Day 83: You shall feel the wrath of my bombast!

Bass-line a go-go.



Song: Bombast
Album: This Nation's Saving Grace
Year: 1985

Sounding for all the world like a robot issuing a firm threat at the start, this is MES puffing his chest out, it's good stuff, with an excellent S. Hanley bassline making everything else seem extraneous. Its a good example of a jam-like track becoming a studio one. This album is full of recording innovation and this song is one of those that seems as if it could last forever. The lyrics aren't much to shout about, but do keep up the whole energy of the track, joining in with all the strident guitar and bass that make this a real album highlight. In fact, scratch that, because every song on this album fits, this is a rare Fall album where everything just flows. Others I would argue that maintain this almost-seamless nature are YFOC, Fall Heads Roll and The Infotainment Scan, where songs seem to have a common theme or template, this song fits in perfectly with the amiable, wandering Paintwork and the straight-up confusion that is of Couldn't Get Ahead.

I often think this is one of the band's best moments, it's certainly an album I'd recommend musicians to listen to, it almost defines thinking outside the box, both with the aforementioned recording techniques, but also in terms of loose playing, the lack and ensuing musicality of the players styles on here defies an easy explanation, it just sounds right. Like a band in tune, not necessarily in the traditional sense, but in the artistic vision they share. I'd have been proud to come up with half of what the line-up on this album did, so inventive and free of genre constraints, it must be a hell of a lot of fun being in The Fall, no matter how brief your involvement.

Day 82: I'm kinda two-tone...PUH!

Best song about a hangover ever?



Song: Feeling Numb
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995

This one's great, Mark sounds like he is waking up all the way through this one, from the opening bits, talking about prozac and being numb post-festivities, Brix's beautiful chorus seems to get his interest and he sounds more and more sharp through the song. The lyrics are great, just general points about how he is feeling post-party I presume.

Brix's chorus is amazing, makes it sound equally 90s and 60s pop, Mark doesn't even ruin the choruses, even when he joins in. Just a good pop song.

Have to say this, the music reminds me of Elastica, which is obviously a band that The Fall are linked with, what with MES singing on a few songs and them being influenced by The Fall quite a bit. It's that trebly, yet still hefty guitar tone that does it, the drums also contribute to this, the clipped, staccato nature of it all is very britpop (I hated that term at the time, still do now). That said, parts of it sound a bit surf-rock and psychedelic, so it is probably another spongy, all-encompassing influence ball as usual.

Have to say, MES actually attempts some singing here and it actually sounds great, do any songs exist where he sings all the way through? Perhaps you can help me out Fall fans, I think he has a great voice when he tries, but wouldn't swap his vocal style ever.

Another highlight on this track.... the closing noise he makes... PUH.

Day 63: Uh-Reformation!

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.

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.

Day 61: Sinister Popes...

Here's a request, and it's claimed it's a hard one. I agree, but only because it's so different.



Song: Papal Visit
Album: Room To Live
Year: 1982

So this is what sounds like a highly-improvised soundscape to me, there's some scratchy violin actually played by MES, some footstep-sounding percussion, some industrial noises and faint squalks of feedback in the background far off. The main focus of this is the lyrics, which focus on an account of a papal visit, incredibly sinister and unnerving.

The zombie-like delivery adds an air of unease to the track, lines are uttered as fact in a calm, unwavering voice about an actual papal visit. I think it's a bout disbelief that people could be duped into making a fuss, and just general thoughts about it. As with everything in the wonderful and frightening world of this band, normal items and situations take on unusual traits, yellow-white umbrellas for example.

The sinister lines come in the form of 'helicopter strips the land' and specifics like 'the first impression will be the last'. Some say this song is a focus on the evil of the church, the uneasiness it creates is similar to the unease people get when broaching this subject, the idea of 'human trash' fits in with this, but again, this is just conjecture, it could be to do with anything.

It's generally disturbing as a whole, the drone of the violin combined with the unusual percussion and Mark's barely-there vocals mumbling about lay bread and assassinations simply add to this. This whole track actually sounds years ahead, it sounds like stuff that improv groups like Sunburned Hand Of The Man put together now, washes of nothingness that build to create terrifying beasts, the real joy of experimentation within music.

Comparisons must have been made to The Velvet Underground with this track, the post-modern lyrics and highly obtuse sounds would suggest this, but I would argue MES would not have consciously ripped them off, I have faith that this is a wholly original track, it creaks and stammers to an end, to close what, after all, is the strangest Fall release ever, surely?

Day 60: Enter at your peril.

