with one and a bit tracks remaining that song is the clear highlight although it begins a nice second-half run
― imago, Sunday, 30 July 2017 16:04 (six years ago) link
It was really upsetting seeing how he looked close up this week... but despite that I have to say the 100 Club gig was really exciting. The current line up are not really my idea of a classic Fall line up but they were blistering. Contrary to what he looked like, I think he was less pissed and in really good voice (relatively, natch) and he was laughing a lot. The bit where his gf came on stage and took over vocals for the first time - while his nibs was still growling away from the dressing room - was absolutely thrilling. And if that was the last time I ever get to see The Fall - and I fear it may be - I'm going out as I came in, in a flurry of confusion, thinking, 'What the fuck is going on here at all...' And Mr Pharmacist live one more time.
― Doran, Sunday, 30 July 2017 16:47 (six years ago) link
The new album really doesn't do it for me though.
― Doran, Sunday, 30 July 2017 16:48 (six years ago) link
it's a shame they rip off In Between Days on one of the more intriguingly-produced tracks
― imago, Sunday, 30 July 2017 16:52 (six years ago) link
basically if this album was just the three long tracks plus 'gibbus gibson' and maybe 'second house now' it'd be one hell of a great EP
― imago, Sunday, 30 July 2017 16:54 (six years ago) link
yep its not good recent fall. and i'll forgive them a lot... but most of this is just very weak musically. morrissey's backing band level of weak unimaginativeness.
― jamiesummerz, Monday, 31 July 2017 10:42 (six years ago) link
WingsSmileA Figure Walks Behind YouNo Bulbs CREEP
are all great individually
― Stevolende, Monday, 31 July 2017 11:38 (six years ago) link
The new album is strange and inscrutable. Agreed they are really in some weird realm of...what kind of music is this? I'm not even sure anymore. Of course, in six months I'll be tapping my toe to it...
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 31 July 2017 17:04 (six years ago) link
I repeat
COUPLES VS JOBLESS MID 30'S
― imago, Tuesday, 1 August 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
It's quite metal that one
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
recently learned that "popcorn double feature" off of Extricate is, like Black Monk Theme, a cover……the writer Scott English did "brandy" and "Bend me shape me"… listening to earlier versions from the Searchers and someone named Tim Wilde was more or less psychedelic… like the title "popcorn double feature" as well as the lyrics seemed none more MES when I heard the tune first in 1995, but now they indeed seem a bit too linear and on the nose…but even given the tendency to like the first version you've heard of whatever it might be, the Fall's arrangement, particularly the intro (are those synth strings?) is much more dramatic and portentous…
I am going to one of the baby's alright shows…only saw him at Coney Island High in 1998, an indifferent show at which he had a shiner he got from whoever it was that struck back from the infamous Brownies show a few days prior…
― veronica moser, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
pretty sure that was Karl Burns
I'm glad they've dropped the "one obscure cover per album" schtick tbh, but I love "Popcorn Double Feature"
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 16:58 (six years ago) link
Don't want to alarm people further but he was supposed to be appearing at a Wyndham Lewis thingummabob at the Imperial War Museum(!) in M/cr tonight but has withdrawn due to ill health.
― weird echo of the falsies (Tom D.), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
The one and only time I ever saw this band live (in the mid '90s) was tense and confusing - I still haven't come close to watching any band that gave off such weird, intense vibes as that band did at that time.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:04 (six years ago) link
I saw this gig w/Brix on the Middle Class Revolt tour:
Thursday, 22 September 1994 La Luna, Portland, Oregon
M5 / Behind the Counter / 15 Ways / Reckoning / Ladybird (Green Grass) / Mere Pseud Mag Ed / Free Range / Lost in Music / Bill Is Dead / Glam Racket / Hey! Student (Brix on vocals) / Surmount All Obstacles / Life Just Bounces / Deadbeat Descendent / L.A.
solid show, nothing transcendent iirc but S Hanley killed it on bass and Brix was ferocious
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:08 (six years ago) link
I've only seen them once. 2003 at the Roisin Dubh in Galway. They were touring the "Country on the click" album. Great gig even if I wasnt familiar with the album at that point. They did play "Spoilt Victorian Child" though and MES came on stage 5 minutes into the set with a big LIDL bag.
