Marc Riley with The Creepers - S/D

Remember hearing - and taping - sessions from Peel in the mid 80s, loved them then. Should dig the tapes from the attic. It's all on In-Tape Records, wasn't it? That was his label - with Terry and Gerry and Yeah Yeah Noh. Great label.

It's all about this double 7":

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The Carri Me Card single wasn't bad but I never heard anything else by them as good as this double 7" and I tried several of their releases. I like that song "Shirt Scene" though.

Yes, In Tape records. I've just posted a 7" single on my blog that appeared on the In Tape label. It was a band called The Weeds that included erstwhile Fall drummer Simon Wolstencroft.

Anyone interested in bands containing former members of the Fall would do well to watch my blog as I have recently managed to acquire the extremely rare and coveted LP by the Fates called "Furia" from 1985 which was apparently a mostly female band containing Una Baines, formerly of the Fall. When I receive it in the post I will post it!

Whoops! Forgot one!

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excited about those blog posts, Bimble!

You can hear the best moments of the Fates' album on Una's MySpace site. I like about 60% of the album, though there are some weak moments. Martin Bramah plays guitar on a song or two (I think some percussion) as well, and there are a few other Fall / Blue Orchids associates on it.

wow Bimble I've been wondering about that Flood band forever, I have the Honeymoon Striptease 12" but forgot anything else I might have ever known about them over the years...

Fandango! You're the only one I've ever met who knows that band! I would love to shake your hand!

Thanks for the tip, Dee!

Search: Peel Sessions, particularly the one Bimble posts about upthread (4 As from Maida Vale), the one released as the "Shadow Figure" 12 inch and the one that's on side B of "Cull". That's almost like their 12 best studio recordings right there. Thank you BBC.

Also search "Live Warts and All" which I think is their best album and actually has the best versions of some of their songs. I actually love this album and think every track is a cracker. They were a great live band and thankfully this album exists to prove it because most of their studio work does not do them justice.

"Gross Out" is a primitive, kinda charming but basically a 5/10 - an under-rehearsed, cheaply slapped together period piece. It's a dense and wildly inconsistent sub -early Fall sound. Couple of the tracks including the best track "Earwig O'Dowd" are Scanlon/Hanley/Hanley/Riley - the Grotesque/Slates era Fall minus Mark E. Smith, reunited a couple of years later (or possibly recorded a couple of years earlier than the other tracks?).

"Fancy Meeting God" is their best studio album I think. The sound is a big grimy but that's part of the whole thing really - at least it is consistent. Great songs throughout though the ones that are done on Peel Sessions or on the live album are better there than here. Best songs are probably Breakneck 2 and Judas Sheep.

"The Creepers" is almost like a different band really. It's been too long since i listened to them to comment accurately.

the sleeper compilation mentioned in the original post is indeed excellent. riley proved himself to be much more capable than smith's constant putdowns over the years would have you believe.

fancy meeting god is the only other of their albums i owned and it's great despite the murky sound. i've heard one or two of the other albums but they never stuck with me, the best tracks seeming to be those collected on sleeper. i'll have to check them out again, and will look for that live album.

I just got the only two CDs they released - Sleeper and Rock'n'roll Licorice Flavor. Wicked fun, with there was more available!

Wedding Present do a great cover of "Jumper Clown".

I had no idea about the Wedding Present cover. Have to seek for that.

riley proved himself to be much more capable than smith's constant putdowns over the years would have you believe.

Yes, although it did take him a year or two to find his voice. Riley is a natural entertainer, which is something that has carried him through his media career and his other interests & involvements. Feels like that was repressed for the earlier Creepers stuff - maybe thanks to his involvement with Mark E Smith's philosophies about musicians, recording etc, and also his youth - he was in the Fall from ages 16-21, the Creepers ended when he was about 26.

He has talked about how MES taught him a lot but some of the things he carried forward from the Fall served the Fall better than the Creepers. eg. the casual approach to recording - Smith's voice carries over a clattering racket much more compellingly than Riley's does. The track I mentioned as being the best on Gross Out is a Steve Hanley vocal not Riley. It's easy to imagine it as a Fall song although it probably wouldn't be so busy during the verses and MES would've nailed the narrative better than anyone.

Once they moved out from under the shadow of the Fall Riley got more animated and conversational in his singing and writing plus the piercing organ sound was a great attribute.

Did "Ark" ever produce anything?

they made one album.

Is it any good? The cover ATV's "Nasty Little Lonely"!

i like the track in the video on that Discogs page; i'd love to hear more!

Blimey, there were three Hanleys in the band, and two of them were called Paul!