Here's a great one, one I've picked myself (request blast this week people).



Song: Dead Beat Descendent
Album: B-side to Cab It Up!
Year: 1989

I presume this one was recorded around the time of Kurious Orange, because it's the B-side to the excellent Cab It Up! and there's a dancer in the video, utterly brilliant, both parties completely ignoring each other in a cramped studio. This is actually one of the best-produced, and played songs I've reviewed for a while, the drums are a particular standout, there's some real dynamics at work there and it's probably Wolstencroft's best performance for me, he's really going for it in the video.

Same goes for Mark, the lyrics are clear and he employs some actual timing that's with the band, the quiet/loud dynamics work incredibly well. Some may say this song sounds like a B-52s rip, it could quite easily descend into Rock Lobster given some more spindly keys, but it stays on the right side of cool for me. the snaking bassline and the nice and twangy guitar riffs that underpin this whole song give off that cool surfer vibe, yet another string to The Fall's genre-splicing bow.

The lyrics seem to be about being perceived as a loser, MES would not care if this was levelled at him, he often states it is of no importance what the audience, press or anyone else think, and this is probably backing it up. I also think his lines about not dancing particularly well and being avoided on a dancefloor for that reason could be a rallying cry for the unusual people of the world, saying they are almost 'out of step' but they don't care.

I actually love the way he sings 'enter at your peril' at the start of this, the way it's enunciated is amazing, the timing and pitch of every line in this song is perfect, I could well imagine this being a hit, but as usual, The Fall hide some of their best songs in the depths of B-sides, live albums and bootlegs, the only way is awkward.

One funny thing I will point out is the expression on MES's face when the music stops and the video freezes in and zooms in, great stuff.

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.

Day 54: A nightmare on wax.

Here's something that could well test even the most ardent Fall fan's commitment to their cause, a genuinely erratic and noise-laden melting pot of sound.



Song: Spectre Versus Rector
Album: Dragnet
Year: 1979

So this was recorded a good few months, but in the same year as their debut Live At The Witch Trials and the first thing you will notice is the god-awful production, but as I've said before, this is most likely intentional, MES has stated that they recorded this in the fashion they did to get away from the pop elements of LATWT and he couldn't have gotten further to be honest. Vocals are buried under layers of muffle, when they do appear they are relating a condensed narrative about ghosts and possession and they seem to be almost ad-hoc and improvised (MES being a fan of Damo Suzuki, the master of this art may be why). The story has elements of HP Lovecraft in there, the name Yog Sogoth mentioned at the start is from one of his stories and the M.R James was a 19th-century writer of ghost stories, both early narrative inserts from Smith, which have become common throughout the Fall's discography. I'd say the vocals remind me of those recordings you hear on Americanised ghost shows now, where they record white noise and then listen back for possible voices in the ether, you often get the odd sentence buried deep within, so perhaps the recording methods are evoking that feeling, the heady mix of that, combined with the discordant music is certainly unsettling. A line in the album's Dice Man mentions that Smith 'just wants to read a horror story' which ties in with this one, truly unusual.

The music is so badly recorded it makes the musicians sound truly amateur, but again, this was the point of the early Fall records, Smith honed often complete beginners into what he termed a 'garage band sound' and people have often said they have to 'un-learn' instruments to be able to play in The Fall, some of the chord progressions and the guitar equivalent of jazz 'squalkings' here are quite inspired, sounding for the most part like improvised mess, there are sections which chime together that sound great, on the whole, this track is like being sucked into a free-jazz vortex, there's a fine like between this kind of wild improv and complete shit, but I think they veer just on the right side. I once went to see this gig and was amazed this was masquerading as music, I've seen quality improv, such as the amazing Flower/Corsano duo, who blow my midn every time I see them, but as you can see, there's a difference, in finding a flow that all the musicians can join, or creating a foggy, sludgey goop that bores people to death (two of my friends at the Magik Markers gig fell asleep on their feet).

It really is a test of your mettle as a Fall fan whether you rate this or not, what do you think?

Day 53: Don't mess with Brix.

A nice simple one today, one of the rare times Brix takes over on main vocals, I know this divides fans, it is a bit rough and ready.



Song: Don't Call Me Darling
Album: Cerebral Caustic
Year: 1995

So I can see why people might not like this one, Mark's vocals take a back seat here and the lyrics aren't that spectacular, they basically set the scene, which to me is to rally against macho knobheads in clubs, who may well use the old vernacular 'Darling'. I'm not sure anyone says the word quite like the British, cockneys, liverpudlians, yorkshire people, all have their own way of saying it, it is one of the most sarcastic words when said in a particular way, which can be equally offensive.

