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I know that "newbies" or "new people" have a difficult time figuring out which of the gakrillion Fall CDs are actual studio albums and which are compilations or concert discs so I've been kind enough to begin each official studio release review with a note alerting you that it is a STUDIO ALBUM.

N

Reader Comments philch@smartchat.net.au (Phil Cheslett)

All good and worth it if only for "Mess of my..." (which could be "Underground Medecin" part 1 -maybe) . John Peel recorded more of The Fall than any other band and yet this is all we get! Write to the BBC! Storm the vaults_ah!, "They're putting me away but I'll be back some day..."

S

Best lyric is at the beginning of "Mother-Sister" -

Unidentified voice: "Ehhh... what's this song about?"

Mark Smith: "Uhh...nothin'!"

Reader Comments jasonhenn@yahoo.com

here's the plan: i disagree with a few things in your review of Live at the Witch Trials. i don't really have any problem with the guitar on this record. martin braham was one of the better guitarists in the history of the shifty fall line-up. in fact, he was responsible for the arrangement of the music on that album. the keyboard noodling - i always felt - almost makes the album. it adds a really eerie feel and really compliments all of the other stuff that's going on. i also think that it's not very fair to place this record beside other albums of the period by pointing out how much it sounds like fairly standard punk/post-punk. this may true to some extent, but i think that this album is really the beginning and end of that mode of music. yes, i said it and it's true. witch trials is the first and last punk record. not that all other music in the genre is bad, but most of it is made obsolete by this record (among some other things). that's about it. thanks for giving witch trials a good review. most people are partial to the beggars banquet stuff and don't really give proper praise to the rough trade albums. i personally think that everything post-rough trade is fair at best (yes, even ...saving grace), and everything post-bb doesn't deserve any recognition. thanks for a great site. McFarland@ac-tech.com

It's a heck of an impressive debut. The lyrics make a strong impression and the music stands up with the heavyweights of the day (people like Pere Ubu, prime-grade Siouxsie & the Banshees, & Wire). Unlike anything else in their catalogue and a singular masterpiece. tedium2000@hotmail.com.nz (Duane Zarakov)

martin bramah continued doing this kind of woozy psychedelic "circus music" for at least 1 alb. and some singles with his next group the Blue Orchids. you should check em if you like this album and that Peel Session one cuz those sound more like the B.Orchids than they do like much else by the Fall. WellsD@halcrow.com (Dave W)

I borrowed this album (along with Cut by the Slits) off a girl at school back in 1979. I had bought dragnet and sad completist that I am, was glad to get hold of anything else by the band. As memory serves I bought the vinyl copy from Norwich market a month later and when the vinyl playing device is working it frequently gets a spin. It certainly is one of the best Fall albums and at the time had the rock fans that inhabit the wilds of East Anglia reaching for their happy pills. One thing that endears it is the sheer defiance of it that leaves the majority of its contemporise dead buried and decomposing fast. I think my favourites on this are Frightened and Futures and Pasts but it's a close run thing given the sheer quality of the album. The Blue Orchids released one album then split up but I think they have reformed sporadically to produce further albums. There was also a vinyl retrospective sometime in the mid 1990s. They did two great singles work and the flood - well worth tracking down. I have just seen an album on the web called from 'severe to serene' that may fulfil your curiosity. Or it may not. Still at least they were better than the Adult Net. steve.robey@mindspring.com

This one was a favorite of mine in college. On reflection, not all great, but still a great listen. That cheesy organ kinda spoils some parts. I love "Two Steps Back" (which my college roommate always thought said "System's Bad!" which I thought was pretty funny). "Live at the Witch Trials" the poem segues nicely into "Futures and Pasts" (chucka chucka chucka chucka chucka chucka chucka chuckaaah!). My version of the album doesn't have "Mother-Sister", but it does have "Various Times" which is a bit ahead of its time, Fall-wise. Overall, I'll give it an 8/10. ace_kendo

Parts of the vocal melody in "Rebellious Jukebox" perfectly match that in the verses of "Soak Up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. pugsmalone@gmail.com

This album would be considerably better if they'd done something about that keyboard. It would've been okay if it had been on just a few tracks, or if they'd adjusted it so it didn't sound exactly the same all the time. It kind of reminds me of the band Elf, which Ronnie James Dio was in before he joined Rainbow- they were pretty good, but there was this honky-tonk piano that was on every song that got really, really old. Rian Yirkah

No wonder everybody thought these guys were a punk band! What with that jingle-jangle keyboard, clean chorusy guitar and 8-minute epic closer? ANARCHY! ANARCHY! OI! OI! OI! On a serious note, I was born a woman. On an even more serious note, this album is actually very punky. In fact, most of these songs---if stripped down and pumped through a distortion pedal thing-a-ma-jig---would fit comfortably on any punk album worth listening to. There's not a weak song on here. Highlights include the paranoid ramblings of the excellent mid-tempo album opener "Frightened", the catchier-than-catchy "Rebellious Jukebox", the kick-your-ass-in frantic attack of "No Xmas for John Quays", the awkward circus rock vibes of "Mother-Sister", the bouncy, keyboard-driven "Two Steps Back", and the snotty should've-been-a-classic punk rocker "Futures and Pasts". The production is superb. I mean....have you heard the drum sound on this thing? It makes me want to strip off all my clothes and walk down the sidewalk, waving my wiener at the passing auto-MOBILES. (pronounced "mo-biles" not "mo-beels" because I'm a southern gentleman with a coke problem). There's a neverending debate among the Fall fan community about where to begin your journey into the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall---28 studio albums as of this review. "Where should I start?", they often ask me, followed by "Hey! Get your penis out of my ass!". My answer to these newbies is this album. "Just start at the beginning." This is The Fall at *arguably* their most accessible and it features the idiosyncrasies that would follow the band (i.e. Mr. Smith) throughout their career. And the hooks? This album is hookier than a pirate with a hook...FOR A COCK!!! Speaking of cocks, why is the "black people like to eat fried chicken" stereotype considered offensive? Fried chicken kicks ass! There are worse things to be called than "somebody who loves to eat the most awesomest food on the fuckin' planet". I'm no asshole. Speaking of assholes, this newcomer Mark E. Smith is awfully confident and witty for a 22-year old. He arrived ready-made as the bitter, sarcastic, lower-class intellectual that we know today. "Live at the Witch Trials" gets a NINE! *********

G

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In conclusion, this outdoor show was performed on July 22, 1978 with a set list that included seven Live At The Witch Trials hits, three Early Fall 77-79 numbers, and two 'others' ("Mess Of My" and "Stepping Out").

I now invite you to enjoy some of the friendly pieces of banter spoken by Mr. Smith between songs:

-- "Now we're gonna knock you down, we're gonna come inside your head! Thank you and good afternoon. Right, 'Psycho Mafia' take one!"

-- "We'd like to be in tune, this being our first experience with open-air festivals."

-- "Alright, so all you skinheads like to blow?"

-- "This one's about radios, videos, a signal bed."

-- "A slow one for ya. A song of contrasts for my mother and my sister."

-- "Passing branch, reach out and tell of industrial estate."

-- "Alright, the new one. 'It's The New Thing,' la la la la la la la."

-- "We'll do 'Futures And Pasts' now? 'Futures And Pasts' now? Yeah. We're a Democratic band, you know. And we were just going for a conference, to talk about our futures and our pasts."

He says all that right before the first song, then just flips a bird at the crowd the rest of the show. But that's our Mark! "Mark The Shark," we call him. "Mark The Shark Going To The Dark Stark Park On A Lark With His Dog Clark Warning "Bark! Hark! Look Out - A Narc!," we call him. I guess it is kind of a long nickname, now that I see it all written down like that.

Henry The Dog is getting old. In Dog Years, he's about to turn 60! The summer heat is tough on him, but he still loves to swim and fish (for larvae or tadpoles or something, who knows). He's a real sweetheart. My little boy is an old man. He suffers from progeria!

Okay, he doesn't really suffer from progeria.

Reader Comments eric.rucker@talk21.com

Dear Prindle,

Once a year it is incumbent upon me to write you a sucky email with a flimsy pretext for thanking you.

"Oh good, it's a gigantic ball of hiss with The Fall playing five miles down the road behind it" is that pretext.

Thank you.

Richard, Rome

A

Also known heavily as Live At Mr. Pickwick's (presumably not the same Mr. Pickwick whose cartoon likeness appears on the Kiddy Disko Party album I bought at the thrift store last weekend), Liverpool 78 is seriously one of the most asinine pieces of shit that any band has smeared onto its fans since the birth of peristalsis. Get this -- YOU CAN'T HEAR THE DRUMS AT ALL!!!! I mean it's like the guy isn't even THERE! Beginning with track five, you can sort of make out a bit of pish-crash-tip way off in the dressing room or somewhere but most of the time it sounds like Mark, the guitarist and the bass player - ESPECIALLY THE BASS PLAYER - are holding a practice session on your ottoman. Apparently there's a keyboard in there somewhere too, but since the cassette recorder was evidently taped to the front of the bass amp, you can only hear its jocular carnivalisms during the quieter moments.

Still, it's full of early Fall winners (6 from Witch Trials, 4 you can find on Early Years and good old "Mess Of My") and that spiky guitar tone is enough for any man or woman. Two things to notice if your OCD forces you to purchase it -- (a) the way Mark keeps joking about all the "slow ones" they're playing, (b) the way the bassist switches to a lower octave halfway through "Psycho Mafia," leading one to wonder, "Why did he do that? Did he break a string?" Well check this out matey - he DID! You laypeople might not be able to discern this subtle occurrence, but I've got an ear like a sieve and you can't sneak something like that past me. Particularly when your singer refers to his "bass player with three strings" five seconds after the song ends.

Okay, I'm done. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for your wife's weekly speleology presentation. All aboard Cave Hair!

Reader Comments steve.robey@mindspring.com

I got this about 6 months ago and I couldn't bear to listen to it more than once. A pity, since it contains a lot of early tunes that I don't otherwise have. The sound is just terrible terrible terrible! Makes me want to throw a lamp at the wall. It's not that it's muddy or inaudible or anything, it's just that it sounds like only two instruments are being picked up by the mic (vocals and something else, probably bass), and it totally fails to capture even a smidgen of whatever juice may have been in the performance. Which is all the more frustrating, since I would sell my left nut to have been able to see this performance. Though I woudn't have liked it in 78 probably. I was into other stuff then. But in hindsight, hotcha! galleyian@mac.com

From your review, Mark, it sounds like this is the gig on the bonus disc for the "Live At The Witch Trials" re-issue. Like Mr Ropey I too must have listened to this the once, six months ago. It's pretty pointless, as is this comment. So I will go and kill myself, forthwith. Good luck with the new album.

