Happy Birthday Mike ! the Top 10 Mike Patton Songs

What better way to Celebrate Mike Patton's 57th birthday than to take a listen to his best vocal performances.  In picking the best I eliminated any of his noise or orchestral work, he is at his best when he is employing his sense of dynamics and wide theatrical range concisely that tells a story after all that is what singers do. I feel his best work is when he displays outright aggression to varying degrees, while still maintaining hooks and melodies so that is what the focus is here, pretty much narrowing it down to Tomahawk, Peeping  Tom, Mr. Bungle, and Faith No More. 

Not only is he one of my favorite singers, but these ten songs also display why he is one of the best "rock" singers though he wears rock music like a loose garment, as he employs elements of soul, country, and metal into what he does. I think these songs are also some of the strongest lyrically though his performance on them could sell you if he was just pulling his lyrics from the ingredients of a soup can. I am thankful to have seen him live in most of these projects and glad he made it another trip around the sun with us this year. So here are the top 10 Mike Patton songs.

10- ""Don't Even Trip"

   

9-"Love is a Fist" 

 

 8-"Malpractice " 

7-"The Real Thing"

   

6-"God Hates a Coward

 

 5-"None of Them Knew They Were Robots" 

4-"Surprise You're Dead" 

2-"My Ass is On Fire"

 

1- "Kindergarten" 

pt 37

Mike Patton : " Corpse Flower"

I love Mike Patton when he is locked into an actual song, the large majority of the time. Faith No More , Peeping Tom, Mr. Bungle and Tomahawk are all good by me. Is his voice really being used to the fullest potential or he he just want to make a cinematic  Nick Cave like album? I know Burt Bacharach is an influence and that can be heard here. Aside from some harmony overdubs the  vocals are either spoken  in a low raspy croon. Perhaps sung even less than what Tom Waits does so by the 3rd song the humor is beginning to lose me. He is collaborating here with composure Jean Claude Vannier, who primarily makes film scores. "Cold Sun Warm Beer" is more Mr. Bungle. Higher vocals are in the background. The music is darker and more angular

"Browning" has more of am electric pulse to it.  It moves much more smoothly even taking into consideration the weirdness at the periphery. "Hungry Ghost" sounds like it could be from a 60s Euro trash opera. He does use a great deal of restraint and does not belt these out. The irony is it almost sounds like someone who is just doing what he can to make it through the songs  in a very intentional style , when we know he can knock it out of the park whenever he feels like.  For the title track he goes back into the more spoken thing. The music behind him is interesting. He goes into a more dynamic croon on "Insolubles". It at least sounds like he is trying to sing. There is a theatrical jazz feel to this one. "Top of the World " is more of what you expect from him. He sings more , and declares that he is going to piss and shit down onto the earth.

There are touches of 70s country and American mixed with polka on "Yard Bull" .   "A School Girls Day". Patton narrates this little girls day. The music is more interesting than what he doing. The last song sounds like it belongs in Twin Peaks. At least he croons a little on it.  If you are a fan of Mike Patton then you are going to be up for anything. I am not sure I will be in the mood to listen to this a great deal after summer is over. I will give it a 9 as it is good for what it is, the question is how much of a use to I have for what it is? 

Dead Cross : "s/t"

Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo have teamed up with members of the Locust and Retox for what is darker than I hoped, though still coated in a great deal of noise. It's eerie and angular in the same way Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum was. The songs are typically compressed into under four minutes.You can hear the grind core influence of the Locust on " Divine Filth", despite Mike Patton's vocals still bringing a little more melody even on the more punk inspired sections. Though the chaos ins out more on "Grave Slave". The production finds the distortion jagged , mixed with a claustrophobic tension. You might wonder what the difference between this and Tomahawk is. Well that is easy. This is darker and heavier than Tomahawk. There are some moments that are more blatantly metal than others. "Gag Reflex" is more metal than not.  