Brix's delivery is raging and almost like nails down a chalkboard for me, she has this raw gravelly aspect to her voice that suggests she really does mean what she's screaming, I'd just prefer to have had a bit more variety, this could have been a real spot to develop some lyrics on an excellent theme.

The music gathers pace, with some excellent keys underneath it all, like Peel said, the Fall are always different, always the same, the beat, riff and timing of the music could be from anywhere, but the dynamics and the fact it cuts out before Brix is done caterwauling is totally unique to the song.

I think this one really speaks for itself, so in a rare moment of clarity, I'm going to cut this one really short, what do people think of this particular track? Brilliant feminist Fall, or annoying, insistent growling?

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!

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?

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.

Day 49: Do me a favour...

I thought I'd investigate a few of the weirder albums for a few days this week, this track is off 1997's Levitate, which was marked out as the album made just after Brix had left and long-term drummer Simon Wolstencroft had quit before the end of making.



Song: Everybody But Myself
Album: Levitate
Year: 1997

This track has a very strange start to it, what sounds like Mark at a gig, being heckled, or perhaps a practice room attempt at the song with some freestyling lyrics, falling straight into a cleaner-sounding studio version that has Nagle's keyboards pushed up over everything else, including the vocals, as a result, it sounds a bit club-ish, dance beats and some trebly keyboard fumblings make up most of the melody while for the rest of the song, the title is repeated over and over.

This sounds to me like a defiant stand that can either sound triumphant or fall flat on its face, the start is the sound of an irritable MES but its a great little snippet of real sound, I'm still in two minds as to whether its a gig or simply a mess of multi-tracked vocals as there seems to be a few vocal tracks running on top of each other all over the track, the half-mumbled 'backing vocals' he seems to give himself now and again suggest it could be manufactured and I really shouldn't be surprised that he has allowed lo-fi recording onto the album.

I'd be interested to know what people think of this album, given that it was recorded in such a fraught period and the music is even more basic than usual. Do please comment if you have anything to add, this track has stumped me frankly!

The combination of post-rave inspirations and the void of space he has given himself here may well be designed to confuse the listener, it certainly has me this time. The cover to this album is equally disturbing an early attempt at Photoshop skills when it first came out no doubt, but the masked face on the front is still menacing, kudos to MES, this is one of the most unnerving albums I've heard in the Fall canon.

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.

Day 47: Pop tones...

Another request today, this time from an old mate called Luke, he's requested this slow-burner from the excellent Fall Heads Roll, this particular tracks is a peaceful ocean of calm on what is a volatile and quite punchy album, good choice sir.



Song: Midnight In Aspen
Album: Fall Heads Roll
Year: 2005

This one is quite ghostly and airy, the picked out guitar line harmonising with the bass wonderfully while the drums are gently prodded to create a very pop-sounding song, almost like a light theme tune or a bit of easy listening to these ears. When compared with the bombast and megalithic chaos that happens on other songs on the album (see the caustic Blindness, or the call to arms of What About Us?) it's a world apart, Mark's vocals are suitably reined-in for the mood, quiet, reflective and calm, never breaking into a shout or squeal.

I think the title of the song creates a frosty, snowy landscape in your head before you even hear the 60s-film soundtrack-like music and the lyrics simply build on this, the unusual moment of calm allows a lot of space for rich descriptions to be mumbled and reflected upon, there's talk of fog and ice, but on the whole, the words are free of narrative or deep meaning, seemingly unconnected, especially here: 'Even chain on jeep/Hyphen/Aspen/Utah'.

The only lyrics that make sense together are: 'He aims the highest bestest powered rifle at the stars/Orion/It bounces off/The satellite/He was lucky this week' just a nice bit of freeform painting of words there, who knows what he means, could a man take guidance from an act as strange as shooting at the stars? Could it be based on a celebrity or news story? Who knows, but its a welcome curveball from the band on an album that's packed with vitriol, a nice drop-off before the raging tune that follows it (Assume).

Any more requests? I'm thinking I ought to cover some songs from albums like Cerebral Caustic, Levitate, The Marshall Suite, Bend Sinister or The Frenz Experiment as they all seem to have been neglected so far. I'm not sure if I should start covering stuff off I Am Kurious Orange just yet as some of the songs on there are repeats or reworked songs, thoughts?

My aim is to cover the studio albums first and foremost, then move onto Peel Sessions, live stuff and rarities, but that's a looooooong way off.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.