W

When The Fall in 1978 decided to play a scheduled gig at a club in Oldham, surely they must have know that this was the height of the punk rock era and mohawks, what with the Sex Pistols and The Who kicking everyone's ass with their speedcore rock and roll. So imagine the course of delight fed into the intrigue-driven sickle cells of the leather-clad bunion boys in the slipshod ma

So imagine how the crowd reacted when The Fall began their anarchy punk rock Maggie-bashing gig by shouting, "When I was on the Witch Trials of August, it was written, 'You are white crap! You are an aesthetic anesthetic! You are rarrah rarrr...' WHITE NOISE!" before performing one lopey-dopey midtempo riff for eight minutes! Yes, The Fall had some speedy punkers at the time (almost half of this set list, actually), but "Repetition" is just good solid silly humor. Did the crowd stick around to hear what came next? Was there even anybody there? If so, did they smile as largely as I did when, at the 7-minute mark, Mark announced, "This song is an endless song! It has endless possibilities. But we're gonna wind it up right in a minute, so if you'll just hang on for a few seconds...."? They should have. They should have also taken note that the keyboardist plays the guitar line most of the time (rather than the two chords favored on the studio version), and that Mark added disgraced Seeds vocalist Sky Saxon to the list of celebs who enjoy repetition.

The Oldham 1978 disc features live versions of 12 Fall songs -- 6 from Witch Trials, 5 you can find on Early Fall 77-79, and "Steppin' Out" from the Live At The Electric Circus multiple artist compilation. The guitar is still high-pitched and scratchy, the organ still sounds like it's in a circus carnival, and the bass and drums are surprisingly audible considering the potential rigors of tape degradation. All in all, a darn fine document of early Fall at their live jubilee! God do the slow songs seem to drag all the energy down to Hell though. "Music Scene" in particular -- that's not one of my favorite Fall epics to begin with, and this is an even worse version than usual. But good golly how can you not get out your happy feet to punky hooky classics like "Like To Blow," "It's The New Thing," "Futures And Pasts," "Bingo Master's Breakout," "Industrial Estate" and "Psycho Mafia"!? You CANNOT! Or rather you MUST! (depending on which is the grammatically correct answer)

Incidentally, who else remembers how easy it was to be a Fall collector back in the early-to-mid '90s before they turned into The Grateful Dead and started releasing every goddamned outtake and live gig they ever performed? Those were sweet sweet times for the obsessive. These days you get a fuckin' HERNIA lugging all their goddamn shit into your Amazon basket! There's already like six more of these Live From The Vaults things on the market and here I am at home with a hurt foot, unable to do anything about it! Sure, I could hobble over to England and demand complimentary review copies, but by the time I'd get there I'd have a really long beard and would be unrecognizable as teenage record reviewing heartthrob Mark Prindle! They'd just think I was some limpy old ZZ Top guy, whereupon they'd force me to dance around singing "She's got legs" for 14 hours a day, at gunpoint, in their seedy underground torture chamber! Or so I understand about the British from their Pete Walker films.

Alcohol is giving me terrible headaches again. I hope this isn't God's way of saying, "You're embarrassing me. Remember a few weeks back when you screamed at some woman out your taxi window that she shouldn't smoke during her pregnancy because of the danger it poses to the baby -- and it turned out that she was just really fat? I had to pretend I didn't know you the rest of the night!"

"Oh! And how about the week before that, when you angrily dragged your waitress into the men's bathroom and forced her to acknowledge the horrible Artie Lange's Beer League poster above the sink that's been driving you nuts for the past six months? That wasn't very nice."

"Nor was it terribly polite to open the building's power bill and write 'FUCK YOU!' really big on the payment portion. I know it seemed hilarious at the time, but come on."

Fuckin' God. What does he know about partying? "Oh look at me! Look at me! I've got some Plagues!" Fuck you.

S

Reader Comments ricochet@iconz.co.nz (Steve Cragie)

I've been a huge Fall fan from when I first heard them on the Electric Circus LP just before "Bingo Masters" came out. I have to disagree about Dragnet being inferior to Witch Trials. I reckon Dragnet was the first Fall masterpiece. You have to remember what it was like when it first came out! It was absolutely peerless. I couldn't believe anyone had made a record as good as this. I was about 16 when it was released and I listened to Dragnet many times a day for weeks on end in an adolescent obsession the excitement of which I will never forget and that can only be relived through the Fall (with any consistency at any rate. Witch Trials (although brilliant) doesn't have anything approaching the mystery and poetry of the groundbreaking sound (what you refer to as lo-fi - a term not around then). I think "Various Times" was the bridge between the old punkier Fall and the Dragnet sound. I tend to think of Dragnet as the first true Fall album (and as the first in the brilliant succession of albums which featured Marc Riley after that). dongmin@ucr.edu (John Middle)

Must stand in agreement with Mista Cragie....most impenetrable yet rewarding of albums....has it all...Lee Scratch Perry meets a blender uptown production qualities...Also .. "don't let anyone know where this was recorded or else" combined with Specter v.s Rector recorded in haunted house at midnight mythology...nice literary references.... Luke Rheinhardts-"Diceman". Sand paper larynyx lyrics "look at me ... too much SPEEEEEEEED". Topped off with the dark consuming light album cover that would comprise any "young bands" dream. Spider descends on butterfly. To relax and slip into the cogs and gears of this sabotaged machine is bliss defined....Nice one on site Prindle.. LUV from KingShag a.k.a John Middle....A Californian who always thinks of sex....or thinks of death. wwwinfo@lung.miss.ac.uk

I agree that dragnet is the first (andbest) real fall album. It coincides with a new lineup, new drummer, guitarist and bassist, and ditching the keyboard. earlew@home.com (Earle White)

I would have to break the tie and say that Dragnet is far better than ...Witch Trials (and every other Fall album for that matter). Although Grotesque is a close second, and could be seen as a continuation in formula and sound, it is no where near as menacing, scathing, daring, uncomproming, and groundbreaking as Dragnet. As band's like Pavement obviously modeled their best work (Slanted and Enchanted) after Grotesque, basically straight-up ripping off "New Face in Hell" and calling it "Conduit for Sale"......other more obscure bands such as Chicago's Scissor Girls have taken Dragnet's fucked brilliance into their own dimension of sound, as if they were posessed by "Spectre vs. Rector" (which personally, is my favorite Fall song). It's this quality of the Fall's material that I find so appealing though, that they have always changed. If you don't like this album...give it another chance...and pay special attention to the songs "Dice Man" and "Choc-Stock". Mark E. Smith is daring you to open yourmind, make your own decisions, and take a chance, fan. RebelJukebox@aol.com

I'm sure I'm the only one who noticed, and the only one who cares, but I'll be damned if The Monorchid didn't rip off "Spector Vs. Rector" in a big way on their song "X Marks The Spot: Something Dull Happened Here," but I noticed it RIGHT away. Now that I think of it, Chris Thompson's (The Monorchid, Circus Lupus, Skull Kontrol) singing style reminds me of Mark E. Smith in a big way. Okay, no one who'll read this will care anyway. I'll shut the fuck up. Gale@beer.com (Nick Gale)

I don't agree that this is their most inpenetrable album - it's actually one of their most accessible. Printhead? Dice Man? Your Heart Out? Neat pop tunes, catchy choruses. Even the longer songs are hypnotically catchy. The only exception is the strangely hilarious Spectre vs Rector. Fall fans e-mail me! slim@rainbowm.fsnet.co.uk (Mark Rainbow)

It may be an age thing, but I have always seen "Dragnet" as the first proper Fall album. I found ".. Witch Trials" as a collection too clean, too straight, but "Dragnet" is where MES found his, umm, voice and the band found that Fall sound. Without "Dragnet" the last 20 years would have been considerably different. All this and they still left "Rowche Rumble" off! Top site! Thanks stepforward@appleonline.net (Simon O'Donnell)

Growing up in Manchester in the 70s, I was fortunate to have heard the Fall's album Dragnet shortly after its release. Even at the time the recording sounded 'homemade' but encapsulated all that was around me. The album whilst diverse in its lyrical content has a particular bleak quality which matched the conditions in Manchester at that time. Though in 79 and the early 80s, I played 'Dragnet' a lot and in particular 'Your Heart Out' I would never have thought that anyone (including myself) would have been playing it in the 21st century. WellsD@halcrow.com (Dave Wells)

This was the first Fall LP I bought having heard Printhead on Radio Orwell's (Ipswich)' heavy metal show called Rocket. Bought the extended version of the LP which has just come out early in 2004 and have to say the original is still one of the finest Fall LPs. I must admit all the tracks are great and back in 1979 sounded even better as it was new. Printhead will always be a favourite but before the moon falls, choc-stock, a figure walks and Diceman all snap healthily on its heels. Lets get this thing together and make it bad! steve.robey@mindspring.com

Dragnet took a while to come out on CD, so it was one of the last ones I was able to find. It's got some doozies, for sure, but some crudesque stuff too. Great tunes: Before the Moon Falls, Your Heart Out, A Figure Walks, Spectre Vs Rector, Psychic Dancehall. So-so tracks: Dice Man, and a bunch of others that I can't recall because they don't really stick. This was the first one with Craig Scanlon, though, and I love his guitar style - he and Steve Hanley provide some of the finest Fall moments instrumentally. airsces@yahoo.com

Great album, I give it an 8! "Printhead" and "Put Away" annoy the hell out of me though. Just weak melodies. I like "Choc-Stock" though, its makes me smile. In fact, I love the whole album except two said songs. "Spector vs. Rector" is creepy as shit, I love it! It IS really rough and lo-fi-sounding though...it took a while for me to get past the production (or lack thereof). I listened to it several times a day for about a week before I could really get into it. The first Fall I ever heard was The Infotainment Scan, so just imagine my shock upon hearing this! WAY different! I like em both though. My favorite Fall album right now though, is the Rough Trade Anthology, which I just got a few days ago. It's two discs of incredible Fall songs. I didn't see it on your site, but it's probably full of songs you already have. som

just wanted to take some time out to thank you for turning me on to such an awesome band. Seriously... you're the sole person who convinced me to finally delve in to the huge Fall back catalog. All the things I'd read about them before from other critics went on and on about how they were "dark" and "impenetrable" and how they'd had five billion lineup changes and how Mark E. Smith was a big asshole who yelled a lot and didn't make much sense. Those things may all be true to some degree, but yours is the first website I came upon that actually took the time to describe what the albums sounded like and make me realize that they were a lot more fun than everybody was making them out to be. So now I own and love most of their albums... and it's all thanks to you, Mark. I hope if you ever start to doubt yourself or think about shutting the site down again that you think about that. Anyway, I know you wrote those early Fall reviews a long time ago, but I just have to say one thing. "Flat of Angles" is not one of the duller songs on Dragnet. What the hell, man? It's got two killer riffs and it's about one of MES's (and most Fall fans') favorite topics: paranoia! Maybe it goes on too long at the end, but that's the only real fault I can find with it. It's one of my favorites and I always include on the "Fall sampler mixes" I make for friends. I guess that's about all I have to say. Oh - you should also try to get another interview with MES now that your interviewing skills have improved so much since then. Apart from that, just keep up the good work.

