British People In Hot Weather

Day 127: I guess it just goes to show you know...

2012-04-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is one of my fave early Fall soundz, one which rings with a still-youthful Mark's seething anger and vitroil, while still sounding like he's having a laugh. It'd be weird to hear him do it now, but as they say, delving into the past is never dignified (as this blog has shown).

Song: Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul
Album: Single in 1981

So this is one of the most deceptive songs to be recorded by The Fall, the way in which Mark delivers his lines, all manic and almost like he's just walking down the street just singing to himself covers up some truly inventive and science fiction-esque lyrics. What appears to be a song about the day after a pills binge, the talk of not eating the weekend and the haze of a Germanic weekend away soon becomes a living nightmare, although as MES puts it here, 'I had an awake dream'.

What this actually is seems to be an Open All Hours scene gone Philip K Dick, mannequins have security cameras in and burly guards are mobilised to deal with a lacivious, leering pervert and the whole report is delivered in this eerie, half-manic voice that just gets you all itchy.

The line about proles dancing in cardboard pants is probably part of a bizzare vision brought on by the Sunday morning comedown, but seems unsettling rather than humourous.

Previous to this, it's a bit more tame, what the descriptions conjure up are the moments when you emerge from a party or night out in the crisp but cold morning light, taking in the world through raisin-tight eyeballs, 'Went home to my slum canyon/ On my way i looked up/ I saw turrets of victorian wealth/ I saw john the ex-fox/ Sleeping in some outside bogs' this suggests the small town nature of the song, Wigan gets a mention (Wigan isn't that small though surely?) but it suggests everyone knows each other and knows who this Johnny is. Calling him an 'ex-fox' though might mean literally that, an ex-fox, a formerly live fox, could even be a reference to Thin Lizzy's/Phil Lynott's Johnny The Fox, so could be a glam rocker just passed out, who knows?

Until inspecting this song closely, I'd always thought it quite a lively, light number, but it's full of filth isn't it? Curse you MES, curse you to hell (Wigan?).
This version is also worth hearing, it's got some amazing additions, instead of just cutting his dick off, he cuts his head off too. Note the completely wired keyboards and the Elvis like swagger he adopts for some lines. This is my favourite Fall live album at this moment in time, it's amazing.

Also like his voice-trumpeting at the end too, this gig sounded weird, people sound really miffed by the whole affair, well you would wouldn't you?

Day 126: 60-hour weeks...

2012-03-21T13:22:00.003-07:00

Apologies for severe lack of updates, I've taken on the editorship of this website, I started it with friends in 2004 and it was really popular at one point, but we let it slip badly over a few years and so I've decided to ressurect it, but still have time for The Fall. Anyone listen to 6music today? Lauren Laverne played 'Touch Sensitive' possibly the only time that will ever happen at work, awesome.

Song: English Scheme
Album: Grotesque (Against the Gramme)
Year: 1980

So this is a sprightly little number, all bad casio and an almost sing-song nature, it could easily have been plonke on ...Witch Trials as it's just 2 minutes long and features some snotty-nosed vocals from Lord Smith.

But wait! There's something calculated and suddenly profound hidden in there... The line 'He's rich, but he struck it rich...switch' signals a subtle change in the music, it's another case of MES the conducter giving vocal instructions to the band while they are playing again, once again, there is no fourth wall and we are just intruding on the spectacle.

There's some well-observed stuff in here too, I'm talking almost kitchen sink: 'Down pokey quaint streets in Cambridge/Cycles our distant spastic heritage/Its a gay red, roundhead, army career, grim head/If we was smart we'd emigrate' this just smacks of thick-stockinged women blarting to each other about nothing over the fence. The kind of thing you get regailed with when you visit your hometown, brief and synopsied recent histories of people. All part of the great Fall documentary then, a brief snippet, but a good entry in the scrapbook nontheless.

The word 'scheme' is very British too, we have 'schemes' as something positive, even though the meaning of the word is 'to plot', as in 'Mark E Smith schemed to chuck out another member of the band, he was sure he could make it to 100 former members'. When I was growing up in the 90s, there were summer sessions at the local secondary school where kids could be looked after for a whole day against their will, they called them 'play schemes' and it was incredibly bleak and depressing, well summed up Mr Smith, I like.

Requests are still accepted by the way, anyone care to reach through the void and suggest a tune?

Day 125: Sleepy Sunday

2012-03-11T15:35:00.001-07:00

Chilled out one from me tonight.

Track: Jap Kid
Album: Levitate
Year: 1997

So here's a track sans Mark, quite rare but I guess this is all Julia Nagle. Most of the band had left at this point, but Mark and Julia made this album anyway, her electronics are all pushed to the front and people often lambast this album, but this track stands out to me as a calm, relaxing track amongst some pretty messy tracks (see Jungle Rock elsewhere on the album).

It's like a cross between a traditional Japanese song, played slowly and carefully over a plodding drum machine and a lullaby, the kind you might get playing while a mobile moves round over a cot. Like a whisper in the chaos, this is probably seen as filler by many, but it's certainly an interesting track. If this was your first taste of The Fall, you'd certainly be confused as to the rest of their canon and how this fits in.

Moments of calm or reflection in The Fall are rare, so it's probably best to just enjoy this one. Other tracks that look inward (Bill is Dead or Happi Song) tend to create a stink with fans, so this wordless effort could never be seen as cloying or sickly-sweet, just a few moments away from the drunken lurch this album otherwise serves up.

More Fall-isms tomorrow.

Day 124: Split an egg and war was born...

2012-03-06T14:10:00.003-08:00

The Fall were once known for cover versions on their albums, sometimes the choices were obvious and sometimes silly (think Walk Like A Man, Ghost In My House, Victoria) but then now and again they can pull a track so wedged in strangeness, it has to be dragged out of the bag kicking and screaming, see stuff like nI'm Going To Spain for an immediate example.

