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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Day 64: Dark Disney, not Fantasia...

Fear not, I am back, sorry to people who regularly check this blog, I've been staying with friends and family all week, I'm going to actually blitz what should have been blogged in the week today, so today you get 5 days at the speed of 1, you lucky people.

Dan Lewis, long time reader, regular correspondent, has requested the arrestingly dark Disney's Dream Debased today, so here goes. That previous sentence reminds me of Harry Hill's old letters section on his first show, where every week he'd read out a letter from 'regular viewer, Bunty Hoven', anyway, back to the task in hand!



Song: Disney's Dream Debased
Album: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
Year: 1984

So Dan has a motive for asking for this song, but it's a wholly admirable one, he's taken the lyrics of this particular song (good one to pick) and has written a short story based on them, which appears in a collection he helped edit into a book, Dan's story appears in this book.
Check it out if you can, he sent me the original and it's spot on, captures the harrowing subject matter quite well, but from another angle.

So what about the subject matter? Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I always found Disney to be a bit strange anyway, talking animals and hackneyed morals always creeped me out, for a young boy bought up on Thundercats and Dr Who, to find a massive surge in the 90s for all-singing, all-dancing films based on fairytales was a bit off-putting. The Lion King is still good though. Anyway, for those that don't know the story, the lyrics here are based on a real life event that happened in January 1984 at Disneyland, a 43 -year-old woman died on the Matterhorn attraction, which was a bobsled ride based on a mountain range-style structure. At the height of the ride, she was thrown from the sled and was pinned under another sled's wheels becoming mangled under the wheels. She died from severe injuries to her head and chest, not nice. What attracted MES to write about this is probably the direct gulf between how Disney portrays itself, a magical, happy place and this, a hammer-horror style death that you cannot imagine even happening.

I just read up on some more history of deaths at Disneyland and the first ever death was quite similar, though the person who died was a young man who defied safety regulations and stood up on the top of the same ride, but fell to tracks below. Other deaths include drowning in the Rivers Of America section of the park, deaths on the monorail that runs around the park and a horrific freak accident a few years ago where a boat's moorings snapped loose and hit two guests on the head, killing one and injuring another. I suppose its par for the course with a place that large and so busy, but its still disturbing.

So the lyrics and song are quite well-thought out, the music is actually quite upbeat and jolly in the overly sickly-sweet tones that Disney employ, but the lyrics are delivered in a lilting singing voice, which makes it, again, quite disturbing. The way he actually sings this reminds me of the Half Man Half Biscuit song All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit, in the way syllables are packed in like sardines, but as a result have some added comic effect.

Lyrics obviously focus on the accident and a weirdly serene sense of calm, lines like 'blood on the ground/blood on the sand' and 'The nurses climbed up' paint a macabre picture that works really well with the minor chords and sharp guitar sound and again, the vocals are produced in such a way as to sound effected, here they sound a little flat and distant, but that's the great thing about Fall albums, the way in which Mark's vocals are recorded makes a difference every time, he can he tinny, muffled, overly loud or indecipherable (most times) but always effective with the bunch of songs recorded.

I like the use of very British phrases to describe an American tragedy 'No two ways about it' and 'No maybe about it' sound at odds with the situation, really clever.

I'd like to think this is a touching tribute to a tragedy, but I know in reality it isn't, it was probably too much of a temptation to write about for MES, but with a company as cheery as Disney and an accident this unreal, there can't have been much doubt in his mind, perfect Fall song material.

I'll be writing the next four songs this evening, cheers!

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?

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.

Day 25: A request...

Thanks to all who keep emailing, glad to know you are all enjoying it, I asked on a forum I post on quite a bit if anyone had any requests, the only one so far is this, which I've not heard much, but here's my take on it.



Song: Stephen Song
Album: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
Year: 1984

This was actually released the very month I was born, strange to be reviewing it now, but hey ho. This was the band's first release for Beggars Banquet, a label that I've always admired, carrying bands such as The Tindersticks, The National, The Cult, Mercury Rev and The Llama Farmers, all great bands you should give a blast and see what you think.

Anyway, this particular song features vocals from former Virgin Prunes man Gavin Friday, who is an Irish singer/musician/artist who appears elsewhere on this album on "Copped It" and "Clear Off". His vocals are very folksy, you can hear his Irish lilt throughout, almost a cliched Irish sound to be honest, the drawn out, gruff stylings remind me of a number of Irish musicians, but I won't do him the insult of comparing him to lesser artists as he intertwines lines with Mark's laid-back approach here with aplomb.

The lyrics, well, they are as abstract as they come, "It was a thing with a head like a spudball" is the first line and it doesn't get much clearer than that for me here I'm afraid, it seems to be about a nameless (as ever) protagonist who sounds like he is part of a dark world, taking walks along privet hedges, mens' interest magazine The Face gets a mention, and a quick check reveals that yes, it was in publication back then (it folded in 2004, shame). I presume this is a celebrity they are talking about, or at least an artist.

The production is a bit much here, the instruments and 'two-drummer' lineup are very equally mastered, couple this with backing vocals from Brix and two almost-competing frontmen and its a claustrophobic experience. Add to this the crazy artwork from the album by Danish-born artist Claus Castenskiold and you have a full package, something which I feel is lost sometimes with music these days (old man?). the cover seems to be a face in agony from my perspective, what do other people think?

The album title couldn't be more accurate, if this was among the first few tracks I'd heard by The Fall, I'd be intrigued for sure, but maybe put off by how brash and intense the experience is, it's almost like being assaulted with images and influences in one three-minute blast. But therein lies the beauty of The Fall, they cannot be judged by one track or album alone, The Fall is a multi-faced beast which you need to approach from the right angle, this is one of the more challenging, but has its rewards.

In Fall-related news, I think I've listened to Your Future Our Clutter that much in my car that I've worn it out, that hasn't happened to me for years. Shows you how great it is though, I'll do a track from that tomorrow.

To anyone wondering what the background image to the blog is, the man on the floor of the car park (at the Forest of Dean services near Wales) is a guy called Darren Kaskie, who we were taking home after our bands toured together, the van was so hot, he had to collapse, we managed to pick the one week the whole of the UK decided to melt in 2006. He's in a band who take a similar love of repetition to new extremes, check them out here.