― dave k, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevie mitch, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― queenoftheharpies, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J Blount, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― unknown or illegal user, Tuesday, 25 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gareth, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dan, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jack Cole, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Jawbone and the air rifle for the following reasons:
The lines" The villagers dance round prefabs and laugh through twisted mouths, don't eat it's disallowed, suck on a marrowbone or energy from the mainland" These words bring to mind an image only suppassed by the "Wicheta lineman"
The "We don't give a shit if we can sing" Out of tune backing vocals, Scanlon and Hanley I think, on every live version I have ever heard.
The line "Getting drunk fills me with guilt" Which pretty much sums up my own feelings every time that after hours drink turns into a beerfest finishing in the early hours of the morning (Usually with me singing Fall songs and scaring taxi drivers/my wife/my daughter)
Just the sheer Fallness of the song as a whole. It encapsulates most of what has ever been great about the band, Loud scrapey guitars, simple repetative bassline and Incredibly skewed lyrical content.
― Kris England., Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
For REAL gutsy ballsy Fall I go for 'Couldn't get ahead'.
― Ian, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
ans = "spectre vs rector"
― mark s, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Senor Pulpo, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
(With print you substitute an ear for an extra useless eye)
― Dr. C, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Guest Informant, now that Tom mentions it, would be my second choice, for the section where the two sets of vocals overlap and there's this rilly great spoken-word meets polyrhythm that puts all the best of the L.A.N.G.U.A.G.E. poets to shame. Bremen Nacht because I imagine a decedent weimar era brass band belting it out as the reichstag burns and they know that tomorrow they will flee.
Third best fall track: Conduit For Sale, followed closely by The Empty Page.
― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― baxter wingnut, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Simone, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Daver, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alexander Blair, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kris England, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Andrew, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― maryann, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 3 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― rex jr., Wednesday, 19 March 2003 21:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
It opens with 'The X in Xmas is a substitute crucifix for Christ', stops in the middle for a brief rendition of Good King Wenceslas before descending into horrendously atonal 'ahhhhh, ah-ah ah AHHHHHHH's for pretty much for the rest of the song, and because the (possibly aforementioned) live version features Mess shouting 'CANYERFUCKINGEDDIT T'GETHER INSTEAD'OSHOWINOFF' at the bassist for pissing about too much.
― Ferg (Ferg), Thursday, 20 March 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 20 March 2003 00:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
It will not drag me downI will leave this ten times townI will leave this fucking dumpOne room, one roomHotel maids smile in unisonThen you know in your brainYou know in your brainLEAVE THE CAPITOLEXIT THIS ROMAN SHELL
― scott m (mcd), Thursday, 20 March 2003 01:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 20 March 2003 02:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 20 March 2003 02:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 20 March 2003 05:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
I have since bought Grotesque. I would probably go with "Pay Your Rates" now, but that 2nd unnamed track on my CD copy of Grotesque is great, too. I am so clueless on the Fall that I don't even know what the song is called.
I had heard and loved "Totally Wired" before I bought Grotesque, but on the album it fairly pales next to "How I Wrote Elastic Man". What a fecking great album.
― Aaron A., Thursday, 20 March 2003 06:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― christoff (christoff), Thursday, 20 March 2003 14:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 17 July 2004 18:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― holojames (holojames), Sunday, 18 July 2004 10:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 18 July 2004 13:50 (nineteen years ago) link
Second choice: "Mr.Pharmacist".
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 18 July 2004 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Sunday, 18 July 2004 14:32 (nineteen years ago) link
Or you can make a choice that seems all wrong by the above criterion, but which in the concealed, outlawed context makes the only kind of coherent sense.
So I'm picking a bloody cover version of all things.
'I'm Going To Spain'
― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 18 July 2004 18:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― ttt, Sunday, 18 July 2004 19:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― sherm, Sunday, 18 July 2004 21:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― f ath, Sunday, 18 July 2004 21:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― artdamages (artdamages), Sunday, 18 July 2004 22:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 18 July 2004 22:07 (nineteen years ago) link
At the moment, for song alone, I'd say 'Tempo House'. That rhythm kicks my arse, and the lyrics are great; "Winston Churchill had a speech imp-p-pedament, and look what he did; erased half of London..." "Hooray hooray". At one stage though, I used to dance around my room in my underwear doing air guitar to 'Hip Priest'.