Often tracks can pass you by, you presume there just isn't a cover on the particular record you are listening to, well here's one of them and I've found the original to be even more disturbing.

Track: War
Album: Middle Class Revolt
Year: 1994

Yeah so have a listen to The Fall version, it's certainly an odd-shaped track to fit in with the somewhat dreamy LP's tone, with lyrics about love and some whistful bits on there too. This track pulses with not only a relentless backing vocal that annoys as well as confuses, but the main vocal is seemingly endless, ragging on and on to devastating effect. Nigh-on inpenetrable, I'm always secretly glad it's all over as it's a challenging, acutely scary track.

The lyrics are delivered in a loud, but strangely distracted manner, and depict all sorts of messages about war itself. The interplay of ryhme and unpleasant subject manner combine to create a ghastly word poem: 'While war casts her gory locks/Over the deserted docks/She casts her gory locks/Over the deserted docks' just makes the idea of war all that more repugnant. One line that keeps coming up is 'War does what she has to' which is poignant yet deeply depressing at the same time.

I can see why this was chosen as a Fall cover, the lyrics are scrambled under horrible noise so as to distract from their grim reality, which is something I've mentioned within countless posts on this blog. What I cannot get my head around is the music that the original band Henry Cow play, it's like Captain Beefheart trying to break free of shackles, its wild, unruly and even more irritating than you first imagine it could be. Witness the original version here. A scale of dog barks, along with a demented circus-like beat and some circuit-bent sounding trumpet along with a rolling tongue rectiting the lyrics at speed could make most people turn for the off switch, but something makes you keep listening. Witness their free jazz nightmare that brings to mind Reeves and Mortimer's Mulligan and O'Hare, such is the unbridled expressionism on display. I'm no musical snob, I've watched the likes of Martin Archer several times, but some of it I find very hard to appreciate, this is on the cusp.

As it goes, The Fall version is more accessible, and how many times can you say that?

Day 123: Abstraction, you know it's the smell!

2012-03-04T05:59:00.000-08:00

This is just a perfect song, really.

Song: Proteinprotection
Album: The Real New Fall LP
Year: 2003

Here's a quite direct and brooding piece with some excellent vocals from 2003, now around that time, it was still quite new to have 'sciencey' bits on hair adverts and one thing they always harped on about and still do is the prevalence and importance of protein in hair. As Simon Pegg once wrote for Spaced, all of the words associated with it are 'made up to make hair seem important'. I know this song is probably absolutely nothing to do with all this, but it certainly fuels my rant. The lines about abstraction add to this, often in these ads, protein 'cells' would be bouncing around on impossibly shiney hair in the strangest situations.

Looking closely at the lyrics, it's like a defiant stand really, the repetition of 'Out of the masses/Any time' over and over suggests a middle finger to all and sundry, the stuff about chimney's being king confuses me though, what could it mean?

If, which is very unlikely, the song is about Pantene or one of the many gooey hair products out there, I can't imagine these ads taking up as much time as he gives them here. The whole song seems abstract as he suggests, the music goes from bubbling Sonic Youth-style tension to 60s-pop soaring majesty and back a few times.

His vocals on here sound as if he is addressing someone from a shed on a loud-hailer, and at one point a bee or wasp has flown in and he does that agitated noise that brings to mind the 'Hick-wap-huh' of the Man Whose Head Expanded, which almost sounds like a vocal spasm. The backing vocals deserve a mention on this too, just sublime 'oohs' but lift it from just a throwaway track into something utterly uncanny and richly diverse. A mutated song, but one that will remain in my head for the rest of today at least.

Day 122: I have seen the madness

2012-02-26T09:40:00.002-08:00

This is a laid back cut from Totale's Turns, which passes by without much fuss, but is still worth a decent listen.

Song: In My Area
Album: Totale's Turns (It's Now or Never)
Year: 1980

So yeah, it's a nice little outing this one, comparitively mid-paced to most tunes of the time, it is obviously a live recording, possibly tidied up in the studio, but it sounds great. Little bit of background crowd noise to begin with (this album was recorded in clubs around the north) and we're into what sounds like to these ears what Elastica and similar bands ripped off in the 90s, minus the pop sheen. The simple but hook-heavy riff really cries insistence at you, slipping into your mind before you know it's there. The song never strives to run any faster than this mid-paced tempo and it's layers work well together, guitar parts chirrup and float in the background, flitting in and out of existence which gives it a very lazy and dreamlike feel. Among songs that clatter along like heavy goods vehicles, this is a comparitive lake of calm. The vocals are very impressive, clear and concise, there's not much improv happening for a live gig (compare that to now, we usually get the title of the song, but very little else clear) and its staying power is its best friend.

The lyrics seem to be a badge of pride, the kind you hear people saying quite a lot 'I've lived here all my life' etc. But with a weird, detatched mood running through it, some of it unpleasant. The lines about 'burrowmen' and 'faces frozen in pain' suggest hardship and unpleasantness, but there's also silly humour in there too 'The dwarf plays pool to prove his height' being one example. The little aside from Mark at the end sounds both patronising and friendly at the same time: "Are you doing what you were doing two years ago? Yeah? Well don't make a career out of it." Sounds like a bad pub joke, but also like a genuinely sharp put-down so make of that what you will.

It all points to frustration I'm afraid, MES seems to be stamping his peers with a mark of disdain, accompanied by a roll of the eyes, he mentions the 'me generation' at one point. This still stands now,we have a country where we are afraid of telling people 'no' for fear of reprisal, maybe the sage-like powers are at work again here too.

