Faith Planet OF Zeus

Certainly not the "darkest" the Cure would eventually get, Faith is, as represented by the cover art, one of the most "gray" records out there. Melancholy and despondent (the feel of funerals and old churches just oozes from this record) without the anger that would over take Pornography, Faith comes off as not just a collection of songs, but as a full piece. "The Holy Hour," "All Cats Are Grey," and the spectacular "Faith" are slow atmospheric pieces that take the softer elements from Seventeen Seconds, and - when sidled up next to faster tracks like the single "Primary" and "Doubt" - paint an overall picture of the ups and downs contained within a greater depressive period. But it's not all gloomy keyboards and minimalist percussion, Faith is also a milestone for Robert Smith lyrically, branching out into questions of faith and spirituality he never quite touched on so well ever again…

Adam Faith, born Terry Nelhams in Acton, London, on June 23, 1940, was second only to Cliff Richard as Britain's teenage idol in the early Sixties. His first ambition was to be a film editor and after school he worked as a messenger boy at Rank Screen Services. But caught up in the skiffle craze, he became vocalist with the Worried Men, a group formed by workmates at Rank, until after a year, Jack Good, the scholarly ombudsman of English rock'n'roll, suggested that Nelhams go solo as Adam Faith.

Keep the Faith reintroduced Bon Jovi after almost four years of side projects and hiatuses. The musical climate had shifted considerably in that time, a fact that wasn't lost on the band. Faith blatantly brought to the surface the Bruce Springsteen influence that was always lurking in Bon Jovi's sound, and used it to frame Faith's more serious interpretation of the band's pop-metal groove…

This two-fer set combines the Percy Faith albums Country Bouquet and Disco Party on one compact disc. Both albums offer up what Faith's fans have come to expect: the Percy Faith Orchestra dishing out heady arrangements of popular songs of the time, with this set focusing on songs from the mid-'70s. It cannot be argued that Faith was less than a talented arranger; his subtlety and attention to detail are remarkable and rampant over the course of both of these recordings as he runs through hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso" and Neil Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry," and while Country Bouquet is about as safe as any Percy Faith recording, on Disco Party Faith embraced a slightly more experimental edge by employing distorted electric guitars and analog synthesizers…

Blind Faith's lone album is often considered vivid proof as to why superstar collaborations simply don't work, but that is a little unfair – in contrast to, say, Chess Records' various Super Blues releases, which stuck top musicians such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf together in awkward combos that they didn't really want to be part of, the guys in Blind Faith really were trying to work together on a long-term basis, and had an affinity for each other's work; the group just never had the time to evolve properly. And in retrospect, the album does have something to offer, including two songs that are touchstones of classic late-'60s rock: "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Presence of the Lord," not to mention the bracing "Sea of Joy."