"Idiopathic"  rides the line between chaos and a song that makes sense. They launch in more of a thrashing speed for "Obedience School" . I expect a little more from Lombardo when it comes to playing at this intensity, and it sounds like it could be anyone behind the kit. The sound of dial up internet starts off "Seizure and Desist". Patton trades off screams, squeals and singing. "Shilelagh" finds him doing more angry punk ranting.  This almost sounds like a more feral version of "King For A Days" harder rocking moments. This metallic punk temper tantrum continues on " the Future Has Been Cancelled".  As far as songwriting goes while Patton has an abundance of energy, I don't think the melodies that do show up are really his most thoughtful or strongest work.

The reckless spastic moments that have the most in common with grind core are not the album's strongest points and keep it from being a solid piece of work so on sheer merits of the darker tone and covering Bauhaus I will round this up to an 8, but considering the level of talent present here I think expecting more is ok.

Faith No More : "Sol Invictus"

When you are the band that created "Angel Dust", the bar is going to be raised pretty high. I went into this apprehensive, due to the fact I was under whelmed by the singles released from this one. This first song does sound like Faith No More. But they throw you a curve ball by not coming out the gate rocking. I didn't hate it , but I wasn't blown away by it. Almost a duet between Patton and Bottoms tender piano. The guitar and more rock formulaic playing comes on "Superhero". The bass holds it don't for Patton to have vocal spasms until he gets to the chorus. The guitar is really low in the mix. Almost to the point that the band feels apologetic for having guitar on the album. Is Patton doing anything we have not previously heard from them? No. But it is an improvement over the opener, wouldn't say it rocks out , but it takes a better stab at .

He drops down into his sleazy "RV" for "Sunny Side Up" before going into the brassy tenor  that guys like Brandon Boyd began trying to mimic in the late 90s. The bands playing makes it obvious that despite Patton's singing you are going to mistake this for Tomahawk or Mr. Bungle. The song structures are much more conventional than those side projects. The first song that grabs me from the get go is "Separation Anxiety" . It has a sinewy Tool like riff that slithers under it. Though when they throw the chorus fake out at you, you'll be waiting for Patton to say "Here's How to Order..." . The first new vocal trick comes by way of the effects put on his vocals on the bridge. "Cone of Shame" find Patton going back into the lower gravelly character voice. This song eventually finds it's legs after an awkward start.

By the time I get to calypso tinged " Rise of the Fall" , I find myself thinking fondly back to the days when Faith No More wrote songs that I could not wait to listen to again. These are not those songs. At best there is some avant garde pop songs that are not wasting my afternoon, but are far from compelling. At 47 Patton show that he still has command of his pipes, despite the bulk of the album being sung in a more baritone register. I'm sure what to think of the strummed guitar in "Black Friday" which at first made me think of "Living the Vida Loca". There is punkish roughness to the heavier dynamic this song falls into at the chorus. It turns into a fun song. There greatest artistic achievement ...no. I have heard "Mother Fucker" before and was not really impressed so let's if it does anything more for me than remind me of the Butthole Surfers sell out album. The chorus grows on me, the verses bore me.

There feels like more thought is put into "Matador" which despite feeling like Barry Manilow taking acid and trying to write a Broadway Hit with Philip Glass.  So there were only two songs that I was sold on my first listen to this album. Theres a 60s feel to the strummed guitar of "From the Dead". The song is so simple it's almost baffling.It's been how long since these guys put out an album? I think if it had been mixed with a little more balls the heavier sections would have carried more power. I have heard Morrissey albums with more balls than this. And I don't listen to Morrissey for his balls. I am torn originally I was going to give this one an 8. Which is right at the threshold of what will make it onto the iPod or not which and 8 generally means these guys are pretty good and this is worth checking out. But knowing this should be a 10 this is a disappointment. So I'll round it down to a 7.5. The last Tomahawk album was better.
8.1

Tomahawk : Oddfellows

The fourth album from a super group comprised of the cool kids from the nineties alternative metal scene, Faith no More, Jesus Lizard, Helmet and Mr. Bungle. Earlier in their inception it was easy to dismiss this as another one of Mike Patton's abundant solo projects. The only distinction to separate them from Fantomas , his other super group was Tomahawk came across more like a hipster metal version of Damn Yankees.

