― jack cole (jackcole), Sunday, 13 October 2002 17:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
and the peel session version of winter (hostel maxi) is essential - whatever comp this is on i guess
― gareth (gareth), Sunday, 13 October 2002 18:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
there's a fantastic double career overview singles comp of this band just begging to be made: "No Bulbs" & "Slang King" are 2 alltime faves.
Blue Orchids highly recommended too, to any Fall fan who's not gone the route.
― Paul (scifisoul), Sunday, 13 October 2002 18:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 13 October 2002 19:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Melissa W (Melissa W), Sunday, 13 October 2002 20:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
Can any Fall experts tell me where that poem on the sleeve ("This pool of disgusting smarm/The form of luke warm/This mod effete of capricious green ham/Who is everybody, yet everybody is him...") comes from? Did Mark E. write it himself? Because I can't hear it on any of the songs.
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 13 October 2002 23:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
Alternately, _Totally Wired: The Rough Trade Anthology_ is a freshly released double CD with highlights from the above, Totale's Turns and Grotesque, plus a couple of essential singles ("Totally Wired," "How I Wrote 'Elastic Man,'" etc.).
Just to be a contrarian, I started with _Wonderful & Frightening_ and couldn't see what the big deal was (eventually I came to like it a lot, but _Slates_ and _Grotesque_ were the ones that turned me around).
― Douglas, Monday, 14 October 2002 03:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 14 October 2002 03:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
Otherwise, I agree with Douglas, Jess, and well mostly everyone else where as far as Slates goes...
I'll put in votes for Early Fall, Live At the Witch Trials, Hip Priest And Kamerids, and Dragnet.
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 14 October 2002 03:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
― threemetalinsects (threemetalinsects), Monday, 14 October 2002 04:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 14 October 2002 08:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 14 October 2002 08:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 14 October 2002 08:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 14 October 2002 09:01 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 14 October 2002 09:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
By the time you've listened to all of those you should have an idea of what period(s) in their catalogue interest you most.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 14 October 2002 09:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
Slates is great. I forget which tracks are on which albums to be honest. The one with "Garden", "Smile", "Eat Y'Self Fitter" etc. might be a good start cos it mixes elements from the Brix-era and the pre-Brix era.
― Tom (Groke), Monday, 14 October 2002 09:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
Another vote for Slates! That and 'Hip Priest & Kamerads' are the most perfect Fall records I've heard. The latter is the best introduction because it collects lots of the best stuff from the pinnacle period and has plenty of variety. The live version of Who Makes the Nazis on it is far superior to the one on Hex Enduction Hour. It has Room to Live which is one of my faves: best key change evah! The EP it's on of the same name has a bad reputation so best to get it here probably.
― Keith McD (Keith McD), Monday, 14 October 2002 10:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
Anyway, Nation's is a good album to get into later. I'd start with Live at the Witch Trials.
― Diego Hadis (dhadis), Monday, 14 October 2002 13:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
458489 is a good listen, much more consistant than most of the Brix period releases, although I'd say The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall is the best album of that period.
― earlnash, Monday, 14 October 2002 21:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― tacit (tacit), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 10:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Amarga, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 11:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
That is my two cents anyways.
― Juan Marquez, Thursday, 17 October 2002 18:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
I'm with this.
Personal starting point for me was Palace of Swords Reversed. FUCKING GENIUS. Yes. Out of print, though, but I gather other comps nearly cover the same ground -- further wibblings of mine here (and for better or worse, I'd say a good half or more of the reviews of the regular albums are mine as well...).
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 October 2002 19:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― g (graysonlane), Thursday, 17 October 2002 19:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:p-h-nkDccvHqWM:http://bp2.blogger.com/_uB-0D-gV8mY/Rv8eg3ualUI/AAAAAAAAEO4/Y0-8QPx8rZg/s400/Room_to_Live.jpeg
This record is driving me crazy all over again.
― The More You Live The Faster You Will Die (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 28 September 2008 08:58 (fifteen years ago) link
I mean, really, what could you possibly need out of the Fall that that record doesn't deliver? "Marquis Cha-Cha" is a song I've always considered a primary gateway drug for those unfamiliar with The Fall. And I've already blabbed enough on my blog about "Hard Life In Country", so I'll try to remain silent here.
