Your Future Our Clutter: THE FALL 2010 Chop-Licking and Thub-Twiddling Thread

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I know there is recently some discussion of this on another thread but given the atypically long (2 yrs!) layoff it seems like it deserves it's own thing...early indications are this one's a (missing) winner....

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:39 (fifteen years ago)

http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo346/HadrianVIII/tumblr_kyg0hmUpqJ1qb1pk2o1_500.jpg

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:39 (fifteen years ago)

("THUMB"). If I could twiddle my thub I'd never leave the house!

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:40 (fifteen years ago)

Can I get a mod on this? Thumb/"its"? Thx....

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:41 (fifteen years ago)

Imperial Wax Solvent was great! And the Fall has had the same line-up for about three years now! And this album's been stewing for about two years! These are good signs (though what's the time difference btw Heads Roll and Ref. Post-TLC?)

search: wolf-kidult man (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:58 (fifteen years ago)

Adored everything pretty much unconditionally up to Fall Heads Roll. That one just left me feeling slightly empty, then with Reformation! PTLC I really felt they'd dropped something of a stinker. Now I think there's things to love about both of 'em (the blisteringly straightforward anti-I Wanna Be Your Dog burn of Youwanna, the delerious and vivid version of I Can Hear the Grass Grow from the first; and about a Slate's worth 10" of stuff from the latter).

Imp Wax Solvent was fantastic in many ways - return of lots of characters, a great and spooky set of lyrics on Alton Towers - but lacked an absolutely killer track (tho 50-year-old Man and Tommy Shooter came close) and suffered slightly from a slightly synthetic feel: cutnpaste of same vox for Is This New chorus and a few other examples. Just didn't quite reassure me after the relative duds of the previous two.

However, I'm feeling excited about this one - live they've been superb recently (apart from the one gig I went to, ugh). Yes, I'm worried about the relatively lenten looking tracklist (I've heard most of these in one form or another already) and the single they released before Christmas (Slippy Floor (Mark Mix) and Hot Cakes) showed similar weaknesses to early material - comparatively musically unimaginative, lyrically lenten.

But it had strengths - no cut and pasting of bits of lyrics into the song, so a more organic, live feel (currently their strength I think), plus a really great sound - a new version of the classic Fall Sound; sparse but dense, heavy but propulsive, dark but electric.

So I'm terrified - I don't want to get my expectations up too high, so I'm let down, but equally I don't want to be all low key about it, because this is basically my secular Christmas, and I'm determined to enjoy it.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:23 (fifteen years ago)

Don't mean 'similar weaknesses to early material' btw, mean 'similar weaknesses to the recent material'

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:24 (fifteen years ago)

new stuff that I've heard is great: The Fall In The 21st Century

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:27 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, I saw. I'm steering clear of advance material/reviews this time around partly out of superstition, partly out of wanting to avoid the whole 'RETURN TO FORM BEST SINCE HEX/GROTESQUE/SLATES' forum/music mag nonsense that seems to fly around every release (or people/papers/mags saying the opposite) and partly out of wanting to maintain as much of a sense of mystery as possible.

But it's good to see it's generally getting the thumbs up of course.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:31 (fifteen years ago)

It does seem if you accept RTLC as a recent-Fall nadir and IWS as a vast improvement, this one has the potential to be amazing. That would be the historically consistent curve anyway. Then the 2011 record would suck horribly.

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:33 (fifteen years ago)

IMO their best phase was '96-'03 (ignoring AYAMW to some extent); I'd take those records above any other Fall phase. Levitate is one of my favourite albums ever by anyone and I've only heard it off Youtube for fuck's sake

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:33 (fifteen years ago)

xpost I'm also steadfastly NOT previewing, at least for as long as I can hold out.

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:34 (fifteen years ago)

Levitate is brilliant. But I love AYAMW too. Parts of it still sound way ahead of even "now."

