So why is Fastbacks’ New Mansions in Sound on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
“Just Say,” off of New Mansions in Sound, is a perfect pop punk song. It’s a perfect melodic punk song.
“Just Say” is a perfect song.
And it’s a Top 2 Fastbacks songs for me, really*.
* The other, you ask? That’d be “K Street,” off of …And His Orchestra from 1989, but really there are so many great Fastbacks tracks.
Drum fill, chugging bass and guitar, and then the glorious voices and melody from Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo, and finally an ecstatically great, soaring chorus. This is the Fastbacks, and rock music, at its very best.
Then there are 14 other songs on New Mansions in Sound, most of which are pretty great themselves.
Even when the Fastbacks get a little thrashy thrashy, their sound is so innately melodic and ear pleasing, and the combination is sweet on songs like “5 5 5 Part Two” – not to be confused with “5 5 5 Part One,” which… you know what, pretty great!
And “Space Station #5” adds in a little thumping hard rock into the mix, and you get yet more fantastico melodic punk rock with a dusting of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath flavor.
And then songs like “Fortune’s Misery” are just directly in their wheelhouse great Fastbacks. If you like this song, you will be an enormous Fastbacks fan.
As Beck says on “Hell Yes”: please enjoy.
Some stats & info about Fastbacks – New Mansions in Sound
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Seattle Bands, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was New Mansions in Sound released? 1996
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #399 out of 1,000
Fastbacks’ New Mansions in Sound on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Fastbacks’ New Mansions in Sound that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Just say I’m all alone, just say where am I going? Just say the phone rang once today for a wrong number.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.