― The More You Live The Faster You Will Die (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 28 September 2008 09:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Totally agreed. LOVE IT. Always been weird to me that of the EP's bookending Hex, Slates gets so much more notice.
So many peaks. "Solicitor in Studio" always sounds to me like a band that knows how great it is but just can't deal anymore w/ playing cool about it, and it just bubbles over. Also: "Detective Instinct" has to be as concentrated a distillation of the MES Gogol-on-greenies m.o. as exists in the catalog...going to listen now!
― Hadrian VIII, Sunday, 28 September 2008 12:34 (fifteen years ago) link
my version of this is the Line reissue with the "Lie-Dream"/"Fantastic Life" single added to it. For years I thought those were part of the record proper. With them added, this is an amazing Fall album. Without, well, still good but not in my top ten. "Hard Life In Country" is my fave for some reason, even with its relentless grinding repetition.
― sleeve, Sunday, 28 September 2008 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
There really is no wrong place to start with the Fall, pre '90s work at least. About five years ago I just started picking up the '80s albums as I found them used and heard them in the order I did. In general, I strongly believe the best place to start in any catalog is not necessarily the "canonical" album. Nowhere to go but downhill, theoretically speaking, from there.
My favorite Fall album is probably Bend Sinister. I still only have heard a bit of the '90s stuff though. A long way to go!
― ilxor, Sunday, 28 September 2008 17:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Absolutely agreed on 'Room to Live'. I've only listened to it for the first time very recently, long after I'd absorbed the rest of their pre-Brix material. As much as I love 'Slates', this really does deserve as much attention.
― Millsner, Sunday, 28 September 2008 18:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Well, 'Room To Live' was my first Fall album, but it didn't make a fan of me. However, the next one, 'This Nation's Saving Grace' did.
― zeus, Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:16 (fifteen years ago) link
a mate of mine asked me this very question the other week; i gave him a lend of "50,000 fall fans" but said -- and i'd stand by this! -- that "imperial wax solvent" is a fucking awesome place to start.
― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:39 (fifteen years ago) link
fwiw here is the Fall fan site's poll:
After 27 weeks of round robin polls on the forum, the 2008 Fall Albums League has finished. The 27 studio albums (not including Imperial Wax Solvent, which hadn't been released at the start of the competition) finished in this order:
1. Hex Enduction Hour2. Perverted By Language3. Grotesque4. Slates5. This Nation's Saving Grace6. Dragnet7. The Real New Fall LP Formerly C.O.T.C.8. The Wonderful And Frightening World Of...9. The Unutterable10. Bend Sinister
11. Room To Live12. The Frenz Experiment13. The Infotainment Scan14. Live At The Witch Trials15. Extricate16. Fall Heads Roll17. I Am Kurious Oranj18. Levitate19. Code: Selfish20. The Light User Syndrome
21. Shift-Work22. The Marshall Suite23. Middle Class Revolt24. Cerebral Caustic25. Reformation Post TLC26. Are You Are Missing Winner27. Seminal Live
So a pretty high showing for Room To Live. And Fall Heads Roll is not that good, wtf.
― sleeve, Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:53 (fifteen years ago) link
For Brix-era stuff I've always liked Bend Sinister the most. If you like Wings, there are plenty of similar dark twisted tales herein, especially the opener R.O.D; plus upbeat organ-driventhings.Pre-Brix you can't go wrong with the holy trinity: Grosteque, Slates, Hex
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:54 (fifteen years ago) link
it's when i look at lists like that i remember i obviously hear very different things in the fall to a lot of other listeners ;)
― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 28 September 2008 19:59 (fifteen years ago) link
I find that over twenty years of Fall fandom I mostly listen to one album to represent each epoch. Live At the Witch Trials, This Nation's Saving Grace, and Middle Class Revolt cover it for me (although I own a bunch of other great ones). Slates, Hex, Bend Sinister... great albums. I just never play them anymore.
― Nate Carson, Sunday, 28 September 2008 20:53 (fifteen years ago) link
"Hard Life In Country" folks. They ought to put that out to the aliens from other planets as one of the best things the human race has achieved here on earth.