Reading Mick Middle's book, Mark constantly voices his fears of documentation and trainspotter types poring over old songs, stating the Fall are a band that live in the present. I quite agree, but I'm afraid I will keep going back over the past as it's still throwing up weird gems like this. Guess I'm one of those sad office types he hates so much, oh well.

Day 121: Is there anybody there?

2012-02-21T12:19:00.001-08:00

Yeah!!!

Song: Psykick Dancehall
Album: Dragnet
Year: 1979

From the initial cry (that titles this entry) this is a manic one that's just brilliant. So much energy and confidence, the playing is shaky from all players to be honest, but that's this track and this album's charm. Mark sounds pretty clear despite the production being muddy as sin and the lyrics read like a loon who has approached you in the pub.

'I saw a monster on the roof/Its colours glowed on the roof' just sums it up, he adopts this detatched delivery as well that only adds to the addled sound being produced. I swear they must have made this album during a full moon or similar as its fully manic, desperate and unhinged. The title implies a place where young people go to take drugs and dance all their frustration out, the 'just bumble stumble to the waves' part is definately suggestive of that. The 'esp medium dischord' also suggests psychotropic drugs, esp being extra sensory perception, which probably intimates these disco biscuit-loving people are communicating on another level, another horror story piped through MES's ever-sharp delivery.

I like the lines that bring to mind a run down town, 'my garden is made of stone/there's a computer centre over the road' just reminds me of living in a semi-rough bit of Sheffield, a bit tatty, but with plenty of charm too. The music just gets more and more murky as it progresses, which is fine by me, halfway through its like someone has jammed the band and Mark with a cattle prod and they wake up. The guitars squelch against each other, which only underlines the fact the whole album was recorded in two days.

Been reading the Mick Middles biography of The Fall and have to say it's fantastic so far, feels like snippets of Fall history, all over the place like their albums, one moment Mark is playing up to the 'Mad Mark' vibe, the rest of the time, he is just wistful. He seems to be the mad man at the centre of a storm and weird and strange people seem to be attracted to him and repelled in equal measure, it's quite funny hearing Mark's reaction to the internet when that first became more usual, he spits in disgust at the idea of Friends Reunited, wonder what he makes of Facebook?

Day 120: But the path disappeared...

2012-02-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the single from Ersatz GB, which is a pretty damn good one.

Song: Laptop Dog
Album: Ersatz GB
Year: 2011

So this was the song they picked to showcase the latest album, which to me is an odd choice, its a bit held back as far as the rest of the album goes and never really gets going in the rat up a drainpipe way that the rest does. That said, it's a nice romp through some pretty good lyrics and a nice line in future-baiting from Mr Smith.

'All life was there, but the path disappears' is a great line, I honestly didn't get the reference for ages until I heard the 6Music interview where he explains its all about a bloke going mental as all his pictures, songs and his whole life is on a laptop. Obviously Mark finds it hilarious that anyone contains their life on a laptop, let alone goes looking for it in bins following its loss. I originally thought it was a bit more serious and po-faced after all that line is quite poetic, but nope, bought back down to earth by MES and his giggling at idiots, nice.

He's a bit late in stopping dead the laptop crowd, the coffee shops have been infested with them for years, but maybe he thought it was about time. I like the 'a big creature will stalk you' line, I have no idea what he means, but I always imagine the creature to be something mythical that knows all your secrets thanks to your stupidity in losing it. Similarly it could be the Laptop Dog of the title, but I feel like that's a reference to us all being doting on our little machines, the laptops have become masters and we're all gazing longingly at them. I know I spend far too much time staring at absolute crap, it must be nice not to have that compulsion.

I like the music on this one, its upbeat, if a little obtuse with Elena's keys plonking all over it in her out of tune way, but I feel that only adds to it. The little excerpt from the end harks back to rehearsal tapes, like a half-remembered segment he wanted to add in at the end, it doesn't even fade out, it's almost like a footnote, even in the way he enunciates the syllables of the word 'ig-nor-onts'. Seeing this one live showed me how unbelievably tight the rythmn section is in The Fall right now, I almost want to hear the next album now, while they are still firmly in the fold. Anyone heading to the London gig, I'll see you there.

Day 119: The pleasures of curvaceous women.

2012-02-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

This one is a departure from the last few entries, shrouded in spiky electronics.

Song: Serum
Album: The Unutterable
Year: 2000

This still sounds futuristic and it is now around 12 years old as a song. The scratchy bassline that kicks this off, combined with the Wip3out-style music that follows is like a cyber-punk future backdraft, with MES absent-mindedly yakking into the mic in somewhat clear tones for the roughness that runs amok in the background.

The lyrics seem to be a bit 1984, as in people needing a serum to get through life, the 101 could be debated as code, perhaps Room 101 (the room in which you cast things you dislike) but then he bookends this with 101.1, which makes even less sense. He seems to like lists on this album, see Dr Buck's Letter, which suggests a mild theme running throughout, he lists food elsewhere.

This must have been a fun album to make, basically a cacophony of guitars, almost a wall, with some skronky keys over it, electronics trumping and farting over it, blasts of 90s -sounding guitar riffs now and again, listening to it back on cans must have been hell to play over.

Mark sounds focused at times, distracted at others, which is the best way to hear him I think, you get this weird sage-like majesty off him now and again and garbled nothings the next, its like listening to someone who is hammered come into lucidity for brief patches before flying low under the fug again. The lyrics are humourous, but with a taciturn and judging edge, which makes it seem all the more disorienting.The lines about curvaceous women bring to mind soiled copies of The Sun or Blackpool pier peep shows and the leery, greasy men that frequent such places. The idea of deadbeat dads needing a lager to get through the day also springs to mind, all the lyrics point to dissapointment I fear.