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:36 (fifteen years ago)

To me, the first six tracks of IWS were unassailable, and the rest wz v. decent (though there were a couple songs I skipped over)...I thought both Heads Roll and TLC had some classic songs on each but that neither really merited repeated listenings...I think Formerly Country on the Click is one of the best albums of decade, and AYAMW had some good songs (though I liked 2G + 2 more; it has more kick, and that two-minute version of Kick the Can is a fantastic riff...no Crop-Dust though :(...)

still have to get my ears on The Unutterable and Levitate...

search: wolf-kidult man (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:37 (fifteen years ago)

I think I need to give AYAMW a fair listen at some stage

oh golly gosh, those two albums are Fall in excelsis

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:38 (fifteen years ago)

(xpost) Yep, I think the last time a Fall album blindsided me was... well, actually Levitate, The Marshall Suit and The Unutterable all did in various ways - Levitate because it was so out there, like a 90's Hex, MS because the group had exploded and for a while it seemed uncertain they'd ever be back (the Peel session from that year is something else - close to being my favourite Fall thing ever), and of course The Unutterable because it was miraculously inventive, fun and scary.

So, I'm watching the skies with the fervour of ancient augurs searching for cosmological auspices basically.

Do like AYAMW as well.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:39 (fifteen years ago)

does this mean acoleuthic that you are going to be giving Levitate major points on your freeform alt.90s.poll??? :)

search: wolf-kidult man (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:39 (fifteen years ago)

yes, it does, as I've already intimated on the suggestions thread

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:40 (fifteen years ago)

oh okay cool

search: wolf-kidult man (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:42 (fifteen years ago)

i can't believe more bands and musicians haven't realised that sometimes pushing the whole lot down the stairs or into the path of a trainwreck is the best thing you can do to your songs

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:42 (fifteen years ago)

For me, post-2000:

1. Real New Fall LP (Country on the Click)
2. Tromatic Reflexxions
3. The Unutterable
4. Imperial Wax Solvent
5. Are You Are Missing Winner
6. Fall Heads Roll
7. Reformation Post-TLC
8. Smith & Blaney

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:45 (fifteen years ago)

^^^that looks about right...tromatic reflexxions shdve been labelled a Fall album given the usual rules on what constitutes the Fall, added to the fact that it's wondrous

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:50 (fifteen years ago)

rumours are that Domino told what they originally had was not good enough (eg the single from last year), and got them to go back and record it again - delaying it by 4 months but potentially turning it from an OK-sounding fall record into an excellent one.

matt h, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:53 (fifteen years ago)

xpost I think he's burned a bridge w/ those two guys, which is really too bad. I would be perfectly contented if Von Sudenfed was the actual "Fall" for a bunch of albums.

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:55 (fifteen years ago)

Backdrop at recent gig: "What Domino Wants, Domino Shall Get," or something to that effect.

Hadrian VIII, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:56 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, wasn't sure about all that.

Recalling last May's Smith message -

ANOTHER year has passed - rapidly for some, too slowly for I, one-legged yet again. And yet, things re: The Fall improve, our new label, although young, are coping just about with 'The Fall". Yea, in a Castleford studio built on gravel the group cracked down some odd things. The main concern to avoid the much-ripped off already 'Imperial'. Our next record will be something that scum like that choke on.

I half wonder whether Smith went to his disruptive extreme and Domino did choke on it, but most of me thinks this rumour is baloney - Smith tends to do what he wants (tho has shown pragmatism in the past), Domino wd probably ok pretty much anything for the first album?