A

Reader Comments tedium2000@hotmail.com.nz (Duane Zarakov)

yes they are singles,and this group's best stuff.yeah yeah all their albums at least the 1st 200 are fine but they were even better on 7",these ones on Step Forward and the next few on Rough Trade and some other labels i dont remember...GREAT LOST TRACK not on any anthologies that i know about = how i wrote "elastic man" (1980 or so) dwhitwill@thegrid.net (Debbie Whitwill)

I'm driving home from another day of drudgery and banality when a sudden unexplainable urge causes me to turn left of the dial to the usually mediocre KZSC Santa Cruz. Darn college kids and their boom-de-boom. Upon reaching the station, a voice- a Tourette's victim maybe?- leaps out of the speakers. "WE'RE ROCKING THE CLUBS-AH!!" hollers the obviously trashed frontperson, over a clunky, minimalist, energetically inept backing band. "PSYCHOMAFIA!!!!" At this moment, life as I once knew it ceased. I became reborn. Muggwort@aol.com

The fall had incredible early stuff, and this compilation covers it! Early years 77-79 is a phenomenal compilation. It has a lot of the falls best stuff ("Psycho Mafia," "It's the new thing" "Repetition" "Diceman" and "Fiery Jack") my personal favorite probably being "bingo masters breakout" which by the way is one of my top 5 favorite fall songs, it is so cool how it has a circus drumbeat and then rockabilly leads with such bizarre lyrics. But all of the songs are great. A must buy unless you want to buy of the falls early hard to find stuff. 9.5/10 thecheapercrisp@hotmail.com (Simon Burgess)

My CD says 'Live 77'. Those crazy people at Cog Sinister, eh? Early Years documents one of the most interesting-sounding periods of The Fall. Top Game Boy-esque keyboard sound! My thoughts on the tracks are pretty much the same as what everyone else has written here. Still, the Fall sound seemed to have been developing quickly, as these tracks show - from the early Joy Division-ish Electric Circus performances to the totally danceable 'Fiery Jack'. galleyian@mac.com

Great album. Can't describe something indescribable. Find it you fools. According to an educated friend of mine, a saxophonist called Terry Edwards has a version of Bingo masters on a full e.p. of early Fall songs. When I have the chance I'll find out the details. Suffice to say, Bingo masters was superb. The backing band may have been Madness? Another Edwards album, 'Yesterdays' Zeitgeist' contains 'Totally Wired', 'Container Drivers' and 'Dice Man'. But you knew that, didn't you pal? airsces@yahoo.com

Classic. Everyone should own this compilation. I don't know much about it...except that it's mostly non-album singles most of which weren't released on any albums. A dancier version of "Psykick Dancehall" is on here, as is "Dice Man", the latter of which, as far as I can tell, is the same as the Dragnet version. Every song is incredible, it never gets old and I could listen to it all damn day. To be fair, for now...I'll have to give it a 9. MAYBE a 10, BUT I own too few Fall albums to make that final decision yet. Currently "Rowche Rumble", "Fiery Jack" and "It's the New Thing" are a few of my favorite songs of all time, and I also have to say "Last Orders" truly kicks ass.

A

These songs are great, but it's a bootleg recording so skip it. The Fall have had over 50 line-ups because Mark Smith is such a prick. FUCK YOU, MARK SMITH! I love your band, all 50 of them. He's insane. Seriously, I'm not joking. Also, my neck hurts so goddamned much and has for several days. I'm scared. What if I borke it? Why does John Lennon let Yoko sing so much on I Ate My Ass In New York?

The album is live and poorly recordeed. What the jit else do you want to know? That it was recorded on August 15, 1979? Fine. Now you know. EATS HIT! TASTES GReAT! LESS BILLING!

Condoms are for people who have sex.

Eat bpock.!

Reader Comments glassjaw_fan@hotmail.com (James Murton)

According to Simon Reynolds' 'Rip It Up And Start Again' (a great book, for the interested), "'Rowche Rumble' got its title from Hoffman La Roche, the pharmaceutical multinational who dominated the market for antidepressants." If that shines any light on any ties between your old job and the absolutely fucking ace Fall... I always meant to send some 'Great site!' sort of comment, but couldn't thyink of anything else worthwhile to say with it, so I kept schtum until I found this little nugget...

A

Webster's Dictionary defines it as "five songs from Early Years '77-'79, six from Dragnet and two from Live at the with cc tirals," but to the rest of the world it's simply "'Rowche Rumble!' '2nd Dark Age!' 'Rebellious Jukebox!' 'Muzorewi's Daughter!' 'In My Area!' 'No Xmas For John Quays!' 'Printhead!' 'Psycho Mafia!' 'Fiery Jack!' Not so much 'Flat Of Angles.'"

I don't know how many of you frequent the MySpace online Internet community but last night was a bulldozer of a good time so let me reiterate it for you now. I was at home with the wife, drinking some spirits and enjoying a bit of Please Don't Eat My Mother! on the old DVD Wurlitzer when it suddenly occurred to me, "Say, Mark Prindle. You're not sufficiently tootie-frootied. Go have another huge bubbly mouthful of Grape-flavored Vodkar." I did as such do so and ZIMP! the lights fell down in the city of my mind, leaving nought but the urge to post a Bulletin on MySpace, that being a message that is shot outwards to every single person on one's Friends List, of which mine features 490 (mostly assholes, but don't tell them I said so). And look what my shifty alcoholic mind wrote without asking me first!

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST1 I just realized that nobody gives a shit about my writing, my jokes, my reivews. why do i do it. should i kill myself for wasting so much time on it. am i pathetic. i'm drnk. should i kill muyself. i'm drunk. nobody gives a shit. nor should they. goodbye. are you happy, you saw me commit suicide"

Then I wrote that terrible Live From The Vaults: Los Angeles 1979 review you graciously just ignored, and after that I tried to call Kevin Rutmanis from the Cows and he wisely didn't pick up so I went, "Hay, who else's phone number do I have who would never in a million years want to hear from me? I know! David Yow Of The Jesus Lizard Fame!" So I dialed him up and he foolishly picked up the phone, at which point I told him his new band isn't as good as his others, and he laughed, "I don't care what you think!" and we all had a great time together because I was drunk and judging his entire band on two songs I listened to on MySpace one time about eight months ago. Finally he got rid of me and I sent him an apology note, then I went out to eat dinner at Uno's (formerly "Pizzeria Uno") and came home to find that the concerned emails had poured in, with people saying nice things and "Hey, lighten up" and things, and I felt like a rapscallion so I posted an all-new Bulletin:

"Sorry about that. I drank more tonight than usual. In addition to my brilliant Bulletin, I called David Yow and drunkenly talked his ear off til he told me to FUCK OFF (politely). FUckin' vodka. Fuck you, vodka! But also, I spend a lot of time on my site, so it makes me sad when I don't get any reader comments. You'd feel the same if it were you. Granted, I shouldn't have wasted 3 weeks on the fucking Hollies. Thank you if you wrote me."

Then I went to bed for 13 1/2 hours and woke up to even MORE concerned emails! So I posted a yet third Bulletin today:

"The thing is - I wasn't even feeling suicidal AT ALL last night. I was just fall-on-the-floor drunk. I haven't felt suicidal in years. See, this is the problem with the Internet. It lets you write shit when you're drunk. For this reason, it should be policed by the government and nobody should be allowed to do anything on it without the approval of Mr. George W. Bush, the greatest president we've ever had, if you go by golf rules."

The bottom line is this: VODKA IS RUSSIAN, AND HOW THEY'RE TAKING OVER THE UNITED STATES.

Also, MAN OVERBOARD do I love "No Xmas For John Quays"! The version on here is even more anxiety-ridden than the studio version!!! And it's 7 minutes long!!!!!!!!!

My penis is also 7 minutes long.

Reader Comments jack_nitzsche@yahoo.com

I much prefer the crazy friends o' mine who call me up drunk and homicidal than the one's who call up with that feel sorry for me type shit. You probably shouldn't drink. You're a pussy. Vodka is The Drink of The Pussy. And most likely, your a repressed homo, too (maybe not a full-blown queer, I'm sure, but I know you've fantasied about sucking cock before). Or you have a tiny dick, which could explain your obsession with male genitalia and rock dudes (and why you would call up David "Big'n" Yow). That OCD thing is gay and exists only in your mind due to your inability to overcome some simple childhood issues (are you an only child?). Ah shit, it's either all that or it's the guilt you feel because you've finally realized that your nothing but a forth-rate Meltzer hack (a good forth-rate Meltzer hack at that, but still)... Anyway, get over yourself. I enjoy the reviews. Keep it up!

H

Reader Comments tedium2000@hotmail.com.nz (Duane Zarakov)

their greatest album,could be.And all others subsequent who have attempted to utilize "rock" to confront reality on the naked plateau of ,uh,whatever it says in the liner notes of the Fugs' Golden Filth,yeah well they should just listen to this and then just fuckin HANG IT UP.other contenders for anything remotely similar are high and few...billy childish's Hangman Communications single on Kill Rock Stars is very good.most "alternative" music is just shitty pop with swearing or guitar distortion or other cosmetic ugliness,right? brands3451@home.com (Eric C. Brands)

Totals Turns is the best album by The Fall. With each song and outtake carfully selected by Mark Smith and placed in a pattern carfully documenting and putting it clear about the bands musical direction. This album was a statement above all else and I think best gets there message across. This LP mixes sharp cynical dialog with essentially bad music- but as I said before, that was the whole point of it. This record is best appreciated amongst the true Fall fans though, and perhaps other albums should be bought before this cynical disturbed masterpiece. Paul Hanley of The Fall

Mark's actually shouting at the drummer during 'No Xmas', the lovely Mike Leigh. If you listen, at one point he does the most ridiculous drum roll to give his newly-bought 'Rotatoms (tm)' a work-out. Steve's never shown off in his life. sleeve@efn.org (Steve Bouton)

The electric version of "New Puritans" referred to by Mark above is from the "Kicker Conspiracy" double 7" (also featuring "Wings" and a different version of "Container Drivers"), released on Rough trade in '83. It's from a Peel Session. Horrifyingly left off of the otherwise excellent "Palace Of Swords" comp, that track is easily in my Fall top 5 (along with "Winter", the live 'Totally Wired", and maybe 'Who Makes The Nazis?"). This particular LP, like most of their live output, is best approached warily by the uninitiated. David.1.Wells@firstgroup.com

Another Fall record that has spent far too long neglected in the vinyl vault of the Wells household. Mrs Wells left the key about so this was rescued and after a good dusting down got a run out on the turntable. Considering this was a relatively new concept for the Fall at this time - the interim albums have now got tiresome and are not worth bothering with - this worked pretty well. The live tracks are corking and the additional tracks (work in progress if you like) are all worth possessing. According to the sleeve notes "New Puritan was recorded at home while said home was under attack by a drunk". This track appears on the Peel Sessions CD (reviewed below somewhere) and is stunning but this low-fi version is still worth your attention. That Man is a catchy bit of Fall pop that has always been a personal favourite. Live stand out track is 'No Xmas for John Quays' although 'Choc Stock' from Dragnet is also good.