― Sasha (sgh), Sunday, 18 July 2004 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 18 July 2004 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link
the October 1998 Peel Session is shockingly bad, a real nadir
#3, #4, #5 #6, #11, #12 and #19 are all candidates,but it's #22 for me.It came after the group had exploded in America, amidst uncertainty about both The Fall's future and the quality of what they would produce. The session that The Fall came up with - #22 - to announce their return was remarkable for this reason alone.However, it was exceptional in other ways. It was incredibly raw sounding, as Peel said at the time it was like they had gone back to a Dragnet sound. Smith has never recorded sourer more rancorous vocals; the incredulous stuttering anger of Bound Soul, the impenetrable pained howling on Antidotes, the thin misanthropic nihilism of the Saints cover This Perfect Day, and the deranged Shake Off, the lyrics of which sound like they're being heard through a fever.The black void behind the music is palpable, a feeling increased by the way Smith's pre and post tune instructions are left in - you are aware of the alchemy of The Fall, the something out of nothing, the something strange out of the perfectly ordinary. It's a dreadful, sinister, corruscating session and sounds utterly timeless so primitive is it.It has the characteristics of the best Fall - sparse and dense at the same time, detailed but primal, mundane and magical - and it has them inNot since early versions of The Hip Priest has music sounded less like music and more like invocation, incantation and exorcism - 'bad unafeared art'.I remembering listening to it through headphones as it was broadcast - I still think that's the best way to listen to it - the hairs on the back of neck bristling with the febrile excitement that it invoked, terrifyingly reminded of the statement of intent from Fantastic Life -Ours is not to look back, ours is to continue the craft.― Abbe Black Tentacle (GamalielRatsey), Wednesday, 25 February 2009 13:20 (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink
but it's #22 for me.
It came after the group had exploded in America, amidst uncertainty about both The Fall's future and the quality of what they would produce. The session that The Fall came up with - #22 - to announce their return was remarkable for this reason alone.
However, it was exceptional in other ways. It was incredibly raw sounding, as Peel said at the time it was like they had gone back to a Dragnet sound. Smith has never recorded sourer more rancorous vocals; the incredulous stuttering anger of Bound Soul, the impenetrable pained howling on Antidotes, the thin misanthropic nihilism of the Saints cover This Perfect Day, and the deranged Shake Off, the lyrics of which sound like they're being heard through a fever.
The black void behind the music is palpable, a feeling increased by the way Smith's pre and post tune instructions are left in - you are aware of the alchemy of The Fall, the something out of nothing, the something strange out of the perfectly ordinary. It's a dreadful, sinister, corruscating session and sounds utterly timeless so primitive is it.
It has the characteristics of the best Fall - sparse and dense at the same time, detailed but primal, mundane and magical - and it has them in
Not since early versions of The Hip Priest has music sounded less like music and more like invocation, incantation and exorcism - 'bad unafeared art'.
I remembering listening to it through headphones as it was broadcast - I still think that's the best way to listen to it - the hairs on the back of neck bristling with the febrile excitement that it invoked, terrifyingly reminded of the statement of intent from Fantastic Life -
Ours is not to look back, ours is to continue the craft.
― Abbe Black Tentacle (GamalielRatsey), Wednesday, 25 February 2009 13:20 (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― imago, Thursday, 30 December 2021 00:29 (two years ago) link
you are extremely wrong
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 00:31 (two years ago) link
it is the worst thing I have ever heard them do by a wide margin
that I specifically remembered how bad it was after 57 CDs should tell you something
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 00:32 (two years ago) link
"Repetition" -- the blueprint for the Fall and the Universe.
― Jack Cole, Tuesday, June 25, 2002 5:00 PM (nineteen years ago)
thought the Bingo-Master's Break-Out! single from 1978, with Psycho Mafia, Bingo Master, and Repetition was great
― Dan S, Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:04 (two years ago) link
liked The Unutterable, also Von Südenfed's Tromatic Reflexxions
― Dan S, Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:19 (two years ago) link
‘Tis the season: https://nealmarkowski.bandcamp.com/album/hex-mas-enduction-hour
― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:23 (two years ago) link
Sleeve, which 90s albums did you find the most consistent?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:31 (two years ago) link
Shift-Work is my fave, Extricate a close second, Light User Syndrome 3rd, then probably Code Selfish > Infotainment > Levitate = Middle Class Revolt = Cerebral Caustic
27 Points is a lot of fun as well because of Brix involvement, same with the era's Peel sessions (that Glam-Racket/Star <3)
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:45 (two years ago) link
I note also that Shift-Work is the only one with the violin player, which may explain why I adore its idiosyncratic sound
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:46 (two years ago) link
Marshall Suite would also be in that last group altho the high points are really high
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:48 (two years ago) link
e.g. "The Crying Marshall" which is just unbelievably great
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:49 (two years ago) link
Wasn’t that Perl Session after he had the fight with his band and beat up his girlfriend in New York?
― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:54 (two years ago) link
yep, and it shows. that was in April.
