A Fine Day to Exit (2001)
1. Pressure
2. Release
3. Looking Outside Inside
4. Leave No Trace
5. Underworld
6. Barriers
7. Panic
8. A Fine Day to Exit
9. Temporary Peace
Reissue:
1. A Fine Day
2. Release
3. Leave No Trace
4. Underworld
5. Pressure
6. Panic
7. Breaking Down the Barriers
8. Looking Outside Inside
9. A Fine Day to Exit
10. Temporary Peace
Line-up:
Vincent Cavanagh - vocals, guitars
John Douglas - drums
Dave Pybus - bass
Les Smith - keyboards, programming
Danny Cavanagh - guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Lee Douglas - vocals
After
Judgement, Anathema became a five-piece (again) with the addition of keyboardist Les Smith, who joined the band as a full-time member. In
a recent interview with Drowned in Sound, Vincent described Les' often overlooked role in the band:
He'd played with us a bit before, and he'd been in Ship of Fools - who were this fantastic psychedelic band - and he had a lot of experience in the industry too which was really calming and helpful for us. He became our de facto manager really for the next ten years or so.
However, this line-up didn't last long, as Dave Pybus quit the band to "play headbanging things" and join Cradle of Filth during the making of the new album.
According to Vincent, Dave was spending more time with his girlfriend than with the band around the time of the recording, so in hindsight his departure wasn't a shock. However, Danny had less nice things to say about him in 2002:
https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/daniel-cavanagh-to-rejoin-anathema/Dave is a little weasel (to quote a member of CRADLE OF FILTH). who used ANATHEMA completely for his own ends. He spent 5 (five!) days in the studio during the entire time of the A Fine Day To Exit sessions (3 months altogether) he only did this for his own advantage, and he was really pissed off that he didn't get the same publishing royalties (songwriter's money) as the rest of the band, even though he stopped Duncan being paid, even though he hated us anyway, he never wanted Les to join the band, he never really liked any of the songs from the band (he pretended to like Judgement), he refused to write songs or become truly involved in the process, he would spread sh.t about ANATHEMA on the net, pretendind to be Vinny in the chat room on occasion! And he constantly complained about being in a band with bastards! And to top all this off, Vinny was begging him not to leave (at first), and didn't even want his own brother Jamie (genuine, talented, understanding bloke) to play in the band (at first, he has understood since then). Some people have no clue about what has actually been happening, and this includes some band members!
Musically,
A Fine Day to Exit is a step in the direction of alternative rock, and the album drew comparisons to Radiohead - just when the band was starting to shake off the Pink Floyd comparisons!
Lee Douglas made her second appearance on an Anathema album, this time on two songs: "Barriers" and "Temporary Peace" - Danny also debuted as a lead singer on the former. The album title was an accident of sorts:
https://web.archive.org/web/20041120192120/https://digitalmetal.com/interviews.asp?iID=1813&page=4It became the title of the album; it was a working title. The riff John wrote on that song reminded him of "A Fine Day to Die" by Bathory and "Exit Music" by Radiohead. It's two completely different styles. The Bathory was the clean guitar thing and the way the drums come in reminded him of "Exit Music." It was a working title just so we'd remember which riff we were talking about; it was called "A Fine Day to Exit." It's only afterwards that when things started to tie in with it.
The lyrics of the up-tempo track "Panic", which has often been played right after "Judgement" in concerts, were born with an unusual method:
"Panic," for one, was difficult, 'cause it was a departure. It has that big, fast punk riff. I was going to write some words for it, but I was busy trying to finish the words to my own song. It turned out John [Douglas] came up with this completely original idea, inspired by the Beater bands, which has nothing to do with punk. [laughs] He just took it and wrote these mad words that rhythmically fit with the music. The first time I read them and he was singing them to me it made me laugh. It was brilliant - I enjoyed singing it. It's a great pick-me-up on the record. It all happened in the studio: we still needed a chorus and I wrote one. But, John wrote one that was better, so we used it.
"Looking Outside Inside", on the other hand, was based on a 5-year-old guitar melody, and Vincent improvised the wordless vocals at the end.