S

I find this an extremely pleasing album because so much of it sounds loose and improvised, especially in "The N.W.R.A.," when the musicians sort of only play when they feel like it, and the melody only changes after Mark alerts the band, "Switch!" It sounds like they had only played the songs a few times, and weren't exactly sure how they wanted them to go. Very fresh and somewhat exciting (especially when the droning "C'n'C S mithering" suddenly turns into the ridiculously speedy "The Container Drivers" - a masterpiece of a segue). Do buy it.

Reader Comments Gsboug@aol.com

This was the first Fall studio album I bought (458489 A-sides was the first Fall release I bought) and I began to realize that this band called the Fall is pretty damn good. I agree on you with your point about "C'n'C's Mithering" seguing into "Container Drivers"--genius! "Pay Your Rates", "English Scheme", and "New Face In Hell" make up a perfect trio of songs to open the album. Definitely a 9! McFarland@ac-tech.com

I like your review of Grotesque. Cantankerous as I am, I really have little to argue with you about on this one. I would note that the music was becoming more obviously lyric-centered by this point than during the 1977-78 bands' work. Muggwort@aol.com

the fall could do any type of music they wanted too, (dance, avant garde experimentation, pop, hard rock etc.) but in my opinion the fall are truly at home when making smart, creative rockabilly. that is why I love grotesque (after the gramme). it took me forever to find also, the way I finally got it was by ordering it from the falls own cog sinister lable. when I first heard it I hated it, but I have grown to love it. my favorite songs are: "new face in hell" (a great kazoo and a wonderful evoking guitar melody), "C n C S mithering" (a hypnotic beat and convincing rant), "in the park" (insanly catchy and fun rockabilly) and "the N.W.R.A" (10 minutes long but never boring). this is my favorite fall album and one of my top 10 of all time, a must buy. sleeve@efn.org (Steve Bouton)

There really aren't enough comments on these to do justice to one of the greatest bands in the world. "C-n-S Smithering" or whatever it is is my personal fave on here. Take a great chord or two, beat the shit out of it, and rant dense oblique intellectual working class poetry. Nobody's done it better since. One of their best along with all the pre-1986 (Bend Sinister) studio LPs except maybe "Room To Live". I would also nod to "Extricate" and "Shiftwork" and "Light User Syndrome". galleyian@mac.com

This is getting out of hand. Whilst i should be saving my pennies to pay my rates I can't help but find myself drifting around the flea market, hunting down the CD stalls and heading straight for the 'F'. Today, amongst those dodgy compilations, sat Grotesque (After the gramme) and as I needed some change for a packet of tabs I parted with £7, (yes, seven English pounds... bargain!) Initial impressions; the first four tracks are ropey, especially Totally Wired. Then again that does sound extremely under written, rehearsed and produced. Maybe that's the point or I'm so used to the storming version on 'A Part of America Therein' that I can't help feeling under-whelmed. (A while back I read an old review of that single by a chap called gary bushell. bushell gets attacked later on in the album so, (for a little background), let me just say bushell is one of the UK's most reviled non-entities. A filthy little scab of murdoch payed vermin. As bearded a fuck-face as you could ever imagine. Anyhow the actual album tracks are a hell of a lot stronger. 'New Face in Hell', unbelievable... just like that Pavement song, ("I;m trying, I'm trying etc), notebooks out plagiarists indeed! When the kazoo's and keys come in I'm thinking of some super-hero type theme, (can't say why though?) 'C'n'c-s mithering' and 'Container Drivers' contain some breath-taking rants both hilarious and spiteful. I too have a wee gap between the songs and I have to wonder if the supposed, future re-release will address this as it does spoil the effect. Whereas 'Totally Wired' was a let down, 'The NWRA' delivers, although I miss the live 'CH-CH-CHOWS', the preamble concerning 'English Scheme' more than makes up for that. Even funnier is the moment where a guitar solo is started and M.E.S puts his foot down, talking over the top, and the solo just stops. You just can't help feeling sorry for whoever erred. So, as per usual, another bloody good Fall album. Now if only I could find Levitate. Pah! See you mate. WellsD@halcrow.com (David Wells)

See you mate yeah see you mate

See you mate yeah see you mate

See you mate yeah see you mate

See you mate yeah see you mate

See you mate yeah see you mate

See you mate yeah see you mate In terms of pure contempt this has to be the finest song in the whole wide world of rock and roll. Lydon managed to come close-ish on the first Public Image album. Geez still have the original vinyl (hey kids that's how records used to be made before these new fangled CD stuff) and Fall work always sounds better with that scratch and hiss. New face in hell - sounds like an old council estate I used to live in in Lewisham London where you know you can trust no one. Container Drivers will always remind me of a container terminal (yes really!) where I used to work - there were always lots of drivers sitting around at the caravan greasy spoon emporium (trust me you need know no more). English scheme and Impressions of J Temperance another two tracks that enjoy the rotating honour with about 30 more of being my favourite ever Fall tracks. WMC Blob59 enjoys the opposite. See you mates.... kingdom@rapidial.co.uk

Great one here. I have to agree that this is 'the beginning of the Fall as we know them'. Dragnet lacked the focus and this is far superior (not that Dragnet doesn't have its moments). This album often gets slated for its more lyric centred approach but I don't think it is too much so. Riffs are simpler but very clever and creative as well as memorable. Think I'll go track by track: PAY YOUR RATES - Not the song I would want to initiate anyone into the Fall with but it is awesome. The tempo changes make it an energetic start. ENGLISH SCHEME - Lacking musically but funny lyrics: 'the clever ones tend to emigrate-ah , a-like your psychotic big brother who left home-ah'. NEW FACE IN HELL - Hilarious and catchy with great vocal delivery. Funny story. C' n C' - Awesome rant with that hypnotic riff, dealing with all sorts. Any Fall fan must surely love this. CONTAINER DRIVERS - Inferior to Peel session version due to MES' weak vocals but still catchy rockabilly. Cool percussion. IMPRESSION OF J TEMPERANCE - Goes on a bit too long but still a brilliant ending. IN THE PARK - Cynical and very catchy. WMC BLOB - I don't mind this actually, I like the chant and the stupid noises but it doesn't count for a song. GRAMME FRIDAY - Dark compared to rest of album but great bassline. NWRA - One of the Fall's best looong tracks. Bizzare lyrics about the North rising up as I'm sure many have appreciated. Musically fun too. 'Shift'. Then there's the bonus tracks: How I Wrote Elastic Man and Totally Wired singles. I think I probably nip-picked a bit too much and should stop mithering. Easy 9. steve.robey@mindspring.com

Grotesque was another college favorite for me. "New Face in Hell" and "C'n'C's Mithering" are alone worth the price of the album, but if you need more convincing, witness "Pay Your Rates" and the devastating "Impression of J. Temperance" (one night 8 years ago when I was drunk I wrote and recorded an original song on my 4-track that was directly inspired by this song; the next morning it terrified me so much I couldn't listen to it for months.) ricardo.nunez@poliformusa.com

I love this album, it drives my girlfriend insane. I specially like “Totally Wired” and ”In the Park”. Tons of fun.

S

Reader Comments waco@primenet.com

Slates is, in fact the best Fall ever, and being on a ten inch record reinforces this rather than negating it!!!! McFarland@ac-tech.com

"Slates, Slags, Etc." is the most amazing piece of droning chugging noise that I can remember. I love it. It makes the Stooges & the Velvets sound delicate. "Middle Mass" is a great piece as well and "An Older Lover" is brilliantly crafted and strangely poetic. "Leave the Capital" is a good one too. kme@deskmail.com (Kevin E.)

When I consider my favorite songs by The Fall I always include all 6 tracks of the Slates ep. Not necessarily the first six components of the top ten but certainly, without a moment of doubt, the top two songs belong to this release. "Slates, Slags, Etc." is the best Fall song recorded thus far as well as the best song of the early 1980s. "Middle Mass" is the foundation for all of their early work. 33% of Slates is absolutely perfect no matter the perspective taken on the music and the era. A recording like this is actually rather frightening; if I use this to ascertain the depth of quality of their subsequent releases, most of The Fall stock pales. chdurrett@mindspring.com (Christian Durrett)

Leave the capitol!!! Exit this Roman shell!!!!! heee heee heee heee the last sounds are not in the official lyrics just me laughing to my self-faaaa but not out loud. internally-yaaa. but not really--- cause it's not funny-yaaa. cause mark doesn't do that-taaa. damn. great EP. I couldn't order it anywhere. outta stock always. then I was on the fall message boards. and some guy sent me a perfect bootleg copy of it for free. complete with perfectly copied inserts. . . tsaaa. who say fall fans aren't assholes. (but actually other peeps on the list could be. dissing america was the last straw those *&$@!. I learned about 9/11 while checking the fall-list ) damn this ones great. especially when coupled with a part of america therein. SLATES is fantastic. but then I ponder. . . if you chose the best 6 tracks off any of their albums and called them an EP they'd almost all be as much a 10 as this one. well poops. it is frighteningly. these songs are a revalation. not that I won't bother to fill the few remaining holes in my collection. as much as I like washing my hands 2398 times a day. I guess I might agree this is the fall at their most normal and accessible. if you're a damn psycho. which all fall fans are. cause we're smarter than you dum dum heads. "mark smith used to work for me. back in manchester back in 1983. stole all his ideas from me, now I'll steal them right back again from him again" -- stephen malkmus, Pavement bootleg (truly) damn that's funny hee hee alexmortland@hotmail.com

The best Fall disc, at least as far as I can tell. Mark just kicks ass all over this thing, vocally and lyrically. Get it, get it, get it. steve.robey@mindspring.com

I have long called this the best EP of all time, and I don't even own it. But in this world of compilations, I've managed to separately amass the entire contents of this fun little EP, pieced together from other releases, The more I age and decay, the more I understand the salient truth that this represents the apex of the Fall's most trailblazing period. There's only six songs, but each of them is an institution unto itself - a veritable pillar of tastiness upon which the Fall always strove to build upon. One of them is named "Prole Art Threat". Three words that neatly summarize the Fall agenda, if you think about it.

A

Reader Comments preservatives@email.msn.com (Michael Fotis)

this recording sucks sucks sucks. mark seems to be in rare form. but the band, particularly scanlon i'm pretty sure, butcher every song. steve.robey@mindspring.com

Make no mistake: this is a top-of-the-line live recording. For a bootleg, it sounds incredible. And the song selection is impeccable, drawing heavily from "Slates", the finest EP of all time, and Grotesque (After the Gramme), their best early record.

S

So what's on it? Well,"Hip Priest" is the classic (boy, it's a weird one), "Who Makes The Nazis?" has a harmonics-only bass line (unheard of since Yes's "The Fish!"), and "Mere Pseud Mag Ed" is another noisy guitar attack (which I'm 99% sure contains the lines "Heard the Ramones in '81/There was a Spanish guitar".....hmmm. I understand his disgust with Pleasant Dreams, but I don't think there's a Spanish guitar on there... hmmm. But then again, who can tell what the hell Mark is actually talking about?). A real interesting record. Or "really," to be grammatically correct. "Real," in and of itself, isn't much of an adverb, but I kind of enjoy it. "Kind of" is a dumb phrase, too, but enjoyable. Even "The Classical," which has the chords of a generic hard rock song, is performed in such a strange, fresh, and tribal manner, you don't even notice how basic the melody is. My only problem with the record is that, unlike those on Grotesque, this particular batch of songs, I think, could have used a little bit more practice. In fact, I've heard live renditions of these songs that sound much more professional than the versions on this album. Plus "Winter" doesn't hold up to repeated listens too well, and "And This Day" is a VU-style trainwreck. Still, a true Fall classic, they say.