Unless it was really sketchy. In which case - I want to hear it!

fwiw

1) The Unutterable
2) Tromatic Reflexxions (if we're playing that game. I'm not convinced personally - Smith definitely turned up for this collaboration but the lyrics feel v unFall-like)
3) Are You Are Missing Winner (scabrous and unfriendly brilliance)
4) COTC
5) Imp Wax
6) Reformation Post TLC
7) Heads Roll

I'm not even playing the Smith Blaney game, apart from the two versions of Transfusion, which are amazing, but I'll just file those with their Silver Monk Time of Higgledy-Piggledy as 'excellent sundries'.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 20:13 (fifteen years ago)

from what i gather that rather than wilful destruction, it was more of a case of something that was handed in that was just OK - and Domino went "no, this can sound much better". and apparently comparing the final recording to the versions put out last year makes it clear.

im sure this kind of thinking runs against the spirit of the fall, but i've always wondered what some of the material on Reformation and Heads Roll would be like a few more revisions down the road.

matt h, Saturday, 6 March 2010 20:22 (fifteen years ago)

I agree with you about Reformation, but in a slightly backasswards way - apparently there was a really good session's-worth of material they'd done, really brilliant stuff by all accounts, and, typically, Smith just nixed it (see last minute mastering of Bend:Sinister from dodgy tape he had, COTC pre-release revision &c, I believe), preferring the off-the-cuff thing they put out instead.

Heads Roll I'm just not sure about, I think that one was always flying under the bar (I know people who wd strenuously disagree but whatever). The best things to come out of that were the session version of Blindness, one of the best things they've done, and probably Youwanna

I don't mind listening to FHR (Reformation always feels a struggle) but it never lights up even to the extent of Fall Sound or Systematic Abuse. Yeah (sorry matt, circling in on what you're saying here) really do feel Reformation cd have been great with more work.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 20:29 (fifteen years ago)

and yes, thats a good point - without turning on the nostalgia bore, there was always a peel session to act as an alternate revisioning of everything up until reformation. going to have optimism from everything i've heard that this time MES (with or without domino's influence) hasn't underbaked the thing.

matt h, Saturday, 6 March 2010 20:42 (fifteen years ago)

Absolutely otm about the Peel sessions and the revisioning. And yes, optimism all the way round here.

'virgin' should be 'wizard' (GamalielRatsey), Saturday, 6 March 2010 20:58 (fifteen years ago)

listening to The Unutterable right through (on Youtube, sigh) and yeah this is just...even the songs I'd thought of as lesser tracks are leaping at my throat

but then COTC is similarly undeniable. can't split 'em. phenomenal records both. bloody phenomenal. Unutterable needed a Peel session ;_;

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 21:15 (fifteen years ago)

i can't believe more bands and musicians haven't realised that sometimes pushing the whole lot down the stairs or into the path of a trainwreck is the best thing you can do to your songs

Seems like the vast majority of bands that get a chance to record for a wide audience feel under incredible pressure to get it right. MES is close to unique in that he's gotten to this state where he know there's always going to be another Fall album. Most songwriters loose their curiosity for messing around long before they reach that stage. Dylan is sort of there, but has never been as musically curious or anarchic. Tom Waits does it, but not as successfully as Smith.

bendy, Saturday, 6 March 2010 21:29 (fifteen years ago)

Fuck, this album is ludicrous. So, so good. I knew that already but I know it even more now. Just needs to lose the minute-long title-track and that Pumpkin Soup song and it'd be flawless*. Those of you who hate on Midwatch 1953 (a masterpiece) and Devolute, gtfo

*You know what I mean.

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 22:11 (fifteen years ago)

Also, bendy that is a very good post, and gets to the heart of why this sudden post-1996 streak of brilliance means so very much to me

I spent four bloody years there (acoleuthic), Saturday, 6 March 2010 22:12 (fifteen years ago)

It's kind of funny for me to read this thread, because it was COTC where I jumped on board as a fan following the band in real time. Prior to that I had only absorbed first compilations and then later reissues of the seminal early albums. So COTC and Fall Heads Roll were the first two I bought as they came out and really adored both, so interesting to see them rank near the bottom of the decade's output. I also loved Reformation, but less than the previous two. Still haven't heard Imperial, because I keep waiting for a copy to actually show up in a shop around here (the less-than-stellar reviews kept me from trying much harder than that).

you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, 7 March 2010 00:44 (fifteen years ago)

interesting how much opinions diverge on this recent output. my rankings:

