, a long time ago, and I haven't yet settled on which description applies to me. The song is superb either way. That remains something to say.
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My new book of short stories Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies is out now, and you can get autographed copies of the new book, its six-chapter novelette digest A Band Called GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS!, and my previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) directly from me. You can still get my previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here.
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