I had the chance to see them at Electric Picnic '09 but I had slept it out
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:41 (six years ago) link
Sleeve I saw the Seattle show of that tour. Had no idea brix had rejoined and flipped the fuck out when she walked onstage.
Also saw TNSG, Fall Heads Roll (more than once) and RPTLC tours. Wish to god I had clearer memories of the TNSG show at the Guthrie theatre in Minneapolis. I was only 15 and I knew the previous album but didn't have TNSG yet.
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:07 (six years ago) link
Unfortunately, Brix's second stint with The Fall was nowhere as good as her first stint... they really seemed to be unravelling spectacularly in the '90s. There's this whole period from Craig Scanlon getting sacked to the last stand of Karl Burns and Steve Hanley at Brownies - including the final farewell of Brix - which must serve as one of the worst periods in The Fall's history, if not the worst. These were people who were specracularly firing on all cylinders in 1985-1986 to awesome effect.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:15 (six years ago) link
*spectacularly
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:16 (six years ago) link
so wrong
Cerebral Caustic is solid, Light User Syndrome is superb, Levitate is very good. I'll give you spottiness from late '98 until The Unutterable, but that's only a few years.
but hey, feel free to ignore this great music, your loss
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:18 (six years ago) link
I like The Frenz Experiment and I Am Kurious Oranj, and a few tracks from the early '90s, but I don't go back to that stuff as often as I do the stuff from the beginning up to 1986.
I find everything from Cerebral Caustic up to Levitate to be quite weak.
There's been some great stuff from The Unutterable onwards, and some not-so-great stuff, but I feel like all the Fall I really need is on their first 9 albums or so. 11 at a push, maybe.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:26 (six years ago) link
Love the 2nd Brix run...Light User Syndrome has one of my favorite Fall songs "He Pep!" with an all time lyric from MES
"I believe there's a new drug out. It's called speed I wrote a song about itConceptually a la Bowie. But it's been lost in the bowels of the record companyBy our manager So instead our new 45 is 'Girlies' "
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:30 (six years ago) link
"I am Kurious Oranj" is superb
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:41 (six years ago) link
I saw this gig w/Brix on the Middle Class Revolt tour:Thursday, 22 September 1994 La Luna, Portland, OregonM5 / Behind the Counter / 15 Ways / Reckoning / Ladybird (Green Grass) / Mere Pseud Mag Ed / Free Range / Lost in Music / Bill Is Dead / Glam Racket / Hey! Student (Brix on vocals) / Surmount All Obstacles / Life Just Bounces / Deadbeat Descendent / L.A.solid show, nothing transcendent iirc but S Hanley killed it on bass and Brix was ferocious― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:08 (one hour ago) Permalink
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:08 (one hour ago) Permalink
I was at that show too! Your recollection is spot on.
― righteousmaelstrom, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:45 (six years ago) link
For some reason I imprinted early on The Infotainment Scan and won't be budged. I've always been bemoaning that I've never been able to see them because the band gets sacked before getting to Los Angeles. Now, I doubt that I'll ever get a chance anywhere.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
I am Kurious Oranj is one of my least favourite Fall albums but I am a weirdo who quite likes Are You Are Missing Winner so
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
My appreciation of The Infotainment Scan has grown and grown with each decade, now it's on my shortlist of fall faves and is my favorite example of 'Synth fall'
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 22:03 (six years ago) link
Infotainment Scam is great ("Lost in Music" seems an insane tune for the Fall, but hearing it it just makes complete sense). For a band with such a huge discog there are very, very few let downs for me. The Fall are the only band where even the records I don't dig make me feel it is my fault, not theirs, for I've not found the way in yet.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 23:53 (six years ago) link
After admiring these guys for years I just bought a shit ton of Fall albums in sales. Kinda wading slowly into them, just kinda imagine that it'll take years to listen to and absorb everything, and I'm fine with that. (In the meantime? I'll just buy more Fall records.)
