Okay here is a brilliant one, this album needs to find a home in my car, though it might make me speed.
Song: Reformation!
Album: Reformation Post-TLC
Year: 2007
Things that are amazing about this track (here's a change for today)
* That bassline.
* That bass sound (rumbly)
* Lots of Uhs! Which is always good.
* Reformation! shouts, great stuff.
* This one also reminds me of The Dead Kennedys, a good thing.
* The cover to this album is one of the best Fall record covers ever, either a mosaic or a cracked stained-glass window, either way, looks great and suits the record title perfectly.
* The fact that the shouts of Reformation! get more strained as the song progresses, real emotion.
* These lyrics make MES sound like a confused old man, but could also be about the previous lineup splitting and the uncertainty that surrounds that (every time): Two or three weeks/
Three or two weeks/Who did...what the.../What's the matter?
* That bassline, again, its making me jump up and down, what a song.
* Cheese states/Goldfish bowl two lines that are unconnected, but are both screaming out at me as being pregnant with meaning, Cheese states I can imagine being about travelling through the US with this particular lineup (one of the BEST I still maintain) and seeing various signs like 'Arkansas, America's frying pan lid' and the like, I wish we did that over here, 'South Yorkshire, Sheffield is nice, avoid the rest'? The other line could quite clearly be the old meaning of everyone looking at him like he's in a bowl, analysing what he is doing, the drags of a life in the public eye.
* That bassline, think its only two notes, I still rate it.
Showing posts with label music review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music review. Show all posts
Monday, 16 May 2011
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Day 62: One endless pursuit of women.
Here's a Fall track so of its time it's unreal. It appeared on 1996's The Light User Syndrome and sounds like an amalgam of what makes the fall recognisable, but also has britpop and guitar music from that era's stamp, really good! I kinda miss the kinds of bands this reminds me of, the likes of Elastica, Sleeper, Echobelly and on a another level, Dinosaur Jnr, Sebadoh and a bit of dream-pop/shoegaze like Ride or My Bloody Valentine.
Song: Spinetrak
Album: The Light User Syndrome
Year: 1996
The whole sound and production of this track brings to mind the bands I've already mentioned, the riff on here actually sounds a hell of a lot like the one used on one of my favourite songs Behind The Counter, but with a style like The Fall's there are bound to be brief crossovers. One notable element of this track is Brix's breathy exhalations over the verses, sexy or just disturbing? I'm a bit freaked out by it to be honest, her backing vocals are actually brilliant here otherwise, the wailing over the 'chorus' double-tracked with her vocals complete that dreamy element. Mark's vocals are delivered under a layer of fuzz, I can imagine live, Brix would take centre-stage and Mark would be skulking in the background, his lines deliver elements of a circus master at work 'let the sideshow begin' and some of a more macabre nature: 'spine clicked and came out of its box'.
I'd like to think of the phrase 'spinetrak' as an internal compass, no idea if that's what good ol' MES would think, but with Brix singing the chorus as she does, it sounds devoted, maybe it is the whole adage of men thinking with their groins and women thinking with their heads, the line: 'On endless pursuit of women/And desire to impress them' it certainly fits with his often-mentioned hatred of overt sexuality and behaviour (Slates. Slags etc. for example).
This song is definitely one of their more memorable ones, a chorus you can sing along with, almost an overdose of pop signatures taking over, for a rare change, MES is almost a footnote on this song, it belongs to Brix and the rest of the band.
Song: Spinetrak
Album: The Light User Syndrome
Year: 1996
The whole sound and production of this track brings to mind the bands I've already mentioned, the riff on here actually sounds a hell of a lot like the one used on one of my favourite songs Behind The Counter, but with a style like The Fall's there are bound to be brief crossovers. One notable element of this track is Brix's breathy exhalations over the verses, sexy or just disturbing? I'm a bit freaked out by it to be honest, her backing vocals are actually brilliant here otherwise, the wailing over the 'chorus' double-tracked with her vocals complete that dreamy element. Mark's vocals are delivered under a layer of fuzz, I can imagine live, Brix would take centre-stage and Mark would be skulking in the background, his lines deliver elements of a circus master at work 'let the sideshow begin' and some of a more macabre nature: 'spine clicked and came out of its box'.
I'd like to think of the phrase 'spinetrak' as an internal compass, no idea if that's what good ol' MES would think, but with Brix singing the chorus as she does, it sounds devoted, maybe it is the whole adage of men thinking with their groins and women thinking with their heads, the line: 'On endless pursuit of women/And desire to impress them' it certainly fits with his often-mentioned hatred of overt sexuality and behaviour (Slates. Slags etc. for example).
This song is definitely one of their more memorable ones, a chorus you can sing along with, almost an overdose of pop signatures taking over, for a rare change, MES is almost a footnote on this song, it belongs to Brix and the rest of the band.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Day 57: Enter the Twilight Zone.
Today's song is a belter from This Nation's Saving Grace, which is fast becoming one of my favourites, this song is named after an episode of The Twilight Zone, a science fiction/fantasy show that has run in sporadic fits and bursts since 1959. I can see how the show fits with MES's world view, it featured interesting, off-kilter storylines and underwent crazy plot twists. I really must seek out the DVD compilations.
This song's Twilight Zone episode is about a salesman who can sell people whatever they need before he or the person buying whatever the item is know they need it. I'd say that Mark's lyrics here are very little to do with the episode, but take the theme of giving people advice or guidance and pushes it relentlessly.
Song: What You Need
Album: This Nation's Saving Grace
Year: 1985
So this song has some amazing instrumentation in it, a walking bassline courtesy of Steve Hanley and some great keyboard work from Simon Rogers, it almost sounds like the incidental music you hear at American baseball games, very original. The lyrics are delivered in this great way, the band backing MES up all the way through with group vocals, quite a rare thing, but it works, it gives it an unhinged, manic aspect. Mark's lyrics almost become a call and response later on, he makes lists out of lines all the way through, the band cutting through this with their collected shouting. All very impressive. I'd say the lyrics are a response to advice or things people have mentioned to MES and he is simply ignoring their advice, the backing vocals almost act like a backdrop, they could be the people telling him what he needs and his solo vocals could be the reaction. I like the references to The Brothers Copeland and Iggy Stooge, The Fall have many influences and The Stooges is one that comes up all the time, maybe this is either an acknowledgement or a refusal to accept that comparison. As ever it's very open to interpretation.
This song's Twilight Zone episode is about a salesman who can sell people whatever they need before he or the person buying whatever the item is know they need it. I'd say that Mark's lyrics here are very little to do with the episode, but take the theme of giving people advice or guidance and pushes it relentlessly.
Song: What You Need
Album: This Nation's Saving Grace
Year: 1985
So this song has some amazing instrumentation in it, a walking bassline courtesy of Steve Hanley and some great keyboard work from Simon Rogers, it almost sounds like the incidental music you hear at American baseball games, very original. The lyrics are delivered in this great way, the band backing MES up all the way through with group vocals, quite a rare thing, but it works, it gives it an unhinged, manic aspect. Mark's lyrics almost become a call and response later on, he makes lists out of lines all the way through, the band cutting through this with their collected shouting. All very impressive. I'd say the lyrics are a response to advice or things people have mentioned to MES and he is simply ignoring their advice, the backing vocals almost act like a backdrop, they could be the people telling him what he needs and his solo vocals could be the reaction. I like the references to The Brothers Copeland and Iggy Stooge, The Fall have many influences and The Stooges is one that comes up all the time, maybe this is either an acknowledgement or a refusal to accept that comparison. As ever it's very open to interpretation.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Day 52: The Fall are a joke?
Here's one that divides Fall fans as far as I can tell, it opens the difficult Cerebral Caustic, an album often cited as the worst Fall LP, but I quite like it, its unusual and has an overwhelming feel to it, like they threw everything they had into it without much in the way of plans.
Song: The Joke
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995
So this cuts in with some detuned guitar and then the drums, vocals, bass and electronics cut in, to me it could almost sound like a new york hardcore song if performed in the same way by a heavier band, the lyrics cut through the heavy sound really well, I like his clipped delivery of the line 'Go back, go back/To your diseased hut!' the lyrics seems to be addressing someone, not sure if it would be the soft target of Riley again, but it could be, lines like 'Five years of PC camp' could refer to anything, but could be to do with Riley's work on Radio 1 or the band he formed after leaving The Fall, who knows? I like the production on his voice in this one, it's almost like he's barking these lines down a telephone or through a megaphone, they are direct, clipped and obvious this time, not much in the way of open interpretation.
I always like it when MES conjures up an image, whether its a man carrying plastic bags around to secrete everywhere, a man shooting the corner off a tomb or here, just a mention of 'coloured sweets' its great, there's a whole world of insane images contained within the Fall's back catalogue, I get frustrated when people don't understand their charm, it's so easy these days to dismiss things quickly, so going back through about 30 years of music is a real eye-opener for me. People say that this album was a disappointment, quite how I'm not sure, maybe it isn't that obviously a catchy or clever piece of work, it doesn't showcase itself very well, the production sits on just the right side of irritating, but therein lies the appeal, Dave Bush's electronics underpin this track in particular, combining with the traditional garage-band drums to create a modern-sounding song. It reminds me of bands that were around and doing that sort of digital mess underneath, showing MES again had his finger on the pulse of surrounding influences, the clicking and pulsing electronics could be taken from bands like Pitchshifter, Mad Capsule Markets or Atari Teenage Riot. I'm surprised MES never cottoned on to that digital hardcore sound more fully, their vocals are very MES, almost unintelligible screams and mutterings through battered digital boxes over a soundtrack of distorted guitars and digital ephemera. Now there aren't that many digital influences in The Fall's sound these days I doubt we will hear stuff like this again, shame!
Song: The Joke
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995
So this cuts in with some detuned guitar and then the drums, vocals, bass and electronics cut in, to me it could almost sound like a new york hardcore song if performed in the same way by a heavier band, the lyrics cut through the heavy sound really well, I like his clipped delivery of the line 'Go back, go back/To your diseased hut!' the lyrics seems to be addressing someone, not sure if it would be the soft target of Riley again, but it could be, lines like 'Five years of PC camp' could refer to anything, but could be to do with Riley's work on Radio 1 or the band he formed after leaving The Fall, who knows? I like the production on his voice in this one, it's almost like he's barking these lines down a telephone or through a megaphone, they are direct, clipped and obvious this time, not much in the way of open interpretation.
I always like it when MES conjures up an image, whether its a man carrying plastic bags around to secrete everywhere, a man shooting the corner off a tomb or here, just a mention of 'coloured sweets' its great, there's a whole world of insane images contained within the Fall's back catalogue, I get frustrated when people don't understand their charm, it's so easy these days to dismiss things quickly, so going back through about 30 years of music is a real eye-opener for me. People say that this album was a disappointment, quite how I'm not sure, maybe it isn't that obviously a catchy or clever piece of work, it doesn't showcase itself very well, the production sits on just the right side of irritating, but therein lies the appeal, Dave Bush's electronics underpin this track in particular, combining with the traditional garage-band drums to create a modern-sounding song. It reminds me of bands that were around and doing that sort of digital mess underneath, showing MES again had his finger on the pulse of surrounding influences, the clicking and pulsing electronics could be taken from bands like Pitchshifter, Mad Capsule Markets or Atari Teenage Riot. I'm surprised MES never cottoned on to that digital hardcore sound more fully, their vocals are very MES, almost unintelligible screams and mutterings through battered digital boxes over a soundtrack of distorted guitars and digital ephemera. Now there aren't that many digital influences in The Fall's sound these days I doubt we will hear stuff like this again, shame!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Day 51: I'm the carry bag man.
