Search - Adorable :: Best of Adorable: Footnotes

Footnotes Excellent Overview, Minus B-Sides

C. Wainwright | Yuba City, CA United States | 09/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The coolest part about "Footnotes" is the front cover booklet. The booklet features photos of the band and short blurbs written by the four band members discussing their thoughts and memories about the origins of the individual songs as well as their recollections of what it was like to be in Adorable at the peak of their success and life after the band broke up.

The most interesting part is how humble the guys are despite their meteoric rise to fame and their public reputation in the music press as egomaniacal rock star types. These guys wrote brilliant, timeless music that sounds as fresh and innovative today as it did back in the early '90s. They burned bright for a few short years and then sadly, like so many other bands, flamed out.

There will always be fans who aren't happy with the song selections on their favorite band's "best of" collections, but whoever chose the songs for "Footnotes" did a commendable job.

Adorable properly released only 36 tracks, including both full length albums and all the b-sides for their seven singles, and "Footnotes" collects 18 of those. They managed to gather ten of the twelve tracks from Adorable's first album, "Against Perfection," leaving only two tracks ("I Know You Too Well" and "Still Life") off. They also included six of the ten tracks from Adorable's sophomore album, "Fake."

The two b-sides that are included, "Sunburnt" and "Summerside" are very good songs by any measure, but with 14 b-sides to choose from they aren't the very best of Adorable's b-sides. Additionally, they are both from singles from "Against Perfection" and it would have been nice to include a b-side from a single off "Fake." That said, "Summerside" shows the softer side of Adorable, with a beautiful melody sung by Piotr over a guitar that alternates between a shimmering strummed part and a low-end arpeggio.

Adorable are one of those bands who didn't write "filler" songs. Every single one of the 36 songs they officially released was worthy of inclusion on this collection. "Footnotes" is an excellent introduction to Adorable. Those who enjoy this collection and want to hear more should seek out "Fake" for the four tracks not included on "Footnotes" as well as Adorable's seven Cd singles for the twelve excellent b-sides."

The best band you've never heard

Villiers | Lansing, MI USA | 04/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Adorable were one of the most outstanding and woefully neglected bands of the early nineties. For those who missed out on their two classic (and sadly long out of print) albums, Against Perfection and Fake, this is a great introduction to an absolutely wonderful band. With a powerful guitar sound and Piotr Fjalkowski's gorgeous voice, this is music that does not wear thin on repeated listenings. Highly recommended!"

Masterful Music

Michael J. Cone | 06/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I "stumbled" across Adorable back in '93 when I was working my way through college in a music store. "Against Perfection" happened to be among some of our playlist cds for the store. I never heard of them, threw them on, and never stopped listening since. With all the grunge being forced down my throat at the time, this was a stunning album cover to cover-you cannot go wrong with anything these guys had put out. Find it while you can!"