The Fall

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:04 am

Mr. Pharmacist - The Other Half (obsucre 60's Band - on one of the Nuggets compilations)
Pinball Machine - Lonnie Irving - Truck Driving Song
White Lightning - George Jones / The Big Bopper
I Can Hear The Grass Grow - The Move

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 7:15 am

Otis and I noticed Mark E Smith's dad sitting in the pub last night....a very scary looking man!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:28 pm

And what's more, he's my stalker. I know for a fact that I've seen that man in another place somewhere in London. And I stared cos it was Mark E's dad, or actually (if you've seen recentish photos), Mark E with the wig off! I stared at him the last time too. Maybe he's on a message board writing about this freak who keeps staring at him in pubs.

BWAP: ta, knew you'd have chapter and verse. And thanks AGAIN for that lovely compilation. Let's see if Ms Mug will become a convert from the copy I made, and neophyte Fall fanatic Dr J will be sent one as soon as I get my act together.

Richard! Always good to see you here. We do come from very similar musical backgrounds, and our Fall histories are verging on identical (I just had a bit more and stopped sooner, and it is pretty amazing that at the tender age of 15 I saw EC for the first time in Guernsey, c.f. Trust liner notes, as I always like to mention, and then got Dragnet the next morning). Tracklisting for 50,000... is superb. I don't know I've ever heard Repetition, but it is legendary. And it does contain the immortal Rowche Rumble (valium, ksht, ksht).

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 8:07 pm

And the Dragnet resissue contains 4 alternative takes of Rowche Rumble as well as the original on the bonus CD. How hardcore have you got to be to listen to that more than once through? The takes are all pretty similar.

It occurred to me I had some very early Fall on Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus. Two tracks, Stepping Out and I forget the other. Will have to crank up the turntable in the morning. Juy '78, I think. It's the original line-up, including Tony Friel, who then went on to join Dick Witts in The Passage, a band I've not seen anyone here mention, but who did a couple of fantastic LPs back then, really original and exciting, including the piece Anderton's Hall, with a nice ref to playing The Fall, as opposed to 'the leisurewear beat'. Anderton was James Anderton, Thatcherite police chief of Manchester in 1980, and Dick Witts chief figure of hatred. http://www.yammer.co.uk/passage/texts/a ... _hall.html

Short Circuit also features two from the Buzzcocks, and Joy Division as Warsaw doing At A Later Date, very raw and half-formed, you wouldn't know it was them. Also JCC doing You Never See a Nipple In The Daily Express and I Married A Monster From Outer Space, as well as Steel Pulse. Classic stuff.

LittleFoole · Post by **LittleFoole** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 11:59 am

LOL.....glad to see there are other Fall enthusiasts....I grew weary of beating my head against the wall trying to get friends and acquaintenances to "appreciate" their wonderful noise (or at least give them a listen). New Face in Hell remains probably my favorite ..... It's been years since I've given them a listen - my turntable is dead and lps are still in storage from moving south 3 years ago,,,LOL.....sad, isn't it ?

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:08 pm

Time to buy some of the excellent EC-esque 2CD reissues! And the Peel box set (see The Fall live thread!).

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:57 pm

Not sure if you already know the box set tracklisting. If not, you can find it here :

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-0 ... tml#story2

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 3:43 pm

The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith documentary will be repeated on BBC4 this Friday, April 1, at 11:10pm.

stormwarning · Post by **stormwarning** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 1:01 pm

I downloaded this a couple of weeks ago - it's compulsive watching.
Highly recommended.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:57 pm

Oh good. Dr J very kindly gave it me on disc when we met up, but as I can't view DVDs on my 'puter and it don't work on my DVD player, it's on hold till I get my Mac Mini! So it will be great to actually see it and keep my revival of interest in The Fall going.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:30 pm

Fabulous documentary. Couldn't believe much footage was in it, and lots of it early, even the original line-up. Will need to watch it a few times to work out what MES was mumbling about! he seemed less wasted in some bits than others. Had forgotten about Kay Carroll. Terrifying woman! And the footage of the legendary 'assault on stage' NY gig! Interesting that the Brix/Elena keyboardist/guitarist as girlfriend goes right back to Una Baines and the original line-up. Makes the idea of him being married to The Fall all the more realistic. Paul Morley gave some great quotes, as ever. The Islington sept '04 gig shots looked very similar to Cambridge the other week, and all the songs were familiar from it. I loved the footage of them doing their last Peel session, especially the Mark solo bits. Can't wait to watch it again on DVD! If I was wavering over splashing the cash on the BBC sessions, this made my mind up. Yeah, yeah, industrial estate!