It's amazing how Mark E Smith can repeat a word over and over and have it melt into your mind for a few days after. Where people may see lack of talent singing-wise, MES always makes up for it in planting the most absurd lyrics into your head.
I know for one, whenever I see someone with a plastic bag, I always think of this song, but I'm sure it's more than a simple quirk that Smith chose to sing about something so uniformly used by everyone. I wonder if he ever uses them, I can imagine him refusing one when offered politely in a supermarket, although knowing how he hardly ever eats, I doubt he gets to the local Asda or Lidl much (former Fall members have stated that if they ate a meal on tour, they were mocked for being 'fat bastards').
Song: Carry Bag Man
Album: The Frenz Experiment
Year: 1988
So this is off the transition from the brutalist Fall of Bend Sinister to the ballet-soundtrack artiness of I Am Kurious Oranj, I'd say this is the Fall taking the foot off the pedal, as it flies by at a much more serene pace and actually sounds very pop (Brix is present, no surprise there then). This particular song is the second track and rumbles along nicely, the music is uniform, the drumming exemplary, its swift snare fills make it pop and crackle and the production is a great improvement on Bend Sinister's wall of noise and walkman-mastering glory, right production for the right set of songs on both counts I reckon. This is crisp and warm, whereas that album could well give you tinnitus. I like the use of loud-hailer on this track, gives the song a sing-along aspect (which I presume translates well live). It reminds me of the repetitive grooves of later songs like Pacifying Joint or Touch Sensitive, not only the music, but Mark's wailing vocals for each one of them, the drawl he brings out of his mutter and into sustained lines is great, the great anti-melodic nature of it all is fantastic.
The lyrics, now the sing-along part is obviously the title sang and chanted all the way through, but there's some brilliant conspiracy theory/surreptitious lines running through it. The idea of a man hiding carrier bags around a cityscape is quite amusing, planting them behind bushes, shop doorways, park benches etc. The lines: 'I don't make waves, I hide bags in graves/No cash is earned straight nowadays anyways/Please all you onlookers understand/So make gangway for Carrier Bag Man' sounds like a rallying call for hoarders, like it is this fictional 'carry bag' man's mission to save items in a Womble-like state. Maybe Mark is using his sage-like powers of prediction here and envisions the TV shows we have been plagued with for years like Grime Fighters and How Clean Is Your House?
I know for one, whenever I see someone with a plastic bag, I always think of this song, but I'm sure it's more than a simple quirk that Smith chose to sing about something so uniformly used by everyone. I wonder if he ever uses them, I can imagine him refusing one when offered politely in a supermarket, although knowing how he hardly ever eats, I doubt he gets to the local Asda or Lidl much (former Fall members have stated that if they ate a meal on tour, they were mocked for being 'fat bastards').
Song: Carry Bag Man
Album: The Frenz Experiment
Year: 1988
So this is off the transition from the brutalist Fall of Bend Sinister to the ballet-soundtrack artiness of I Am Kurious Oranj, I'd say this is the Fall taking the foot off the pedal, as it flies by at a much more serene pace and actually sounds very pop (Brix is present, no surprise there then). This particular song is the second track and rumbles along nicely, the music is uniform, the drumming exemplary, its swift snare fills make it pop and crackle and the production is a great improvement on Bend Sinister's wall of noise and walkman-mastering glory, right production for the right set of songs on both counts I reckon. This is crisp and warm, whereas that album could well give you tinnitus. I like the use of loud-hailer on this track, gives the song a sing-along aspect (which I presume translates well live). It reminds me of the repetitive grooves of later songs like Pacifying Joint or Touch Sensitive, not only the music, but Mark's wailing vocals for each one of them, the drawl he brings out of his mutter and into sustained lines is great, the great anti-melodic nature of it all is fantastic.
The lyrics, now the sing-along part is obviously the title sang and chanted all the way through, but there's some brilliant conspiracy theory/surreptitious lines running through it. The idea of a man hiding carrier bags around a cityscape is quite amusing, planting them behind bushes, shop doorways, park benches etc. The lines: 'I don't make waves, I hide bags in graves/No cash is earned straight nowadays anyways/Please all you onlookers understand/So make gangway for Carrier Bag Man' sounds like a rallying call for hoarders, like it is this fictional 'carry bag' man's mission to save items in a Womble-like state. Maybe Mark is using his sage-like powers of prediction here and envisions the TV shows we have been plagued with for years like Grime Fighters and How Clean Is Your House?
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Day 50: Bend down and scratch the carpet for insects.
Another strange one today that doesn't offer much in the way of context immediately, but it's still fun.
Song: The Aphid
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995
This marks a turbulent time for The Fall (although it could be said it's all turbulent) but this marked a slight return for Brix, who co-wrote about half the album, including this one. Smith actually got rid of two excellent musicians around this time, Craig Scanlon and Dave Bush, which many thought was a mistake, so this is their last appearance on an album.
Anyway, this song is another great example of MES bringing in influences from great writers of novels, this time Philip K Dick, of whose 1977 science fiction novel A Scanner Darkly this is based on. It only encapsulates the first for or five pages, but with such a strange opening to a book, I can see why he may have been affected to write in this style. The pages explain a man who is obsessed with bugs in the carpet, whether these bugs are real it's not clear, but he has a strict method for collecting them. What MES has cleverly done here is write from his perspective, almost like an inner monologue, a step-by-step guide for removing aphids/bugs from a carpet, with precise instructions on how to find them, what jar to use, how many steps to take across the floor etc. It's all very OCD, something which lends itself to Mark's vocal delivery, the list-like way he sometimes emits his words fits in well with a list-like personality he is trying to portray. I'd say this is a fantastic effort, it left me bemused before, but having now found out the reasons for such abstractions, it makes perfect sense. Lines like: 'Bend down/Scratch around the carpet for insect/Get hook clamp, stand up/Get frame, put insect in jar' you can imagine being recited over and over by someone rocking back and forth in a padded cell, very affecting.
I think you can tell Brix is back, the riff that leads this is of her style, uniform yet playful, it has that cool, effortless charm that she bought to the group in the 80s, but I wonder how many people thought it was an attempt at finding former glories. It does bounce along nicely and it is a catchy song altogether, but it does seem to be a tad lethargic, thankfully the lyrics and vocals save it, as well as what sounds like a sample from the A Scanner Darkly film which ends the track.
On more thing to add, the album cover, an early Photoshop mistake? There are some terrible album covers from this era when graphic design on macs and PCs became widely available, is this the worst Fall album cover? Its either this or the patchwork nightmare of Shift Work for me.
Song: The Aphid
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995
This marks a turbulent time for The Fall (although it could be said it's all turbulent) but this marked a slight return for Brix, who co-wrote about half the album, including this one. Smith actually got rid of two excellent musicians around this time, Craig Scanlon and Dave Bush, which many thought was a mistake, so this is their last appearance on an album.
Anyway, this song is another great example of MES bringing in influences from great writers of novels, this time Philip K Dick, of whose 1977 science fiction novel A Scanner Darkly this is based on. It only encapsulates the first for or five pages, but with such a strange opening to a book, I can see why he may have been affected to write in this style. The pages explain a man who is obsessed with bugs in the carpet, whether these bugs are real it's not clear, but he has a strict method for collecting them. What MES has cleverly done here is write from his perspective, almost like an inner monologue, a step-by-step guide for removing aphids/bugs from a carpet, with precise instructions on how to find them, what jar to use, how many steps to take across the floor etc. It's all very OCD, something which lends itself to Mark's vocal delivery, the list-like way he sometimes emits his words fits in well with a list-like personality he is trying to portray. I'd say this is a fantastic effort, it left me bemused before, but having now found out the reasons for such abstractions, it makes perfect sense. Lines like: 'Bend down/Scratch around the carpet for insect/Get hook clamp, stand up/Get frame, put insect in jar' you can imagine being recited over and over by someone rocking back and forth in a padded cell, very affecting.
I think you can tell Brix is back, the riff that leads this is of her style, uniform yet playful, it has that cool, effortless charm that she bought to the group in the 80s, but I wonder how many people thought it was an attempt at finding former glories. It does bounce along nicely and it is a catchy song altogether, but it does seem to be a tad lethargic, thankfully the lyrics and vocals save it, as well as what sounds like a sample from the A Scanner Darkly film which ends the track.
On more thing to add, the album cover, an early Photoshop mistake? There are some terrible album covers from this era when graphic design on macs and PCs became widely available, is this the worst Fall album cover? Its either this or the patchwork nightmare of Shift Work for me.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Day 48: A run-in with Boston immigration.
Here's another request, off an album I have neglected, its an album that apparently is a bit of a blip in some people's heads, but I like the brutalist nature of it, really clunking and bleak for the most part.
Song: U.S 80's-90's
Album: Bend Sinister
Year: 1986
Now the drums on this song almost sound like a machine to me, I don't know whether they used one of those electronic kits to record this one, but the production is so digitised it's almost inhuman. It may just be that fashion they seemed to have in production circles in the 80's for a 'big' drum sound, plenty of effects applied to the snare and clipped cymbal cracks to make it sound a bit stadium, it works for some bands (The The, Joy Division etc) but here this song sounds like a public service announcement to me, Mark's vocals sound like a pre-recorded message booming out of an old public address system on a loop. That loop has become corrupted over time and lines are delivered over and on top of each other. The music reflects this, the bass sounds amazing, but has the sound of a dot matrix printer endlessly reaming out page after page of barely-legible computer code, on that green, punched paper you used to get.
It's all very dystopian, you can imagine this being played very loud over a post-apocalyptic wasteland a la Terminator 2, trash cans on fire here and there and machines stomping around, all very much of its time, this was 1986, sci-fi was a pretty big deal at the time, this could easily be on a soundtrack to a film, it's so bloody bleak. I like the fact the lyrics seems to be about airport security banality, the lists of things banned on board for example and the lines about being rapper, needing to get off the crapper, amazing.
This gives me visions of MES writing this while waiting for a flight in the middle of the night in a US airport, no idea why and just being exhausted, taking in his surroundings and reading those terrible magazines you only seem to see in public areas like airports and office receptions. Quite an abstract one this, the production makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
Song: U.S 80's-90's
Album: Bend Sinister
Year: 1986
Now the drums on this song almost sound like a machine to me, I don't know whether they used one of those electronic kits to record this one, but the production is so digitised it's almost inhuman. It may just be that fashion they seemed to have in production circles in the 80's for a 'big' drum sound, plenty of effects applied to the snare and clipped cymbal cracks to make it sound a bit stadium, it works for some bands (The The, Joy Division etc) but here this song sounds like a public service announcement to me, Mark's vocals sound like a pre-recorded message booming out of an old public address system on a loop. That loop has become corrupted over time and lines are delivered over and on top of each other. The music reflects this, the bass sounds amazing, but has the sound of a dot matrix printer endlessly reaming out page after page of barely-legible computer code, on that green, punched paper you used to get.