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 23:57 (six years ago) link
Best approach :)
― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 23:59 (six years ago) link
yeah, just let it all sink in
― sleeve, Thursday, 3 August 2017 00:17 (six years ago) link
In the last few years, The Fall have went from a band that I love but only go to when I'm in the "mood" to "why the fuck aren't I listening to The Fall right now?"
I like LBI's statement that it's my fault as a listener if there's a Fall LP I don't get it. Very John Peelesque
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Thursday, 3 August 2017 00:41 (six years ago) link
^^
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 3 August 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link
In a way The Infotainment Scan is the last of their really pastoral records post-Brix. I think Code: Selfish is the best of those.
― timellison, Thursday, 3 August 2017 01:29 (six years ago) link
why are people grudgeful here?
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 3 August 2017 02:03 (six years ago) link
how old are the stars, really?
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 3 August 2017 02:08 (six years ago) link
http://www.anothermanmag.com/life-culture/9967/post-punk-legend-mark-e-smith-s-guide-to-longevity
“I’ve been poorly since Christmas, so I’ve been actually sitting down and watching bits of music on telly,” he reveals.
That's confirmation there's something seriously wrong, eight months where even he'd describe himself as ill and (reading between the lines) mainly housebound.
― Thomas Gabriel Fischer does not endorse (aldo), Thursday, 3 August 2017 09:40 (six years ago) link
plenty to go through in thread since last posted with promise of posts on death and office culture, but just popping in to say i do like the line
“Homosapien, electric, selectin’ ya”
in fol de rol.
it’s the lyrical equivalent of those draughtsmen and women who can convey emotion and atmosphere with just a few pencil lines*. smith has always had the ability to imply entire worlds, corollaries and satiric or fantastic extensions of this one, in such lines.
Also:We have no residents!We have no reservation!We have no pre-book!I CRAVE DRAMA!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...CRAVE DRAMA!Victoria Train Station MassacreWe have no.... [vocal tape goes into reverse]
is rather wonderful as well.
*i’m thinking hogarth’s famous pikeman exiting a room, comprising three pencil strokes.
or wyndham lewis’ beautiful line portrait of his wife: http://pin.it/HEfxcQg (angry wyndham lewis so much of a bore compared to the artist (and writer in places) of beauty.
― Fizzles, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 09:33 (six years ago) link
another one of my favourite examples of dread or drama flicked off in surreal collocations or collages of words being the opening line of Serum: “you can do what you want, Dear Barlow, as long as you got serum” before the song spirals into a feverish nightmare of endless recursion (“101-uh-POINT ONE”)” turning by the end into “101.101.101”.
The otherwise not particularly distinguished Taurig has the amusingly incomprehensible sinister dream whispering throughout over the thud-click of the electric backing, the only distinguishable line being the very first words - “He bought a watch...”
― Fizzles, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 09:47 (six years ago) link
also Second House Now seems to be about an ambitious career ghost deciding to get a second home in the big city (“my image/mirage: black and white, apparition like!”)
― Fizzles, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 09:59 (six years ago) link
All these names for woodlice sound like Fall songs:
http://conorhoughton.tumblr.com/post/35031117866/this-evening-the-twitter-celebrity-mooseallain
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 10:14 (six years ago) link
BANANA!
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 11:50 (six years ago) link
Names for Woodlice Sound should be the next Fall album.
― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 14:08 (six years ago) link
Woodlice SoundGet ovah!Reputation surge, for skint taxon'y major
― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 14:11 (six years ago) link
"Fol De Rol", "Brillo De Facto", "O! Zztrrk Man" (really compelling in that wtf-is-this way) and "Groundsboy" are my picks from the new album. Damned if I can understand most of the lyrics, though.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 18:01 (six years ago) link
Fizzles should write a book on Fall lyrics. He always has an intriguing take
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 18:12 (six years ago) link
Fizzles can write a book on anything and I'm there with my wallet out
― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 12 September 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link
otm
― sleeve, Tuesday, 12 September 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link
irish. james murphy is their chief
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 19 August 2018 15:24 (five years ago) link
His dreamgirl sings adverts for the Weetabix
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 16 January 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link