The hidden track at the end of "Temporary Peace" serves as comic relief:
https://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-with-vincent-cavanagh-of-anathema-part-iAfter the song “Temporary Peace,” John wanted to record some of his own poetry, so he took a recorder out in the snow and walked along the English countryside, on the south coast. He walked across cliffs reciting his own poetry to himself, into the recorder, and he’d recall memories of going out to the club at 3 a.m., out of his mind in a way. All of that wound up being a composite at the end of the album just for humor.
You hear the sound of a beach and the way we tied it in is that there’s the guy who’s gone completely mad in the artwork – that’s John. It’s like he’s come back from faking his own death and instead of walking into the water, he leaves all of stuff behind and wonders off for a new life. He’s rambling on because he’s completely crazy.
The acoustic piece was also John Douglas' idea:
It's Dog House. It's John singing a song we recorded in the rehearsal room in Liverpool and we decided to put it on the album, we like it, because of the lyrics, they're funny. Imagine like a farmer who told too many lies in his life and the last one have been found out by his wife, so she kicks him out. So he's got a bag and his guitar and he walks off, down the path, he don't even know where. So he just sits on the wall, takes his guitar, stares at the dog. And he just start singing this song. That's what John meant with this song.
A video was made for "Pressure" and the song was going to be released as a single, but the release was scrapped:
https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/anathema-cancel-single-plans-to-issue-live-dvd-in-april/According to an official statement by Music For Nations Records press officer Doug Wright, Pressure was withdrawn as a single because: 1) MTV did not like the video and therefore would not play it, 2) The majority of radio stations, although they are finally getting into the band, felt that 'Pressure' was just too slow to be played on the radio, and 3) Without support at radio and TV, it is impossible to get singles into the shops, which would mean that you would all be frustrated by not being able to find it anywhere. As to the future, we have not given up, as we all believe this band will be huge. Therefore we will be going with a new single, 'Underworld', at the very end of April, which is to be released simultaneously with a DVD of their recent live performance in Greece. Believe me, we expected 'Pressure' to be a hit, otherwise we would not have scheduled it for release, however you just never know until it is presented to radio and TV.
However, the "Underworld" single never saw the light of day, either, and Danny has later said he thought "Panic" should've been the single.
According to Vincent, the band had bigger video-related plans:
We were going to do a short film about that too actually. A guy who leaves his entire life behind because he’s messed up so much but instead of killing himself, he fakes his own suicide and then starts a new life. This stuff does happen, you know? He’s a novel guy and we proposed a fifteen minute film to the record company and they, well, politely told us “no.’ Then they made the video for “Pressure,” which was basically our idea but done in a really bad way ... And it’s not to say that they did a bad job; they did an adequate job and an adequate video, but I can’t watch that now because it reminds me of what could have been. It reminds me of how clunky and rough it is. We have incredible ideas for visuals that I guess we’ll have to do ourselves.
In recent years, the band members have admitted they're not totally happy with
AFDTE: Vinnie
has said it "had its moments, but it lacks a bit of direction." Danny has also regretted the omission of the intro, which finally got officially released when the album was reissued with a rearranged tracklist earlier this year.
However, a song called "A Fleeting Glimpse" remains unreleased to this day, as you can see from this track-by-track breakdown by Danny from April 2001:
https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/archive-news-apr-04-2001/ Looks like the tracklist made through various changes before the album got released, as "A Fleeting Glimpse" and the intro were still going to be on it when the official album announcement was made:
https://web.archive.org/web/20011004063621/https://listen.to/anathema1. Intro (untitled)
2. Looking Outside Inside
3. Underworld
4. Pressure
5. Release
6. Breaking Down the Barriers
7. Leave No Trace
8. A Fleeting Glimpse
9. Panic
10. A Fine Day to Exit
11. Temporary Peace
A Fine Day to Exit is a fine album that shows a different side of Anathema. This may also be why the album is slightly divisive among the fans, as not everyone is pleased with its modern rock sound. I have to admit I prefer the band's atmospheric side, but thanks to the fairly solid songwriting and classics like the title-track, "Release" and "Panic",
AFDTE has earned a place in my big 4 of Anathema albums.
Full review:
https://echotester.blogspot.com/2015/08/anathema-discography-8-fine-day-to-exit.html
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