Like so many debut albums from great bands, We Care A Lot only hints at the greatness that Faith No More would soon achieve. Although the confident and adventurous attitude of the band is truly admirable at such an early stage, comparing this to a masterpiece such as Angel Dust or The Real Thing is almost unheard of. There are tons of flaws on this album in terms of composition, production, and delivery, yet something about We Care A Lot manages to be charming in a way. The weird, out-of-tune singing from Chuck Mosley along with the amateurish production and underdeveloped compositional skill can prove to be an obstacle for most, but it's still worth experiencing for most Faith No More fans. These guys started with a daring attitude from day one, and it's amazingly clear on We Care A Lot. If you want to hear how Faith No More developed such a unique sound, you need to hear this album. Every part of Faith No More is present on this debut, though in a more underdeveloped fashion. Aside from the novelty factor, these guys still had some serious issues to work out back in 1985. In almost every aspect, this album is severely flawed. The production is thin, the compositions are often tedious, and the vocals are way too trivial. This isn't an album I'd recommend to Faith No More newbies, but fans should more or less give it a shot at some point.
The music here is that unique Faith No More style, although it's close to unrecognizable at this point. The vocals from Chuck Mosley are extremely punk-laden, and give an added punk influence into Faith No More's music that immediately disappeared when Mike Patton made his entrance. There's not very much metal to be found here, aside from a handful of riffs. Most of the music is somewhere between punk rock, 80's pop, and an eclectic group of other influences that play a minor role in the sound. Despite the rather unique and adventurous sound, the "formula" is repeated far too often throughout We Care A Lot. By the end of the album it feels somewhat exhausted, but the rather short running time (under 35 minutes) helps to downgrade the problem a bit.
The musicians in Faith No More clearly knew what they were doing at this point, despite some shortcomings. The weak link in early Faith No More has always been the vocals of Chuck Mosley, and that surely applies here. Although some may like his out-of-tune and sporadic singing style, it's not something I enjoy. His vocals fall into the "acquired taste" category. The other musicians do their job well, but don't shine nearly as much as they would on future releases.
The production is a bit of an issue. It's (intentionally) very thin and airy, but comes across as quite unprofessional in my opinion. You can hear everything okay, but the instruments just don't sound great. The echoing sound of the vocals doesn't sound too great either.
We Care A Lot is a mediocre debut by Faith No More, and is probably the weakest release in their discography. I can really only recommend this to fans of the band and/or collectors, since there's really nothing above-average on the entire album. The novelty factor is pretty cool, but the album itself is barely competent. If you want to hear Faith No More with Chuck Mosley, I would recommend going to their next album, Introduce Yourself, which is slightly better on all fronts. The most I can give We Care A Lot is 2.5 stars. It's truly amazing how much better these guys got in just the course of a few years.
Track Listing
1. We Care a Lot (4:09)
2. The Jungle (3:09)
3. Mark Bowen (3:33)
4. Jim (1:16)
5. Why Do You Bother? (5:39)
6. Greed (3:49)
7. Pills for Breakfast (2:58)
8. As the Worm Turns (3:12)
9. Arabian Disco (3:18)
10. New Beginnings (3:43)
Total Time: 34:50
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