― The More You Live The Faster You Will Die (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Monday, 29 September 2008 08:36 (fifteen years ago) link
SOLICITOR IN STUDIO
― The More You Live The Faster You Will Die (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Monday, 29 September 2008 08:50 (fifteen years ago) link
wait!!! Grimly has a new screen name that involves John Cooper Clarke!! I've been outdone! Oh my god, I've been outdone.
― The More You Live The Faster You Will Die (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Monday, 29 September 2008 08:52 (fifteen years ago) link
... by everyone....
― Mark G, Monday, 29 September 2008 08:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Globo have covered the whole of "This Nations Saving Grace"
http://www.globo.org.uk/
(beware the embedded mp3 on that page. 'LA' on the Freak Zone on Sunday sounded better than 'Couldn't Get Ahead' here)
― koogs, Monday, 29 September 2008 13:10 (fifteen years ago) link
http://vox2.cdn.amiestreet.com/album-art/50-000-Fall-Fans-Can%E2%80%99t-Be-Wrong-(39-Golden-Greats)-by-The-Fall_58327_full.jpg
^^a comp, but definitely made me a fan
gives you some sort of roadmap to all their different eras etc, they can be a hard band to figure out as a newbie
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 29 September 2008 15:06 (fifteen years ago) link
of course...
Oh! The Fall John Peel Sessions box set! OH! you guys.
― Mark G, Monday, 29 September 2008 15:13 (fifteen years ago) link
'50,000 Fall Fans...' definitely took me from curiosity to full-on obsession when I first dipped into the back catalogue. Prior to that, all I'd heard was the Peel session of 'Blindness' and a couple of tracks from 'This Nation's Saving Grace'. It's a great place to start, contains a nice booklet with a basic discography, etc.
― Millsner, Monday, 29 September 2008 17:48 (fifteen years ago) link
off topic but i have just finished reading "the fallen" by dave simpson, where he tracks down the former members of the fall. great stuff and highly recommended.
― stirmonster, Monday, 29 September 2008 21:37 (fifteen years ago) link
it's on my list ... once i've finished "a disaffection" ... oh, and a fucking mountain of psychology articles. and "neurophysiology for numpties". tits.
his wee piece in the grauniad the other week ("i lost my girlfriend because i was too busy chasing around drummers from the fall") was fundamentally depressing, mind.
― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Monday, 29 September 2008 21:43 (fifteen years ago) link
is that an actual book?
― sleeve, Monday, 29 September 2008 23:22 (fifteen years ago) link
what, dave simpson's? yeh, he deci ... oh, you mean "neurophysiology for numpties". no. sadly.
― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 30 September 2008 09:51 (fifteen years ago) link
ASIDE:anyone know that blog that made it a project to go through every fall release ever and review with links to the albums? i just looked at it recently and cannot remember where.
― andrew m., Tuesday, 30 September 2008 14:35 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah, or through ILX. You should know. You sent me one the other day and I responded.
― Roasted Ghost (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 19 October 2008 03:50 (fifteen years ago) link
oh. did you respond...i never found it. how do i find it?
― Goofus vs. Gallant (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 19 October 2008 03:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Look in your spam folder? I'm newdawnfades.
― Roasted Ghost (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 19 October 2008 03:58 (fifteen years ago) link
also you keep writing me from that robot address which I don't understand either. I don't think you got the last email I sent back to that address, either!
― Roasted Ghost (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 19 October 2008 03:59 (fifteen years ago) link
yes bcz i sent an email fom the link in one of yr posts, from now on i will just send it from my email address...
also ignore the captchas comment
― Goofus vs. Gallant (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 19 October 2008 04:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Arright. :)
― Roasted Ghost (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Sunday, 19 October 2008 04:03 (fifteen years ago) link
email sent. sry bout that.
― Goofus vs. Gallant (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 19 October 2008 04:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm listening to Detective Instinct, now, though and I don't hear anyone going "FFfs" in the background. So I'm not sure what you were talking about. Can you describe the sound better?
― Hot Pants Floyd (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Thursday, 16 October 2008 02:57 (3 days ago)
Listen carefully! Or (horror) maybe they've been remastered out! Christ. No, anyway, it's someone in the background going 'ff ff'. I had to have it pointed out to me.