1. Unutterable
2. Imperial Wax
3, COTC
4. Fall Heads Roll
5. AYAMW
6. Reformation

I agree the Peel Session versions of some of these tunes (Blindness, Sparta FC) are things of staggering immensity.

dunno about Von Sudenfed, should listen again but it didn't sound like The Fall to me.

sleeve, Sunday, 7 March 2010 01:56 (fifteen years ago)

After first listen, I'd say this is as good as "Country on The Click" -- I mean the songs are really good. "Bury Pts 1 & 3", "Hot Cake" and my goodness what a gem "Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor" is. Going to listen to this quite a few more times this weekend.

van smack, Sunday, 7 March 2010 03:49 (fifteen years ago)

Oh, stop teasing us and point us towards a leaked copy!

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 7 March 2010 04:20 (fifteen years ago)

It's on the usual torrent sites now (don't have any other links, though). Like I said in that other thread, I think it's a masterpiece. It's way more cohesive than almost any of their albums, the band is really in a groove, everything works and sounds great. Not underbaked at all. There even seems to be a hospital theme in the second half.

Jouster, Sunday, 7 March 2010 05:19 (fifteen years ago)

Wow, this is crazy awesome!

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 7 March 2010 08:18 (fifteen years ago)

I hope this gets them some attention/acclaim. I recall COTC got some, mostly because of the retooling I think, but I think this is bettter, honestly.

Jouster, Sunday, 7 March 2010 09:29 (fifteen years ago)

Does anyone else hear Daft Punk mixed in "Cowboy George" right at the 3:00 mark?

van smack, Sunday, 7 March 2010 18:25 (fifteen years ago)

I'm being serious too

van smack, Sunday, 7 March 2010 18:26 (fifteen years ago)

There's something there, but not a DP song I recognize.

StanM, Sunday, 7 March 2010 18:47 (fifteen years ago)

I hear "Harder Better Faster Stronger" -- its sped up, so it could be Kanye's version? I dunno.

van smack, Sunday, 7 March 2010 19:17 (fifteen years ago)

hahaha Funnel Of Love hell yeah

sleeve, Sunday, 7 March 2010 19:59 (fifteen years ago)

tracklist fyi:

01. O.F.Y.C. Showcase
02. Bury Pts. 1 + 3
03. Mexico Wax Solvent
04. Cowboy George
05. Hot Cake
06. Y.F.O.C. / Slippy Floor
07. Chinoa
08. Funnel Of Love
09. Weather Report 2

sleeve, Sunday, 7 March 2010 19:59 (fifteen years ago)

this is pretty good

am0n, Sunday, 7 March 2010 20:47 (fifteen years ago)

hello. found this site because i was looking for this album. i couldn't find it earlier today, but i'm making my way through it for the second time now. i'd say it's grade-a fall material. only "chino" was less than stellar on the first pass. best since rnflp at least. this is the band that keeps on giving. i've been into them for 15 years and i've still got another 10 albums to get. this is probably the longest relationship that i'll ever have.

zingzing, Monday, 8 March 2010 04:17 (fifteen years ago)

Some great, great arrangements on this, especially the droney/spoken words of Cowboy George/Weather Report. These are what have been sorely needed on the past few albums, imo. And MES with a good attempt at covering Funnel of Love, but it sort of just makes me want to listen the brilliant original version. Early Wanda Jackson is like one of the best (rockabilly) things ever.