And can I hear maracas? The most strange of all hand-held percussion next to shakey eggs?

Day 118: Paranoia

2012-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

This is not a song to listen to on a snowy, dark night.

Song: A Figure Walks
Album: Dragnet
Year: 1979

If you thought there was nothing but flamper and fluff from previous releases, this is surely that must have changed people's minds about The Fall. Not only is this pretty minimal for the group for the time, it's a long and drawn out song (that reminds me of the recent Monocard in places) with a subtle and insistent melody. Mark's vocals still sound like he is delivering them through a toilet roll in a stark bathroom, but that's the way we like it.

The repetition works here on several levels, not only to hammer home the stalking narrative that dogs the lyrics, but also as a hypnotic, almost tranced out musical drone. This would actually do really well live if they had some cod-horror or Peter Cushing-style horror projected behind them, slow, deliberate moves and a sense of foreboding is what marks this out as The Fall gone dark.

The lyrics concern being followed, the feeling we all get from time to time, be it walking home from a night out, or while driving miles with a familiar car in our rear view. The mentions of a 'quick trip to the icehouse' and 'tales of horror' add to the atmosphere of dread. It's also helped by Dragnets minimal and shoddy recording techniques, it sounds like it could be rumbling from a lone transistor in the corner of a scene where someone is overtaken by fear, preferably in the black and white that mirrors the album's artwork.

Going back to the lyrics, imagine these scrawled in red, found on yellowed paper and you get the gist, it's like the daubings of someone consumed with paranoia, trapped in a world of their own creation: 'Something followed me out/ Go out again/ A figure walks behind you/ A shadow walks behind you/ A figure walks behind you/ A shadow walks behind you/ And if it grabs my coat tail I will turn and hit it/ If they remove the pegs/ Keeping my eyes open'.

Chilling.

Day 117: Exotic fruits.

2012-02-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is a weird one which would be more at home on another album I feel but it's pretty damn good either way.

Song: Dktr Faustus
Album: Bend Sinister
Year: 1986

The more this track drags on, the more demented it becomes. It starts with Mark singing his lines through either a megaphone or phone line, which is reminiscent of the delivery the avant-garde band Coil adopt quite a lot. the dual-recorded and slightly ropey guitar gives it a folky edge and the vocals, clashing with Brix's all the way through give it an unhinged feel too. The lyrics seem to be based loosely on temptation, which of course is the theme of the play of the same name, or to give it the traditional name the The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus which was written by Cristopher Marlowe, based on the ancient tale/legend of Faust, who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge and power. This would explain all the references to fruit throughout, the fruit being knowledge and representing temptation, which in turn also points back to the fall (oof!) of man when Eve was offered the apple by the snake in the garden of Eden. Who'da thunk The Fall could go biblical? Well they did.

The music on display here is of real note, the start is rather minimal, but it is deeply layered as it progresses, going through a repetitive loop as most Fall tunes did at the time, but with experimental edges in there too. The constant twinkle and scattering of high pitched notes suggest multiple tracks that the musicians may have been encouraged to improvise on and Brix's detatched and unhinged vocals also add to this. It is eccentric in the extreme and could be quite a challenging listen, even for the most commited fan, myself included. The parts where Brix, Mark and even another vocal track or two from Mark are blended together, singing in a cacophonous choir of sorts which sounds ghostly and mocking. You can almost imagine this being performed with medieval masks and lots of naked flame, shapes dancing all over the place. Wouldn't want to listen to this track on a bad trip, the screaming of the word BANANA would probably send me over the edge. If that doesn't, the stylophone would.

Day 116: The only Fall song my Dad could name.

2012-02-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

My Dad likes music, a lot, but this is the only song by The Fall he has mentioned to me before, so here it is, this one is for Colin Shields, who does this blog along with other volunteers who are surveying heritage sites that are at risk at the moment.

So to the song:

Song: Rowche Rumble
Album: Single/Dragnet/Totale's Turns
Year: 1979

One of those annoying tracks that was never an album track but seems to have been a staple of live sets for years and was also the third single they ever released. It STINKS of ...Witch Trials but has much more in the way of inventiveness about it than you'd expect, lots of wurlitzer-style keyboards that could make you sick if you played this song too loud and plenty of strange vocal tics in there too. The bass has a bit of Clashness too it, but don't tell anyone I said that.

This must be one of the only songs ever to be written about pharmaceuticals and menopausal women. It may be cliched but there is something rather sinister about the pharmaceuticals industry, pricing each other out of the market, irrespective of how good the drugs work, they've always been rotters. This however, is an almost light-hearted take on it, the lines about Swiss gnomes suggest the Rowche is actually Roche AG, which was (and still is?) a big pharmaceuticals giant. MES does hint at the evil, The dope addicts are especially smashed and What are the people around you taking? certainly paint a horrible picture and he does go down the road of drugs protest as well: And loads of people across the land/ Who do a prescribed death dance/ While condemning speed and grass/ They got an addiction like a hole in the ass which paints a weird picture of people doing this new dance craze, this Rowche Rumble.

Again, this is an example of MES hiding some pretty dark material behind another seemingly singalong and perfectly harmless tune. Like the weirdo with sweets laced with arsenic down the park, he's smuggled the nasty stuff in. I bet loads of people have heard this song and never given it half a thought.

Makes Ant and Dec seem even more redundant doesn't it?

Day 115: Spit on the streets!

2012-02-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

What a vulgar idea, but it does happen...

Song: Psycho Mafia
Album: Live At The Witch Trials (reissue)/Bingo Masters Break Out!
Year: 1978 for the EP.

This is an excellent little song and one that should never have been buried on an early EP, fans must have loved it when the CD reissue came out, it's just great.