It's all very dystopian, you can imagine this being played very loud over a post-apocalyptic wasteland a la Terminator 2, trash cans on fire here and there and machines stomping around, all very much of its time, this was 1986, sci-fi was a pretty big deal at the time, this could easily be on a soundtrack to a film, it's so bloody bleak. I like the fact the lyrics seems to be about airport security banality, the lists of things banned on board for example and the lines about being rapper, needing to get off the crapper, amazing.
This gives me visions of MES writing this while waiting for a flight in the middle of the night in a US airport, no idea why and just being exhausted, taking in his surroundings and reading those terrible magazines you only seem to see in public areas like airports and office receptions. Quite an abstract one this, the production makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
Friday, 29 April 2011
Day 46: I'm like, totally wired.
A request from my good friend Dan Middler today, he is an awesome musician and all-round great human being.
Song: Totally Wired
Album: Grotesque (After The Gramme) (1998 CD reissue, but was also a single)
Year: I'm going to say 1981 as in the video, but it may have been earlier)
This video is great, a dark, moodily-lit Fall performing in front of a bustling crowd, this one has all the atmosphere it commands, its both fun and serious at the same time, a paean to being a bit odd and perhaps an ode to caffeine (see the line: I drank a jar of coffee and took some of these!) it has a great beat to it and the acapella vocals that begin it are great, and the backing vocals just make it for me. The lyrics are great, talk of a butterfly stomach and being a communist combined with some great literary injections.
These take the form of the lines: When the going gets weird/The weird turn pro is a Hunter S Thompson line, I've always found him to be a bit cloying, but this line is a typical Thompson line that is just truth refined. MES's vocal delivery is focused, the stutter of 't-t-t-t-t-t-totally wired' at points is great, as is his machine-gun delivery of swearing and missives in this live version is amazing.
I'd say this fits in perfectly with the feel of the album it has been attached to, it has that same fire in its belly, the same lyrical fervour and the music is similarly riled up and focused, sometimes you can just tell The Fall are firing on all cylinders and beautiful art is formed, this is one of those moments. It's almost like each album is a gig, if the right elements come together, you could get a focused, direct Fall (Grotesque, Perverted By Language) a confusing, mysterious Fall (Slates, Your Future Our Clutter) or just a confusing one (The Infotainment Scan, In A Hole, Room To Live) but they are all rewarding, I'm almost at the point where I don't want to even state a song or album is my favourite any more, there's hardly a duff moment in their whole career. What do you guys think? Does a bad Fall song exist?
Song: Totally Wired
Album: Grotesque (After The Gramme) (1998 CD reissue, but was also a single)
Year: I'm going to say 1981 as in the video, but it may have been earlier)
This video is great, a dark, moodily-lit Fall performing in front of a bustling crowd, this one has all the atmosphere it commands, its both fun and serious at the same time, a paean to being a bit odd and perhaps an ode to caffeine (see the line: I drank a jar of coffee and took some of these!) it has a great beat to it and the acapella vocals that begin it are great, and the backing vocals just make it for me. The lyrics are great, talk of a butterfly stomach and being a communist combined with some great literary injections.
These take the form of the lines: When the going gets weird/The weird turn pro is a Hunter S Thompson line, I've always found him to be a bit cloying, but this line is a typical Thompson line that is just truth refined. MES's vocal delivery is focused, the stutter of 't-t-t-t-t-t-totally wired' at points is great, as is his machine-gun delivery of swearing and missives in this live version is amazing.
I'd say this fits in perfectly with the feel of the album it has been attached to, it has that same fire in its belly, the same lyrical fervour and the music is similarly riled up and focused, sometimes you can just tell The Fall are firing on all cylinders and beautiful art is formed, this is one of those moments. It's almost like each album is a gig, if the right elements come together, you could get a focused, direct Fall (Grotesque, Perverted By Language) a confusing, mysterious Fall (Slates, Your Future Our Clutter) or just a confusing one (The Infotainment Scan, In A Hole, Room To Live) but they are all rewarding, I'm almost at the point where I don't want to even state a song or album is my favourite any more, there's hardly a duff moment in their whole career. What do you guys think? Does a bad Fall song exist?
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Day 43: He sees visions of islands.
A dark story unfolds in a graveyard, a rabbit hunter creeps round a dark setting and a grave-tender is shocked to be shot at, as a result, he shows the rabbit hunter who has mistakenly shot at him a jaw-bone from the ground, obviously dislodged from a recently-disturbed grave. From then on the laid-off rabbit hunter is cursed with visions of jawbones and is put off eating at all. Now if this isn't literature laced with music, I don't know what is. The lyrics in this song are again, somewhat buried in delivery, but what a song, dark, inventive, bat-shit crazy. Only helped along by the demented and chirpy chorus.
Also one of MES's best vocal deliveries ever.
Song: Jawbone And The Air Rifle
Album: Hex Enduction Hour
Year: 1982
So this album was partly recorded in Iceland, I've no idea if the dark perpetual night-time got to the band, but this is where the sweep of dark, gothic horror via the north-west comes in for me, there had been hints of it before, but this is a masterpiece, two drummers create a clanging, skitterish rhythm section, while the bass sounds incredibly prominent and MES's vocals are clear and concise, a welcome rarity.
The lyrics would bear a full replication here, but that would be lazy of me, I'll instead say that the sense of narrative wouldn't be out of place in film or a collection of short stories, such is the strange, totally unique nature of the descriptions and cadence he unfurls here. Whole sections could be deconstructed to create dozens of other stories, take this one for example: 'A cemetery overlooked clough valley of mud/And the grave-keeper was out on his rounds/Yellow-white shirt buried in duffle coat hood/Keeping edges out with mosaic color stones' in a brief verse, he has fit in more description than most bands manage in an album, you get an instant image of this man and his mannerisms and its haunting, even the comic lines like 'The air rifle lets out a mis-placed shot/It smashed a chip off a valued tomb' and 'Rifleman he say y’see I get no kicks anymore/From wife or children four/There’s been no war for forty years/And getting drunk fills me with guilt' this is a humourous image, a man so bored of life he goes out drunkenly shooting things at random, but also, addresses being laid off, something which is inherently sad, this is what life has come to, very poetic.
I like the disgusting idea of a jaw-bone covered in slime, and the fact it puts him off meat and eating, having hallucinations, 'Advertisements become carnivores/And roadworkers turn into jawbones/And he has visions of islands, heavily covered in slime' it's all a bit Wicker Man isn't it? A normal 1970s/80s situation injected with a touch of the uncanny, really strong stuff when you think about it in this context.
I'd like to know what books MES was reading at the time he wrote this, if it was something similar to HP Lovecraft I wouldn't be surprised. I'd thoroughly recommend if you have friends who dismiss The Fall as too awkward to get into or they don't get it, get them to listen to this one and read along with the lyrics, there's no denying this is one of their definitive tracks and one that showcases everything wonderful about this incredible band.
Also one of MES's best vocal deliveries ever.
Song: Jawbone And The Air Rifle
Album: Hex Enduction Hour
Year: 1982
So this album was partly recorded in Iceland, I've no idea if the dark perpetual night-time got to the band, but this is where the sweep of dark, gothic horror via the north-west comes in for me, there had been hints of it before, but this is a masterpiece, two drummers create a clanging, skitterish rhythm section, while the bass sounds incredibly prominent and MES's vocals are clear and concise, a welcome rarity.
The lyrics would bear a full replication here, but that would be lazy of me, I'll instead say that the sense of narrative wouldn't be out of place in film or a collection of short stories, such is the strange, totally unique nature of the descriptions and cadence he unfurls here. Whole sections could be deconstructed to create dozens of other stories, take this one for example: 'A cemetery overlooked clough valley of mud/And the grave-keeper was out on his rounds/Yellow-white shirt buried in duffle coat hood/Keeping edges out with mosaic color stones' in a brief verse, he has fit in more description than most bands manage in an album, you get an instant image of this man and his mannerisms and its haunting, even the comic lines like 'The air rifle lets out a mis-placed shot/It smashed a chip off a valued tomb' and 'Rifleman he say y’see I get no kicks anymore/From wife or children four/There’s been no war for forty years/And getting drunk fills me with guilt' this is a humourous image, a man so bored of life he goes out drunkenly shooting things at random, but also, addresses being laid off, something which is inherently sad, this is what life has come to, very poetic.
I like the disgusting idea of a jaw-bone covered in slime, and the fact it puts him off meat and eating, having hallucinations, 'Advertisements become carnivores/And roadworkers turn into jawbones/And he has visions of islands, heavily covered in slime' it's all a bit Wicker Man isn't it? A normal 1970s/80s situation injected with a touch of the uncanny, really strong stuff when you think about it in this context.
I'd like to know what books MES was reading at the time he wrote this, if it was something similar to HP Lovecraft I wouldn't be surprised. I'd thoroughly recommend if you have friends who dismiss The Fall as too awkward to get into or they don't get it, get them to listen to this one and read along with the lyrics, there's no denying this is one of their definitive tracks and one that showcases everything wonderful about this incredible band.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Day 42: Exit this Roman shell!
Hello everyone, hope those in the UK had a nice bank holiday, a very British institution, I'm sure there must be a Fall song somewhere about this. I saw some decent bands this weekend, including the excellent Rot In Hell and the incredible and intense Amen Ra.
But back to the quest in hand warriors, for today is another bit of filth from Slates. I love this one, it has an air of pure chaotic drunkness to it. Just a note, in typical awkward style, The Fall put out this release in the full knowlege it was neither viable as an LP or an EP, too short for the former, too long for the latter on its 'fuck you' size of 10", brilliant. It still made a respectable #3 in the UK Independent Album chart though, so it must have sold well.
Song: Leave The Capitol
Album: Slates
Year: 1981
What is chronicled in this wonderous piece of Fall history is to me a messy night out from the sounds of things. By no means taking a less intense route, this does take the foot off the gas compared with the track I've previously talked about (Slates, Slags etc). This is of course, no bad thing, it means the song rumbles along pleasantly while a somewhat catchy set of lyrics run over it, the chorus could almost be a call to arms for Fall fans, great stuff.
Mark's vocals seem to be double-tracked here and it adds to the fervent and anthem-like cry of 'Leave the Capitol! Exit this Roman shell!' there's some great kazoo work in there as well, do The Fall hold a record for having the instrument on more records than anyone else? Does such a record exist? Should we care?
What sounds to me like an impression of a Scotsman appears during this one, the cackled 'I dinae!' over and over makes me laugh, but quite what the semblance is, I've no idea. Some crazy accordion and feedback make a dash for it towards the end as well, the more I write on this song, the weirder and more twisted it appears! Indeed, let's have a look at the lyrics...
