"Quiet in Heaven"/"Song of Liberty" is a 1983 double A-side single by California-based

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

group Faith. No Man. Recorded at producer

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,Faith No More Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist ...

the following year; keyboard player Wade Worthington had already been replaced between the single's recording and its release. Both songs were written by singer and guitarist Mike Morris, who is also credited with the single's artwork—including a picture of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

wearing a tutu on the record's A-side. The music has been favorably reviewed since its release, with the group being compared to Joy Division, Public Image Ltd and Killing Joke.

Production

Faith. No Man had begun life in 1981 under the name Sharp Young Men, comprising the lineup of singer and guitarist Mike Morris, bass player Billy Gould, drummer Mike Bordin and keyboard player Wade Worthington. Morris and Worthington had played together in a previous band named The Spectators, opening for shows by

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing i ...

and

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing ...

, and recruited the other members after advertising for their new band in a

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

record store. Morris acted as the group's primary songwriter, and penned several original songs for their early performances; "Quiet in Heaven", "Decay", "Life Is Tough for Me", "Under the Gun", and "Song of Liberty"—the latter two of which he has since described as "hitting ismark" as a writer. Still operating under the Sharp Young Men name, the group recorded three songs in

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,Moraga, California. Between the time of the recording session and the release of the single, Worthington quit the band and was replaced on keyboards by Gould's childhood friend

Roddy Bottum Roswell Christopher Bottum (born July 1, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist for the San Francisco alternative metal band Faith No More. He is also guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the pop group Imperial Teen, best kno ...

; the group's name was also changed to Faith. No Man around this time. After touring California throughout early 1983, Bottum, Gould and Bordin quit the band shortly after and formed

Faith No More Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist ...

without any constant guitarists or vocalists until they eventually settled on Chuck Mosley and Jim Martin. The single has been long out of print, making it very difficult to find. The artwork, which was credited to Morris, features amongst other things an edited picture of

wearing a tutu on the A-side of the disc.

Reception

"Quiet in Heaven"/"Song of Liberty" was released in 1983 on the band's own label, Ministry of Propaganda, and initially attracted the attention of punk collective

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestylism, way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the ...

and the English record label On-U Sound Records; however the band had dissolved before they could be signed to any deal. Reviews of the single have largely been favorable. A contemporary review in the September 1983 edition of punk

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...

'' Maximumrocknroll'' by Jeff Bale described the single as "quite good", comparing Faith. No Man to Killing Joke and explaining their sound as "heavy bass- and drum-oriented post punk". In a retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

's Bradley Torreano gave the release a rating of three stars out of five describing Morris's vocals as "actually really good" and called the lyrical content "typical angry San Francisco punk topics: they hate the government, they hate their girlfriends, and they're terribly unsatisfied". Torreano felt that the record sounded better than Faith No More's 1985 début, '' We Care a Lot'', describing it as a "solid

/pre-goth single in general" and comparing Morris' vocals to Public Image Ltd's John Lydon. Similar comparisons were also raised by journalist Adrian Harte in ''Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More'', describing the release as "a fair approximation of Joy Division fronted by Public Image Ltd-era John Lydon". Billy Gould has subsequently described the single, and Faith. No Man's other songs, as being "a little more derivative of what was happening in Great Britain .. Theatre of Hate, Killing Joke, that kind of thing".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic. * Mike Morris vocals, guitar, artwork * William Gould bass * Wade Worthington keyboards * Mike "Puffy" Bordin drums *

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,1983 debut singles Faith No More songs Post-punk songs 1983 songs {{Short description, 1983 single by Faith No Man