What I love most about it is the punk attitude on display, but already the lyrics have transcended the genre, real grit, not just empty, boring stuff about monarchy or how tough life is. This conjures up a gang of drug-fuelled, eye-popping weirdos prowling around and everyone getting out their way. The British version of Rebel Without A Cause but no stupid bikes or leathe jackets, probably just donkey jackets and weird stares. This is compounded with lines like 'Our eyes are red/Our brains are dead'.

Mark's sneer is audible even at this early stage and the shortness of breath, resulting in 'Co! Mafia! showing what energy they pack into this two minute ripper. If there was ever a case for Mark's vocal talents being weak, doubters should be played this. Just snotty.

Sonic Youth have done a cover, but it lacks the simple charm of the original, but love the fact that SY have covered the Fall several times. By the way, does anyone think this sounds like Eat Y'Self Fitter?

Day 114: I'm telling you man, he was outta sight...

2012-01-25T13:39:00.000-08:00

Not technically on the original release, but on the re-release on CD, this is an amazing cover.

Song: Rollin' Danny
Album: This Nation's Saving Grace/458489 A Sides.
Year: I have no idea, I'd guess around 1985?

Yeah so this is a Gene Vincent cover, you can see the original is actually faster overall here. This is what I imagine MES listens to at home on a crackly record player while he smokes endless cigs. It's also the kind of song you hear on terrible Heartbeat-style shows, the only reason you'd actually keep that sort of tripe on the telly. There'd be a portly policeman chasing some dude with a flat cap and moustache through a village street with it all ending in a slapstick manner, perhaps a herd of sheep block him off and he has to take his cap off and stamp on it, fuming. Either that or he'd climb a ladder and fall off, for added effect getting wet in a stream or tin bath full of rainwater, what a to-do!

I'm getting sidelined, but I do like a decent Fall cover, Mark sounds really comfortable on this and the band are incredibly tight and it works really well. This could actually pass for the original, the vocals are bang on. I think I prefer the cover to the original as Gene sounds like he's phoning it in. I imagine if MES has his way (even more) he'd have recorded a whole LP's worth of 50s/60s hits, just for a laugh, he still might. Has he ever had a quiff?

It's strange to think that this would have been recorded around the same time as mad songs like Paintwork, LA and I Am Damo Suzuki, maybe it was a bit of a break from all that, either way, it's a pleasing diversion.

By the way, buying a Fall best of, why the hell would you do that to yourself? Surely each album has a different lineup (odds on) and each therefore has a different feel. I can enjoy songs ojut of context, but not knowing them in their original order on the albums they come from just seems wrong when you think of the order of Hex, YFOC or TNSG. Madness.

As an aside, I got an intriuging email today from a guy called Simon Barrington (hello) and he has come up with an exhaustive list of Fall albums ranked in order, it apparently took him three weeks with two friends (who he must have forced) to come up with it. I think I'm going to attempt the same in a few weeks' time and will post the results here in an extended post. If anyone else wants to join in this gargantuan task and email me their lists, I will also come up with a cumulative result, just for extra nerd points. Think this may be opening the floodgates, but that's why I do this blog.

Day 113: Don't look at me that way!

2012-01-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I hope you are all still out there, I have been utterly rubbish, end of January so back after about 6 weeks of slackness.

I've changed the actual outlook of this blog, from a daily thing to a twice-weekly promise, if I break it you can email me and complain.

Anyway, happy 2012, hope people are still ragging Ersatz GB to death, I still am and I picked up Slates on CD at last over Christmas (HMV had an offer on) great stuff, got a version with some live stuff and some session stuff on, well worth the fiver.

Today's offering is off The Wonderful and Frightening World... and is a nice bit of lighter-end Fall.

Song: Oh! Brother
Album: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
Year: 1984

So this is a bouncy little number, and appears to have an almost Roxy Music feel to it, Mark is squealing in parts and it sounds like his vocals are either heavily reverbed or more likely, multi-tracked (big 80s production). The drums are equally big and cut through the very lofty sounding guitars. The refrain almost sounds a bit Smiths, which of course is a sin when it comes to MES, wrong side of the tracks and all that. The music is underpinned with what sounds like multiple glasses being smashed, what are we talking here, bottles, pint glasses or something a bit more decadent, might even be a studio window for all I know and who knows when it's The Fall.

The lyrics could be taken at face value (boring I know) and could indeed be about an older sibling talking about his little brother and apparently his descent into communism (he dissapeared through a red door) and the pleading lines like "Won't you give me one more chance?/I'm not a communist" have this almost theatrical feel to them, like a last chance stand-off, which jars with the jaunty music, giving it that old Fall feel, nice music, sinister subject matter.

I also appreciate the not-so-serious backing vocals, makes this one of the rare occassions of this period where The Fall sound is cluttered, which is a good thing.

Day 112: You never told me Simon...

2011-12-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to my blog, I could actually rename this blog as Ersatz Blog, its that occasional now. I keep meaning to update more often, honest.

Song: Taking Off
Album: Ersatz GB
Year: 2011

Still listening to Ersatz GB nearly every day, it's still amazing, I really don't get the negative reviews, The Fall constantly changes, if they made Hex Enduction Hour a million times, people would be bored beyond belief. Mark sounds ever more incomprehensible, but he has sounded this weird before and brought a more coherent style back (see most of his vocals circa Levitate for example, a drunken slur) this is no different from YFOC, except his vocals sound more clipped, distant and occasional.

The band are probably the best he's had in I'd say ten years, this song has a slurred, minimal beginning before roaring to life with that drum crack at the start. MES sounds focused and determined on this one, delivering the lines people are picking up on in reviews like 'Silent 6pm/Bonjela complexion' now I have no idea what that would consist of, but the juxtaposition of those two words have surely never been sung together before, it just sounds so brilliant. Equally, when he follows it up with a half thought-out 'Bonjela... Completion' it sounds profound. I suppose you could say MES has a bonjela complexion these days, his constant gurning and tongue wagging/mouth exploration gives him the look of someone preoccupied with a coldsore/gumboil, so maybe it's another autobiographical line.