My idea about the song being about a drunken night, perhaps in some backwater London pub is from lines like: 'The tables covered in beer/Showbizwhines, minute detail/Its a hand on the shoulder in Leicester Square/Its vaudeville pub back room dusty pictures of/White frocked girls and music teachers' which conjure up images of a supposedly 'cool' hangout that's be appropriated by the cloying type of Londoner who seems to know it all, yet know nothing, you know the type. It's almost like the refrained chorus is Mark having an existential moment and just realising he needs to get out, like that moment you are so drunk you know you should immediately go home when out, that panic that means adrenaline will get you home, but you will not remember how.
I like the line about hotel maids smiling in unison, like they know something you don't, its a nightmarish vision, a line of maids all grinning maniacally at you...
The closing lines would not be out of place anywhere else in the Fall's back catalogue, cryptic and poetic, they rip asunder any notion of understanding I thought I had about it, well done again MES.
But back to the quest in hand warriors, for today is another bit of filth from Slates. I love this one, it has an air of pure chaotic drunkness to it. Just a note, in typical awkward style, The Fall put out this release in the full knowlege it was neither viable as an LP or an EP, too short for the former, too long for the latter on its 'fuck you' size of 10", brilliant. It still made a respectable #3 in the UK Independent Album chart though, so it must have sold well.
Song: Leave The Capitol
Album: Slates
Year: 1981
What is chronicled in this wonderous piece of Fall history is to me a messy night out from the sounds of things. By no means taking a less intense route, this does take the foot off the gas compared with the track I've previously talked about (Slates, Slags etc). This is of course, no bad thing, it means the song rumbles along pleasantly while a somewhat catchy set of lyrics run over it, the chorus could almost be a call to arms for Fall fans, great stuff.
Mark's vocals seem to be double-tracked here and it adds to the fervent and anthem-like cry of 'Leave the Capitol! Exit this Roman shell!' there's some great kazoo work in there as well, do The Fall hold a record for having the instrument on more records than anyone else? Does such a record exist? Should we care?
What sounds to me like an impression of a Scotsman appears during this one, the cackled 'I dinae!' over and over makes me laugh, but quite what the semblance is, I've no idea. Some crazy accordion and feedback make a dash for it towards the end as well, the more I write on this song, the weirder and more twisted it appears! Indeed, let's have a look at the lyrics...
My idea about the song being about a drunken night, perhaps in some backwater London pub is from lines like: 'The tables covered in beer/Showbizwhines, minute detail/Its a hand on the shoulder in Leicester Square/Its vaudeville pub back room dusty pictures of/White frocked girls and music teachers' which conjure up images of a supposedly 'cool' hangout that's be appropriated by the cloying type of Londoner who seems to know it all, yet know nothing, you know the type. It's almost like the refrained chorus is Mark having an existential moment and just realising he needs to get out, like that moment you are so drunk you know you should immediately go home when out, that panic that means adrenaline will get you home, but you will not remember how.
I like the line about hotel maids smiling in unison, like they know something you don't, its a nightmarish vision, a line of maids all grinning maniacally at you...
The closing lines would not be out of place anywhere else in the Fall's back catalogue, cryptic and poetic, they rip asunder any notion of understanding I thought I had about it, well done again MES.
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Day 41: Turn that bloody blimey Space Invader off-uh!
Here's one of my all-time favourites, on which album this first appeared I'm not sure as it seems to crop up on several, either way, its amazing.
Song: The Man Whose Head Expanded
Album: Perverted By Language (1998 reissue version)
Year: 1983 (For the song, first released as a single)
This is almost as good as Eat Y'Self Fitter, but doesn't have that menace or confusion about it to tip it for me, but this still remains a great little track that apparently is again, Mark Riley inspired. This actually features some semblance of singing from Mark, which is why I love it. He uses the now-legendary 'uh' suffix to almost every line here, like someone on here said, listening to The Fall is almost like learning a new language sometimes, I love the 'uh' thing, he still does it now despite his voice having aged quite oddly (compare PBL material to YFOC stuff and hear the difference).
The music on this one is great, revving along nicely until about halfway through when Mark gives some direct feedback to Paul Hanley as a sci-fi noise on the keyboards kicks in by shouting 'Turn that bloody, blimey Space Invader off!" and he does, but at the same time, its almost as if the whole band take their feet off the pedal and the whole thing slows down to a crawl, but oddly, this works and is an example of why being loose and free-flowing can create some great little bits like this. It sounds both like a mistake and completely planned simultaneously and changes the tone instantly. There's some great little keyboard squalks as this progresses towards the end as well, very focused in that unfocused way only the Fall can replicate.
The lyrics follow a conspiracy-inspired route, the story (and that's what it is, a full narrative I reckon) of a man who is convinced of TV script-writers following him around and using his musings and things he says as ideas for stories, or as Mark puts it 'The soap opera writer/would follow him around/and use his jewels for TV prime time' this is charting someone who has become delusional, whether that's how he felt about Mark Riley, who knows, the two continued their spat for years through song, quite pathetic, but amusing nonetheless. One thing I'll never understood in this one is the 'hick wap huh' lyrics, I used to hear it as 'Hercule Poirot' but I'm not convinced this is the case, seems a strange thing to put in either way, but MES isn't averse to slipping in some non-words, he likes singing 'ba ba ba ba' and 'la la la la' in other songs.
The conspiracy thing follows The Fall through their whole career, Mark's lyrics tend to lend themselves to this, they even have a song called Paranoid Man In Cheap Sh*t Room later on, the lines about lager being poisoned and the titular man whose head expanded looking over his shoulder adds to this here. I love towards the end, he changes the title lyrics to 'The man whose head... diminished' and actually diminishes the vocal as he says it and the music follows, brilliant line and brilliantly delivered.
I have a weird version of this song on a very cheap-looking compilation album called Fiend With A Violin which has some recordings from 1996 on it, the version on that is almost unrecognisable, the title gets shouted over and over, but the music is almost trance-like and sounds quite unhinged, its almost like a remix, I'd be annoyed if I'd seen them perform that rather than the original, but its an interesting take on it. I'm not sure what format it was originally intended to be, whether its a studio outtake or a demo version, I've no idea, but none of the album sounds that polished, the version of LA is the only one worth a proper listen I'd say. Can anyone shed any extra light on this weird release? Mark is wearing a terrible shirt on the back cover's photo.
Over! Over! More Fall loveliness tomorrow.
Song: The Man Whose Head Expanded
Album: Perverted By Language (1998 reissue version)
Year: 1983 (For the song, first released as a single)
This is almost as good as Eat Y'Self Fitter, but doesn't have that menace or confusion about it to tip it for me, but this still remains a great little track that apparently is again, Mark Riley inspired. This actually features some semblance of singing from Mark, which is why I love it. He uses the now-legendary 'uh' suffix to almost every line here, like someone on here said, listening to The Fall is almost like learning a new language sometimes, I love the 'uh' thing, he still does it now despite his voice having aged quite oddly (compare PBL material to YFOC stuff and hear the difference).
The music on this one is great, revving along nicely until about halfway through when Mark gives some direct feedback to Paul Hanley as a sci-fi noise on the keyboards kicks in by shouting 'Turn that bloody, blimey Space Invader off!" and he does, but at the same time, its almost as if the whole band take their feet off the pedal and the whole thing slows down to a crawl, but oddly, this works and is an example of why being loose and free-flowing can create some great little bits like this. It sounds both like a mistake and completely planned simultaneously and changes the tone instantly. There's some great little keyboard squalks as this progresses towards the end as well, very focused in that unfocused way only the Fall can replicate.
The lyrics follow a conspiracy-inspired route, the story (and that's what it is, a full narrative I reckon) of a man who is convinced of TV script-writers following him around and using his musings and things he says as ideas for stories, or as Mark puts it 'The soap opera writer/would follow him around/and use his jewels for TV prime time' this is charting someone who has become delusional, whether that's how he felt about Mark Riley, who knows, the two continued their spat for years through song, quite pathetic, but amusing nonetheless. One thing I'll never understood in this one is the 'hick wap huh' lyrics, I used to hear it as 'Hercule Poirot' but I'm not convinced this is the case, seems a strange thing to put in either way, but MES isn't averse to slipping in some non-words, he likes singing 'ba ba ba ba' and 'la la la la' in other songs.
The conspiracy thing follows The Fall through their whole career, Mark's lyrics tend to lend themselves to this, they even have a song called Paranoid Man In Cheap Sh*t Room later on, the lines about lager being poisoned and the titular man whose head expanded looking over his shoulder adds to this here. I love towards the end, he changes the title lyrics to 'The man whose head... diminished' and actually diminishes the vocal as he says it and the music follows, brilliant line and brilliantly delivered.
I have a weird version of this song on a very cheap-looking compilation album called Fiend With A Violin which has some recordings from 1996 on it, the version on that is almost unrecognisable, the title gets shouted over and over, but the music is almost trance-like and sounds quite unhinged, its almost like a remix, I'd be annoyed if I'd seen them perform that rather than the original, but its an interesting take on it. I'm not sure what format it was originally intended to be, whether its a studio outtake or a demo version, I've no idea, but none of the album sounds that polished, the version of LA is the only one worth a proper listen I'd say. Can anyone shed any extra light on this weird release? Mark is wearing a terrible shirt on the back cover's photo.
Over! Over! More Fall loveliness tomorrow.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Day 40: I get a potato out?
A request again, this is off an album I haven't visited much, but is often cited as being a lot of peoples' most favoured line-up of recent years, as is often called the American Fall, he picked these guys up after the band disintegrated on a US tour in 2006, so all of them are American, bar Smith, Elena and Dave Spurr. They are a bit tighter than lineups around that time (although I prefer the Fall Heads Roll line-up they replaced).
Song: Systematic Abuse
Album: Reformation Post-TLC
Year: 2007
Yeah, so the TLC in the album title apparently stands for 'Traitors, liars and cunts' according to Mark, charming, I'm sure he was still smarting from losing a great bunch of people after that tour but it doesn't really show on the album. This one is a long, long gallop to the end, with some great images, disintegrating bills and vegetables, analogies of money falling through his fingers etc. The title is repeated ad infinitum, as we are used to from MES, but takes on some double meaning in a somewhat obvious way for Smith's usually baffling caustics. It could mean what it means, systematic abuse, repetitive battering and wearing down, a phrase often used when it comes to domestic violence or child abuse, or a lot of the time institutional abuse in care homes, children's homes or boarding schools etc. However I think in this instance, it means the 'system' in an almost adolescent way, as in the powers that be, the ones in charge etc. Mark equates bills through the door as rotting vegetables, disintegrating in his hands, pretty amazing imagery and a deft vocal performance as well.
The music buzzes with a more professional touch than you usually hear with this era, it's all very clean, clear and sonorous, the only fuzz and gurgle comes from Elena's keyboards, with her constantly tweaking the base sound to create a collage under the tight framework courtesy of the US Fall members. Mark's vocals are slightly off-rhythm, I guess on purpose, maybe the music was just a bit too well-played for him this time and he felt the need to sabotage it in some way.