Reader Comments rchute@samschwartz.com

Indeed, Fall songs of this period were much better once taken out on the road and practiced. The definitive version of "Winter" is on A Part of America, Therein which you rightly call their best live album ever. It is in fact possibly my favorite Fall record of all time making it quite possibly my favorite record of all time. Coupled with the new CD release of In A Hole (the Fall at their most playful not to mention drunk), A Part of America, Therein constitutes great, live Fall at a simpler time for them. ronin2@email.msn.com (Dave Weigel)

This album, to quote the immortal Shakespeare, is the shit of all shits. Hex Enduction Hour was only about the sixth Fall album I heard, but in my mind this is the quintessential Fall sound. Post-punk and pre-Brix. Four minute songs plus the occasional epic--just like a "real" (i.e. popular) album! More catchy bass and guitar lines than a Foghat jam. And Mark makes no fucking sense whatsoever. Track-by-track, she wondered? Oui, said the Belgian. "The Classical" is as repetitive and clangy as any other Fall tune, but somehow it rocks. Must be because of those "hard rock" chords Prindle mentioned. "Jawbone..." reminds me of Roy Orbison in that there are so many cool parts, you can't tell where the verses and choruses are. "Hip Priest" is one of the best songs in human history. "Fortress/Dark Park" starts with a sample of "Da Da Da", then launches into a cool prog-rock riff before mutating into a Mark Smith soliloquy and droning synth, all while some weird shit goes on in the background. In other words, the Low Maintenence Perennials. Am I still going over the album track-by-track? Oh, what's the point? Okay, here's my point--every song rules. "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed"? It rules. "Just Step S'ways"? Kicks arse. "Winter"? Awesome. Both parts. I'll admit, "And this Day" is somewhat less amazing than Our Lord Jesus Christ (which is to say, not that good in comparison to every other song on the album, and it's too long. I'm being frustratingly obtuse, I'm sorry.) But it's still the best Fall album ever. In my opinion. Which doesn't really change anything, because you're wrong. McFarland@ac-tech.com

Parts of the album drift, but it's an hour long, and by my count posesses, let's see ... 40 - 45 minutes of complete brilliance. The 2-drummer lineup kicks majorly and adds a great deal to the sound. Both Beefheart & Pere Ubu worked with 2 drummers, and in neither case did it work as impressively as with The Fall, where the music sounded natural and powerful. Highlights to me are "The Classical" (despite the bad-taste lyrics - the music is amazing), "Winter", "Deer Park", and "Just Step Sideways". kme@deskmail.com (Kevin E.)

The best pre-Brix record for innumerable good reasons. Every song on here is just great; challenging, suffocating at times, and exceptionally involving. Involving... on a rare occasion does a song both require work to enjoy and also posses the quality to allow the listener to thoroughly enjoy the work. The album is very inspired; an untouched balance of inventive music and rediscovered elements of punk. Peter Buck described one particular R.E.M. song as "simultaneously as loose and as tight as anything we've recorded." Mark Smith could take Buck's words and apply them to the entirety of Hex Enduction Hour. Greatness. zalcock@nationalsystems.com

My fave Fall record... based mainly on the first half. Lets put it this way: every time I feel I can't listen to any more Fall-- you know, when you can't force yourself to listen to "Who Makes the Nazis?" simply for being so Fall-ishly obtuse-- I turn back to this album. I think it owes a lot to Leckie's production-- this is the album they nearly made with Perverted by Language. This is the album you listen to at 4am, drunk and in need of something that's loud AND intellectual AND puts fucking chills up your spine. I point, specifically, to "Elves". Yeah, they ripped off the Stooges, but you can't hold it against them-- this is actually light-years better. If only the Fall still sounded this pissed-off... Then you have side 2, which does falter a bit, but I do agree with the common wisdom that says "Disney's" is a downright lovely tune. The other stuff on side 2 isn't bad by any means, it just pales in comparison to side 1. Anyway, this really is the Fall at the height of their powers. InMyEyes82@aol.com (Zach English)

This album is a fucking killer. WHY, jesus christ, has the song "Iceland" not been mentioned?! This is one of the top five pieces the Fall ever recorded, if ya ask me...so chilly and foreign and full of great imagery, it takes the Can influence to its logical pinnacle. Oh, and "The Classical" is far from generic hard rock; I love how the guitar plays the same melody that Mark sings ("I've never felt better in myyyyy liiiiife") over and over again. "Winter" has one of the fucking scariest bass lines I've ever encountered, not to mention the image of a pope's hat with a green fuzz skull and crossbones...jeez, Mark can get pretty far out there. I still don't like this one quite as much as This Nation's Saving Grace, but I'll snub my nose at the Prindle rule and give both albums ten ratings. grandudes@quorndon.com (Alan Jones)

The song Hip Preist is used and credited in the film Silence of the Lambs. It's the song the psycho bloke listens to as he performs some ritual or other in front of a mirror. Muggwort@aol.com

Wow! Can you say masterpiece, well I can say hex enducation hour! believe me it is a great album, from the clang of "the classical" to the weird atmosphere and minimalist guitar dynamics of "hip priest" to the James Brown on acid feel of "winter" the falls hex enducation hour always gives a poetic punch of post-punk! I mean try to find a bad song you can't, they all have something about them that makes me go wild! Also this album has a feeling of one take spontaneity and endless work. 9/10 grandudes@quorndon.com (Alan Jones)

Sorry to dissapoint you but the lyrics to Mere Pseud Mag Ed are not "Heard the Ramones in '81/There was a Spanish guitar" but "Had a beard that was wierd some time ago/And in 1981 bought a Spanish guitar". It's much clearer on the live version. thecheapercrisp@hotmail.com (Simon Burgess)

yeah, but the lyrics are different on every version. The 'Hip Preist & Kamerads' one goes 'Heard Kraftwerk in '81/Had a WASP synthesiser'. Mark quoted the 'Hex...' one right as far as I know. marjoa@xtra.co.nz (Mark and Joanna)

Only picked up the tape (2nd Hand) a few days ago, I listened to it in the car today X3, WWOOOOOOHHHH!! What !!! Why have I wasted all this time!!!! It's wicked, Ps I'm a beginner only 40 and,my first album was The wonderful.... Apologies for waiting so late..........since i first heard the Fall in 80 I've still yet to meet another fall Fan.Now How bad is that . The next Album should be called 'Lessons in Deprivation" and that would leave me Vindicated. I'm off for a Milo...... brain_of_j@hotmail.com (Tom Joyce)

It is a scientifically proven fact(*) that, despite being basically normal, most human beings WILL have an allergic-type psychotic, unexplainable reaction to some particular sort of sensory experiences. This has to do with the fact that human beings in their formative stages do not have access to all of the imaginable types of sensory stimuli existing in the world, and because of this a lot of your sense receptor functions will remain in an infantile stage, all together forming an undeveloped, forgotten dormant mess in the darkest recesses of your mind. For some reason, certain specific smells or noises are connected with this mess, and once you are subjected to them, you suddenly start apprehending the world of senses around you through these infantile, undeveloped channels. Emotionally this means a sense of bewilderment and great discomfort for which you can find no explanation. It so happens that these specific sensory stimuli in my case are the goddamn shitty horrible tuneless fucking piece of crap songs on this album. More specifically, the parts of them that are played by a Mr. Steve Hanley, who is credited on allmusic.com for "horrible plinky toneless bass". And don't you start suspecting that I wrote the above long paragraph just to pull your leg - that shitty, insanely hyper-active arhythmical bass-playing REALLY REALLY makes my head feel sort of swimmy, and my ears start to feel as if somebody's stuck a load of cotton wool in them. It's horrible - it sounds like he's sawed off the low end of his bass and has decided to use it as a substitute for harpsichord (the old type of piano that sounds all the notes in the same volume). And what is worst of all is that it's virtually the only instrument besides drums that you'll actually get to hear - they should've called it "Pre-Traumatic Experience" by Steve Hanley feat. Mark E. Smith. And the songs are awful as well. Especially "Who makes the nazis?", which has, as Prindle fairly notes, a harmonics-only bassline (too-tee-too-tee-tatatatatarat) and is the most horrible song ever recorded. It's just a guy shouting something over a bunch of poorly-improvised twinklery, and the guy's not even shouting at the musicians (like I would be), he's just shouting for shouting's sake. This song is also closely approached in its awfulness by "the Classical" and "Jawbone and the air-rifle", which have some cool stuff in them but end up with the most ridiculously amateurish "refrains" ever heard this side of "Happy birthday to you". I guess the horrible artificial-sounding rhythms, the near-total absence of any guitar and the awful awful riffs and melodies (played on bass guitar) are due to misguided conceptions of "avantgarde" and "experimental" rather than just to plain sloppiness and incompetence, but the result is basically the same. Horrible. The only enjoyable songs are "just step sideways" (which has an actual riff and is played on guitar) and the spoken-word-gone-wrong "hip priest". And while that song may be ground-breaking and highly influential, it's STILL a billion times less interesting and powerful than it's sequel, "big new prinz", which, not surprisingly, doesn't appear on this horrible horrible album. (*) No it isn't. galleyian@mac.com (Ian Galley)

Hee hee, Mr Brain of J, you are a funny sod; and to the kids who have a hard time finding this, there is an invention called the 'internet'. Here you can track down and buy (whilst transmitting your card details to every pirate, porn merchant and castrated ox) almost anything bar the pot of gold at end of t'rainbow (those leprecorns aren't impressed by commerce, or kabuki.) Check it out!! It's well worth it as this is a fun album. I think you must have the vinyl edition as there is no mention of the great 'I'm into CB' (which can updated to cover this latest electronic fad, the 'Internet'... I ask you! People with nothing better to do then create a pathetic pseudonym, or 'handle', and spend endless nights transmitting utter shite to all their brethren. Diseased ridden scum. No better than plague rats.) Excuse me, Album... 7/10. Colin.Howard@corries.co.uk

Mr Brain of J, I thoroughly recommended a band from the US called Bon Jovi, they have great guitar riffs, solid musical structures, tuneful melodies and lyrics that actually mean something. They are all competent musicians and also have a wide ranging fanbase. Having discovered the professional sheen of their records I, for one will never listen to The Fall again. steve.robey@mindspring.com

