When I'm stuck in traffic or simply trying to walk along a pavement somewhere, I often think about something he once said in an interview about pavements and roads in England - in comparison to the US and Europe I think - and how they were 'designed for 15th century dwarves'.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:57 (six years ago) link
lol fizzles that is awesome
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:58 (six years ago) link
yes
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:59 (six years ago) link
It's funny, in the past few weeks, I've been listening to the later and "lesser" Fall albums and have been really enjoying them, after not having listened to the Fall for a long time. I'm liking the more casual vibe on them, where there doesn't seem this pressure to make "great" albums. Lord knows I've listened to Hex and This Nation's too many times. I really like The Real New Fall LP.― Fake Sam's Club (I M Losted), Thursday, January 25, 2018 5:56 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Fake Sam's Club (I M Losted), Thursday, January 25, 2018 5:56 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I feel like I've read in a couple different places, the Hanley book was one of them but feel like there was an interview at some point too that confirmed that there was really never the pressure to make great albums but that the steady flow of releases could be looked at sort of like diary entries, like whether or not the inspiration was 100% there, his work ethic was such that every period would be documented. Not that there wasn't also some financial reason behind it but I think he just had this endless flow of words and ideas that was to some extent beyond his control and he was going to get them on record no matter what.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:24 (six years ago) link
"Real New Fall LP" is really the last one I spent a lot of time with. It's really good. "Sparta" is such a jam. "Recovery Kit" probably one of my favorite Fall tunes full stop. Plus it's got "Green Eyed....ahhhhhhhhh Loco Man"
suppose I should check out the ones after that as well ??
― frogbs, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:29 (six years ago) link
Listening to YFOC this morning and tempted to post so many lyrics.
He is the only lyricist whose lyrics I can read for pleasure independent of the music, one of few lyricists I would describe as a poet, and almost definitely the one lyricist who would be most upset at being called a poet.
I had two broken bottlesAnd I had two brown bottlesAnd a white nose as I enteredFive years of confinementThis is the story that enfoldedAs it went on into the seaOf unseen footageAnd unseen factsUnseen refinementUnseen extensionChicory tip in a shopping centerWith a soundtrack again
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:34 (six years ago) link
xpost frogbs absolutely, there is so much greatness after Real New Fall LP. Like I know it comes off as challops but a lot of his late work is on par with the best of the "classic" era.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:36 (six years ago) link
I feel like imago has done a POX or two of late-era stuff on the main Fall thread that were very much OTM as a general best-of. "Loadstones" and "Weather Report 2" are top tier, just brilliant stuff. "Jetplane", "Couples vs. Jobless mid-30s". Just so much great stuff.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:40 (six years ago) link
stuff...stuff
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:41 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUiPs1PxKo
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:47 (six years ago) link
YFOC is too great to really split up but here's my post-YFOC mixtape, updated to include NFE
Fol De RolTaking Off Dedication Not Medication GreenwayCouples vs Jobless Mid 30sMister Rode MonocardNo Respects Rev. Auto Chip 2014-2016JetplaneJam SongLoadstones
^^^all incredible. "this is new, fresh!"
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:50 (six years ago) link
by the way, in terms of all-time all-fucking-time greatest lyrics, death juxtaposed with the blackest of humor:
I look to the past then the leftThe whirlpools cascade over my faceAnd I watched Murder She WroteAt least five times
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:52 (six years ago) link
this song is killing me right now
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:53 (six years ago) link
why am I listening to this today, at work
that's one song i've not been able to listen to yet, see also Bonkers In Phoenix for some reason
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:55 (six years ago) link
WR2 is undoubtedly among his greatest works though yeah, and a completely unprecedented piece of music in general
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:56 (six years ago) link
WR2 is fantastic, and so is Bonkers, though they're both on different plains all together. Former quite a tough listen today.
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:03 (six years ago) link
gonna be a while before I can listen to Bonkers
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:06 (six years ago) link
well the thing about Bonkers is that Smith's presence on it is that of the mischievous wraith
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:08 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOZOAeQKlJk
"Dr Boring had a relationship with the drug company tooAnd I'm half-associated with the Softness Group PLCOn TV today somebody claimed their dogHad been molested by a textile chemist
But life just bounces so don't you get worried at allSometimes life just bounces so don't you get worried at all"
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:10 (six years ago) link
what is the story behind Bonkers in Phoenix anyway. why does it sound like that
― frogbs, Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:12 (six years ago) link
brix and the gang wrote a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad and mark e smith rambled about festival parking over the top of it while messing around with the equaliser
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:13 (six years ago) link
i.e. it's the best thing ever
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:14 (six years ago) link
the sound fx are genuinely amazing and perfect
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:15 (six years ago) link
he always fuckin knew what he was doing
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:16 (six years ago) link
i'm listening to it now obv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNjlAwEkZ7s
xp :)
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:18 (six years ago) link
xps
'Always different, always the same,' as their champion in radio land, John Peel, described them - but there is plenty of room for variation within that. Brix has brought her sense of melody back with her, even if it is sabotage by her ex on the albums wierdest track, Bonkers In Phoenix, in which her part is speeded up and dive bombed by volleys of ugly synthesizer. The song is about rock festivals and Smith just wanted to get across, 'what it's actually like at them for someone like me anyway. It's always bands playing at half-pace with people shouting'. Already, and perhaps this could only happen in the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall, a folk group has asked permission to do an a cappella version.
http://www.thefall.org/gigography/95mar15.html
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:19 (six years ago) link
That's perfect, thx sleeve
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:20 (six years ago) link
Obviously there are countless examples of this in action but listening to "Hotel Bloedel" right now and honing in on his violin playing and this thought is really resonating.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link
“If it’s me and yer granny on bongos, it’s The Fall.”
somehow never ran across this quote
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 January 2018 16:51 (six years ago) link
his music brought me so much pure FUN and joy.
