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Amazon.co.uk Review
With a production sound firmly rooted in club culture (Faithless ringleader Rollo was responsible for Felix's dancefloor anthem "Don't You Want Me" and co-conspirator Sister Bliss can claim to be the world's most successful female DJ), Reverence allies house beats with shades of hip hop, blues, reggae and soul. The majority of the tracks are infused with the rhymes of Buddhist rapper Maxi Jazz, often elegant, sometimes incongruous but always distinctive. The album's breadth of ambition sometimes means Faithless spread themselves too thinly: witness the mediocre acoustic pop of "Don't Leave" and the clicheed sensuality of "If Lovin' You Is Wrong". The band are at their most memorable on the tracks which worked so well on the dancefloor: the housey hi-hats, urgent synths and insistent beats of "Salva Mea" and "Insomnia" will be recalled fondly by many a clubber. --Ed Potton
Review
It still sets the strobes blazing in your head 12 years on. Indeed, absolutely anyone who found themselves on a dancefloor in 1996 must have reached for the lights at least once as the synth arpeggio kicked in after Maxi Jazz had ominously muttered "I can't get no sleep" on Faithless' Insomnia. For at a time when clubland was still in the grip of handbag house Insomnia stood out like Banquo's ghost at a party of glammed-up club bunnies. A song which celebrated not the euphoria on the dancefloor but warned of the shaking night-terrors that awaited you when you got back home, yet did so within a track that was an overwhelming sensory rush in itself.
However, like New Order - who also managed to articulate desperation and despair within banging peak-time grooves - Faithless also crossed over to people whose only experience of insomnia came from a surfeit of cheese rather than anything stronger before bedtime. Although later albums like 2004's No Roots and 2006's To All New Arrivals would see Faithless become increasingly formulaic as they capitalised on their status as a stadium techno group for ageing ravers, 1996's Reverence shows how multi-faceted a so-called 'dance' album can be. That's largely down to the different personalities involved - with DJ Sister Bliss and production lynchpin Rollo clearly driving the pure dancefloor tracks like Insomnia and Salva Mea, whilst Maxi Jazz brings his soundsystem heritage with Soul II Soul and a certain throaty gravitas to the title track and the dubby Dirty Ol' Man.
Even Rollo's sister Dido shines on her guest vocals on Flowerstand Man, its open-hearted honesty standing in contrast to the Bridget Jones ballads she would make her millions with. But perhaps the two best moments come from Faithless' lost member, Jamie Catto, who invests the eerie chamber music of Angeline and the beautiful acoustic lament Don't Leave with a vulnerable melancholy notably missing from the albums which followed his departure after 1998's Sunday 8pm, when hand-wringing platitudes and ponderous trance started to level the emotional and musical peaks and troughs that made Reverence a truly revelatory debut. --Paul Clarke
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is where is all began for the collective know as Faithless, and this album is deffinatly a must for anyone who likes the much loved God is a DJ or Insomnia. The track Salva Mea is absolutly amazing. Its worth buying the album just for this track, but the rest that you get with it are equally worth there money. If loving you is wrong has an immense bass line and deals with a subject i'm sure we're all familar with. The classic track of this album is obviously Insomnia, we all know and love it, need i say more? Oh yeah those of you who watch Trigger Happy TV will probably recognise Drifting Away too. This album is made up of several stonking tunes, and belive me, its greater than the some of its parts!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Reverence, quite simply, is an awesome album. Blending a traditional club music feel with distinctive, sleazy vocals the album provides a varied and unique sound. Standout tracks: well, all of them really. You could mention "If Lovin' you is wrong" (the music from the Boddingtons advert) for it's fantastic, dirty feel, or you could mention "Don't leave" for it's sweeping, uncomplicated elegance, but you HAVE to mention "Insomniac" with it's quintissential chord sequence which is to Dance music what the overture of "Beethoven's Fifth" is to Classical. There are too many fine qualities of this album to mention, Faithless undoubtedly belong within the ranks of Prodigy and Massive attack, simply put, I couldn't recommend this album more highly, BUY IT!!!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A multitude of musical styles adorn this fine album.Three particular tracks stand out; Insomnia, Salva Mea and Reverence are all club classics, all of which make fantastic listening. Don't Leave is a soulful slow ballad, and the spoken Rap-style lyrics of If Lovin' you is Wrong and Dirty Ol' Man can't fail to raise a smile. I have never before listened to an album that combine tracks that include ballads, dance music, rap,house,blues and the odd classical segment. This sounds like a recipe for an absolute disaster, the reality is that this is an album that will become a classic.If I had to describe this album in a short phrase I would say "I love this album but I'm not sure why"? Buy it and see for yourself.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Still fresh, still pleasure to listen
It's hard to categorize Faithless but I think it's safe to say that the most of their songs are "dance" or "electronic". This album was recorded many years ago, in 1996. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Kristof
Reverence CD
Thank you! It's as good as new. :)
Very quick delivery, too!
Robynne.
Very quick delivery, too!
Robynne.
Published 24 months ago by Robynne Martin
So good i'll never stop loving it
My introduction to faithless was the track insomnia. being too young to have experienced in a club when it was released, i first heard about 2 years ago, and i thought it was... Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2002 by Tozznok
Grown up dance music!
This is an excellent album. Obviously, Insomnia stands out above the rest of the album for its superbly crafted changes in mood culminating in Sister Bliss' keyboard phrase which... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2002
THE faithless album
This was the 1st of faithless album and in my opinion by far the best. Through the years the band members have changed, this is the origional band; each member came from very... Read more
Published on 8 May 2002 by Sharon Brown
Wonderfully eclectic
This album really is quite remarkable. The incredible diversty, ranging from poppy guitar songs (Don't Leave) to classic dance beats (Insomnia, Salva Mea) mean that it is... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2002
What can i say...?!
This album is fabulous,fun and is such a mix of modern and old sounds. My favourite song is drifting away which features in trigger happy tv. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2001 by lidolil@zoom.co.uk, Libby
What can i say...?!
This album is fabulous,fun and is such a mix of modern and old sounds. My favourite song is drifting which features in trigger happy tv. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2001 by lidolil@zoom.co.uk, Libby
stunning...
well, what can i say but wow. this cd obviouly isn't rated highly enough anywhere, because i only found out about it a couple of months ago. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2001
The Finest CD I own
Look at the rest of the ratings. There's a reason this album has consistently got 5 stars. It *is* that good. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2001
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