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| Far Beyond Driven | ||||
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| Studio album by Pantera | ||||
| Released | March 22, 1994 | |||
| Recorded | Nashville, TN | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, groove metal | |||
| Length | 56:08 | |||
| Label | East West | |||
| Producer | Terry Date | |||
| Pantera chronology | ||||
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| Original cover | ||||
The original cover for Far Beyond Driven.
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Far Beyond Driven is the seventh album by American groove metal band Pantera. It was released on March 22, 1994 through East West Records. Upon its release, it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200.[1] It is also the first album where Darrell Abbott is credited as "Dimebag Darrell".
Contents |
[edit] Album information
At the time of its release, Phil Anselmo was injured with ruptured disks in his back and was suffering from chronic pain from degenerative disk disease. Anselmo began drinking heavily, abusing painkillers and muscle relaxants and began experimenting with heroin to numb the pain.[2]
In an interview at Loyola University in March 2009, Anselmo said:
- "Well, I think it was about the time when the record [Far Beyond Driven] came in at No. 1. I was pretty terrified. I was happy as hell; don't get me wrong, man — I was like, 'Oh, my God, yes!' At that point, I had just gotten back from the doctor — from having my second MRI done — and I realized I had two blown-out disks. Now, in order for me to be this Superman that the media had built me out to be, I had to quell that pain. So I started off with regular painkillers and muscle relaxers. Eventually, you climb up the painkiller ladder, because painkillers lie to you; they will magnify that injury. And that's all that's on your mind — the injury and painkillers."[3]
In the liner notes of the album, all the songs' lyrics are printed apart from the cover of "Planet Caravan". The liner note reads:
- "This is a Black Sabbath song off of the Paranoid album. So don't freak out on us. We did the song because we wanted to. It has nothing to do with the integrity of our direction. It's a tripped out song. We think you'll dig it. If you don't, don't fucking listen to it. Thanks. On behalf of the rest of Pantera, Phil Anselmo '94."
The Japanese and the Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection editions contain a bonus 13th track, "The Badge", a Poison Idea cover. This cover was also featured on The Crow soundtrack.[4]
The track "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" is a reference to the song "Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine" on the Ted Nugent album Weekend Warriors. The album is referenced in the Machine Head song "Aesthetics of Hate", the third track from the 2007 album The Blackening.
[edit] Lyrics and style
Far Beyond Driven took Pantera's music to an even heavier style than on previous releases; settling for a continuous, slow chugging, mid-tempo groove throughout the album. Much of the shift was due to Dimebag Darrell's more down-tuned and heavier sludgy playing style. Philip Anselmo's lyrics on the album were far more personal than on the previous albums. Songs such as "Becoming" and "25 Years" appear to be about Anselmo's early life.
[edit] Cover art
The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) was quickly replaced with a new image, depicting a head impaled with a drill bit. A limited edition box set released in Australia and New Zealand contained two copies of the album, with both the original and new artwork.
[edit] Release and reception
[edit] Commercial performance
At midnight on March 22, 1994, Pantera launched the release of Far Beyond Driven with an extensive record store campaign. They travelled to 12 cities in almost five days with MTV documenting their progress. Bandmembers signed autographs, met fans, and promoted Far Beyond Driven. The band released "I'm Broken" as the album’s first single, which reached #19 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's highest charting single worldwide. The LP also contained the first cover song on one of their major-label releases—Black Sabbath’s "Planet Caravan" which served as the album's closing track and reached #21 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and #26 on the UK Singles Chart. Pantera’s hard work paid off; by March the LP had sold over 185,000 copies and had reached #1 on the U.S Billboard 200 album charts and Australian charts upon release. It remained on the Billboard 200 for 29 weeks.[5]
[edit] Critical
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone | [6] |
| Sputnikmusic | [7] |
Although the album had great commercial success it has received mixed reviews since its release. Both Rolling Stone and Sputnikmusic gave the album four out of five stars, with Sputnikmusic stating "It is highly underrated due to the quick style change from the bands pre-deceasing album, "Vulgar Display of Power".[7] However, Allmusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia stated "Far Beyond Driven may have been Pantera's fastest selling album upon release, but it's hardly their best. In fact, although it shot straight to the number one spot on the Billboard sales chart in its first week (arguably the most extreme album ever to do so), this incredible feat doesn't so much reflect its own qualities as those of its predecessor, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power."[1]
Rolling Stone (19 May 1994, p. 103) - 4 Stars - "A kind of aesthetics of thud...the real art smolders in the noise itself."
Entertainment Weekly (1 April 1994, p. 54) - "If you're burned out on raging young men spewing aggression atop jackhammering drums and grinding guitars, then pass on Pantera. But if you've still got a yen for that sort of fare, then you can't do much better than this slab of metallic mayhem." - Rating: B+
Melody Maker (2 April 1994, p. 35) - "Like great techno, it's utterly flawless music, free of any error, minimal and animal enough to make a screaming bloody mess of the head."