No matter how many times I try to replicate it, I cannot match the way he delivers the line 'Buy Skips' (the weird melting crisps or the big metal bins?). He seems to make a one syllable word into two and a half, 'Buy Ski-P-sss' it must be something you can only do with the aid of dentures.

The line about presumably Simon Cowell 'You never told me Simon/About the forty carrot's scum/At weekends' now whether this is a bite at the X-Factor I don't know, but he mentions the teen drama Gossip Girl and attacks Snow Patrol elsewhere on the album, so maybe. Bit of a soft target, but it has maybe grown to such levels it is affecting our very own hip priest that he needs to moan about it. The title of the song, combined with the repetition of the word 'Ersatz' makes me think it is a slurred comment on how that show simply recycles old pop and tries not to be original. The word 'ersatz' was used by the British in POW camps in WW2 for the dubious coffee and food they were given that was of a low quality. Maybe the album is about how we may have lost our way, consumer culture and all that sixth form politics jazz.

I have to say there is hardly any repetition musically on this album, the songs feel more rounded and structured than ever, this one moves through several stages, Eleni's keyboards back up the music made by the tight garage style band he has in place, rather than stabbing notes here and there, it feels more organic, but still rough as hell.

This song also ends with some looped music that sounds arabian, but is apparently the band Dead Can Dance, who I know The Fall used to play with a bit back in the 80s. If anyone can tell me what song it is taken from I'd love to know, also any reccomendations of where to start with them would be good, as the stuff on youtube is fascinating.

I'll probably be doing some more off Ersatz soon, for those who haven't picked it up yet, do it, there's moments of pure Fall on there that need to be heard. The closing track is fast becoming one of my favourites.

Day 111: The incredible sulk.

2011-11-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

So I'm still buzzing from the release of Ersatz GB, only had two days with it but it is already becoming ingrained, great stuff. Not as complex as YFOC but equally inventive. There's some development on there from the 'gruppe' as people seem to be calling them, you can tell its the same lot from last time, some of the guitar tones sound the same and one song starts off a little like Blindness which is nice. One song also sounds like Electric Wizard, but I'll do that tomorrow. Here's one people are talking about most I guess!?

Song: Greenway
Album: Ersatz GB
Year: 2011

So Mark sounds like the Incredible Hulk on this one, never heard him sound like this before, at first I hated it, but I think it almost is an impression of the hulk from the lyrics. He seems to be annoyed about a video he sees while channel-hopping on 'Danish rock TV' and the gruppe don't want to answer him, piling up chairs on the other side of the hotel room. this bizzare turn of events leads to the line that people are debating and finding fascinating at the moment and seems to have been mentioned in every review I've read too: 'I had to wank off the cat to feed the fucking dog' someone just mentioned it may well be 'wake up' rather than 'wank off' but I'm pretty sure its the weird one.

I hope when i'm 50-odd I'm still talking reams of shit to anyone who will listen, this is excellent. The hulk vocals could be his second attempt at Beefhearting it up of course, but whatever he is doing, he sounds incredible, like he is gargling phlegm or has just eaten a big cream cake before delivering the lines. I can imagine him clutching a bottle of whisky, careering around a hotel corridoor screaming 'Greenway' on every night of their recent tour. From the state of him in Leeds, no doubt his torso travelling faster than his feet. thankfully the tour got better, but as I've said previously, the bad Fall shows are still much more fun than any other gig you will see this year.

The promise of heavy metal is delivered via this song and maybe Mask Search on Ersatz GB, this one in particular sounds like a hardcore band chopping away before a beatdown at times, but still sounds Fall-like.

To anyone wandering here from the VISI forum, hello, please stay a while.

Day 110: Bill Is Dead, but this blog is not.

2011-11-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

I'm still doing this blog, albeit very very occasionally these days, 2 house moves in 6 months has left me with very little time for anything recently but here we are. I'm finding I've got more time now, so on with The Fall-uh!

In the time away, I've managed to see the Fall live for the first time, I was at Stylus in Leeds, absolutely brilliant, despite Mark spending only about half the time on stage, the band were incredible. I've read some reviews on the VISI forum, but honestly, for a first gig, I was entranced. When Mark was on it, he was incredible, Strychnine was a great moment, with him abbing his finger at the topless pillheads at the front and his antics were more intriuging than annoying. Myself and my friend there agreed we couldn't wait to see them again, the new stuff also sounded bang on, even a little more complex. I can see the heavy metal comments Mark made ages ago coming through, Taking Off I think will be a future favourite for everyone.

Anyway, bloggling along...

Song: Bill Is Dead
Album: Extricate
Year: 1990

So this was a weird one, but remains one of the most lucid moments MES has laid down, he sounds oddly contented, as I've said before, on this album I think people had written him off previously, Brix had left and he had nothing to prove. Apparently this was supposed to originally be a piss-take of The Smiths, surely too easy? (and I say that as a fan) but ended up being a weirdly personal song, with Mark intoning 'These are the greatest times, of my life' over and over. Now this could be a reference to anything, love, the band itself, life in general. What I'd like to think is it pre-empts what occured on last year's Your Future's Weather Report 2, where he states 'You gave me the best years of my life' I always this this should be called Bill Is Dead 2, he sings in such a similar way and reflects in such a strange, detatched way. You can easily compare lines like 'Last week, after Dynasty/I had crows feet under my eyes' from BID to 'I watched Murder She Wrote/At least five times/the cast deserved to die' the in-a-bubble way it is delivered and observed is so similar its uncanny.