"Oddfellows" finds the band has developed into more of a real band, not to say their first two albums aren't good. The first one sounds like Patton fronting the Jesus Lizard and the second one had a heavy Deep Purple vibe to it but either gained an abundance of listens to me though I enjoyed them when I popped them in , this marks their first album that demands heavy rotation.

These songs could have easily been on a follow up to "Album of the year" and sound much more like what you expect from Patton, sometimes to a fault when it sounds like he he's checking off the cast of characters in the vocal range. The song writing is concise and saves the day from this just being about quirky vocals. Age has done Patton's voice favors as it has more grit to it, from wear and tear of a career screaming.

The title track that opens this one has a sinewy riff that weaves its way around the drums. The verse's are sung in Patton's more baritone range and the chorus escalate into Faith no more territory. The ominous chugs are somewhat Jesus Lizard like, but tighter accents despite the angular tone. "Stone Letter" reminds me of "Digging the grave" in it's more straight forward approach, but is not the only ghost of "King for a day fool for a lifetime" that haunts the album.

"I.o.u" has a trip hop vibe in the electronic percussion which starts of the album and while we are at Faith No More comparisons this one would be "Album of the year" at under three minutes it's enought of a taste to avoid being plodding . "White hats/ Blackhats" is more bass driven and a return to the Jesus Lizard feel of the first album. One thing I noticed in the past Patton has said people look for meaning in his lyrics when most of the time he just likes the sound of the words, however it's clear there are themes being constructed here. I like the dissonant ring of the guitar here and Denison explores a lot of tones outside of the sphere I normally associate with his playing style.

"A thousand eyes" is suitably dark and creepy enough to make me happy. There's nothing complex going on musically just every thing is smartly placed and the space each instrument occupies is very tasteful. "Rise up dirty waters" sounds like a Mr. Bungle b-side from the " California days" it's a little silly to me and while it's trademark herky jerky Patton, it doesn't get with the rest of the album.

"the quiet few" gets back to the angular groove and the low throaty chant style. The chorus is another wink at "King for a day...", I do like the tight muted chugs that bridge certain sections, I guess this one could also fall more on the Jesus Lizard side of the band. So in some ways the album acknowledges in equal portions their collective pasts.

"I can almost see them" has a dark western feel despite the Tool like drive of the bass. Patton sings in more of Faith No more like cadence, if you are thinking of some of their more cinematic moments. I think my favorite song is " South Paw" , it's tightly coiled and hard driven even on the more subdued sections of the verses. I like how they take their time getting to the punch of the chorus , it's great song writing all the way around. The melody on the " you rubbed me so wrong/ please keep your close on" is perfect and this is one of Patton's best all around vocal performances.

Patton's vocals rescue the song " Choke neck" whose form and function would have been in question with a lesser singer. "Waritorium" is a tightly chugged winding web of passive aggression, like funkier Jesus Lizard. "Baby let's play" is a David Lynch like stroll, but is so languid it never really takes any form or finds its direction. The album with "Typhoon" which has a palm muted swing amd allows the drummer to open up on the unresolved builds, the melody never finds a hook to catch me in though I can appreciate more where they are trying to go than on the previous song, but it feels the album ends with more of a thud.

Overall this one is really solid and Patton is in fine form , though Trevor Dunn kind of dials it in if you consider his playing in Bungle and the more I think about the talent in the band that's backing Patton, then Denison is the only one who broadens the bag of tricks he brings to the table, the ong writing has with the few exceptions stepped up so I think this one deserves a 9 because the songs that are more noticeably filler are still better than most of the stuff pumped out these days and the dark creepy tone works for me.