Articles of Faith
Complete, Vol. 2: 1983-1985
[Alternative Tentacles; 2002]
Rating: 7.9

In Hüsker Dü's heyday, Bob Mould paid a great deal of lip service to two lesser-known Midwestern bands: Die Kreuzen and Articles of Faith. Neither has received much exposure from the revisionist tastemakers out to prove their canonical knowledge of the underground online.

Critics and fans still argue over which band was the first to move beyond the naïve political lyrics and four-chord call-and-response anthems of early 80s punk. It's a safe bet to say the first and best apolitical, personal punk rock came from Hüsker Dü, who looked inward almost from the start, but groups like Mission of Burma and R.E.M. reduce these black-and-white arguments to dust. What people are striving to acknowledge in these debates is that certain bands-- like the Dischord acts everyone points toward-- were able to outgrow comparatively amateurish, frenetic origins, and record punk songs that conveyed more than simple (often misguided) rebellion. Articles of Faith are a textbook case, one of half a dozen or so American bands to have named a song "Buried Alive".

Articles of Faith were often accused of ripping off the DC punk sound in their early days, and that may be true to an extent, but they put forward hook-driven rock 'n' roll choruses comparable to those Slapshot and Youth of Today were laying down a few years later. While writing and recording their first wave of not-quite formulaic hardcore, full of left wing political preening ("Prison", "Street Fight", "Bad Attitude"), Articles of Faith penned a tune as startlingly ahead of its time as the best Mission of Burma tracks. "Every Man for Himself", from the 1984 LP Give Thanks, is the sound of art rising from the mire of accepted forms. The recently reissued recordings Fugazi members made as One Last Wish in 1986 offer a similar glimpse into the inspiring results possible when talented musicians feel the impetus to break out of their accepted roles.

After recording Give Thanks, the band hit their stride with the Wait EP, three tracks that set personal anxiety against the macho fraternity pressure invading hardcore. "I've Got Mine", the title track, and "Buy This War" are inexplicably ignored standouts within a massively overrated, overexploited genre. Laid alongside the band's 1985 finale, In This Life, and in contrast to the simpler material on Volume 1, the second of these two single-disc anthologies is remarkably superior. Taking some inspiration from their supporters in Hüsker Dü, the band got serious about songwriting, something very few punk acts bothered to do in the 80s. Like Dag Nasty, who came in their wake, Articles of Faith mastered the screaming punk guitar lead, and injected vocal harmonies to bring their songs out from under the monotonous chanting punk rock was still trapped in.

While these two discs offer a complete studio anthology as advertised, a posthumous 1991 concert album released as part of the short-lived, out-of-print Your Choice Live series (which also had excellent offerings from Shudder to Think and The Melvins) makes for a better document of the band's potency. It remains to be seen why Articles of Faith reformed in 1991, but you can safely assume the rise of alternative rock had something to do with it. Though many old school fans were disappointed with comparatively thin, chorused guitars, the guys were much tighter during those reunion gigs, ripping through their curtain call "In This Life" with a ferocity never captured on studio tapes.

-Chris Ott, November 7th, 2002