Michael F Gill, Monday, 8 March 2010 20:35 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, there's 2 bonus tracks too - "986 Generator" and "Get A Summer Goin", the latter of which is nicely catchy. And on the JP CD release there's "Cowboy Gregori" from the single.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 18 May 2010 22:42 (fifteen years ago)

think that last post is about the new album, yes M@tt Fall Heads Roll had the messed up tracklist.

bug holocaust (sleeve), Tuesday, 18 May 2010 22:49 (fifteen years ago)

yeah i get confused because the UK county on the click is different from the american the real new fall LP (formerly county on the click) right?

you better check that sausage before you put it in the rofl (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 18 May 2010 22:59 (fifteen years ago)

yes, that was the last record that was really different in US/UK versions iirc

bug holocaust (sleeve), Tuesday, 18 May 2010 22:59 (fifteen years ago)

I paid 26 goddamn dollars for the UK version and then months later there was a US release with different tracks, fortunately I burned it from my radio station.

bug holocaust (sleeve), Tuesday, 18 May 2010 23:00 (fifteen years ago)

I have the "Heads Roll" promo, track listing on the sleeve.

So, maybe the insert was a 'design' feature, or maybe the track listing on the promo is wrong, or maybe it's right and they changed the track order/listing afterwards...

Mark G, Wednesday, 19 May 2010 07:07 (fifteen years ago)

i.e. the beginning of "Bury" was initially annoying but now is perfect.

I think the vocals in the beginning section of this may be my favourite vocals on the album, so smeared and incoherent, like some sort of abstract distillation of contempt.

986 Generator and Get a Summer Song Goin' are good without being essential (some great lyrics on the latter tho - appears to be about some flooded/inflammable London of the future and an ancient myth).

My main beef would be with not having Weather Report as the final track any more, and futhermore following it with the foursquare rock of Get a Summer Song Goin', which I just don't feel like after the chills of the previous song.

GamalielRatsey, Wednesday, 19 May 2010 07:19 (fifteen years ago)

OK 986 Generator is pretty great, and 8 minutes long! Kinda shambling like "Junk Man", when I heard it I remembered that there's usually a song like that somewhere on a Fall album.

Not having WR2 last is just deliberate perversity, now the record ends with "Cowboy George"!

bug holocaust (sleeve), Thursday, 20 May 2010 02:29 (fifteen years ago)

Anyway, my review of this.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 20 May 2010 14:45 (fifteen years ago)

one day...a spanish king...with a council of bad knaves came to...bury

i saw a necromancer at the buffalo wild wings in west st. paul (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:28 (fifteen years ago)

a new way of recording

a chain around the neck

i saw a necromancer at the buffalo wild wings in west st. paul (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:28 (fifteen years ago)

*riff*

Dan, Dan, DARRAGH (acoleuthic), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:31 (fifteen years ago)

'EX-PATS!' gets spat out on a couple of track

Michael B, Friday, 21 May 2010 17:54 (fifteen years ago)

LOL @ Space Invaders noises on "Get A Summer Song Goin'"

bug holocaust (sleeve), Friday, 21 May 2010 22:30 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhLG-vZhF6o

some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:22 (fifteen years ago)

Wow. That's one of the better Smith/Blaney joints i must say. LOL little nipper with megaphone. LJ can you contextualize this for a non-sporting non-britishes?

we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:31 (fifteen years ago)

And no, by strange coincidence I created that display name 10 minutes before you posted that vid

we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

MES has always expressed a disdain for the England team; considers them lily-livered and overly Southern. However, Capello has become national coach; a man of strict Italian principle and thus a manager close to MES' own dictatorial heart. Hence I feel MES has softened to the England team. I guess he felt that in this year where England have seemingly pulled their socks up, he ought to express some sort of warped allegiance. Nonetheless I still feel that the song expects England to fail, and deals with that failure pre-emptively. MES considers himself psychic, remember. I'm guessing he thinks England will play well and lose this time. Remember the pitch in December. Know your roots. They will support you when the summer ends.

some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

Thankig u. So LOL 'WE CAN WIN' text with visual of girl desultorily tipping over her drumset?

we live on bagels we are Wburg FC (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:38 (fifteen years ago)

^^^yep

<3 this guy so much

some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Saturday, 29 May 2010 15:39 (fifteen years ago)

This is seriously good!

Blue Sky Whine (SeekAltRoute), Monday, 31 May 2010 02:47 (fifteen years ago)

The world cup song sounds like a fucking joke, the sort of thing you'd come up with if you were trying to do a pisstake of a MES joint.

