Which Live Fall Album Should I Splash Out A Fiver On?

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Fopp currently doing a fair selection from this lot for £5.
I'm most tempted by Live in Cambridge 1988 as it's got (naturally) a fair chunk of Frenz Experiment stuff on it but I'm happy to listen to anyone who knows better...

Apologies if this has been done - couldn't find anything in a quick search of the numerous Fall threads

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

oops dodgy link

try this

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

"In a hole" I liked best, out of Totalle's turns, Chaos tapes and Seminal live. Oh and "a part of america therein" on a twofer with "Slates slags etc"

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

'Totale's Turns' and 'A Part of America Therein' are the best live Fall records. TT being a great document of the early band (it was their third lp release) and APOAT with the band at their Hex Enduction Hour-era peak.

― rw, Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

of the early period, start with one of these:

totale's turns - the only essential live fall lp. but it is frustrating and messy

a part of america - quite lo-fi, with long songs, but probably the darkest live lp

in a hole - recently reissued with bonus tracks; this is a fan favorite

sadly there isn't yet a decent live cd of the beggar's era, as that seems to be your interest... cambridge is not so hot, seminal is a beautiful corpse, the bbc disc is too short, pure as orange is too similar to the studio lp, creepshow is still quite hard to find and doesn't really cover enough ground... you might try live various years, the main disc of which covers 90s fall, the bonus disc consists of three absolutely storming cuts from 1988 [the definitive reading of carry bag man, not too much wah but so fierce]

if you see 27 points, consider getting that one too. it's a pretty great summation of what made them worthwhile in the 90s.

― mig, Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

In a Hole thirded

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Totales Turns of course. ("Hey - stop fooking showin' off").

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"In a hole" front cover star = Marc Riley, on the original sub-bootleg LP and every reissue since. How much must that piss M.e.S off?

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

totales turns thirded, or a part of america (for the opening monologue alone)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the Riley picture ("Happy Fall Guitarist") was put on the cover because he'd just been sacked?

― rw, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

A Part of America has such crap songs on it though - C 'n C and NWRA shouldn't both be in there.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

'The 27 Points'
lo-fi and edited collage-style with jokes and plenty of mic rustle, false starts, walk-offs, extreme line-up shifts, electronics, hidden ace studio tracks. Total crqp. My fave-orite.

'BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert'
Brix-era high point, good energy build, great version of 'Hey! Luciani" cuts off short for tax reasons?

'Live 1977'
admirable if only for being the worst recording ever. you know that VU boot called 'the AMP tape'?--all your hear is lou's guitar, etc?
The one's the MES tape. Total SHREDD.

― J2Dancer, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

oh yeah, and
the live stuff on 'Backdrop' destroys everything else. 'Guest Informant' will tear your house down.

― J2Dancer, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Fall In a Hole, 2nd version with Chris Knox liner notes.

― jack cole (jackcole), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"in a Hole" with Marc Riley and his joker hysterical face.

― stephen schmidt, Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"In a Hole" is my personal fave.

"The 27 Points" is, as others have pointed out, awful-yet-great--hard to explain just why it works so well.

― Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Yet another vote for In a Hole as favorite. Then Part of America and Totale's after that. That Legendary Chaos Tape is kind of blah; but maybe it was just the recording.

What are the bonus tracks on the In a Hole cd?

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 4 March 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Fopp is the only place i buy cds at when im in london...all of the other places are too expensive and you can find the same stuff here in nyc.

though, the rough trade shoppe on talbot road is ace.

― jp, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks for all the advice (though if i follow it all i might end up more than a fiver out of pocket).
In A Hole looks favourite - not sure if that's in the Fopp selection but I'll check today.

I'd almost given up on The Fall live after a particularly poor gig but they (well, he) redeemed themselves brilliantly at last year's ATP.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 5 March 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

What are the bonus tracks on the In a Hole cd?

Look for the asterisked songs at the end. The review you can ignore.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

(Especially since for some reason towards the end of the review I boldly state that Mark E. Smith is female.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

MES is such a fox -- hot cha cha cha.

― jack cole (jackcole), Friday, 5 March 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Cool, thanks Ned. Wow lots of Grotesque stuff. I don't think I have a live "CnC SMithering" or "Slates, Slags" anywhere. Guess I better pony up for this version.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Ya definitely should, it's one of those albums where all the attention/hype built up over the years is all accurate.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the Riley picture ("Happy Fall Guitarist") was put on the cover because he'd just been sacked?
-- rw (superyo...), March 4th, 2004.

yeah, don't know if i believe this tale of smith having nothing to do with the album. the cover art after all is riley about to walk into a hole in the ground, in other words "fall in a hole" = "fuck off and die riley" more or less.

― my name is limitless, Friday, 5 March 2004 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I would say my favorite is "Austurbaejarbio" (Live In Reykjavik 1983) - it was mastered directly from the soundboard and sounds incredible. Plus it has all the Perverted by Language songs being mangled by a band who had not met Brix smith.

You should also get A Part of America Therein - particularly the CD version which includes the brilliant Slates EP.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 5 March 2004 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"totale's turn" is the greatest live album ever!

(a little more recent, don't forget "live to air in melbourne")

― fletcher dexter, Friday, 5 March 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't listen to Dr C., or at least don't listen to half of what he says: A Part Of America Therein is great, as is the version of NWRA thereon. He is right abt C'n'C but this is more than made up for by Winter and Deer Park. Also, you get Slates on the CD, which is very nearly the best Fall longer-than-a-single release ever.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Friday, 5 March 2004 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I recently got the "I am Pure as Oranj" --a full live set from the 88 Kurious Oranj performances... it has a vibe of a house half full of theater-types checking out the Michael Clark dance company, and the other half the average Fall punters (in general there's polite applause). A lot of reviewers kind of dis the studio Kurious Oranj LP, but this snapshot of an actual show is pretty interesting, cool use of tapes stringing songs together, while the "Big New Prinz" actually overlaps with its ancestor "Hip Priest" for a bit making for a weird passage. The band sounds pretty great too, winding down Brix's last days until she rejoined briefly in the mid-90s.

― Brian Turner (btwfmu), Saturday, 6 March 2004 02:38 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

A Part of America has such crap songs on it though - C 'n C and NWRA shouldn't both be in there.

What? These are two of my favourite Fall songs and the new words MES comes up with on "C 'n' C" are amongst his best ever, sheer genius.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

"in a hole" is a live record on par w/ "live at leeds" by the who, some of the vers on that album are, imho definitive, esp "solictor in studio" and "fantastic life", the new vers w/ bonus tracks is tits

― chris besinger (chris besinger), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

It also has "Backdrop" on it!

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

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