Where the two songs differ is that Weather Report 2 has so much static and breakdowns it lacks the lacksadasical hippy whisfulness of BID. Apparently Smith thought Bramah's music for this song needed lyrics fitting to it and there are points where Smith is almost saccharine (this is rare, very, very rare) lines like 'Lately, I rise AM/Off pink sheets' its almost as if he has spent time in a rock star wilderness, not as bad as Kate Bush (writing her album Aerial about washing machines and toddlers after about 2 decades away from songwriting) but certainly in a artistic, reflective way and its probably why it made it to number one of Peely's festive fifty that year (by the way, for Peel nerds, check this out, a site where you can listen to every single entry into the fifties over the years, with options to exlcude certain artists too, amazing, I just turned it on, got a Hefner track, sweet).

I'll stop here as this song is just one to enjoy, good to be back peeps.

Day 108: You can never go home!

2011-10-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting one, how many bands can you name influenced by this one?

Song: Marquis Cha-Cha
Album: Room To Live!
Year: 1982

The music for this one is just fabulous, considering this was a rush-job release, there's enough ideas on it, let alone this track standing on its own to provide most bands with two LPs-worth of stuff. This particular slice of Fall has elements in it most bands influenced by the band would kill for, especially in 1982 (!!!) Witness the lilting guitar lines that reek of modern bands doing it for money these days such as Friendly Fires even down to the unusual percussion and high-pitched vocal style.

I suppose the tribal drum style could also be compared to stuff that the Stone Roses curled out in 89 and could even stretch to The Happy Mondays if you ignore Shaun Ryder (a similar style of 'singing' to Mark E, but with none of the class). I imagine Marquis Cha-Cha was amazing to hear live, if they got the percussion and the dreamy singing parts right AND the grinding halts correct, the version on ...In A Hole is a more frenetic, chaotic and harmonica-ridden mess, but still translates well.

The lyrical intricacies of this one remain a mystery to me, it seems to be spoken from the perspective of a deposed dictator or a politcal exile, talk of radios being jammed and a native country not being any good to the narrator. The various voices MES employs through the song mean it is a dizzying, uneven beast, but makes up for this in invention in spades. Just listening to the live version, it sounds like several tracks bound together with some sort of loose narrative thread, as if several characters are having their say.

The old idea that the title easily translates as 'Mark E Cha-Cha' is something I endorse, it's never pronounced 'Mar-kwiss' is it? I'd like to think this is MES's own creation of a dance step, but of course, MES does not dance...

Day 107: In Burmese...

2011-09-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here's another one from The Marshall Suite, can't wait to pick up the new reissue when I get paid, presume the live stuff tacked on is amazing, anyone got it?

Song: Inevitable
Album: The Marshall Suite
Year: 1999

So this one has muchos trance about it, lots of tripped-out beats and some keyboard that just cuts through it like butter. Considering what a cocktail this album is, it is among the best produced of that era for my money, this sounds like it could have been released yesterday, the trance elements less so, but it still sounds very modern, not 11/12 years old. The keys on here sound like a cor anglais or something similar, maybe a rudimentary midi stab at a clarinet, whatever it is, it gives a postmodern edge to the dance-heavy track.

As with a lot of this album, MES sounds a bit inebriated, but that never stops it being anything less than inspirational of course. Some of these lyrics sound like he is reading them out for the first time ever, which might even be the case. I'd love to see some MES lyric sheets. What ends up in Fall tunes is demented at times, so what does he self-edit out? Lines here seem disconnected and improvised, creating some unruly genius along the way: 'I love to dance/And it's Saturday again/Very logical' this strikes a chord with me, the way that somehow, Saturday night seems to be the night most 'normal' people go out and have a good time and the telly follows suit, dancing on this, strictly sib story etc. I'm one of those losers that bemoans other people having a good time when I can't, yah boo etc.

The references to the radio ally with the way Mark's vocals croak out over this tune, he could be a DJ spinning obscure white labels and telling people to 'roll another fat one' a la Radio 1 circa 8-11pm on a weekend. The way his vocals sound always affects my listening to a Fall tune, if there is delay or echo, or any sort of manipulation, I always imagine he has recorded through a megaphone or from down a corridoor in another room.

Day 106: Forty-year olds in colourful shirts...

2011-09-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Song: High Tension Line
Album: Single in 1990/Compilation 'High Tension Line' 2002.
Year: 1990

There was a time, around the release of this single (as far as I can work out, it was just a single in 1990 and appeared later on a compilation it lent its name to in 2002) when you turned on the telly and all you saw was bright pastel colours on people. This was the era of bumbags, flourescent shirts and cycling shorts and the brief popularity of The Sweater Shop. There's pictures of my dad in a horrific shirt around then which looks like Picasso has been sick on it, all maroons and swirls of red and orange, but that's just what was in at the time.

I refer to this as the excellent song I'm blogging today has an amazing line in the shape of: 'And see forty-year olds in multicoloured shirts/It never used to concern me/But now it's making me say...' this is an other of those songs in which the subject of growing old before your time/acting young for your age comes in. With his grasp on the working class of the UK, Mark is in an enviable position of being working class, but actually observing it from outside the usual confines, being an artist/musician means he lies on the periphery most of the time, so this is a look at those around him with wit and observation not many people get to have.

The song itself is great, that insistent drumbeat and the singalong chorus mean its a nice slice of pop, with added vitriol lining its pockets. I have absolutely no idea who the two women mentioned in the first verse are, searches for Jeanette Fletcher and Michelle Spencer throw up LinkedIn profiles and family tree bumf from google, so can anyone enlighten me? I like it when people, living or dead are referenced in Fall tunes, so would love to know. Friends, aquaintances? Let me know in the comments...