On a connected but more general not, those little sounds and mutterings and strange background washes are often what make Fall songs so good, among all the other things.
And whoever said there are great sonic riches to be had after Extricate is quite Korrekt - I was getting a great deal of enjoyment from the opening 30 seconds of Two Face for example - however, in terms of albums, high-water marks are Levitate, The Unutterable, Are You Are Missing Winner (nay stare not so) and The Real New Fall LP. But of course all of them are necessary really.
I think Scanlon in some ways was more of a loss than Hanley, although both tower above the earth like musical colossussesses-ah.
Von Sudenfed immensely enjoyable. And their gig last year was one of the best I've seen.
― GamalielRatsey, Sunday, 19 October 2008 10:54 (fifteen years ago) link
How I envy anyone just getting into the Fall for the first time.
First discovered the band in early 87 after buying a copy of It's the new thing 7" from a great record shop in Colne purely on the basis of the cover. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. Went out immediately and bought Bend Sinister which is still one of my all time favourites and ordered copies of Witch Trials and Dragnet along with the German Line records white vinyl copies of Hex Enduction Hour and Room To Live. The whole concept of music just twisted 90 degrees in my head and it's never gone back to how it had been before...Total joy!
Aw sod it...just get the blummin lot of them...they are worth having, even mid 90's stuff and some of the post Scanlan/Hanley, pre, new-millenial-renaissance stuff have tracks of breathtaking scope and imagination.
― Sven Hassel Schmuck, Sunday, 19 October 2008 13:35 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm sorta getting into The Fall! The three albums I have are The Light User Syndrome (awesome, awesome), The Marshall Suite (pretty good) and Perverted By Language (very cool stuff) and some Fontana years compilation I haven't listened to yet. I will expand my collection at some stage.
― 100 tons of hardrofl beyond zings (Just got offed), Sunday, 19 October 2008 14:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Ned Raggett is an anagram for "Get Dragnet" -- his recommendation?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Wednesday, 24 February 2010 04:23 (fourteen years ago) link
ned?
― Mark G, Wednesday, 24 February 2010 07:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd start with Slates. It's short and sweet, and one of the best things they ever put out. Quite representative, and real variety. There's their angular pop side with Leave the Capitol, the creeping menace of An Older Lover, the 2-chord vamp/rant of Slates, Slags etc, and a glorious blast of punk noise in Pink Press Threat.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 24 February 2010 11:43 (fourteen years ago) link
> "Personal starting point for me was Palace of Swords Reversed. FUCKING GENIUS."> Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 October 2002 19:18 (7 years ago) Bookmark
― koogs, Wednesday, 24 February 2010 12:40 (fourteen years ago) link
I think I was pretty much happy with Slates and This Nation's for a long time. Been listening to Dragnet, Perveted by Language, Hex Education, The Wonderful and Frightening World..., Grotesque over the last week and loving it all, mostly. Re-listening to Slates and that is just one of the best records ever, on a track-by-track basis with no hint of a drop-off but its weird to think of The Fall as just a band that releases records rather than a world that was mapped out by MES, Brix and these scruffy looking people from a part of Manchester. I wouldn't want to listen to Slates in isolation anymore.
I'll look at the Unutterable sometime.
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 10:48 (three years ago) link
IMO everything they did in the studio from 79-89 is worth your time. After that it's hit or miss, I know there are plenty of people who will rep for individual albums after that but I find the 90s almost completely covered by "A Past Gone Mad" and "A World Bewitched" compilations. Even the esteemed "The Unutterable" is let down by a string of tracks towards the end. I much prefer my 00s playlist, all killer no filler. But then again, no two Fall fans will agree what tracks fall into which category.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:02 (three years ago) link
Is your playlist public, Gerald?
― Guitar Dick (morrisp), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 15:17 (three years ago) link
The run from Dragnet to Bend Sinister made them my favourite band growing up, but there was a really swift drop in quality after that. Smith suddenly seemed to lose intensity and lyrical focus from The Frenz Experiment onwards, with Seminal Live being a particular nadir - the live songs on it weren't seminal, and the few semi-demi-seminal songs weren't live.