― brimstead, Thursday, 25 January 2018 16:53 (six years ago) link
and a break from cold crappy reality
― brimstead, Thursday, 25 January 2018 16:54 (six years ago) link
this feels sad and unreal. glad i got to see the fall back in 2005 or so. i wasn't sure what to expect but they sounded as great as they'd ever sounded to me on any of their records. easily one of the 10 best shows i've ever seen. still vividly remember buying my first album in my late teens -- wonderful & frightening -- and just not knowing what to make of it. many, many listens later, i still don't, really. MES's lyrics feel as deep and rich and worthy of study as any pop lyrics i can think of. he was way ahead of us all. rip.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 16:55 (six years ago) link
From the beginning up to Bend Sinister is where the real gold is for me, and the two albums after aren't too bad. There's been some very good stuff from 2000-present, but the '90s were pretty weak for 'em - particularly 1995-1998.
― Full of bile and Blue Nile denial (Turrican), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:13 (six years ago) link
rong :)
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:14 (six years ago) link
I can hear MES's voice in some of today's newspaper front page headlines:
- Furore Over Groping Scandal- Trump Hails New Churchill- Cop Probe Urged- Cloned Macaques Make History- Eat Curry To Beat Dementia
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:14 (six years ago) link
that last one accompanied by a derisory chuckle
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:15 (six years ago) link
I once served MES when I was working at the Music and Video Exchange bookshop in Notting Hill. He bought a copy of Rudolph Grey's oral biography of Ed Wood, Nightmare of Ecstasy. He was incredibly polite.
Ah man, hero -- that's one of my favorite books.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:17 (six years ago) link
I was a big Nick Cave and Pogues fan when this Cave/McGowan/MES interview came out, but I was in possession of Bend Sinister and still trying to figure out what to make of it.
http://thequietus.com/articles/09277-mark-e-smith-nick-cave-shane-macgowan-nme-interview
And this little sub-rant crystallized his work for me -
NC: And your songs are very deceptive Mark, in the way they're sung. They may appear at times like streams of consciousness but that's deceptive.
MES: One thing that really annoys me is that stream of consciousness thing. I wouldn't let on to it normally, but it annoys the shit out of me. I put a lot of hard sweat into them, I think about them. They have an inner logic to me so I don't really care who understands them or not. I see writing and singing as two very different things. My attitude is if you can't deliver it like a garage band, fuck it. That's one thing that's never been explored, delivering complex things in a very straightforward rock 'n' roll way. My old excuse is if I'd wanted to be a poet, I'd have been a poet.
"if you can't deliver it like a garage band, fuck it" is one of those slogans that's repeated in my head ever since. Made me respect the possibilities for what could be communicated with a song, beyond the classic themes.
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:21 (six years ago) link
I love that interview, arguing w/McGowan abt Nietzsche lol
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:25 (six years ago) link
Dragnet For Gun Blast Man.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:36 (six years ago) link
man those headlines are really goodi have been enjoying reading the tidbits and interviews that show how singular MES was, lyrics too
i never really got into the fall when i was young because i found their catalogue impenetrable without help and no one to ask in the dark ages. i got 458489 B Sides at some point and enjoyed it but then kinda drifted from rock music and never went back to find more about their catalogue until recently. i have been sent playlists that i know are probably excellent (thanks jon!) and dipped my toe in but i am not a regular spotify user and therefore i still feel stymied about where to begin! is this the essential nature of the fall and MES? seems like it :) RIP
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:48 (six years ago) link
i think the greatest hits are a fine place to start. that two-disc the fall rough trade compilation (the one with the red cover) is the one that got me into them. the 50,000 fall fans can't be wrong compilation (also two discs) is also good and maybe easier to find.
― na (NA), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:53 (six years ago) link
note: i am not asking for help now because i think everyone has their own experience with a band like thismine is a very long journey apparently
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:58 (six years ago) link
i always figured there would be fall CDs out there for me to buy since so many people loved them so much and liked different parts of their catalogue
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:59 (six years ago) link
50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong was my gateway after years of not quite getting it
That was a sort of good gateway era, you had the Totally Wired comp and also around that time a really great new album (Real New Fall LP)
The Fall is like a Magic Eye poster, you stare at it forever and it looks like a big mess then suddenly some form pops out at you and you become obsessed
― bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:59 (six years ago) link
Derisive YouTube comment that accidentally encapsulates everything I love about the Fall:"The Fall aren't so much a band, more a well-intentioned 1970's Manchester Council unemployment initiative that has snowballed out of control."— Tobi Haslett (@TobiHaslett) January 24, 2018
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 January 2018 18:02 (six years ago) link
this radio tribute right now is going well
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/77083
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 January 2018 18:03 (six years ago) link
*wild applause*
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 18:06 (six years ago) link