“Face to Face” is a psychological drama film released in 1976. Starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, it originally aired as a four-part miniseries and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in the US. However, this film didn’t release any albums, so instead we’re going to be ranking albums by the band Face to Face.
10. Three Chords and a Half Truth (2013)
This album is full of The Clash worship, so at least the band can walk away from this one saying they made a better album than “Cut the Crap.” There are some cool takes on the Clash sound here and there, but nothing really extremely new or interesting.
Play It Again: “123 Drop” if you want something that sounds like The Clash, “Right as Rain” if you want something that sounds like Social Distortion.
Skip It: Doesn’t really matter, you probably won’t remember most of the songs once you’re done with the album anyway.
9. Laugh Now, Laugh Later (2011)
There’s nothing explicitly wrong with this album, it’s just pretty cookie-cutter skate punk for most of its runtime. Just like the name “Face to Face” is a pretty cookie-cutter name for a film, as evidenced by the 16 films that share the name just on the first page of a Wikipedia search alone.
Play It Again: “All for Nothing,” easily the best song to come out of this album and even one of the best post-reunion Face to Face songs.
Skip It: “Stopgap”
8. Reactionary (2000)
Titled for being a reaction to their fanbase’s initial dislike for their previous album, “Ignorance Is Bliss,” “Reactionary” is a straight-up punk album. And while the return to form was welcome, it doesn’t do anything that Face to Face hasn’t already done before. Much like the previous entry on this list, there’s nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t particularly interesting compared to other albums the band has released.
Play It Again: “Disappointed,” “What’s In a Name” at least for the bass intro, if nothing else.
Skip It: This album doesn’t have any songs that need to be skipped, just few that are noteworthy in the grand scheme of Face to Face’s discography.
7. How To Ruin Everything (2002)
Did you know that the first ever film titled “Face to Face” was a silent short released in 1914? Sadly, no one involved in the making of that film lived long enough to ever be able to listen to the band Face to Face. This was the last album Face to Face released before breaking up for a while, and it’s good, but not their greatest work.
Play It Again: “Bill of Goods,” “A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing,” “Shoot the Moon”
Skip It: “Fight or Flight” and “The Compromise” if you decide 46 minutes is a bit too long for a punk album, otherwise just let it play!
6. Ignorance Is Bliss (1999)
It was at this point that Face to Face said “fuck it, we’re going to write a Foo Fighters album”, and not only did they do that, but they created a better Foo Fighters album than the Foo Fighters. Much like every Foo Fighters album, this one does drag a tiny bit in the second half, but it still is pretty strong overall, and had a nice bit of Face to Face-style punk still mixed in to keep it from sounding unoriginal. This album was also the first to show Face to Face was capable of pulling off toned-down, ballad-style songs, and they do it well. While fans initially didn’t respond positively to the change in sound, it ended up aging surprisingly well, and has become somewhat of a cult album for the band. Plus, as far as I can tell, no members of Face to Face have cheated on their partners, so they got that going for them I guess.
Play It Again: “The Devil You Know (God is a Man),” “(a)Pathetic,” “I Know What You Are” and “Overcome” if you really want to hear the Foo Fighters influence.
Skip It: “Nearly Impossible”
5. Protection (2016)
This is where the band starts to really hit their stride again after their reunion, something few punk bands manage to do. This album manages to feel a lot more fresh than their previous post-reunion attempts, and it sees the band hit a new stride that would continue into their following album.
Play It Again: “Bent but Not Broken,” “Double Crossed”
Skip It: This album doesn’t have any skips, so I’d instead like to point out that there were two movies named “Face 2 Face” (yes, with a 2) released just in 2012. Far later than using “2” in place of “to” should have been acceptable. And there were still several more movies to do it afterwards…
4. No Way Out But Through (2021)
Face to Face’s most recent entry into their catalog contains some of the best material they’ve made since reuniting, and maybe just in general. They manage to easily find their way back to making catchy and memorable melodies, but this time with a more mature sound of a band that’s been around and seen a lot. It’s a very natural progression of their sound that makes sense without sounding repetitive.
Play It Again: “Black Eye Specialist,” “No Way out but Through,” “This is My Vanishing Act,” “Farewell Song,” and the rest of the album too.
Skip It: Face to Face (1990). I’ve never actually seen this movie, but it’s a Hallmark movie, so I can’t imagine it’s worth checking out.
3. Big Choice (1995)
Did you know there’s also like a million books called “Face to Face”? And even another band with the name? It’s crazy. Oh yeah, the album. This one’s great, their third-best even. With their second album, Face to Face continued to show that they were on their A-game when it came to putting catchy, cool, and memorable melodies into fun and energetic skate-punk songs. And you might be thinking “That sounds a lot like pop-punk to me,” but trust me, this is way cooler than anything Blink tried when they were going for the same sound pre-”Enema of the State”.
Play It Again: “I Know You Well,” “You Lied,” “Velocity”
Skip It: The part at the beginning of the bonus track version of “Disconnected” where they’re just talking, it’s only funny the first time.
2. Don’t Turn Away (1992)
Much like Face to Face (1976) was Lena Olin’s debut film appearance, “Don’t Turn Away” was Face to Face (the band)’s debut album. And they got a lot right from the start. The songs are energetic, the melodies are fun and interesting, and it’s an enjoyable listen the whole way through, even with the bonus track version. Aside from some not-so-great sounding production, mostly resulting from the choice to only single-track the guitars, this album is incredibly solid and still holds up well today.
Play It Again: Tracks 1 through 13, or 1 through 15 if you choose the remastered version with the bonus tracks.
Skip It: Don’t even think about it.
1. Self-titled (1996)
This album was the first one to feature Scott Shiflett on bass, and has some of the best basslines in punk, ever. It’s also the — wait… THE ALBUM IS CALLED “FACE TO FACE” TOO??? Is this review even about music anymore? What’s going on? I just spent 3 days watching movies and reading books called “Face to Face” just so I could write a review on a punk band’s discography. Please stop reading this and just go listen to Face to Face, start with the album “Face to Face,” you won’t regret it as much as I regret Googling “face to face,” I promise.
Play It Again: All of it, trust me.
Skip It: None of it, trust me.