Yes, Stewart Lee did a really good job in compiling A Past Gone Mad for the 90s output, and individual 00s songs such as the Peel version of 'Blindness' still have the power to surprise. My attention wanders whenever I try to listen to a whole 00s album though. The best songs on the last few albums tended to be the ones where the band locked into a riff and Smith's vocals were almost incidental, such as this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l6FkGXjULQ
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:37 (three years ago) link
+1 would love to see your playlist gerald
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
― koogs, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 7:40 AM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink
this^
― Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 17:46 (three years ago) link
I'm old, so when I say 'playlist' I mean 'I cherry-picked these tracks and created my own local MP3 compilation'. I edited a few tracks that went on way too long, too. Here's the tracklisting:
Best Of The 21st Century (6 hours long!)
Cyber Insekt / Two Librans / W.B. / Sons Of Temperance / Dr. Bucks' Letter / Way Round / Ketamine Sun (extract) / Hands Up Billy - The UnutterableJim's The Fall / Bourgeois Town / My Ex-Classmates Kids / Reprise: Jane - Prof. Mick - Ey Bastardo - Are You Are Missing WinnerSusan Vs Youthclub - singleGreen Eyed Loco-Man / Theme From Sparta F.C. #2 / Contraflow (Country On The Click version) / Open The Boxtosis #2 / The Past (Country On The Click version) / (We Are) Mod Mock Goth / Proteinprotection - The Real New Fall LPBlindness (version) - InterimI Wake Up In The City - 2G+2Pacifying Joint / What About Us? / Assume / I Can Hear The Grass Grow / Bo Demmick / Youwanner / Clasp Hands / Trust In Me - Fall Heads RollReformation! / Fall Sound / My Door Is Never / Das Boat (edit) / Systematic Abuse - Reformation Post-TLCAlton Towers / Wolf Kidult Man / 50 Year Old Man (edit) / I've Been Duped / Can Can Summer / Tommy Shooter / Senior Twilight Stock Replacer - Imperial Wax SolventO.F.Y.C. Showcase / Bury Pts. 1+3 / Hot Cake / Slippy Floor (edit) / Chino - Your Future Our ClutterTaking Off / Nate Will Not Return / Greenway / I've Seen Them Come / Age Of Chang - Ersatz GBSir William Wray / Hittite Man / Victrola Time - Re-MitMister Rode - The RemaindererDedication Not Medication (LP version) / Auto Chip 2014-2016 / Quit iPhone - Sub-Lingual TabletWise Ol' Man (edit) / All Leave Cancelled - Wise Ol' ManFol De Rol / Brillo De Facto / O! Zztrrk Man / Groundsboy - New Facts Emerge
And these MES guest appearances:Not Clean - GhostigitalFledermaus Can't Get It / The Rhinohead / Family Feud / Duckrog / Chicken Yiamas / That Sound Wiped / Dearest Friends - von SudenfedReal Good Time Together / Mettle Claw - MES & Ed BlarneyBlow Up Muscles - MESMolocular Meditation / VS Cancelled - MES & Jan St. Wener
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 19:47 (three years ago) link
missing "Loadstones" but lots of great stuff in there!
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 20:14 (three years ago) link
Interesting article in Record Collector (Luke Haines) suggesting that "Your future our clutter" was the last one where Mark sounded like himself, and "Ersatz" had a drastically different voice, possibly because illness. Being as how YFOC was the last fall album I got, I'll have to use your picks to catch up with.
― Mark G, Thursday, 15 October 2020 08:44 (three years ago) link
Gerald’s selection is missing OFYC’s most breathtaking track! But excellent work otherwise
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 15 October 2020 13:24 (three years ago) link
Great work even though you've missed out loads of my faves etc grumble ;)
Don't sleep on the Imperial Wax (the band) album btw. I think it's their second best behind OFYC, and I LIKE latter-day Fall
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Thursday, 15 October 2020 13:44 (three years ago) link
Auto Chip 2014-2016 is miraculous though yeah. I think Smith is a big part of that one though! HOW BAD ARE ENGLISH MUSICIANS!