In November 2011, Far Beyond Driven was ranked number six on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1994.[8]
[edit] Tour
Pantera toured South America, and were accepted into another "Monsters of Rock" billing. At that festival on June 4, 1994, the Abbott brothers got into a scuffle with journalists from the music magazine Kerrang! over unflattering cartoon depictions of drummer Vinnie Paul. Then in late June, Anselmo was charged with assault for hitting a security guard after he prevented fans from getting on stage, Anselmo was released on $5,000 bail the next day.[9][10] The trial was delayed three times.[11] In May 1995, he apologized in court and pleaded guilty to attempted assault and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.[12][13] Pantera continued their tour of the United Kingdom in 1994 and eventually ended it in the United States where the band was opened for by fellow groove metal band Prong.
[edit] Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Strength Beyond Strength" | 3:37 |
| 2. | "Becoming" | 3:04 |
| 3. | "5 Minutes Alone" | 5:46 |
| 4. | "I'm Broken" | 4:23 |
| 5. | "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" | 2:52 |
| 6. | "Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks" | 6:59 |
| 7. | "Slaughtered" | 3:56 |
| 8. | "25 Years" | 6:04 |
| 9. | "Shedding Skin" | 5:35 |
| 10. | "Use My Third Arm" | 4:50 |
| 11. | "Throes of Rejection" | 5:00 |
| 12. | "Planet Caravan" (Black Sabbath cover) | 4:02 |
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Total length:
|
56:08 | |
| Japanese bonus track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 13. | "The Badge" (Poison Idea cover) | 3:55 | |||||||
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Total length:
|
60:03 | ||||||||
[edit] Personnel
- Pantera
- Philip Anselmo – lead vocals
- Dimebag Darrell – guitar, backing vocals
- Rex – bass, backing vocals
- Vinnie Paul – drums
- Production
- Produced, engineered, and mixed by Terry Date
- Co-produced and arranged by Pantera
[edit] Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S.[14] | Gold | May 9, 1994 | 500,000 |
| U.S.[14] | Platinum | November 7, 1997 | 1,000,000 |
| Canada[15] | Gold | May 9, 1994 | 50,000 |
| Canada[16] | Platinum | November 21, 1995 | 100,000 |
[edit] Chart positions
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[edit] References
- ^ a b c Rivadavia, Eduardo. Allmusic review. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ "Phil Anselmo battled back from drugs and surgery to rock as hard as ever". NOLA.com. January 25, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ "PHILIP ANSELMO Opens Up About His Heroin Addiction, PANTERA's Breakup". Blabbermouth. August 19, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
- ^ "The Crow (1994) - Soundtracks". Internet Movie Database.
- ^ "Pantera Facts, information, pictures". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ Evans, Paul (May 19, 1994). Rolling Stone review. Archived from the original on November 29, 2011.
- ^ a b Sputnikmusic review. January 14, 2005. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ Grassi, Tony. "Photo Gallery: The Top 10 Guitar Albums of 1994". GuitarWorld.com. http://www.guitarworld.com/readers-poll-results-top-10-guitar-albums-1994. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
- ^ "DARIEN LAKE CONCERT FRAYS NERVES AGAIN BAND'S SINGER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT". Buffalo News. June 29, 1994. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/BN/lib00142,0EAF97EAAE9DA721.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "N.O. native, Pantera singer, arrested in guard's assault". The Advocate. October 26, 1994. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/AD/lib00241,0EB47798D28863CB.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "ROCK SINGER ASSAULT CASE ADJOURNED FOR THIRD TIME". Buffalo News. October 26, 1994. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/BN/lib00142,0EAF9825A7209AA9.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "The Scuttlebutt". Salt Lake Tribune. May 12, 1995. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/SLTB/lib00826,1010DE6F85D7B491.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "PANTERA SINGER CHANGES HIS TUNE". Grand Forks Herald. April 21, 1995. http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/GF/lib00128,0EB6EA90E5CEB00C.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ a b U.S. Certifications. Full in Bloom. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- ^ Gold albums by Pantera. Musiccanada.com. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ Platinum albums by Pantera. Musiccanada.com. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Chartverfolgung / Pantera / Longplay" (in German). Musicline.de. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Pantera/longplay.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ "Pantera - Far Beyond Driven". hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Pantera&titel=Far+Beyond+Driven&cat=a.
- ^ Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK: Rodney P. – The Pussycat Dolls". Zobbel. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_P.HTM.
- ^ "Far Beyond Driven - Pantera". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/pantera/far-beyond-driven/150395.
| Preceded by The Sign by Ace of Base |
Billboard 200 number-one album April 9–15, 1994 |
Succeeded by Longing in Their Hearts by Bonnie Raitt |
| Preceded by Music Box by Mariah Carey |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album April 3 - April 9, 1994 |
Succeeded by The Division Bell by Pink Floyd |
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