Excellent romp regardless, let this blog roll on!
Song: Systematic Abuse
Album: Reformation Post-TLC
Year: 2007
Yeah, so the TLC in the album title apparently stands for 'Traitors, liars and cunts' according to Mark, charming, I'm sure he was still smarting from losing a great bunch of people after that tour but it doesn't really show on the album. This one is a long, long gallop to the end, with some great images, disintegrating bills and vegetables, analogies of money falling through his fingers etc. The title is repeated ad infinitum, as we are used to from MES, but takes on some double meaning in a somewhat obvious way for Smith's usually baffling caustics. It could mean what it means, systematic abuse, repetitive battering and wearing down, a phrase often used when it comes to domestic violence or child abuse, or a lot of the time institutional abuse in care homes, children's homes or boarding schools etc. However I think in this instance, it means the 'system' in an almost adolescent way, as in the powers that be, the ones in charge etc. Mark equates bills through the door as rotting vegetables, disintegrating in his hands, pretty amazing imagery and a deft vocal performance as well.
The music buzzes with a more professional touch than you usually hear with this era, it's all very clean, clear and sonorous, the only fuzz and gurgle comes from Elena's keyboards, with her constantly tweaking the base sound to create a collage under the tight framework courtesy of the US Fall members. Mark's vocals are slightly off-rhythm, I guess on purpose, maybe the music was just a bit too well-played for him this time and he felt the need to sabotage it in some way.
Excellent romp regardless, let this blog roll on!
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Day 38: The containers, and the drivers.
Okay, one of my favourites today, and one I know holds special meaning for a lot of Fall fans, particularly author of excellent Fall-related book The Fallen, Dave Simpson. If you haven't read this particular tome, track it down now, I consumed it recently and its an amazing insight into how the group has operated over the 30 years it has existed. Basically, Dave makes it his life's work to track down every musician who was in the Fall and quiz them on their experiences, some are hilarious, some a bit tragic but all give an interesting account, he doesn't find a few as some seemed to have slipped into the ether, but read it to find out more.
Anyway, one of his favourite tracks is this, there's a horrible section in his book where he charts the breakup of his relationship thanks to his spending time away working on this book and ending up in the far-flung reaches of the country to do so. His partner actually leaves him and to his horror, is seeing a container driver, the ultimate insult.
Song: The Container Drivers
Album: Grotesque (After The Gramme)
Year: 1980
So here's a song that encapsulates several Fall tropes within its brief running time (really short for this era I reckon ) the humdrum job of container delivery drivers with some genuinely trite and funny remarks (They sweat on their way down/report with customs bastards/hang around like clowns) as well as being one of the most obvious blues-influenced songs they've ever written without it being a cover, it reminds me of all sorts of things, weirdly these millionaires come to mind, its the pace of the whole thing and the jangly guitars that do it, this is also of course, courtesy of the amazing Paul Hanley's drumming, this being his first album with the group, some rate this as the best Fall lineup ever and I'm almost inclined to agree, they sound spot on here, that first drumroll just makes this song and the railroad-esque chug-a-chug that makes up the clattering pace means its not only memorable, but damn catchy as well. There's even some truck/train noises towards the end and Mark's vocal exhalations only add to this.
The lyrics are incredible, almost an anti-traveling song in that it relates the monotony of their existence in concise detail: "Bad indigestion/The bowel retention/S'before their wages/Sometimes in short sleeves/Look at a car park for two days/Look at a grey port for two days/Train line, stone and grey/This is not their town" you can almost see them, rotund chaps in hermetically-sealed cabs belching and burping their way down the M1 to Dover to take a container full of whatever to some industrial estate (that's another day!) in the arse-end of rural France perhaps. I like the part about looking at a car park and looking at a grey port, having traveled in my band, I can empathise with these descriptions, there's something very dull about ferry transit and docks/service stations that brings something of horror to the soul.
I like the line about Communists just being part-time workers that thing that people who are proud of their work (no matter how banal) do when talking about people different from them, that narrow-minded sense of accomplishment.
I'm guessing this is influenced by Mark's time as a clerk at the docks in Salford, where he must have seen these types day after day, so I see this as a rare glimpse of autobiography within a Fall song, as he has said on many occasions, he writes objectively and outside himself.
Anyway, one of his favourite tracks is this, there's a horrible section in his book where he charts the breakup of his relationship thanks to his spending time away working on this book and ending up in the far-flung reaches of the country to do so. His partner actually leaves him and to his horror, is seeing a container driver, the ultimate insult.
Song: The Container Drivers
Album: Grotesque (After The Gramme)
Year: 1980
So here's a song that encapsulates several Fall tropes within its brief running time (really short for this era I reckon ) the humdrum job of container delivery drivers with some genuinely trite and funny remarks (They sweat on their way down/report with customs bastards/hang around like clowns) as well as being one of the most obvious blues-influenced songs they've ever written without it being a cover, it reminds me of all sorts of things, weirdly these millionaires come to mind, its the pace of the whole thing and the jangly guitars that do it, this is also of course, courtesy of the amazing Paul Hanley's drumming, this being his first album with the group, some rate this as the best Fall lineup ever and I'm almost inclined to agree, they sound spot on here, that first drumroll just makes this song and the railroad-esque chug-a-chug that makes up the clattering pace means its not only memorable, but damn catchy as well. There's even some truck/train noises towards the end and Mark's vocal exhalations only add to this.
The lyrics are incredible, almost an anti-traveling song in that it relates the monotony of their existence in concise detail: "Bad indigestion/The bowel retention/S'before their wages/Sometimes in short sleeves/Look at a car park for two days/Look at a grey port for two days/Train line, stone and grey/This is not their town" you can almost see them, rotund chaps in hermetically-sealed cabs belching and burping their way down the M1 to Dover to take a container full of whatever to some industrial estate (that's another day!) in the arse-end of rural France perhaps. I like the part about looking at a car park and looking at a grey port, having traveled in my band, I can empathise with these descriptions, there's something very dull about ferry transit and docks/service stations that brings something of horror to the soul.
I like the line about Communists just being part-time workers that thing that people who are proud of their work (no matter how banal) do when talking about people different from them, that narrow-minded sense of accomplishment.
I'm guessing this is influenced by Mark's time as a clerk at the docks in Salford, where he must have seen these types day after day, so I see this as a rare glimpse of autobiography within a Fall song, as he has said on many occasions, he writes objectively and outside himself.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Day 37: Wants anarchy...
Another day, another request, this time from a guy called Robert, who has asked for some stuff off Perverted By Language, which is one of the first albums I owned by the band, its a dizzying one to begin with, I had to listen to it over and over before its mysteries revealed themselves, here's a particularly dark one devoid of humour, which is unusual for MES.
Song: Smile
Album: Perverted By Language
Year: 1983
This is of course the first album featuring Brix, but apparently the vast majority of this album had already been recorded when she joined, so I'm not sure if she contributes to this track at all, its listed as written by Smith and Craig Scanlon, and it sounds quite stark and minimalist so I'm inclined to think she doesn't feature.
The track is a long, dark passage of one riff, not unusual, but the space left for MES to improvise over is more canyonesque than normal, the delay on his vocals only adds to the chilling atmosphere, the music simply creates the mood, he provides the dread. The lyrics run like a list as is his wont, but here take on resonance as MES almost sounds evil as the song opens, the bass sound and general style of the song reminds me of Joy Division, and not in that way that any band who takes things steadily and moodily does every music critic ever, the bassline picks out such a similar path to Peter Hook's style its just there.
Of course this period of The Fall featured two drummers, playing in tandem to create a bombastic sound, but here it creates tension, as the song relentlessly churns your stomach, the drummers become more obvious as MES actually instructs them to 'take it down' towards the end before the shouted command of 'UP UP UP UP UP UP' brings the dynamics to the fore again, actually amazing.
The lyrics, well, the repetition of the word 'smile' over and over becomes almost ghastly and full of horror as the song continues, sometimes delivered as a acid-laced word through gritted teeth, sometimes a full on patented MES squeal, but its just haunting. Elsewhere, the lyrics have a bitter edge to them, as I mentioned previously, most Fall songs feature something humourous or a sly poke at someone or something with an affectionate spin, here you get the feeling its a dark, dark tale he's telling, some great imagery here, the part about 'meat animals' gets me every time, like he's pouring scorn on a group he hates, but in a manner which suggests he means it.
Here's a cryptic one 'Lousy celebrity makes joke record/Lick-spittle southerner/Waiting for next holiday by gas miser' now I can hear that first part in any other Fall song, but the rest, no way, as ever its anyone's guess what this means, but I've picked it out as an example of MES really finding his lyrical sting, this album I'd say encapsulates a period where his lyrics were so entrenched in folds of meaning he almost came across as a savant, sure there are lines you can take from all the albums he's ever made, but this one has a twisted charm that I think is unique, see 'Eat Y'Self Fitter' for proof, its almost another language.
I have to include this video as proof of this song's lasting legacy, this is their first performance on national TV, what do they choose to play on a widely-viewed program, broadcast around tea time? Yeah, this one, the slow-burner that hangs menace in the air, you can see Mark's face crumpling with every spat invective here, just amazing, unintentional humour arrives thanks to the presumably Tube paid-for dancers, who try and gyrate alluringly while the audience looks bemused and terrified. Brilliant.
Song: Smile
Album: Perverted By Language
Year: 1983
This is of course the first album featuring Brix, but apparently the vast majority of this album had already been recorded when she joined, so I'm not sure if she contributes to this track at all, its listed as written by Smith and Craig Scanlon, and it sounds quite stark and minimalist so I'm inclined to think she doesn't feature.
The track is a long, dark passage of one riff, not unusual, but the space left for MES to improvise over is more canyonesque than normal, the delay on his vocals only adds to the chilling atmosphere, the music simply creates the mood, he provides the dread. The lyrics run like a list as is his wont, but here take on resonance as MES almost sounds evil as the song opens, the bass sound and general style of the song reminds me of Joy Division, and not in that way that any band who takes things steadily and moodily does every music critic ever, the bassline picks out such a similar path to Peter Hook's style its just there.
Of course this period of The Fall featured two drummers, playing in tandem to create a bombastic sound, but here it creates tension, as the song relentlessly churns your stomach, the drummers become more obvious as MES actually instructs them to 'take it down' towards the end before the shouted command of 'UP UP UP UP UP UP' brings the dynamics to the fore again, actually amazing.
The lyrics, well, the repetition of the word 'smile' over and over becomes almost ghastly and full of horror as the song continues, sometimes delivered as a acid-laced word through gritted teeth, sometimes a full on patented MES squeal, but its just haunting. Elsewhere, the lyrics have a bitter edge to them, as I mentioned previously, most Fall songs feature something humourous or a sly poke at someone or something with an affectionate spin, here you get the feeling its a dark, dark tale he's telling, some great imagery here, the part about 'meat animals' gets me every time, like he's pouring scorn on a group he hates, but in a manner which suggests he means it.