Hex Enduction Hour is such a huge enterprise, what with both its length (one hour! in 1982!) and it's considerable reputation, that it sounds like an intimidating behemoth to this very day. I myself can't look my CD player in the face directly which I'm playing it. It's that revered. But it does have its faults. "And This Day".... what is up with that song? Was it really necessary, much less at 10 minutes long? Apart from that, it pretty much rules, though "Who Makes the Nazis?" drags a little. "The Classical" is in my top 5 Fall songs ever, and "Hip Priest" and "Mere Pseud Mag Ed" are in my top 10. "Jawbone and the Air Rifle" is a neat song too, with interesting lyrics. I agree with the 9/10, Mark. Good rating! ricardo.nunez@poliformusa.com

Although I don’t consider myself a Fall fan I do actually like them pretty much. I own only 4 of there 12,000,1229,129,893,474 cd’s (Grotesque, Hex End. Hour, This Nations Saving Grace & Extricate) Grotesque was awesome, This Nations Saving Grace Rules, Extricate is very entertaining but Hex Enduction Hour does not convince me at all. I bought it because of its reputation as being one of the essential Fall albums, but to me this is just sloppy. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the songs are bad, it’s just that I find the performances to be very poor, to the point where I just can’t concentrate on the songs much less enjoy them. I know that the Fall like to challenge listeners by making their albums sound as peculiar as possible, but c’mon guys, this is ugly, and I’m not talking Grotesque (After the Gramme) ugly, I’m talking about we-didn’t- even- rehearse- to- make- this- album- so- we- can’t- possibly- sound- tight ugly. But that’s just me. newone88859@hotmail.com

I pretty much only listen to Winter. Billdude

This is the first Fall album I've ever heard let alone owned and I don't know if I've started into the right place. I would give this a 6, on your scale, for *now* but it must be noted that I've really really grown to like a lot of albums that left me underwhelmed at first ("Unknown Pleasures," "Radio City," "Pleased To Meet Me," "Terror Twilight.") So take this commentary with a small bag of salt. After listening through the whole thing about seven or eight times I'd have to say that my general impression of the Fall is that I like Mark E. Smith's persona and his vocal style and his lyrics (when I can hear them...I can barely hear anything on "Jawbone And The Air Rifle"), but am very unsure about the repetitive, often monochrome backing music. A lot of it seems really colorless and, well, repetitive.....I don't know why stuff like "And This Day," even though Smith gives it vocal hooks (and gives just about every song a redeeming vocal hook or funny stray line), has to drag on for 10:21. Now to say something positive. That first song, "The Classical"? That's like exactly what I want from The Fall. That song kicked my ass to Neptune. The moment that second guitar comes in after Smith goes "hey there, fuckface!" is fucking anthemic postpunk...and of course there's the hilarious vocals. I still like Pavement's "Conduit For Sale!" which draws on "The Classical"'s rhythm pretty obviously, but the Fall song now annihilates it IMO... I also have to hand it to "Hip Priest," which sounds very strangely effective (and funny) while I'm waiting in traffic. There's also "Who Makes The Nazis?' and "Just Step S'Ways." Those are good. The atmospheric stuff like "Iceland" and "Winter" sound appropriate for their titles (and seem to have inspired some of Pavement's writing again during the "Watery, Domestic" period...think of stuff like "Greenlander" hmmmm hmmmmmm) I'm a bit anal about getting bonus tracks and stuff, and this was a birthday present and I asked for the 2-disc reissue. Some pretty good explanatory liner notes in there, albeit spiked with the usual annoying kiss-ass writing that accompanies a lot of reissues, although not nearly as bad as, say, the liner notes to the reissue of "Are You Experienced?"--and that's, you know, ARE YOU EXPERIENCED, an album you'd think would *deserve* kiss-ass liner notes. I really only listened through the second disc of the reissue maybe twice....it's got "I'm Into C. B." and a bunch of live tracks, maybe the live version of "Deer Park" is a little better than the studio. I am NOT giving up on the Fall though--next, I think I want "This Nation's Saving Grace." One album surely can't be enough to form an opinion on a band with as grotesque and sprawling a discography as this, and of course it's only going to get bigger as long as Mark E. Smith's ugly toothy old grimace draws breath (do a Google Image search for him, and get a load of that bitter-beer-face photo of him smiling!) dave@happydrifter.com

I was just watching Silence of the Lambs, and for the first time noticed that “hip priest” is playing in the background in a scene near the end. I wonder how the heck that happened. With shit like this I really ought to have a blog. thepublicimage79@hotmail.com

It took me forever to get into "Hex Enduction Hour," but I feel it was worth the wait. But I should make clear that this SHOULD NOT under any circumstances be your FIRST The Fall album. This is an extremely inaccessible and difficult album, even though it's good. The production is the best The Fall had ever had at this point in their history, but there are still problems with it; Mark E. Smith's voice is almost never in the front of the mix, instead taking up residence in the middle of the mix, so that you have to strain to hear what he's saying. Also, the instruments mostly sit together in an undifferentiated mass sonically; I feel as if I had to dig to hear the individual parts and riffs, which I never had to do with a Fall album before. On first listen, this album seems like an hour-long, blaring mass of vaguely rock-related sound arbitrarily broken up into eleven tracks, an impression which isn't helped by the arbitrary splitting of "Winter" into two halves. It took me at least three to five listens to determine that "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed." actually had a riff (and a good one). Maybe part of the problem is that there are two drummers, Karl Burns and Paul Hanley, in the band now, and the vastly increased rhythmic complexity also has the unfortunate effect of confusing and cluttering the sound on first listen. Or maybe it also has to do with the fact that Craig Scanlon and Marc Riley's guitars sound like they're falling apart on almost every track here. They often don't sound like they're very in tune with each other or bassist Steve Hanley. But there are some amazing songs on here, chief among them "The Classical," which sounds like a late '70's punk band crossbreeding their impressions of Led Zeppelin and Can and is simply pure magic. It's a total release when Smith finally sings "I've never felt better in my life", and by that time I am usually boogieing around to the tribal drum riffing madness. A genius opener, and nothing else here really comes close to that kind of power, although "Hip Priest," with it's inimitably muffled beat, incomprehensibly lyrical Smith vocal and bizarre use of dynamics, is namechecked as the true classic here for good reason. "Who Makes The Nazis?" stands supreme as an unparalleled WTF moment in the Fall's discography, and it's hilariously rubbery, all-harmonic bass line contrasts brilliantly with Smith's strange explanations of what, exactly, makes the Nazis and the straight-out-of-"Freak Out!" glue-sniffing, retarded chain gang backing grunts. "Iceland/Island" is also a fascinatingly atmospheric, experimental piece, with beautifully repetitive piano from Scanlon, uncredited banjo from Marc Riley and Smith's tapes of the Icelandic winds howling outside his hotel window, all coming together as a gamble that really pays off. Finally, both halves of the appropriately icy "Winter" are as effectively chilling and experimental as the Fall ever got, which is really saying something. The effective dynamic buildup here is a textbook example of gripping minimalism in rock, and Marc Riley's frozen fairground organ really makes the song come alive. Some songs on here indicate an unfortunate tendency for self-indulgence that hadn't really shown up before on the band's records, though. "And This Day" - which ends the record - is a cacaphonous, ear-splitting ten minute frenzy that shouldn't have made it to vinyl, coming off like an audaciously incompetent, fifth-rate "Sister Ray" imitation. There was no need to put "Fortress" on the record, much less perform it as an unseparated intro to "Deer Park," which doesn't even sound halfway related to the damn song, and "Just Step S'ways" feels too thrown together for my tastes. Overall, I'd give it a B plus, because the record is exhausting and offputting, but unlike some other albums I know of (like "Trout Mask Replica"), that doesn't mean that it's avant-garde tendencies fully pay off. I hope I've fully impressed upon you that "And This Day" really, really sucks. Still, though, any record with songs as thrilling as "The Classical" and "Hip Priest" on it deserves at least a B rating. joeybougard@hotmail.com

This was my first Fall record, and (cliché alert!) it practically changed my life, together with "Trout Mask Replica" and SY's "Sister". When I bought this record about a year or two ago, I wasn't expecting much of it. My first listen didn't trigger any excitement, but still there was a certain degree of respect for the mighty Fall. My first conclusion: okay record, but not as great as people told me. Boy, was I wrong! A month later I lived by this album, and though I now feel that I've overrated it a bit in those days, I still think it's up there with all those other great Fall records. So what have we got here? Well, up to "Who Makes The Nazi's?" an ace record with not a single bad song: catchy (in Fall terms) "The Classical" and the equally great rocker "Jawbone and the Air Rifle", the freaky tension filled "Hip Priest", the double home run "Fortress/Deer Park", the fucking tight badass killer song "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed" (one of the best Fall songs ever, hands down), the laidback "Winter", "Just Step Sideways" with that awesome guitar riff and the bass-driven "Who Makes The Nazi's?" (with MES muttering "Remember when I used to follow you home from school babe? Before I got picked up for paedophelia"; that line sends shivers down my spine). But then there's the boring "Iceland" (yawn!) and the repetitive "And This Day", which could have easily been reduced to half of its running time. Both tracks kind of blow, but at least they're no "Edinburgh Man", eh? My rating? A low 9 would be justified, looking back, but still a 9. Still a favourite here, this "Hex Enduction Hour". danielbrookes@gmail.com

I did it. I finally did it. I bought all 28 (or so) official Fall LPs (depending whether you think Slates and Seminal: Live count as albums too - I do on both counts). So in the spirit of this, I may as well write my thoughts on each one. All things considered, I'd say this is the best Fall record. It contains at least 20 or so moments where my jaw just hits the floor and I think 'maaaaaaaan'. How did they do all that? Reading interviews from the band around the time, they make themselves sound like a bunch of northern monkeys in the vein of Oasis, but the music just sounds like it's from another world entirely. 'The Classical' is scabrous, witty and it really rocks out. 'Jawbone...' has a lot of parts, all of which completely rule - the second, extended slowdown with the lyrics "The villagers dance round pre-fabs and laugh through twisted mouths" is particularly brilliant.

R

"Can you turn the monitors on, please?" Mark reiterates upon completing a ludicrously overmodulated CHOPPACHOPPACHOPPACHOPPA recording of "Prole Art Threat." Then the drummer begins "Totally Wired" at too fast a clip and must slow down for a GREAT, UNIQUE take on the track built around an entirely new, darker rhythm guitar part. But look at me, focusing on the trees again and missing the entire forest.

The forest is a live show supposedly performed on February 23rd, 1981 and featuring 5 Slates tracks (all except "Leave The Capitol"), "Blob 59" and one song each from Grotesque, Hex Enduction Hour, Dragnet and Palace Of Swords Reversed. The instruments (two guitars, organ, drums, bass) are all in tune for a G.D. change, and the bootleg recording, though monophonic, is at least not G.D. muffled (although the bass is way too G.D. quiet during a few key moments -- particularly "Fit And Working Again," a song entirely built upon the G.D. bass riff, for Jeepers' Christ!). I'm also not convinced that this disc includes the full show; it's only 37 minutes, and it usually takes Mark Smith that long just to realize he's inside a building.