The final verse seems to me to be a self-referential one, with talk of life being like a 'facial tissue in a brass bin' and then words to the effect of 'These words are amblings' perhaps this is as close to referring to writers block as we are ever likely to get, thinking out loud etc. The High Tension Line of the title seems to be a threshold of tolerance, or a comment on society being always on the edge of chaos. It could also be someone's breaking point, the shirts of those forty year olds making something snap inside and seeing red.

105: the fashion exhibition...

2011-09-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a crazy one, sounds like a warped tape.

Song: The Crying Marshall
Album: The Marshall Suite
Year: 1999

This is a pretty unique one, which is actually a remix of this song, which MES recorded with the Filthy Three:

I prefer the updated and remixed version, the other one sounds like a Fall track made into a 90s stomper, but the remix takes on a warped, twisted face. What comes to mind is a melting version of the Frightening World... front cover, just the horror of the grotesque in musical form.

This album was just after the infamous Browns incident in which Smith had a punch up and nearly lost everything. This was made with Nagle and Smith and some new people, a little thrown together, its a real mixed bag but is actually amazing. A concept album of sorts about the titular 'Marshall' who leaves town 16 times in this song. I like the line about the fashion exhibition, sounds like such a throwaway line until you realise he left town either for one, or to avoid one through the song.

The guitars are warped beyond recognition here, sounding more like buzzing synths and the mashed up drum and bass and dub beats make it sound confusing and a bit of a collage. The guitar that is left in reminds me of computer game soundtracks of the time Wipeout 2097 for example. There was a time when everything had this compressed, static-like sound in games, I kind of miss that, its all strings and drones now.

This album has just been re-released as its been hard to find for a long time, it comes bundled with a load of live stuff I think, so well worth a purchase. I'll be picking it up in a few weeks, awesome.

By the way, regarding this track, did MES pre-empt the current trend for voice manipulation by a good ten years? Listen up Jason Derulo et al, this is how you use editing techniques.

Day 104: Sorry it's been so long.

2011-09-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I'm back with a vengeance now, is anyone still there?

I'm going to give it my best shot to do a song a day, but with the busy life I find myself living now (I was jobless from Jan-May hence the time to spend ruminating on music) that's the best I'm going to be able to offer.

In other news I'm hoping to be able to attend the gig in York in October, can't wait to be honest.

Anyway, I've had Code:Selfish on in my car for months now, so here is one of my faves off that...

Song: Everything Hurtz
Album: Code:Selfish
Year: 1992

This album is growing on me by the listen, it has this cool, almost surf rock undulation to it, don't know if that's just the repetition of the songs talking to me, but there's this cool 60s pop vibe to everything. This not only sounds desperate, but just cool too.

This is the sound of someone going on stage because they have to and giving it everything, at least that's how I'm reading it, the repetition of the title makes it seem like a slog, again with a 'z' (MES loves his spelling changes, pre-empting text speak by decades he was). The whole track moves with a muscled, intense walk, the cyberific keyboard sounds that offer little staccato rumbles and blips and the crack of the drums mean it is loaded with substance.

The lyrics are delivered almost line by line, rarely overlapping and its along the lines of feeling rotten: 'I've been pursuing the fuel too long/Got a big fat pain in my chestbone'. MES would never admit he felt awful, I don't imagine he gets manflu very often, he probably drinks enough that any illness just feels like a particularly bad hangover and he drinks on through. This is as close as I imagine MES gets to complaining about himself.

The lyrics are very existentialist too, not to harp on about it, but it all sounds futile, as if he knows it is as well, the idea of 'I feel awful, but this is just how it is' is the feeling I get. The same goes for the idea of being responsible for one's actions. This, placed alongside last year's Weather Report could be seen as some rare self-analysis from Smith, its obtuse, its open to interpretation, but that's what it really could be. He doesn't sound as sorry for himself as he does on that, but then he never has, I genuinely feared it may have been the final Fall album, but sounds like the new one will be amazing, it's called Ersatz GB and is out in November, such a long time to wait!

Nice to be back, please comment if anyone still exists...

Suspended service-uh.

2011-08-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of bad news, so won't be blogging til next week, in the meantime, have a picture of Mark looking far too cheery.

Day 103: Sitting in my easy chair...

2011-08-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Contentious cover time!

Some people love this, others can't stand it I've found, I quite like it in a weird way, like a lot of their covers, I think its just a bit of homage, not a statement of intent.

Song: There's A Ghost In My House
Album: Single (But is on The Frenz Experiment reissue)
Year: 1987

As ever, this is a tad obscure for a cover, the original is a northern soul song by R Dean Taylor in 1965, which sounds much the same as this one. The only difference being it has been 'Fallified' with Mark's vocals being as unique as they are. They do however add a little verve to the song, making it sound a little more mysterious, the 'ghost' of the title is an ex-lover, the lines like 'sitting in my easy chair/I feel your fingers running through my hair' and 'looking in my coffee cup/I see your face looking up' confirm this, the ghost of a relationship haunting a man's mind. R Dean Taylor has done a very MES-style trick here, hiding quite dark lyrics under a pop sheen, obviously way ahead of the pack there.

The video for the song is pretty good, MES with what looks like eyeliner on, wanders round what I've since learned to be the Woodthorpe Hotel on Old Bury Road, which links Cheetham Hill, Crumpsall and Prestwich together. No idea if it is still there, I'm sure someone reading this could tell me. Brix plays the ghost here, looking demented under a bleach-blonde perm, the ghost seems a bit manic, smiling one minute, throwing cups at Mark the next. It then fades to some live footage which looks to be of the same era.

I've included the R Dean Taylor vid below, but I honestly prefer the Fall version.