It's not as good as what a friend of mine came up with w/ the MES reads the footy scores:
http://www.yisyisyis.com/YIS%20-%20mark%20e%20smith%20reads%20the%20football.mp3

louiiiis jjjjagger (S-), Monday, 31 May 2010 05:08 (fifteen years ago)

I'll listen to that when I get home, but yes, the curious and unimpressive Smith/Blaney relationship continues. Can't help thinking Blaney's got something over Smith. Rum card, our Blaney. Dodgy number.

GamalielRatsey, Monday, 31 May 2010 07:18 (fifteen years ago)

that footy results thing is not bad at all

some men enjoy the feeling of being owned (acoleuthic), Monday, 31 May 2010 07:52 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah, the smith/blaney album pretty much sucked except for 1 or 2 tracks. That's why i said the abovelinked was one of their better efforts.

I don't think Blaney has anything over MES, MES probably enjoys tormenting people with the Blaney collabos, just as he enjoyed tormenting ppl with Safi Sniper's VJing.

99 anna hay-uff jussa woan' do (Jon Lewis), Monday, 31 May 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

well this Mark Ames doesn't come across as a total cunt

always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 16:58 (fifteen years ago)

[/sarcasm]

^^^see, that was sarcasm! s-a-r-c-a-s-m!

cunt.

always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 16:58 (fifteen years ago)

Categories and rules: like the rule that Mark E. Smith’s lyrics are “meant only to be performed”? That has to be the single silliest statement by a critic that I’ve ever read. What happens to Mark E. Smith’s lyrics when they’re not performed? Do they evaporate? Do the meaning-molecules break apart once exposed to the printed “context”? The categories seem more than just petty pedantics—maybe there should be a disclaimer at the bottom of every communication containing a Fall lyric.

MES doesn't supply lyric-sheets and has stated in his book that he regards lyrics as separate to poetry, but nice try eviscerating a clearly well-meaning gentleman who is trying to sell difficult music to an audience of simple sensibilities and is applying subjective standards in order to quantify the work

always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:02 (fifteen years ago)

Anonymous, on Jun 4, 2010 wrote:
Mark Ames, you inveterate windbaggy shitfucker, you have wasted my time. Ben Ratliff’s article is infinitely better than yours. Hang it up - I don’t care if you wrote this at 4 in the morning while fighting a deadline. In fact, this fucking moronic review of a review has me possibly as incensed as the Raitliff article incensed you...but I’ve written enough words on it. And I’m already embarrassed, but I’m still going to hit the "Submit Comment" button. You are an incredibly shitty writer and should be ashamed of having written this. And your worship of The Fall is sad.

final sentence aside, OTM

always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:05 (fifteen years ago)

I don't read Vice or its attendant blogs. That mag is a fucking stain.

protocol druid (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:06 (fifteen years ago)

four months pass...

Funny to see MES getting riled up a shit band, but wonder what that last sentence means for the next record:

The Fall's Mark E Smith was apparently involved in an altercation with dire banjo wielding troupe Mumford & Sons at an Irish festival earlier this year. In an interview with the Australian magazine Brag Smith complained that The Fall's increasing popularity at festivals means they're forced to meet new bands who are often "ass lickers". Even worse, some of them are Mumford & Sons.

"We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group like, warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said 'shut them cunts up' and they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The bands said 'that's the Sons of Mumford' or something, 'they're number five in charts!' I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers."

Also in the interview, Smith claimed that he'd "left Domino records last week".

(apologies if this was already covered in one of the hundred other Fall threads)

"I am a fairly respected poster." (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 21 October 2010 04:16 (fourteen years ago)

one month passes...

Since this is the 2010 thread for these guys, can I just say o_O at this 4-disc omnibus edition of The Wonderful and Frightening World? Its fantastic.