But enough about the G.D. forest. Who am I, Ronald Reagan, a national hero who dedicated his presidency to the preservation of our planet's natural resources? F*kk no! I'm Al Gore and I wipe my ass with squirrels! I keep hundreds of them in a bucket next to my toilet! And you know my wife Tipper? She melts Dead Kennedys albums in the toaster-oven and suffocates baby penguins with the scorching gooey vinyl!

Track eight's title should read "English Scheme," not "English Scene." And "Slates, Slags etc." brings the set to a dull stop for 7 minutes right near the end. But on the bright side, Mark talks funny gibberish in the middle of "Printhead." He's imitating a speed freak! And by "imitating," I of course mean "a blank space where there is no word."

Lord be willing, we'll one day have access to a sub-par recording of every single concert ever performed by The Fall. So keep your fingers crossed and your crosses fingered! (if your cross has a vaginer) In the meanthyme, you may want to buy this one just for "Blob 59" and the superior version of "Totally Wired," which makes the studio version sound like a pile of sticks meant for burning.

A VERY HAPPY pile of sticks meant for burning, in fact.

Make that a STRANGE, VERY HAPPY pile of sticks meant for burning!

Best,

Mr. Witty

Homophobia Town

P.S. Hey, this is Al Gore again! I love spotted owls so much that I make my OWN! With GUNPOWDER and BULLETS! Also, Knut The Bear is ugly! So UGLY!!!

P.P.S. God bless Ronald Reagan and the charitable work he conducted on behalf of our nation's endangered species. Remember that time he nursed a beached whale back to health all by himself, in the bathtub of the White House? God bless his spirit and soul.

P.P.P.S. Gandhi used to urinate in a plastic bag and throw it at cars.

P

Reader Comments kme@deskmail.com (Kevin E.)

Live albums tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This is probably so because I tend to correlate the live album with Cheap Trick, They Might Be Giants, and other completely worthless musical outfits that find it absolutely imperative to repackage their greatest hits as an act of restitution. The Fall's A Part Of America Therein, however, is a different product completely. It is exceedingly difficult to find copies of "Totally Wired" and other great early material and, presumably, the live format suits these tunes very well. Indeed, the only copy of "Totally Wired" I have found has been the one version on A Part Of America Therein. In addition, the recording closes with a version of "Winter" that is far superior to the original. The entire recording, including the sub-par version of "An Older Lover", is incredibly good. xx@student.uni-halle.de (John Coan)

A Part of America Therein is rubbish and sounds like it was recorded in a sock...buy The Twenty Seven Points instead for a really fresh, tight sound from the greatest British band ever on top form. stephen-cleary@lineone.net

I was lucky enough to see the original Kurious Oranj stage show and I can assure you the combination of Michael Clark's ballet troupe and the Fall's music worked brilliantly (the Fall were onstage throughout, with the dancers). Good album too. galleyian@mac.com (Ian Galley)

A great live album. Of course it sounds nasty, but that's the appeal isn't it? Once again 7/10. The N.W.R.A sounds pretty much like the situation today to me. There's an in built insecurity in us northern folk that makes us believe we're somehow 'better' than those soft southern ponces. Twaddle. Too many people, cowards and criminals AND government crap, when all it takes is A HARD SLAP. Thinking forward this is a kind of twin to the epic Birmingham school of business school with kazoos! Keep breaking down those barriers lads, (is there an EU kazoo mountain? Or did they all get shipped off to poor countries? Or crack pipe retrofit? I don't fucking care.)

S

About eight years ago, when my wife and I were living in a rental apartment on 81st Street (as opposed to the Buys-A-Lot condo on 91st Steetr), we had a three-bulbed lamp with three bulbs - one was white, one red and one green. This may amaze you, but we only ever used the white one. So one morning I was lying in bed thinking about things that we humans don't understand, and I looked at the (off) lamp, and thought to myself, "If there is a God, make the red light turn on RIGHT NOW." Nothing happened, of course. What am I, a dumbass? So then I thought, "Okay, if there are GHOSTS, then make the red light turn on right now." Again, obviously, nothing. It was a Fool's Paradise. So I got up, walked to the men's room, began shaving or brushing my teeth or whatever, then my wife finished up in wherever hell she was (probably showering, the cunt), and she walked in the other room, where we slept. Here's where I have to skip a paragraph it's so fuckin' nuts.

This is what I hear from the other room, in my wife's voice: "Who turned the red light on?"

I'M. NOT. LYING.

It was on. Where can I go from there? I've no clue what it means, or why. But I'm not lying. How on Earth could I have forgotten about that until my wife reminded me 2nite? Man, brains are weird. Because that really happened. Yet I somehow found it less important to remember than, "Hay, the Paul Revere and the Raiders song 'Undecided Man' is on the The Spirit Of '67 LP."

"Also, tits give you a boner."

"(And vice-versa.)"

This Fall CD is live, recorded God Knows When God Knows Where for God Knows What Reason. It is muddy/murky like an old audience mono recording, but the set list that night was so unbelievably fantastic that the resultant CD rules ass-shit anyway. Look at this - "How I Wrote Elastic Man," "Fortress," "Totally Wired," "An Older Lover," "No Xmas For John Quays," "Your Heart Out," "Prole Art Threat," many many others IT RULES!!! I LOVE THE FALL!!!

Of key interest to you as a music purchaser, this double-CD features the FIRST EVER OFFICIAL RECORDING of the long-lost Fall live-only track "Session Musician" (obviously influenced by the similar Kinks track). Because I'm so hep, I've been aware of this song for a few years, in my coolness, but finally it's available on CD so everyone can hear how mediocre it is. It's LONG, it has a 50sy drumbeat, it hasan up-down up-down from normal change to one-higher ugly change. Bouncy rat-a-tta-tat chorus. The band doesn't seem to know when the changes are! I wish I could understand a word he says! At 45:30, it starts sounding a bit like an out-of-tune "C. Smithering" - bouncy 4/4 bass/guitar/keyboard.. Honestly not a great song, but it's RARE, it's worth hearing, and Here it is! tThis part slows down... KAZOO! Gets really dull as it goes, very repetitiveieve without being terribly catchy (8:30 total). But they STILL haven't released "Hey, Marc Riley!" so I'm still the coolest, like Alice Cooper on that one album.

The coolest thing about this double-CD is that the background vocals and Mark's vocals kinda merge into one so every song is sort of like "Hey, a vocal melody! Oh wait, no he's just talking. Hey, listen to that! Catchy! Oh wait, he's just squealing. Hey, nice!" etc. And sometimes the guitar disappears but usually you can hear every instrument. Isn't it nuts that you can't hear the guitar for the first few minutes of "The NWRA"? We all said so.

In conclusion, ghosts are real, and so is God. But not that stupid ass-fucking Christian one with the shit all over his tits.

Also, I love you. Stop sending me hatemail about my shitty Gram Parsons reviews.

Reader Comments naterules1992@aol.com

I've never heard that particular version of "Session Musician", but there was a version of it on the "Hex Enduction Hour" bonus tracks that sounds the opposite of the one you described. It's probably one of the cleaner and better rehearsed Fall recordings from that era. It has the exact same drum beat as "Hip Priest", though, and the Kazoo breakdown is a bit annoying. Anyway, you've got great site.

S

The re-release adds both sides of the phenomenal "Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul"/"Fantastic Life" single, but apparently they're available all over the place at this point.

Reader Comments waco@primenet.com

"Papal Visit" is in fact the best track on RTL and maybe in the top four or five Fall tracks for me. McFarland@ac-tech.com

Certainly not their best, but I think "Joker Hysterical Face" actually IS one of their best, and "Hard Life In Country" is a great chugging low-fi drone. dolores@whaven.freeserve.co.uk (Dolores Coan)

Room to Live is commonly thought to be the worst Fall album - it's certainly the most self-indulgent, by a long chalk, and pretentious, in the worst sense of the word. Around this time, MES' head started to wander arsewards and this wasn't RECTified until Brix came along. Stop it stop it stoppit...the man wasn't a God, and the Fall recorded some real slop occasionally.....this being, as a whole, the worst example. bougops@bu.edu (Greg Bougopoulos)

A great album indeed, as was the Fall's '80s custom. "Papal Visit" is a piece of crap disguised as a song and you're correct Mark that some of the songs don't have much of a true vision of what they're supposed to be. However, The Fall works very well under these conditions and "Hard Life In Country", among others, are damn good. And what's with the sax in the title track? That's quality my friend. I'll give it an 8. Codefieldcode@aol.com

got this one recently (against the advice of many a fall fan) and loved it straight away. how good is "solicitor in studio"? "marquis cha-cha"? "detective instinct"? and "papal visit" is one of the scariest things ever committed to tape. fantastic record. but then, it's the fall, isn't it. thepublicimage79@hotmail.com

Aughhh. This album BLOWS. Seriously, I am appalled at how much of this album is just flat-out awful. After "Hex Enduction Hour," Mark and Co. originally hopped into the studio to just record a single, but - as was the case with "Slates" - Mark and Co. ended up recording more than a single, but supposedly not enough for a full album. (36 minutes is more than enough to count as an album for me, but whatever.) Mark, at the time, referred to it as an "aside" - like a mini-album, or something that really isn't as good as the other albums they'd released so far. He had to have known a fair portion of this was trash. "Solicitor In Studio," the title track and "Joker Hysterical Face" are alright Fallsongs - nothing to write home about, but okay. "Marquis Cha-Cha" sounds as if it could have been the best thing here, but is just too directionless to make any real impact. The remaining songs are basically amelodic sonic doodles that are uniformly dreadful. "Hard Life In Country," "Detective Instinct," "Papal Visit" - what is this go-nowhere, self-indulgent bullshit? These recordings are so crappy that it boggles the mind. Since the "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" single is much more widely available on the "Slates" reissue, there's no reason to give this an 8. This is a 6. cjfreeman@homemail.com.au

Actually only listened to half of this album at the time of writing, but really cannot see this as getting the same grade as the utterly phenomenal previous album. I mean I've always preferred my songs to have some kind of musical progression; like you know verses and choruses. I know that seems like a ridiculous thing too say with the fall. But really, if it sounds like any tone deaf savant with a slightly skewed vision of the world could have written it then It always becomes a little trying; especially when the songs go for catchiness through a complete lack of changes, rather than any tangible melodies. I think the only way to really enjoy this record is to convince yourself that mark e smith is some kind of genius. He's a drunken arsehole, whose considerable talent seems to be overshadowed by a sense of utter superiority, (at times). As much as I love discerning little snippets of his lyrics, (some of which create truly beautiful visions for me at least) he's also more schizophrenic than poet. First song was really pretty, but I thought the little atonal riff on top of the song was almost unnecessary. Certainly a very self indulgent record; the songs don't seem to be anything more than the result of an interesting world vision, and an interesting work aesthetic, (the falls own weird sci fi, horror movie, working class, non pretentious pretentions, bile on top of more bile). But that's hardly specific to this record; here it seems like Mark e smith was just indulging in this atmosphere without acutally going on to write any decent songs to go along with it. Surely anyone could of come up with most of these songs in a couple of minutes? The Fall have generally done about as well with one riff as anyone could, (new face in hell for example) but I don't get that feeling from most of these songs. It's really nice backgroun music, especially driving music, but I feel that my frist half is utterly tedious to sit down with. Hex enduction hour was like three times better; If I had to assign grades I'd give hex a 9, (which I have actually listened too like a hundred times) while this would hardly be a six. And I'd be more inclined to halve that rather than double it if the second half is just more of the same. Steven Savale

This is a classic album ,I never understood the stick it got at the time and continues to get .I think it's the last great super-abrasive Fall album ,where the band is a tooled - up anti-music battering ram."Solicitor in Studio" may very well be my favourite Fall track ever , it's got such a demonic ,totalitarian drive with some gleefully discordant moments .Sure some of the tracks are less developed than "Hex" but one thing I've noticed that people don't get is that The Fall are GREAT at being spontaneous in the studio ,and that MES has a spitefully subversive attitude to the recording process.People slag them , but to me tracks like 'Papal Visit" , or "WMC Blob 59" and "Get Me a Taxi !c---!" define MES's brilliance as much as anything else they've done. I love the fact that they pour derison on the idea that studio tracks have to be "produced" and "have time spent on them" etc.I love the fact that "In the Country" and "Detective Instinct" make you think they're going to burst into something else and never do.To me "Joker Hysterical Face" is the perfect image of MES tome ; a cruelly brilliant art sadist and Room To live is the band at their very best .

