Future of the Left - Live at Patronaat Haarlem 09.11.2007.

Here's an old Future of the Left show from the Patronaat club in Haarlem, Netherlands. I've been to this club once, back in 2008, and saw another great band there that fans of the Fall or the Wedding Present should definitely seek out; they're called The Calvin Party, have been a band for ages, and are way too obscure for the greatness their music possesses. I'll try to dig up something rare of theirs to put up here some time, but to get back to the band at hand, it's FOTL again, they're great again, and that's more or less it. The sound is rather good and there's a great-sounding track from a mysterious "London Live" bootleg attached to the end as a bonus; I'd really like to get my hands on the whole of that show, so if you can help, please do. Now I'm going drinking, bye!

A young Falco with all his baby fat does an Eddie Vedder pose. He got so much more handsome in the following years, if I do say so myself!

Track listing:

1. (introduction) (0:51)
2. The Lord Hates a Coward (4:00)
3. Plague of Onces (3:49)
4. Fingers Become Thumbs (2:14)
5. Wrigley Scott (2:20)
6. (interlude) (0:56)
7. Team: Seed (1:31)
8. Manchasm (4:20)
9. Suddenly It's a Folk Song (2:51)
10. Fuck the Countryside Alliance (3:04)
11. Small Bones Small Bodies (2:50)
12. My Gymnastic Past (2:55)
13. Adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood (3:08)
14. (outro) (0:41)
15. The Hope That House Built (bonus live in London) (4:32)

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Future of the Left - Demos

The handsome Mr. Falkous at last week's Terraneo festival in Sibenik, Croatia.

Some members of Future of the Left used to be in another band. This other band disbanded seven years ago as of this writing; in the meanwhile, FOTL have released three full-length albums, one mini-album, one live album and a number of singles. Therefore, I will purposely NOT mention the other band, which admittedly was great, but not SO great as to warrant FOTL still being called "other band offshoot" or "ex-other band". When I saw them last, my fourth time total (London with Against Me!, Zagreb, Pula, Sibenik), they were still badgered by the audience to play the other band's most famous songs; and even though the charmingly impolite Falco retorted with "That's like me saying your ex-girlfriend has better tits - which she probably does", they obliged. I did enjoy those two songs, but I still thought it was time to let them stay in past and concentrate on the here and now. FOTL's six years of existence have fruited several songs that absolutely deserve the term "classics", yet they are still vital enough to surprise with unexpected moves on new releases; and as rarely as that happens to me, I actually wished that they would play MORE NEW STUFF (especially a song called "A History of Men", which you can find on their current LP, "Plot Against Common Sense" - which you should buy, along with the other two studio albums and the marvelous live disc). Well, since this blog does not feature commercially available recordings, I have to offer you some old stuff if I wish to share any FOTL music at all, which I do very much. Here then is a selection of their early demo stuff (the two songs that later featured as B-sides and can be bought as legal downloads have been omitted), alongside the more recent demos for "Plot Against Common Sense" and its predecessor, the "Polymers Are Forever" mini-album. Here's hoping for many more equally great ones.

Track listing:

1. The Lord Hates a Coward (3:35)
2. Small Bones Small Bodies (2:48)
3. Real Men Hunt in Packs (3:57)
4. Stick to What You Slip (1:52)
5. The Fibre Provider (reprise) (2:55)
6. My Wife Is Unhappy (4:24)
7. Hometaping Is Killing Susan (2:20)
8. I Am the Least of Your Problems (2:32)
9. Goals in Slow Motion (3:11)
10. Beneath the Waves an Ocean (3:47)
11. Notes on Achieving Orbit (5:08)

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