Why does anyone like the Fall?

Fol De Rol

http://thequietus.com/articles/22610-brand-new-the-fall

Also, they are playing in NYC for the first time since forever. A five night stand!

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-fall-playing-five-nights-at-babys-all-right-in-september/

Yes! They announced a Kentucky show a few weeks ago and I was worried I'd have to make some very complicated plans.

i'm having trouble deciding which night or two to go to, though! I can imagine first night being the best because of momentum or being a shitshow because of travel exhaustion. I can imagine the last night being the best because of comfort w/venue or being a shitshow because MES did too many bad things in NYC. Etc etc

If I had a choice I'd probably go with one of the earlier shows. Realistically, the only one I can make is probably the last one since it's a Saturday.

pretty hard rock :/

btw
ed as always by Mark E. Smith, and featuring Peter Greenway (guitar, synth, backing vocals). Dave Spurr (bass, Mellotron, backing vocals) and Keiron Melling (drums).

did him and Elena split??? i don't really hear synths....that sucks if true she was the most interesting musical thing going on

yes they did, it's sad. I really liked her contributions. However, this is the most stripped down lineup he has used in a looong time, and that interests me

the most stripped down since granny played the bongos

i like a stripped down lineup but these guys are so...i dunno..."good" in a not interesting way, like they have a real session vibe to be

i dunno like there's an almost like 80s metal vibe to that main riff that weirds me out

though i react poorly to a lot of new fall stuff then sometimes end up loving it

his vocal sound unhinged like emphysema-as-autotune

This lot were behind OFYC so I have some faith (and every album since has had a couple of great tracks at least), sure Elena will be a big miss

good to know abt OFYC lineup, I can't keep track anymore

This lot have been in situ since Imperial Wax Solvent! Longest stable line-up ever

Yeah basically
This is almost all the people who made OFYC so potential for stupendous excellence is real

love OFYC

i dunno, honestly i was hoping he would shake-up the lineup a bit i feel like this band has codified this sort bruising, precise repetitive heavy riff thing a bit too much

though the one aspect of the i DIDN'T want to see go was Elena...though I suppose that change has zero to do with music.

lord i bet she could write a book and a half

My post-OFYC mixtape:

Taking Off
Dedication Not Medication
Greenway
Mister Rode
Monocard
No Respects Rev.
Auto Chip 2014-2016
Jetplane
Jam Song
Loadstones

i have no idea who's in The Fall of the 21st century besides MES.

xp I would also like to put in a word for All Leave Cancelled.

Jetplane and Loadstones are two of his best songs regardless of era imo.

man, I really need to catch up on the last few. I know they're on Spotify, I should just buy CDs.

I thought Sub-Lingual Tablet had some winning Grotesque-like moments

can anyone comment on the CD vs LP differences on that one?

Some versions of tracks are quite different (the recording/arrangement even) between the two versions. I heard the CD first so that might have prejudiced me, but overall it seems to me the material there is sharper. When The Quietus gave the album a bad review (sort of bizarrely, given that they usually support the band and arguably SLT is their best work this decade), one of the commenters mentioned that several of the review's criticisms seemed to pertain to the vinyl version and were redressed by the CD. I would concur.

thank you! I see one song is also slightly longer on CD

I liked SLT a lot

Re-Mit is fun too, this lineups version of a party record

I just snapped up Ersazt and Re-Mit, will pick up SLT soon and that'll catch me up to the new one

My main regret is that reformation post tlc did not sound even slightly like the mammoth hawkwindesque show they played here when the Americans and the current Britishes were briefly all in the lineup together

was that lineup recorded live?

I don't think so... live hammersmith does not have the American kids right?

I keep hoping I'll find an audience recording of that one I was at (greenpoint, Brooklyn, 2007)

The Hammersmith CD/DVD does actually have the American band, or at least some of them.

In combo with Dave the eagle and them?

new track isn't too bad you know

holy fuck "Loadstones" is incredible

^

^!

but... why do some of you abbreviate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Future_Our_Clutter to OFYC ? Is it because of the first track?

iirc spine and cover have the title in different orders

oh, and also, (I should have read my own link) - "The album had previously been referred to as Our Future Your Clutter."

9/11 and 9/17 NYC dates added!

still binge-listening to Ersatz GB and Re-Mit, fully back on the Fall kick and will get SLT soon, maybe will write up more thoughts later but Re-Mit is surprisingly solid. MES voice is used primarily as instrument, lyrics are secondary and IMO much missed compared to glory days, but the primal power remains.

holy fuck "Loadstones" is incredible

― sleeve, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 03:33 (three days ago)

fuck yeah! i didnt dig "re-mit" much at the time. i think a re-listen is due

that winding riff is the best, esp the little run on the 3rd beat

I also love the tense groove and stare-you-down vibe of the keyboard-driven "Victrola Time"

The Fall is a great group to discover, to get soaked in their long albums with their different moods and instrumental choices, always revolving around the same structures.
But to listen to individual songs and "singles", casually ? Horrible. So it's one of these bands I've listened a lot of albums from, but only a couple times.
As opposed to many other 80s bands like The Cure that are interesting every day.

... except for "Big New Prinz" which is unquestionably their best song and amazing in isolation.

you're both very wrong, but hey thanks for dropping into the thread

^this

Picking on individual songs and then burrowing into the albums was the best way to get into The Fall ime.

So many great tunes in isolation!

that's too bad elena is gone, i feel like she has beenin this band the longest beyond MES and I liked how she smoked cigarettes.

Finally got round to reading Renegade, Mark E Smith's autobiography. It's pretty disappointing. It reads like it was transcribed in the pub from him rambling away and could've used a serious edit. Or even better, someone to guide him into different topics. Barely mentions anything of interest and certainly few insights. "Nobody understood but I was right" is his take on practically everything. There was a page about John Peel that sounds sincere but otherwise this amount of sustained MES-isms leaves him looking like insecure old fart.

Steve Hanley's book is the best book about the Fall and tells you a lot more about MES than this book does.

The mick middles book is good