A

Reader Comments MSnodden@aol.com

You probably know this already, but In a Hole has been released officially in the U.K. with all the cracks and drop-outs of my vinyl copy lovingly preserved. tedium2000@hotmail.com.nz (Duane Zarakov)

i live in new zealand ... i'll probably never leave. fraew@zfree.co.nz

Geez.. I live in New Zealand Too.. If you think New Zealand is a hell hole you've got your head up your arse! Hey talking about New Zealand - are you ever going to review any records by the Clean (I'd suggest the early stuff) or the Chills? Surely of your caliber would be aware of the body of work these two bands have put out of the past 20 years.. galleyian@mac.com (Ian Galley)

Hey! New Zealand has a lot going for it. For one my aunty lives there, so pack it in. I love this album. It's cheeky. It's the most fun Fall album going, maybe as they're pissed but that's a bonus. Room to live is a giggler, that guitar line is a sweetie, even the popping vinyl transfer can't spoil it. The popping, by the way, adds to the record. Admit it, the sudden jump into "THE VILLAGERS ARE SURROUNDING THE HOUSE" on 'Hard Life..." had you shitting your pants (or pissing yourself with laughter.) 'The Classical' is still a dull tune, but it's livened up with some car brochure reciting and you can hear the drummer dying. Kill the drummer... he can't play, Kill the bass player, kill both bass players, kill the 3x bass expansion unit, kill the sexplayer Yeah! I'm off to Cruise Yerself!! BYe Oh, 9/10. steve.robey@mindspring.com

First off, New Zealand is a fantastic place, so don't knock it. I've had two friends from there and both of them are cool enough for me to say, "Hmm... I like these dudes. Wherever they came from, that place must be ok. New Zealand, you say? Ah, well then!" This concert, similarly, is a nice one. My CD copy seems to have been mastered from scratchy vinyl like most of yours, but hell, what's wrong with scratchy vinyl? I've made some CDR mixes for friends that included tracks recorded from my LPs, and a lot of people make special mention of these tracks, saying they sound the best! And they're pretty flabbergasted when I point out that it's from an LP! Ha! gleatherman@gmail.com

One of my all-time favorite live albums.

Very, very moody. The bass and drum droning on forever and Mr. Smith's hypnotic, probably drunken delivery. Fabulous. paperhovercraft@yahoo.co.uk

trekked across southern england to snaffle up copy of this album. hit pay dirt in Croydon. cracking album. prized possession now under bed but still cherished. john quays never sounded so good.

S

Reader Comments steve.robey@mindspring.com

From the same tour that brought you "Fall in a Hole" I believe. This one's got tracks that later appeared on "Perverted by Language", so it's a bit unique in that regard. Sound quality is a tad better than "Fall in a Hole", and I agree with Prindle about "I'm into CB" - Smith really brings this song to life! This one's also got "Hexen Definitive", which was a highlight of their forthcoming album. dullygray@letterboxes.org

While I do like the openly self-indulgent Room To Live, the Melbourne ’82 concert blows that album’s originals right out of the water. Here they sound even more fleshed-out, self-assured, tight, to-the-point and intense. Great power shines through the whole performance: besides the seminal versions of “Hard Life In Country” and “Solicitor In Studio”, there’s the great “I’m Into C.B.” (which is, sadly, the only version I’ve got), the ever-classic “Lie Dream…”. Having said that, the opening “I Feel Voxish” admittedly IS somewhat messy and unfocused. Their greatest live release, at least of the four or five ones I have heard. Highly recommended, even though not really obligatory. The problem with the band is that there are millions of CDs lying around and each one with “The Fall” on the front cover has at least one song you would like to hear. No such luck with “Mark E. Smith”, though. You might invest in Post Nearly Man and never really forgive yourself.

S

But for now, let's talk about THIS album. Eight songs - only three of them shorter than five minutes long. "Eat Y'self Fitter" is a completely misleading record-opener - it sounds completely amateurish, silly, and, eventually, mind-numbingly dull. Howe'er, the rest of the album is mature, professional, and a patootie of a repetition-fest! "Neighborhood Of Infinity" and "I Feel Voxish" are the kickbutt pop rockers, and they're better than a lollipop; Mark even SINGS on "I Feel Voxish!" (hence the title, I suppose), and you can't beat that swank bass line. Speaking of bass lines, that's pretty much all there is to the nine-minute "Tempo House" (well, a bass line and two drummers), but, unlike "Eat Y'self Fitter," it becomes hypnotic over the course of time (instead of just boring). "Smile" reaches for emotions that it doesn't quite grasp, but, oh man, you should hear "Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot." Probably the darkest, bluesiest song they've ever written, this one conjures up some awfully disturbing images if you listen to it while you're walking down a cold deserted NYC alleyway in the cold of winter in the dead of night with no one to talk to but the soulless moon and some Mexican guy.

This is a good album, unless you've got a short attention span, in which case you wouldn't have read this far in the first place. Maybe I should get my head out of my ass.

Reader Comments chris.lemon@mailcity.com

Hiya Mark! (in joke for M.Riley fans....) Decent site, decent site, plenty to take issue with here...... I find this one of the weaker lp's..... maybe it's because I'm not a massive fan of Brix. I read somewhere that the producer (forget his name, thank God) made them do several takes of "Eat Y'self Fitter" (the slogan of an advertising campaign for a British breakfast cereal....), hence they sound completely bored on the version included therein. data@havoc.gtf.gatech.edu

Actually, "Eat Y'self Fitter" is one of my favorite Fall songs .. just so you know somebody likes it .. just don't accuse me of having good taste preservatives@email.msn.com (Mike F.)

"eat y'self fitter" is the best song the fall ever did. McFarland@ac-tech.com

You're missing out on "Eat Y'Self Fitter". I think it's a rather remarkable piece. Like much of this album it's lyrically centered, totally non-commercial, and thoroughly brilliant. s_gillespie@rkadv.com

Everyone calls this the Fall's first "accessible" (i.e.: Brix) album. Some even think this album is funny. For me, it's their darkest, least commercial, haunting effort. Would be perfect, but "Eat Y'self Fitter" seems a little light-hearted and out of place with the rest of it (unless it's an indirect swipe at Hitler's vegetarianism). But how 'bout the rest! As a two-drummer piece, "Smile" is better than anything on "Hex Enduction Hour," "Tempo House" seems to precede De La Soul and all that lo-fi hip-hop by, like, six years - and "Strife Knot" ends the album on a sick/ironic note. "Strife is Life" is hardly an optimistic way to close an album that is cluttered with references to Nazism/World War II. Don't let that pink cover fool you. ianbrill@hotmail.com

Actually, Mark, Brix was in the band and then Mark married her. Ever seen the video for "Eat Y'Self Fitter"? Funnier than any episode of "Everybody Loves Rabies," mixed drinks, Halloween masks and some bouncer grabbing Mark by the shirt: a comedy cocktail for one and all! thecheapercrisp@hotmail.com (Simon Burgess)

I'd agree that this is one of The Fall's darkest, least accessible records (ever more so than Hex - people said *that* was inaccessible? Sissies). It's like Hex in that it's really close to Mark's original musical vision, but the tunes are less memorable and the lyrics less 'tetchy' this time around. Still great, though, especially with the bonus tracks on the recent CD release (those four tracks off the singles are fantastic, worth the price alone, etc.) 'Pilsner Trail' doesn't do much for me, though. An important album, patricularly because Smiff's mood seems to have changed noticeably compared to earlier records, now that Brix is in the group. SneakthaSlinger@aol.com

Thank you Mark, for talking about The Fall so damn much that I just had to break down and buy some of their cd's. I got the 2002 reissue of this one for $15, and it's got "The Man Whose Head Expanded-ah" and "Wings-ah" on it! AND THEY RUCKING FOCK!!!!!!! I've also got This Nation's Saving Grace, and it ICKS KASS! MANKS, THARK! I'll echo that sentiment, that "Eat Y'self Fitter-ah" is a piece of aural shit that makes me vomit ear wax from mine ear-holes every time I hear it, but everything else here is extremely creative, well-thought out, catchier than a fishnet, and well....repetitive as fuck! But in a nice way. My favorite song so far is "Hotel Blodel," and goddammit, every time I hear Mark jump in with his inscrutable babblings to completely ruin the tense, leering, weirdo darkness atompeshere of the melody, I just have to crack the fuck up. 9.5! Packed full of brilliant/beautiful melodies. But what Fall album isn't? Seriously, tell me which one! I've only got like two albums by this band. galleyian@mac.com (Ian Galley)

I wouldn't go as far as give this a nine, but as I'm only getting used to it, I can only take this is drilled into your cranium by now. I too disagree over 'Eat Y'self Fitter' I think it's one of the most accessible tracks on the album, (and funny too.) 'Smile' is starting to make me sway and groan; it's death claws tighten into my shoulder, barking in my ear and shitting down my back. PROCESS. DAGGERS. HE's ANGRY. SMILE!!!! Another fresh favourite is... TEMPO HOUSE. Mr Burns and Mssr's Hanley are way ahead of the game here. M.E.S is banging on about some serious man who's drunk too much... that bass line!!!! (Heh! Re-listen to 'The Fall' of Filth Pig (Ministry). Is it another classic rock progression? My word! There's still seven minutes left! Worth the price alone my friends. I don't like the Brix sung 'Hotel Bloden', but check me in 2 months, (I'm very weak willed.) May give it an eight? I was down the market last weekend and managed to pick this up for £5. Yes, five English pounds! That makes out, err 30 pennies a song, (re-issues also includes Man who's head expanded, Ludd Gang, Kicker Conspiracy and the very poor Wings), an absolute bargain. (Tempo House is still banging away! NICE END!! That needs sampling....) I do recall some friends of mine have the very video compilation which includes the video a correspondent allud