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 01:56 (two years ago) link
'his girlfriend' is no way to refer to Julia Nagle, architect of their sound during my preferred period for the band (Levitate through Unutterable) and my clear favourite 'other' Fall member
also, *I* am extremely wrong? I was simply presenting another user's opinion, one which has stayed with me through the years, as counterpoint to your own
The Crying Marshall is indeed superb, the Nagle era is noticeable for each album having a monster-banger dance remix on it (4 1/2 Inch, TCM, Serum)
― imago, Thursday, 30 December 2021 02:05 (two years ago) link
I note also that Shift-Work is the only one with the violin player
on Extricate too!
― visiting, Thursday, 30 December 2021 02:26 (two years ago) link
Code Selfish and Levitate are my favorite 90s fall, followed by Infotainment ScanDisc 1 of A World Bewitched is ridiculously essential as well
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 30 December 2021 02:30 (two years ago) link
damn, haven't been watching the Fall discography since MES' death, but I count 24 live sets plus a 10 show/11 CD set released since 2018? any recommendations from that flood?
― bulb after bulb, Thursday, 30 December 2021 02:53 (two years ago) link
The 1982 box is great stuff I’m not sure about all the other live releases, some of them have certainly looked pretty half assed. Clitheroe Castle is a great concert but shitty sound
― covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:07 (two years ago) link
There's some excitement on the Fall Forum about two recently discovered archival recordings: the full Electric Circus gig (along with all the other bands' EC gigs recorded by Virgin), as well as what's purportedly the first or second Fall gig, recorded to a reel-to-reel.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Thursday, 30 December 2021 05:02 (two years ago) link
yeah I would avoid the live cash-ins, except for the St. Helens 1981 set on Castle Face which iirc is the only legit one?m also very good.
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Thursday, 30 December 2021 16:00 (two years ago) link
have been spending some time with middle-class revolt recently. pretty unloved album i gather but i saw them around that time and thought it was really great - this very gig in fact
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rx2Y956Oq0
reckoning, m5, hey student, 15 ways, behind the counter - they’re pretty good! maybe bad fall songs? I dunno i am no fall scholar clearly
(I also saw them sometime in the 2010s and thought it was pretty awful)
― lemmy incaution (emsworth), Thursday, 30 December 2021 21:56 (two years ago) link
Always and forever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzNe1NeFzRE
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 31 December 2021 12:38 (two years ago) link
I defy Anyone (that’s Anyone) who hates, or is indifferent, or the rest of us, yeah?, to not acknowledge that this is brilliant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIZ7AhqflYM
― Mark G, Friday, 31 December 2021 13:16 (two years ago) link
Never liked "No Bulbs" much and that long version has always tested my patience (though Wonderful and Frightening is one of my favorite Fall albums).
― visiting, Friday, 31 December 2021 17:02 (two years ago) link
Oh the long version is one of my favorite tracks evah!!
― best BASSMAN sticker on Etsy (morrisp), Friday, 31 December 2021 17:04 (two years ago) link
The extra long No Bulbs is the Fall’s own Marquee Moon
― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 31 December 2021 17:44 (two years ago) link
Wow
― Me IRL, U URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 31 December 2021 17:46 (two years ago) link
have been spending some time with middle-class revolt recently. pretty unloved album i gather but i saw them around that time and thought it was really great - this very gig in fact 📹reckoning, m5, hey student, 15 ways, behind the counter - they’re pretty good! maybe bad fall songs? I dunno i am no fall scholar clearly (I also saw them sometime in the 2010s and thought it was pretty awful)
― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 31 December 2021 17:49 (two years ago) link
I'd say MES had already gotten pretty personal on the Fontana albums (Bill Is Dead, Edinburgh Man).
MCR is a weird one in that about half of it is really good, or at least fun, but as a whole it just kind of drags. Infotainment is one of the most consistently excellent Fall albums, but it almost goes down too smooth. (Their lone top 10 album!)
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 31 December 2021 21:18 (two years ago) link
I think I agree with that, I don't dislike MCR by any means but it's uneven
that live version of "War" from the Phoenix set linked above is really good
― chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Friday, 31 December 2021 21:31 (two years ago) link
I always took Bill is Dead as kind of ironic and, due to the unavailability of the other Fontana albums in the uUS never heard Edinburgh Man until years later— and I didn’t even know until he’d died that he had relocated there briefly.
― A Pile of Ants (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 31 December 2021 21:37 (two years ago) link
Is this the best Fall thread?
Just found this footage of them playing Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" in 2015 and had to share.
Youtube link - track starts around 28:30 if the timing doesn't work.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 24 February 2023 23:09 (one year ago) link