Here's a cryptic one 'Lousy celebrity makes joke record/Lick-spittle southerner/Waiting for next holiday by gas miser' now I can hear that first part in any other Fall song, but the rest, no way, as ever its anyone's guess what this means, but I've picked it out as an example of MES really finding his lyrical sting, this album I'd say encapsulates a period where his lyrics were so entrenched in folds of meaning he almost came across as a savant, sure there are lines you can take from all the albums he's ever made, but this one has a twisted charm that I think is unique, see 'Eat Y'Self Fitter' for proof, its almost another language.
I have to include this video as proof of this song's lasting legacy, this is their first performance on national TV, what do they choose to play on a widely-viewed program, broadcast around tea time? Yeah, this one, the slow-burner that hangs menace in the air, you can see Mark's face crumpling with every spat invective here, just amazing, unintentional humour arrives thanks to the presumably Tube paid-for dancers, who try and gyrate alluringly while the audience looks bemused and terrified. Brilliant.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Day 36: A Moody Blues cassette on the dashboard!
I haven't done anything off this wonderful album yet, shame as I really love the rushed nature producing some of the oddest arrangements The Fall ever recorded.
Song: Room To Live
Album: Room To Live (Undilutable Slang Truth)
Year:1982
Okay, so this album was recorded as a quick follow-up to Hex Enduction Hour, Smith forcing the group to record more songs than they intended, they originally entered the Cargo Studios in Rochdale to record a single. In a Beefheart-esque way, some members were excluded from certain recordings, resulting in some of the songs sounding a bit unfocused, but it all jitters along with a cursory air that is fantastic. Smith claims some of the tracks are simply him and Karl Burns double-tracked, which I can believe, the album also features a member of the Fall famous for just playing 16 seconds of guitar on "Hard Life In Country". Arthur Kadmon was dismissed straight after, bonkers, but more on that when I blog that song.
So the music here bounces along just nicely, its a bit more restrained than Hex Enduction Hour (recorded previously the same year) but still rings with invention and a little hint of madness. This features saxophone, which farts along nicely with an unmistakable Mark Riley riff (he left following the tour of New Zealand and Australia about five months later) and the drums keep a usual, metronomic beat throughout.
The lyrics jump out on this one, some general observational parlance from MES here, as ever, references to cultural happenings feature, the stand-out being a "DHSS Volvo estate/Right outside my door/With a Moody Blues cassette on the dashboard" I know the type of car, you see them still, nearly 20 years later, just filled with tat, I almost want to own one, they are almost anti-car, they become great big slabs of previous owners' histories with cig ends, dog smells and god knows what kept in the boot, most of them still have cassette/radios too. I'm not sure if MES like the Moody Blues at all, I think they're pretty good in an inoffensive way, not bad at all.
Elsewhere he talks of chasing women, which he claims "makes meat out of the soul" we could possibly double-reference that with Slates, Slags, etc as I covered a few days ago. The idea of the title Room To Live could mean several things, he keeps saying "I just want a room to live" but does he mean a literal room or room generally? The list-like nature of the lyrics suggests the latter, maybe feeling hemmed in, surrounded by people, but as he says in a line later on "there's no hate to the point I give" which suggests that while he may be uncomfortable with his situation, a claustrophobic existence perhaps, he is happy to let it carry on.
One last thing, I'd love to know what "a reporter with no wig" is a reference too, the mind boggles.
Song: Room To Live
Album: Room To Live (Undilutable Slang Truth)
Year:1982
Okay, so this album was recorded as a quick follow-up to Hex Enduction Hour, Smith forcing the group to record more songs than they intended, they originally entered the Cargo Studios in Rochdale to record a single. In a Beefheart-esque way, some members were excluded from certain recordings, resulting in some of the songs sounding a bit unfocused, but it all jitters along with a cursory air that is fantastic. Smith claims some of the tracks are simply him and Karl Burns double-tracked, which I can believe, the album also features a member of the Fall famous for just playing 16 seconds of guitar on "Hard Life In Country". Arthur Kadmon was dismissed straight after, bonkers, but more on that when I blog that song.
So the music here bounces along just nicely, its a bit more restrained than Hex Enduction Hour (recorded previously the same year) but still rings with invention and a little hint of madness. This features saxophone, which farts along nicely with an unmistakable Mark Riley riff (he left following the tour of New Zealand and Australia about five months later) and the drums keep a usual, metronomic beat throughout.
The lyrics jump out on this one, some general observational parlance from MES here, as ever, references to cultural happenings feature, the stand-out being a "DHSS Volvo estate/Right outside my door/With a Moody Blues cassette on the dashboard" I know the type of car, you see them still, nearly 20 years later, just filled with tat, I almost want to own one, they are almost anti-car, they become great big slabs of previous owners' histories with cig ends, dog smells and god knows what kept in the boot, most of them still have cassette/radios too. I'm not sure if MES like the Moody Blues at all, I think they're pretty good in an inoffensive way, not bad at all.
Elsewhere he talks of chasing women, which he claims "makes meat out of the soul" we could possibly double-reference that with Slates, Slags, etc as I covered a few days ago. The idea of the title Room To Live could mean several things, he keeps saying "I just want a room to live" but does he mean a literal room or room generally? The list-like nature of the lyrics suggests the latter, maybe feeling hemmed in, surrounded by people, but as he says in a line later on "there's no hate to the point I give" which suggests that while he may be uncomfortable with his situation, a claustrophobic existence perhaps, he is happy to let it carry on.
One last thing, I'd love to know what "a reporter with no wig" is a reference too, the mind boggles.
Monday, 18 April 2011
Day 35: Where's that bloody belt?
The Fall, the only band I know who have opened a song with a line about not being able to find a belt first thing in the morning, pure brilliance, this is a request for reader 'Sly & The Family Bone', you are welcome.
Song: No Bulbs
Album: The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall
Year: 1984
This one is demented, punchy and quite jerky, again, the idea of a slow descent into madness echoes the grotesque artwork for this album. Having said that, the lyrics are hilarious, focusing on the minutiae of modern living and what seems to me like poverty, no belt, no bulbs for the flat and talk of living in a 'trash mound'.
The music is brash, loud and features some paint-peeling feedback squalls/keyboard towards the end, but is most notable for the harmonics (yes harmonics in The Fall!) of Mark and Brix singing together on what we could term the chorus of: "In need of black strap/No belts in this flat" the harmonics are skewed of course, but its a nice touch when it happens, the production as I've said before about this album, is pretty maxed out and abrasive (not quite as fuzzy or crackling with scuzz as Slates) and gives you an idea of how loud they must have recorded it, but when you are recording The Fall, why not go all out?
Flashes of lyrical genius pepper this one like so many bullets, the half-finished line of "No belts in this flat/The former tenant was anti-corporal-punish!" this sense of simple poetry gone-wrong leaves behind a great line I'd argue, certainly memorable. Elsewhere there is the despairing: "They say damp records the past/If that's so I've got the biggest library yet" this is just cracking, kicking any notion of romanticising poverty or squalor a la George Orwell and his type and just shooting from the hip, its not glorious, its pretty disgusting right? I'd guess that Mark is against any type of class tourism you see these days (the characterisation of the working class as chavs and media lampooning them with no sensitivity) and this song could be seen as evidence.
I'm going to stick my neck out and label this song as a tad existential, its in the realms of challenging the futility of life, at one point, not able to find a bulb, our protagonist (I presume this isn't autobiographical) destroys what he describes as 'years of hippie craft/Cut up the match ship/And a string wooden chandelier or something' this is what sounds like mindless destruction and a lot like self-loathing. The whole song reeks of existence, the grim reality of damp on the walls, living in a place so untidy a belt cannot be found in the 'trash pile' and a lack of bulbs is just the icing on this cake of crust.
I once went to look round a house on my own (to see if it was any good for me and my mates, they were all busy) and the house was covered in hamster shit and sawdust and none of the lights worked, no bulbs you see, the letting agent just turned to me and said "I'd leave if I were you, this is horrible" one of the most honest things I've ever heard from someone in that profession, either way, this song reminds me of that house in Sheffield, I wonder if they ever found the explosive hamster?
Song: No Bulbs
Album: The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall
Year: 1984
This one is demented, punchy and quite jerky, again, the idea of a slow descent into madness echoes the grotesque artwork for this album. Having said that, the lyrics are hilarious, focusing on the minutiae of modern living and what seems to me like poverty, no belt, no bulbs for the flat and talk of living in a 'trash mound'.
The music is brash, loud and features some paint-peeling feedback squalls/keyboard towards the end, but is most notable for the harmonics (yes harmonics in The Fall!) of Mark and Brix singing together on what we could term the chorus of: "In need of black strap/No belts in this flat" the harmonics are skewed of course, but its a nice touch when it happens, the production as I've said before about this album, is pretty maxed out and abrasive (not quite as fuzzy or crackling with scuzz as Slates) and gives you an idea of how loud they must have recorded it, but when you are recording The Fall, why not go all out?
Flashes of lyrical genius pepper this one like so many bullets, the half-finished line of "No belts in this flat/The former tenant was anti-corporal-punish!" this sense of simple poetry gone-wrong leaves behind a great line I'd argue, certainly memorable. Elsewhere there is the despairing: "They say damp records the past/If that's so I've got the biggest library yet" this is just cracking, kicking any notion of romanticising poverty or squalor a la George Orwell and his type and just shooting from the hip, its not glorious, its pretty disgusting right? I'd guess that Mark is against any type of class tourism you see these days (the characterisation of the working class as chavs and media lampooning them with no sensitivity) and this song could be seen as evidence.
I'm going to stick my neck out and label this song as a tad existential, its in the realms of challenging the futility of life, at one point, not able to find a bulb, our protagonist (I presume this isn't autobiographical) destroys what he describes as 'years of hippie craft/Cut up the match ship/And a string wooden chandelier or something' this is what sounds like mindless destruction and a lot like self-loathing. The whole song reeks of existence, the grim reality of damp on the walls, living in a place so untidy a belt cannot be found in the 'trash pile' and a lack of bulbs is just the icing on this cake of crust.
I once went to look round a house on my own (to see if it was any good for me and my mates, they were all busy) and the house was covered in hamster shit and sawdust and none of the lights worked, no bulbs you see, the letting agent just turned to me and said "I'd leave if I were you, this is horrible" one of the most honest things I've ever heard from someone in that profession, either way, this song reminds me of that house in Sheffield, I wonder if they ever found the explosive hamster?
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Day 33: A hate for slate.
So I've had a request from follower of this blog 'ruiend' who points out that I haven't done anything off the oft-overlooked but much-loved 'Slates' album (or mini album type affair). This is true, so hopefully, this will re-tilt the balance as I think so far, the majority of my blog entries have been about 90s Fall tracks, although I'm not sure, hopefully you all think its a fair balance, I didn't want to be limited by chronological order, meaning I can pick at whim and will what I write about, and you can too.
Song: Slates, Slags, etc
Album: Slates
Year: 1981
So here's one of the most abrasive tracks I can think of by the group, simplistic in extremis thanks to its two-note riff that underpins what Mark even shouts at the start as a 'definitive rant' showing even this early, he was aware of his reputation as a man of words and opinion. I've no real idea of what he means by slates (except the roofing-tile material, maybe it goes right through him) but hatred is poured in buckets upon 'male slags' which I can empathise with, I'm not a macho type by any stretch of the imagination so I hate those who are for no real reason, seems MES does too.