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Thursday, 15 October 2020 13:45 (three years ago) link
My journey started with this, which I loved and stewed over for a few months:
https://img.discogs.com/EOwNbN0eeT2dyA_Z045PP7INobo=/fit-in/543x544/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-617685-1193743949.jpeg.jpg
Then, I just dove into a deep end with this, thanks to a well-timed Borders gift card blessing:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Completepeelsessions.jpg
Only then did I start picking up reissues of the older stuff and keeping up with the then current albums as they came out.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 15 October 2020 14:17 (three years ago) link
tough to go wrong with those at your first two, tbh
― sleeve, Thursday, 15 October 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link
*as* your first two
I mean, it worked! Turned me into a huge fan.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 15 October 2020 14:27 (three years ago) link
Oh the Peel box is absolutely epic, but I always figured it was overdose for a new fan. The two that got me into the fold were "Palace Of Swords Reversed" (still one of my all-time favorite compilations) and "A-Sides 84-89".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:17 (three years ago) link
My first was 458489 A-Sides, which I immediately liked, but I don’t think I truly “got” it until I heard Grotesque.
― spastic heritage, Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:18 (three years ago) link
"Words of Expectation" on the first disc in the Peel Set is my very favorite thing in the world
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:23 (three years ago) link
discovered the fall in 89 with bend sinister when i found it on sale at woolworths. quickly acquired all of the beggars banquet albums as they were easily available, then it was palace of swords reversed that introduced me to the early fall stuff.
― visiting, Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:36 (three years ago) link
mine was hearing "The Man Whose Head Expanded" on the radio around time of release, first record I heard/got was Wonderful & Frightening World
― sleeve, Thursday, 15 October 2020 19:57 (three years ago) link
wonderful & frightening world was for the longest time my least liked album... i had the cassette version with tons of extra tracks and it was just too much to take! now it's my favorite.
― visiting, Thursday, 15 October 2020 20:03 (three years ago) link
yep, I love that tape version
― sleeve, Thursday, 15 October 2020 20:31 (three years ago) link
Loved the b-sides collection . some weird shit.first saw them around Xmas 83 then several times over the next couple of years. Probably last in Belfast in like 95.
LOve that Dragnet, Hex Enduction era and a little later. Not really investigated their later years overmuch.
The BBC history documentary was quite good too.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 15 October 2020 20:41 (three years ago) link
i started with Grotesque and it worked, had everything in short order afterwards
― rip van wanko, Thursday, 15 October 2020 20:46 (three years ago) link
I'd heard "Bingo Master" on the Rhino DiY Uk Punk II comp in the mid-'90s and the way MES's vox didn't quite sit on the beat unnerved me a bit. Nonetheless in 2000, when Early Years 77-79 was reissued, I decided to take the plunge and found I liked this slightly off-center approach, with the dinky electric piano and this guy who sounded kind of punk but seemed to put himself somewhere above it, and I wanted more. A year as a student (MES be not proud) in England then made it possible to track down most of the studio albums, where the real catalyst for my fandom was 458489 A-Sides.
For me one of the magical things about a lot of Fall albums (Hex, Frenz, Unutterable, and Reformation were examples) was how they would be opaque at first, still baffling on the second listen, and then would suddenly click on the third. Some were more immediate (Infotainment, Marshall Suite, Dragnet), a few never quite got there (Kurious Oranj, Middle Class Revolt) and one seemed like a dud but after several listens over a few years eventually became a lower-tier favorite (Cerebral Caustic).
I'm not sure the post-YFOC stuff has that thing there that takes extra listens to "get," though I quite like a couple of these (Re-Mit is a bit skimpy but fun, SLT has the best overall quality of the Cherry Red albums).
I think if I were advising a newcomer who was actually interested in physical product (do these exist?), you could do a lot worse than Cherry Red's singles box, despite its somewhat dubious logic in terms of B-side selection — you could choose the A-sides only option. The first disc of both comps, from "Bingo Master" through "Cruiser's Creek," makes about as good a case for the greatness of The Fall as any single disc I've heard.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Thursday, 15 October 2020 21:05 (three years ago) link
Cassette version of wonderful and frightening was my intro to the fall as well True it’s an enormous amount of music but you only had to listen to one side at a time
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Friday, 16 October 2020 00:35 (three years ago) link