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 4:04 am

Otis -

I'm glad it wasn't just this American that could only decipher about half of what MES was saying (it got easier as the docu progressed). Loads of great phootage - I'd love have the full Kurious Oranj production on dvd. It sure made it more tempting to drive down to Brighton for the show tomorrow.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 4:10 am

You have to go. There might be an onstage fight! Then again, the current guitarist clearly feels he's landed the best job in the world, so perhaps unlikely. I was very impressed by this band, very tight and hard. As well as Kurious Oranj, all the other great footage prompted me to think there could be a really good Fall DVD with representations of their entire career. There was even a bit of Rebellious Jukebox on it. Sadly, no Totally Wired, but a great bit of Elastic Man compensated.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:40 pm

Well the box set is fabulous. Action records got it to me yesterday, so, like KOA, ahead of its release date tomorrow. I was a bit pissed off with Action, the website tells you they will find the cheapest post route possible, but you sign off, with the 'fallnet' discount with £22.49 as the agreed price, and you assume p & p is free. Then they send you an email confirming this same price, no mention of p & p costs. then the item comes, with a card receipt to which £4 has been added. So it's 50p more than the £25.99 on Play.com though still £1.50 less than Amazon, but the point is that you don't find out the cost till it arrives.

That's all a minor detail, the music's the thing. And the lovely card box, and the superb book. It contains a great quote: if 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong is the GCSE on the Fall (that's the school exams 16 year olds take here, chums), then the box set is the doctorate. It is indeed. I'm only on CD2, but so far it has been unbelievably good. As I have read, some versions do seem to surpass recorded equivalents, and all of the sessions seem to capture the Fall in their purest essence. What's also good is that it doesn't contain a lot of their more celebrated songs (the early faves like Totally Wired, Fiery Jack, Rowche Rumble), lovely though it would be to have them in addition, but it somehow makes it more exciting to have a wider range of stuff on here.

It's the perfect summary of their career, and the absolute perfect tribute to John Peel. He had his speech written for their 25th session, but died before they ever could record it. Still, we've got 24 of them, 96 songs, plus one final one-off. It summarises everything that's great about them, and the book is great, with notes on all sessions. I can't recommend it highly enough - I think The Fall are a 'love 'em or hate 'em' type band, yoou either get it or don't, and if you get it at all, get this!

invisible Pole · Post by **invisible Pole** » Thu May 19, 2005 10:11 am

The Fall fans will have plenty to rejoice:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-05/19.shtml#fall

The Fall Prepare New Album

Caroline Bermudez reports:
The Fall's discography is intimidating enough as it is, but it's about to get even more confusing. A new album plus an arsenal of reissues will spurt forth within the coming months.

In an e-mail to Pitchfork, president of Narnack Records (the Fall's label) Shahin Ewalt revealed that the upcoming album, entitled The Fall Head's Roll will be released on September 20. Produced by spectacularly belligerent frontman Mark E. Smith in New York and Manchester, the record is nearly finished with only four tracks remaining to be completed within the next couple of weeks. As for the album's sound, Ewalt wrote that it is, "Exactly the way Mark wants it. Either very garage rock sounding or just garage rock." A full tracklist is not yet available, but some song titles include "The Grass Is Greener", "Clasp Hands", "Pacifying Joint", and "Assume". The first single, "The Grass Is Greener", will be released in the middle of July and a video for it should go into production soon. A probable B-side for the single is a version of "Blindness", a track off Interim, which was released earlier this year.

Another tantalizing tidbit about the upcoming album Ewalt shared with us was that "Supposedly PJ Harvey did a stop in to play the banjo." We can only hope that Elvis Costello contributed a washboard solo.

Coincidentally (or not), the Fall will do a full tour of the U.S. in the late fall in support of Head's Roll.

Like we said before, things are about to get messy. As part of its comprehensive series of reissues of Fall albums, Sanctuary Records will release Room To Live and Perverted by Language on June 13. Room to Live is Smith at his vitriolic best, recorded during a creatively fertile period fed by England's involvement in the Falklands War, which eventually led the Fall to produce Hex Enduction Hour (also reissued by Sanctuary). Marking the debut of Smith's wife Brix with the band, Perverted by Language-- to be released as a double CD-- saw the band veering into somewhat accessible, pop-friendly territory. Both reissues will feature bonus tracks, special album art, and most likely, extra material such as a DVD. Also on Sanctuary's already impressive schedule will be reissues of In a Hole, The Infotainment Scam, Middle Class Revolt, and Bootleg Box Set, Volume 2, which contains all the Voiceprint Live two-finger salute discs. This wealth of re-found sound is due the second half of this year.

Yet to be announced are the release dates and full tracklists for the reissues of The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall,This Nation's Saving Grace, and Bend Sinister. Before our hearts explode, we will provide updates as details emerge.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:56 pm

All very tempting, even though I'm still working my way through the Peel sessons, some of which are brilliant, as good as anything you've heard by the fall (pretty well all those on the first two CDs), but by CD4 it's starting to flag a bit. A great offering all in all, though.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:55 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... rtComments

NB Someone sent me this link, I don't read this rag normally!

The bastards haven't printed my 'Keep up the good work Mark' comment. I've tried again, this time as The Ghost of John Peel. Surely they should print one pro comment? At the moment it's all the predictable 'what a vile human being' typical Daily Mail stuff. Imagine what a field day they would have had if he'd been 'of colour' or Eastern European.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:20 pm

Here is the sometimes pretty humorous thread on this topic in the Unoffical Fall website -

http://z1.invisionfree.com/forums/thefa ... opic=19984

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

The Fall

Re: The Fall

Re: The Fall