I must mention that first and foremost, this is The Fall at their most caustic and pissed off, the production on here is scratchy, tinny, trebled up to the max and is nigh-on irritating, but therein lies its charm, to go along with some vicious lyrics, MES has engineered a horrific racket to go with it, almost anti-music to show his intentions. This chimes with a relatively recent genre, black metal, in which teens created a kind of proto-death metal sound but removed all production values and any semblance of bass. The phrase usually coined is 'wasps in a biscuit tin' by critics, I won't bang on about obscure Norwegian bands on here for long, but listen to this slice of waspness by Darkthrone and you'll see what I mean, suits their dark lyrics and themes, usually laughably sixth form fare but still sounds incredible today.
Back to slates and slags, MES focuses hate upon those he hates, this must have been very cathartic to record, lyrics like: "Male slags knock over your drink/Pay for correct amount spilt" give a definite image of the kind of people he is talking about, what I guess is the middle to upper class spods who act as if privilege is a god-given right, who as he terms 'kill the safety in our lands' and 'ream off names of books and bands'.
I guess he is grabbing out at people he can't stand, but I do wonder if there's any jealousy going on at all, I doubt there is much, but maybe a smidgen. At any rate, it almost runs like a list of things he cannot stand against this particular group of people, I love the comparison to actual slate that occurs later on: 'They are the grey ones of the state I relate' perhaps meaning that they are dull, lifeless people who make up society in a similar way to the slates that make up the structure of a roof, ever mysterious, this is just another line we could debate all day.
I like the images that come with the lines: "Okay mates/Let's get onto the valley of the weights" I can almost see two chaps in rugby shirts trundling off to a gym to get fit together, MES has obviously always had it in for the yuppies and this is only their fourth album!
Kay Carrol must get a mention here for her demented backing vocals, if anyone can do an impression of what kicking a cat must sound like, its obviously her, she adds to the cacophony wonderfully here, but unfortunately I remember her for being the bands ballsy manager from the documentaries I've seen, not as a musical contributor. My enduring image is of her calling up some promoter and effing and blinding loudly about some money they are owed while Mark sits on a sofa next to her looking uninterested, amazing.
The list idea continues through the whole song, MES attacking other 'slags' this time, female and then going on to 'Rip-off bands' who wear 'hoop shirts' and 'shitty new pants' which is hilarious, I can imagine people ripping them off almost immediately, but as MES has said, he is still around, they aren't, quite right.
I thought I'd just add at the end here who I am as I don't think I've said, I'm Mike Shields, a subeditor/journalist and I've written for a variety of music mags in the past including Kerrang!, Rock-A-Rolla and a load more, I've been a fan of The Fall since about 2004 when I got an anonymous bootleg CD in the post, quite where they got my address or name I have no idea, but it was simply called 'Not Appreciated' and had groups of three or four tracks from about 5 gigs on it, and it got me hooked. Other than that, I'm currently residing in the terrible town of Barnsley, having moved here from nearby Sheffield for a job, I'm looking to get out as soon as possible.
Song: Slates, Slags, etc
Album: Slates
Year: 1981
So here's one of the most abrasive tracks I can think of by the group, simplistic in extremis thanks to its two-note riff that underpins what Mark even shouts at the start as a 'definitive rant' showing even this early, he was aware of his reputation as a man of words and opinion. I've no real idea of what he means by slates (except the roofing-tile material, maybe it goes right through him) but hatred is poured in buckets upon 'male slags' which I can empathise with, I'm not a macho type by any stretch of the imagination so I hate those who are for no real reason, seems MES does too.
I must mention that first and foremost, this is The Fall at their most caustic and pissed off, the production on here is scratchy, tinny, trebled up to the max and is nigh-on irritating, but therein lies its charm, to go along with some vicious lyrics, MES has engineered a horrific racket to go with it, almost anti-music to show his intentions. This chimes with a relatively recent genre, black metal, in which teens created a kind of proto-death metal sound but removed all production values and any semblance of bass. The phrase usually coined is 'wasps in a biscuit tin' by critics, I won't bang on about obscure Norwegian bands on here for long, but listen to this slice of waspness by Darkthrone and you'll see what I mean, suits their dark lyrics and themes, usually laughably sixth form fare but still sounds incredible today.
Back to slates and slags, MES focuses hate upon those he hates, this must have been very cathartic to record, lyrics like: "Male slags knock over your drink/Pay for correct amount spilt" give a definite image of the kind of people he is talking about, what I guess is the middle to upper class spods who act as if privilege is a god-given right, who as he terms 'kill the safety in our lands' and 'ream off names of books and bands'.
I guess he is grabbing out at people he can't stand, but I do wonder if there's any jealousy going on at all, I doubt there is much, but maybe a smidgen. At any rate, it almost runs like a list of things he cannot stand against this particular group of people, I love the comparison to actual slate that occurs later on: 'They are the grey ones of the state I relate' perhaps meaning that they are dull, lifeless people who make up society in a similar way to the slates that make up the structure of a roof, ever mysterious, this is just another line we could debate all day.
I like the images that come with the lines: "Okay mates/Let's get onto the valley of the weights" I can almost see two chaps in rugby shirts trundling off to a gym to get fit together, MES has obviously always had it in for the yuppies and this is only their fourth album!
Kay Carrol must get a mention here for her demented backing vocals, if anyone can do an impression of what kicking a cat must sound like, its obviously her, she adds to the cacophony wonderfully here, but unfortunately I remember her for being the bands ballsy manager from the documentaries I've seen, not as a musical contributor. My enduring image is of her calling up some promoter and effing and blinding loudly about some money they are owed while Mark sits on a sofa next to her looking uninterested, amazing.
The list idea continues through the whole song, MES attacking other 'slags' this time, female and then going on to 'Rip-off bands' who wear 'hoop shirts' and 'shitty new pants' which is hilarious, I can imagine people ripping them off almost immediately, but as MES has said, he is still around, they aren't, quite right.
I thought I'd just add at the end here who I am as I don't think I've said, I'm Mike Shields, a subeditor/journalist and I've written for a variety of music mags in the past including Kerrang!, Rock-A-Rolla and a load more, I've been a fan of The Fall since about 2004 when I got an anonymous bootleg CD in the post, quite where they got my address or name I have no idea, but it was simply called 'Not Appreciated' and had groups of three or four tracks from about 5 gigs on it, and it got me hooked. Other than that, I'm currently residing in the terrible town of Barnsley, having moved here from nearby Sheffield for a job, I'm looking to get out as soon as possible.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Day 30: News Of The World?
So here's one that could easily soundtrack a current news story, despite being released over 20 years ago, the current phone-tapping scandals are nothing new, but obviously still relevant.
Song: Telephone Thing
Album: Extricate
Year: 1990
This is a repetitive one, but is augmented by some deep keys and some nice stuttering vocal effects as MES backs himself up (lack of Brix on here meant he had to fill out songs in this manner). It's a good old-fashioned Fall slow-burner, leaving plenty of space for Mark's invective. The subject here is obviously phone tapping and paranoia, quite why anyone would need to tap into Mark's call is anyone's guess, but here we have it. The line everyone always quotes is: "How dare you assume I want to parlez-vous with you?" which is amazing, simple, direct and memorable. 'Assume' is an interesting word, that holds different meanings for different people, he visits the word in more depth on 2005's Assume off Fall Heads Roll, where he applies this cryptic head-scratcher: "If you assume, you are a Hu(l)me/ If you half assume, you are a Hu(l)me/If you don't assume, you are a cap-it-an!!"
The mentions of Gretchen Franklin (left) here are apparently nothing to do with the elderly and now deceased actress who played Ethel Skinner on TV's Eastenders. When asked why he had mentioned this relatively minor character, Smith claims he thought he had made the name up, so maybe influence through osmosis? She would certainly be the type to listen in on conversations on another phone in the house, but subterfuge and clandestine recording techniques seem a little out of her league, she was, after all, famous for having a dog called Willy who she would constantly talk about making cheap accidental double-ententres such as "Have you seen my Willy?" I don't see her as a dark character capable of spying, but it's always the quiet ones as they say! Her character Ethel actually made a dark departure from the show, dying with assisted help in a euthanasia storyline featuring fellow character Dot Cotton, who helped her to die.
I prefer Coronation Street, a bit more real and dull, everyone on Eastenders seems hell-bent on world domination, whereas Coronation Street seems relatively real, except people talking to their neighbours all day, as if anyone does that!
Back to the song, these lyrics stand out for me: "The use of [..] and your smug advertisements/Of your tendril ocean bed achievements does not/Justify your abuse of privacy piracy act" in that he seems here to be calling out telemarketers, I'm presuming the tendril ocean bed he speaks of is that old one for some bank or loan company where the lad goes diving for pearls among seaweed. Again, MES is an oracle, predicting the future, telemarketing has become a beast of epic proportions, despite the rise of mobiles and the slow death of landlines and people are still breaking the law to listen to private conversations, not quite on the level of Powder Keg here, but pretty similar.
I like the references made to this (as we now know) fictional Gretchen Franklin as a 'nosey matron type' it conjours up twitching curtains and hankerchiefs on receivers, as ever, a dark take on suburban lives from Mr Smith.
Song: Telephone Thing
Album: Extricate
Year: 1990
This is a repetitive one, but is augmented by some deep keys and some nice stuttering vocal effects as MES backs himself up (lack of Brix on here meant he had to fill out songs in this manner). It's a good old-fashioned Fall slow-burner, leaving plenty of space for Mark's invective. The subject here is obviously phone tapping and paranoia, quite why anyone would need to tap into Mark's call is anyone's guess, but here we have it. The line everyone always quotes is: "How dare you assume I want to parlez-vous with you?" which is amazing, simple, direct and memorable. 'Assume' is an interesting word, that holds different meanings for different people, he visits the word in more depth on 2005's Assume off Fall Heads Roll, where he applies this cryptic head-scratcher: "If you assume, you are a Hu(l)me/ If you half assume, you are a Hu(l)me/If you don't assume, you are a cap-it-an!!"
The mentions of Gretchen Franklin (left) here are apparently nothing to do with the elderly and now deceased actress who played Ethel Skinner on TV's Eastenders. When asked why he had mentioned this relatively minor character, Smith claims he thought he had made the name up, so maybe influence through osmosis? She would certainly be the type to listen in on conversations on another phone in the house, but subterfuge and clandestine recording techniques seem a little out of her league, she was, after all, famous for having a dog called Willy who she would constantly talk about making cheap accidental double-ententres such as "Have you seen my Willy?" I don't see her as a dark character capable of spying, but it's always the quiet ones as they say! Her character Ethel actually made a dark departure from the show, dying with assisted help in a euthanasia storyline featuring fellow character Dot Cotton, who helped her to die.I prefer Coronation Street, a bit more real and dull, everyone on Eastenders seems hell-bent on world domination, whereas Coronation Street seems relatively real, except people talking to their neighbours all day, as if anyone does that!