"I am a fairly respected poster." (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, 21 November 2010 00:42 (fourteen years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOgJimavk4

old man yells at cloud computing (am0n), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 15:40 (fourteen years ago)

Released 24 January 2011

This Nation’s Saving Grace illustrates The Fall’s own saving grace; they can put out record after record of virtually interchangeable rants and riffs, grinds and grunts, and still find a way to move about within that corseted structure. It’s hard to say if the arrival of Leckie prevented a horrid rut from happening, but his presence has enabled them to create a very personal and splendid studio sound. The Fall have made one of their most accessible LPs yet; at the same time, they have made a record that’s infinitely more peculiar than almost anything else released this year. You’d have thought we’d be used to the Mark E. method by now, but no, ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ indicates there’s still something very odd about The Fall. This is a cool group, all right.
- David Quantick – NME 28 September 1985

The 25 years since the release of This Nation’s Saving Grace have only enhanced the reputation of this album, considered by many to be The Fall’s finest. Drawing from the well of primal rock ‘n’ roll, the band play with muscular spontaneity and inspiration to create music that still sounds unique and challenging, especially against today’s anodyne imitations of Rock and ‘guitar music’. A masterpiece.

Disc 1 restores the CD to the original vinyl sequence with no bonus tracks.
Disc 2 presents the original working mixes (most of the songs were recorded live in one take) and reveals different balances to the ingredients of the sonic jigsaw (often with clearer vocals). Though it’s heresy to suggest it, some of these raw mixes have an energy that may improve on the final tracks. All these versions are previously unreleased.
Disc 3 collects the singles and alternative edits and recordings with six John Peel session versions of album tracks.

“Feel the wrath of my Bombast!” exhorts Smith on this follow-up to their groundbreaking Wonderful and Frightening World of… the Fall, and this collection is ample proof of the pure confidence the group had at this time. Stompers like “Barmy,” “What You Need,” and the mighty “Gut of the Quantifier” are all led by Brix Smith’s twanging lead hooks, filled by distorted guitars and bludgeoning drums, on top of which Smith rants with conviction. But it’s the departures from this sound that mark the real interest here: The synth-driven “L.A.” looks ahead to the Fall’s experiments with electronica; “Paint Work” is an impressionist piece interrupted by Smith accidentally erasing over some of the track at home; and “I Am Damo Suzuki,” a tribute to Can’s lead singer, which borrows its arrangement from several of that group’s songs. The Fall sound mysterious, down-to-earth, and hilarious all at the same time. … an essential purchase.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars – Ted Mills – All Music Guide

Compiled for fans, the Omnibus Editions are intended to expand and illuminate the development of specific albums, bringing together all the relevant single releases with previously unreleased studio, session and live recordings. This release is presented as a limited edition box set and includes CD’s in the Japanese-style paper sleeves, reproducing the original vinyl cover art, with a 48 page book featuring new interviews.

CD1 This Nation’s Saving Grace
Mansion
Bombast
Barmy
What You Need
Spoilt Victorian Child
L.A.
Gut Of The Quantifier
My New House
Paintwork
I Am Damo Suzuki
To Nkroachment: Yarbles

CD2 ROUGH MIXES and OUT-TAKES
Demo Suzuki (Rough Mix)
Wonderful And Frightened pt.1 (Rough Mix)
Wonderful And Frightened pt.2 (Rough Mix)
Gut Of The Quantifier (Rough Mix)
Bombast (Rough Mix)
Barmy (Rough Mix)
My New House (Mark’s Rough Mix)
Paintwork (Rough Mix)
Ma Riley (Rough Mix)
Spoilt Victorian Childe (Rough Mix)
L.A. (Rough Mix)
What You Need (Rough Mix)
Edie (Rough Mix)
Cruiser’s Creek (Long Version)
LA (Take 2)
Bombast (Blackwing Version)
Paintwork (Gloss)

CD3 SINGLES and SESSIONS
Couldn’t Get Ahead
Rollin’ Dany
Petty (Thief) Lout
Cruiser’s Creek (Single version)
Vixen
Ma Riley
I Am Barmy (Long Version)
Cruiser’s Creek (4.16 edit version)
Spoilt Victorian Child (Peel session)
Gut Of The Quantifier (Peel session)
Couldn’t Get Ahead (Peel session)
Cruiser’s Creek (Peel session)
L.A. (Peel session)
What You Need (Peel session)

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 January 2011 15:53 (fourteen years ago)

MES is right; bad Fall reviews are HILARIOUS!

