Customer Reviews

Comfort

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mixed reviews abound with this album. Some prefer the later material which has a much glossier production, and the songs really matured later as well. The charm of "Comfort" (Failure's debut elpee) is its rough edges, and the starkness works well here, particularly with the production work of Steve Albini. Songs take on drastic shifts in density and retain a brooding, ominous tone that crawls into a place in my brain that no other band can occupy. The dominant lyrical theme in Failure songs is a liminal space somewhere in between a drugged stupor and sleep. Ken Andrews' abstract musings sound soothing over the solid yet smooth walls of guitars, and songs take twists and turns into shadowy rooms you usually see only in dreams.

I stumbled on this album... and it instantly became the only album I listened to for months. At the time (1993), I could only compare them to a moodier Nirvana, but the exercises in tone shifts here lean back to early Pixies material with a Sabbathy heaviness and slightly gloomy undercurrent. Every song here is excellent, and the only shortcoming I can find would be Mr. Albini's annoying habit of burying the vocals underneath his otherwise brilliant mix. This is not throwaway material - many songs here were performed on Failure's last tour, and "Screen Man" in particular, is consistently mesmerizing. By the time the brash guitars and stuttering drums stumble to a close in "Salt Wound" you will know you have been on a unique journey and want more. (The opening cut on their next album, "Magnified" begins with the same guitar sound, as if picking up where they left off...)

I never thought I would be saying this, but you should own (or at least hear) this album. It operates on multiple levels and has turned many of my friends with different musical tastes into instant Failure fans....

I really believe Ken Andrews is a rock music prodigy. Comfort and for that matter all the Failure albums , and his new group Year of the Rabbit combine all that is edgy and creative in the rock and alternative genre.This album takes the best elements of groups such as Tool, Nirvana,Foo-fighters,and I believe even Rush to a degree,and make a tight harder rock that is dissonant but also highly melodic.Ken and Greg have made superior music on this album as well as Magnified from 1994 and Fantastic Planet in 1996.As a cd collector with close to 3500 cds in my collection and 30 years of music buying starting at age 14, I believe that I have alot of very great music but this album ranks at the top.If you don't own the other Failure albums get all of them and Year of the Rabbit.The Replicants cover album from 1995 is great too(also Ken Andrews ).

I finally had a chance to listen to their very first album and was not the least bit surprised of it. Truly remarkable. Even a deeper, garage type sound that Magnified; Kens guitar riffs and sounds will put your mind in total bliss. Macaque is one song that stands out in my opinion on this album for its slow, waivering sound and easy lyrics.

If you loved Magnified, this is a definet for the collection.

Failure's first album has such broad approach to the way that they went about creating their music that this album really is a revelation in terms of what bands could do in the mid nineties with rock music. Recorded with Steve Albini, who produced Nirvanas masterpiece In Utero, this album has the same rough around the edges, balls to the wall sound that Nirvanas swan song also exhibited. The album opens with some strange effects made with the guitar, and closes the same way, much like how Failure's final album Fantastic Planet has the great intro and outro, at the beginning and the end of the album respectively. All the songs are pure bliss, showcasing Ken Andrews amazing work as not only an artist, but how he has a hand in the way that the album is recorded as well. The album starts with Submission, an amzing display of what else is to come from this album, if you don't enjoy what this album exhibits, the highs and lows that the band uses so well, to the way the guitars, drive the music, followed by some of the best bass work, this side of Les Claypool, and of course you can't forget about Ken Andrew's amazing lyrics, and awe inspiring vocals. Great album, not as good as Fantastic Planet, but then again, that was Failure going out with a bang, middle finger in the air waving it wildly around screaming to all the other bands in this day and age to "top this." Expensive price tag though, I didn't notice this album was in such high demand, but once you hear it you'll know what all the hype is about. If you like these guys check out Hum too, I can't push them enough, and they really do the same at pushing the music envelope, much in the same way that failure did which each release that they put out. Buyy it and love it, yeah yeah!!!

Failure is a band that defines true alternative talent in the 90s. While more recent albums "Fantastic Planet" and "Magnified" showcase the band's pink-floyd esque talent for concept writing, it is the Albini-produced "Comfort" that lays the brilliant groundwork for things to come.

To the guy complaining about the production on this record... Its' a Steve Albini record... production by the underground indie rock producing legend himself. This was recorded shortly before Albini recorded In Utero with Nirvana... listen for the subtle similarities in how the dynamics of the record sound (listen to the drums in particular). It's a brilliant recording... hands down. Now, it certainly is different than the later Failure albums... so take that with a grain of Salt. Ken Andrews is a brilliant producer in his own right (rumored to be working on the new Filter record) but his style is very different from Albini's, raw, unpolished, rough around the edges style.

If you like the later Failure albums, you should definately chech out Ken Andrews' later projects "year of the rabbit" and "On," both produced by Ken. The two "on" albums, if you can find them, are especially cool.

I've listened to this CD a lot lately, Failure has some good songs on here. "Submission" is catchy and dissonant at the same time, "Macaque" has some really interesting lyrics and a solid sound, "Screen Man" is a good slow song, with excellent guitar and bass work, "Muffled Snaps" has an awesome middle section of an interesting and full guitar sound. Almost all the songs on this album are good, BUT I found myself going to look up the lyrics for every single song, because the vocals were so quiet in the mix. On "Muffled Snaps" I was barely aware that he was singing at all until the distortion kicked in. Overall good album, but If you want to get into Failure, go listen to Fantastic Planet or Magnified.

I bought this album as a cut-out back in the day for 3 bucks. Years later i popped in my cd drive as backgroud for online gamiing. Quite frankly it is tight! I haven't heard any other albums from Failure.... but i love it if the later albums are better than more power to them! The driving riffs and solid bass make for a soothing, head nodding rock out. It is very Sonic Youth-ish which is a good thing. If you can find it buy it!

I have read some really bad reviews of this album from people so I stayed away from this album for a while because of that but if you are a Failure fan this is a must buy album because it is what it is and that is a band who had not quite found it's own distinct sound yet and it is a band who was making music in the early 90's when noise and distortion where king. This is a good first album not as good as Magnified or Fantastic Planet but it shows the promise of those two albums. This album is not poorly produced as I have read in a lot of reviews of this album it is an album produced by Steve Albini and this was the way people wanted their albums to sound when this album was originally released. So, if you can find this album buy it especially if you are a fan of Failure.

Great debut from an excellent band. A little rough around the edges but still rocks, COMFORT is like a precursor of the sonic onslaught that becomes FAILURE. A must own item for just the significance of it.