Back to the song, these lyrics stand out for me: "The use of [..] and your smug advertisements/Of your tendril ocean bed achievements does not/Justify your abuse of privacy piracy act" in that he seems here to be calling out telemarketers, I'm presuming the tendril ocean bed he speaks of is that old one for some bank or loan company where the lad goes diving for pearls among seaweed. Again, MES is an oracle, predicting the future, telemarketing has become a beast of epic proportions, despite the rise of mobiles and the slow death of landlines and people are still breaking the law to listen to private conversations, not quite on the level of Powder Keg here, but pretty similar.
I like the references made to this (as we now know) fictional Gretchen Franklin as a 'nosey matron type' it conjours up twitching curtains and hankerchiefs on receivers, as ever, a dark take on suburban lives from Mr Smith.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Day 29: Beach bums and politicians.
Here's an excellent Leadbelly cover, renamed from Bourgeois Blues to Bourgeois Town, the theme of the song fits with MES's less-than complimentary view of class and it clatters along like the original, as fast as a freight train.
Song: Bourgeois Town
Album: Are You Are Missing Winner?
Year: 2001
So this is less a cover, more a thematic tribute with lots in common with the original blues song, which follows a simple blues riff and some lovely vocals from Leadbelly, The Fall's reworking still has an essence of the rhythm there, but obviously sounds more Fall-like, trashy, repetitive and nonchalant.
The Fall's song begins with some excellent sampled noise from some sort of arcade machine (I presume) which kicks off the song as a modern update. Mark's vocals are cool, clipped and sound almost sung at points, the lyrics are great, he uses the refrain from the Leadbelly song, but has come up with his own lyrics which ring with a dissatisfied air. Talk of sitting on buses, trains and walking to the park are combined with some measured hate for beach bums, politicians and the like. I like the way he pronounces the word 'bourgeois', as in 'booj-wah' brilliant.
It's a simple song, but again, as I've been alluding to constantly through this blog from the very first day, the music hides the venom behind its quirky and often upbeat manner. This is something I love about the band, the music takes on an almost haunting quality as a result, no mean feat when you are playing 2-3 riffs a song. Some friends of mine say it must be really dull to be in The Fall, playing music that repeats itself so fervently, often for a full five minutes at a time, but I'd argue that this must take discipline and reaching that level of accuracy and to keep it sounding fresh is amazing. As MES often says, he almost gets people to 'unlearn' their instruments, or takes people who have never picked an instrument up before, hence this simplistic sound, but it has hidden depths, krautrock bands like Neu! and Harmonia remind me of The Fall, hypnosis and deeper meaning through almost sound therapy, its a vast spectrum hidden behind a few notes.
I've included the original by Leadbelly below, listen to both and you'll see where MES is coming from with his affectionate tribute here.
Song: Bourgeois Town
Album: Are You Are Missing Winner?
Year: 2001
So this is less a cover, more a thematic tribute with lots in common with the original blues song, which follows a simple blues riff and some lovely vocals from Leadbelly, The Fall's reworking still has an essence of the rhythm there, but obviously sounds more Fall-like, trashy, repetitive and nonchalant.
The Fall's song begins with some excellent sampled noise from some sort of arcade machine (I presume) which kicks off the song as a modern update. Mark's vocals are cool, clipped and sound almost sung at points, the lyrics are great, he uses the refrain from the Leadbelly song, but has come up with his own lyrics which ring with a dissatisfied air. Talk of sitting on buses, trains and walking to the park are combined with some measured hate for beach bums, politicians and the like. I like the way he pronounces the word 'bourgeois', as in 'booj-wah' brilliant.
It's a simple song, but again, as I've been alluding to constantly through this blog from the very first day, the music hides the venom behind its quirky and often upbeat manner. This is something I love about the band, the music takes on an almost haunting quality as a result, no mean feat when you are playing 2-3 riffs a song. Some friends of mine say it must be really dull to be in The Fall, playing music that repeats itself so fervently, often for a full five minutes at a time, but I'd argue that this must take discipline and reaching that level of accuracy and to keep it sounding fresh is amazing. As MES often says, he almost gets people to 'unlearn' their instruments, or takes people who have never picked an instrument up before, hence this simplistic sound, but it has hidden depths, krautrock bands like Neu! and Harmonia remind me of The Fall, hypnosis and deeper meaning through almost sound therapy, its a vast spectrum hidden behind a few notes.
I've included the original by Leadbelly below, listen to both and you'll see where MES is coming from with his affectionate tribute here.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Day 26: A french competition on a fluted instrument?
It's far too nice to be inside on a day like this, but here's some more Fall nonsense for you. As I mentioned before, I've listened to this album so many times I appear to have broken the CD (or my car just chewed it up) either way, incredible album.
Song: Bury! Pts 2 and 4
Album: Your Future Our Clutter
Year: 2010
So this is the second track off their latest album, which came out on Domino (although I think they've since fallen out with them or at least left the label) this song features the line "A new way of recording, a chain round the neck" which is just a cracking line anyway, but apparently refers to Domino's attitude to production values, apparently the album was recorded a year before it was released, so perhaps this is a dig in the most obvious of ways, he delivers it with such tangible venom I'm inclined to hate Domino as much as he does.
The production is something that I love about the whole album, but is fully explained and shown during this track, the muted electronics and buzzing, combined with the clear production of vocals, guitars, bass and drums makes for a modern sounding collage.
His vocals on this album ring with an angry air, the lyrics are something else, I could listen to lines like "And you will suffer all the seasons on the sides of municipal buildings" and "One day a Spanish king with a council of bad knaves, tried to come to Bury" all day, could the Spanish king be a smarmy record label exec? It seems likely.
This song also gets a personal seal of approval from me, as he mentions the small suburb of Altrincham known as Timperley where my girlfriend is from, the second song I've ever heard referencing the place, the other being the late, great Frank Sidebottom's Panic (On The Streets Of Timperley) another Manchester-centric act with obtuse lyrics, RIP.
The song has so many lines to mention, its as if MES is packing in as many fantastic lines as he can, the song gains momentum, with Elena's vocals (I'm not from Bury man) making this a real stomper.
The video, as you can see, is filmed on an ultra-HD camera, picking out all Mark's wrinkles and playing some excellent shots in slow motion, it looks incredibly stylish, but the lines written on paper and shown to the camera make me piss myself, they include: GET A FLAT, DICKHEAD/ YOU ARE AN OAF, YOUR BLOOD IS WORTHLESS/LOOK THIS UP ONT' NET YOU USELESS CROCK OF DOWNLOAD CRECK DRECK and WHY DO THEY BOTHER? PSEUDO SOCCER-LOVING PACK IT IN OR ELSE. This is fantastic, coded messages or just MES scribbles? Either way, they add to the dark menace this album and particular track build with tension.
Other lines talk of Ben Marshall of Uncut magazine whose interview with MES caused him to be investigated by the RSPCA, although I'm sure nothing has come of it, but he had boasted of chopping up red squirrels with hedge trimmers, as they were 'eating his garden fence'. He also agreed with Marshall on the subject of running over seagulls as they were a 'public nuisance'. The line in the song says: "Is the artistic Mark in fact/Got rid of vermin/Like the grey squirrels/By rooting out/Ben Marshall's articles/Or user recordings/On his vile manufacturing community" which suggests to me he just wants to document that particular episode in song.
One interesting part, which validates what I'm doing is: "This song means something/Every song means something" which I'm glad he has pointed out, makes this process seem more worthwhile if he insists there's a meaning behind every track.
So what's the meaning of this one? Well as far as I know, MES is from Prestwich, which is a good five miles from Bury itself, but people may give him that label just because its easier, its important to be specific with cities, areas are very personal to people and have specific reputations, so he's probably highlighting that, or maybe he's jsut rallying against the idea of identity and people interfering with his art, the record label stuff being a good example and the story about the squirrels is another. What do you lot think?
Song: Bury! Pts 2 and 4
Album: Your Future Our Clutter
Year: 2010
So this is the second track off their latest album, which came out on Domino (although I think they've since fallen out with them or at least left the label) this song features the line "A new way of recording, a chain round the neck" which is just a cracking line anyway, but apparently refers to Domino's attitude to production values, apparently the album was recorded a year before it was released, so perhaps this is a dig in the most obvious of ways, he delivers it with such tangible venom I'm inclined to hate Domino as much as he does.
The production is something that I love about the whole album, but is fully explained and shown during this track, the muted electronics and buzzing, combined with the clear production of vocals, guitars, bass and drums makes for a modern sounding collage.
His vocals on this album ring with an angry air, the lyrics are something else, I could listen to lines like "And you will suffer all the seasons on the sides of municipal buildings" and "One day a Spanish king with a council of bad knaves, tried to come to Bury" all day, could the Spanish king be a smarmy record label exec? It seems likely.
This song also gets a personal seal of approval from me, as he mentions the small suburb of Altrincham known as Timperley where my girlfriend is from, the second song I've ever heard referencing the place, the other being the late, great Frank Sidebottom's Panic (On The Streets Of Timperley) another Manchester-centric act with obtuse lyrics, RIP.
The song has so many lines to mention, its as if MES is packing in as many fantastic lines as he can, the song gains momentum, with Elena's vocals (I'm not from Bury man) making this a real stomper.
The video, as you can see, is filmed on an ultra-HD camera, picking out all Mark's wrinkles and playing some excellent shots in slow motion, it looks incredibly stylish, but the lines written on paper and shown to the camera make me piss myself, they include: GET A FLAT, DICKHEAD/ YOU ARE AN OAF, YOUR BLOOD IS WORTHLESS/LOOK THIS UP ONT' NET YOU USELESS CROCK OF DOWNLOAD CRECK DRECK and WHY DO THEY BOTHER? PSEUDO SOCCER-LOVING PACK IT IN OR ELSE. This is fantastic, coded messages or just MES scribbles? Either way, they add to the dark menace this album and particular track build with tension.
Other lines talk of Ben Marshall of Uncut magazine whose interview with MES caused him to be investigated by the RSPCA, although I'm sure nothing has come of it, but he had boasted of chopping up red squirrels with hedge trimmers, as they were 'eating his garden fence'. He also agreed with Marshall on the subject of running over seagulls as they were a 'public nuisance'. The line in the song says: "Is the artistic Mark in fact/Got rid of vermin/Like the grey squirrels/By rooting out/Ben Marshall's articles/Or user recordings/On his vile manufacturing community" which suggests to me he just wants to document that particular episode in song.
One interesting part, which validates what I'm doing is: "This song means something/Every song means something" which I'm glad he has pointed out, makes this process seem more worthwhile if he insists there's a meaning behind every track.
So what's the meaning of this one? Well as far as I know, MES is from Prestwich, which is a good five miles from Bury itself, but people may give him that label just because its easier, its important to be specific with cities, areas are very personal to people and have specific reputations, so he's probably highlighting that, or maybe he's jsut rallying against the idea of identity and people interfering with his art, the record label stuff being a good example and the story about the squirrels is another. What do you lot think?
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