(Your Future Our Clutter is not one of the best Fall albums, but it's pretty far from "It's a Small World" on endless repeat...)

the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 16:58 (fourteen years ago)

yeah, and I've done BOTH!

Mark G, Tuesday, 4 January 2011 17:00 (fourteen years ago)

"There's artsy music out there worth listening to..."

Poor kids just can't get past the surface noise and random production.

I'll grant them the drunken old man comparison since that's actually correct.

Ladies and gentlemen - our future music critics, helping us navigate between Justin Bieber and The Fall!

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 03:04 (fourteen years ago)

they don't deserve rock and roll

the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 06:36 (fourteen years ago)

hahaha that's kind of a great review

brilliant album obv

if anyone is lost to the tragic carnage of ILX, let it be (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 06:57 (fourteen years ago)

Hi, you guys are brilliant. This is the best review I have ever heard of a Fall album. The first three minutes is especially impressive. Not only is what you say interesting, but the way you say it is cool, and funny also. I laughed more times in that three minutes than entire Hollywood movies. The whole piece is great though, I think you really put together a coherent, well argued position.

I've got 87 Fall albums.

graeme10000 3 months ago

thermonuclear truth bomb :D

if anyone is lost to the tragic carnage of ILX, let it be (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 07:00 (fourteen years ago)

This thread really picked up my obsession with the group. I haven't heard the new one yet since with bands I really like I generally try to pick up the albums in chronological order, I swear I have like OCD about this. But with The Fall it seems pretty much useless so I'm kind of all over the place. I have Levitate and Country on the Click, both of which I think are great, especially the latter. The original "Recovery Kit" with the heavy string synth just floors me, though I think "Recovery Kit 2" is overall put together better. "Theme From Sparta FC" is an all time classic. Are the other 90's/00's albums like this???

frogbs, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 12:40 (fourteen years ago)

I love late Fall as much as the rest. Any random ten-year slice out of the Fall's career has enough brilliance to justify their rep.

bendy, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 12:52 (fourteen years ago)

At least one of those two guys in the video review is gonna end up a Fall fan.

bendy, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 13:22 (fourteen years ago)

^^^ otm. Lord knows I could't stand them when I first heard them, now it's mad lurve!

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 5 January 2011 13:46 (fourteen years ago)

I don't know LJ, I was just listening to Chino last night; I mean, if you can't get the point of that...

the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 17:18 (fourteen years ago)

I commented on the video thusly:

I love this album AND this review. Keep at it boys! The Fall is something dear to me but I know they're not for everyone, even those with otherwise-impressive tastes ;)

My 3 favourite tracks, for what it's worth, are Mexico Wax Solvent (the way the keyboards and guitars build up to this luminous mass of sound...ah man), Chino (so dark and menacing, those guitars like banshees) and above all the staggering Weather Report 2 which the first time I heard it made my jaw drop with awed disbelief :)

so yeah, Chino is one of my faves too - astonishing song

if anyone is lost to the tragic carnage of ILX, let it be (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 17:22 (fourteen years ago)

you were definitely the one that helped me to realize that the best songs were towards the end...

the Sonic Youths of suck (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 17:50 (fourteen years ago)

yeah even funnel of love is awesome - first 6 tracks are the hors d'oeuvre

if anyone is lost to the tragic carnage of ILX, let it be (acoleuthic), Wednesday, 5 January 2011 17:59 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

listened to your future our clutter again, what a nice album

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Sunday, 8 April 2012 02:34 (thirteen years ago)


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