Karl it's always been my understanding that he did in fact take the band name from the Camus book, but I don't have a primary source for that at hand
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:35 (six years ago) link
we need a thread with just MES stories imo
― mookieproof, Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:38 (six years ago) link
It was clear in the window eyeThe brick outlined the blue skyAnd I had to go round the gay graduates in the toiletsAnd Good King Harry was thereFucking Jimmy Savile
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:48 (six years ago) link
"that entire violent album (levitate) is extraordinary."
yeah I really loved that album. it felt like they were on some other plane there, and to an extent I don't feel like they ever really got back there musically. it's an abstract, weird album; missing winner kind of sucked, marshall was pretty good, everything since has been good but definitely the same musical template to a degree. Maybe Levitate was fueled by some other weird drugs. I don't know.
― akm, Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:53 (six years ago) link
Mat Osman @matosmanI have a Mark E Smith story actually. Back in the day Suede got asked to support The Fall on a couple of dates. To a man we were massive fans and VERY excited to be asked. Everyone told us he could be rough on support bands but he was great. Lots of time to soundcheck. (1)He was friendly, helpful, told us to come straight to him with any problem. The shows were great, his crowd were great, The Fall were great. On our way home in the van we were listening to Richard Skinner and he had an interview with Mark. We listened in intently. (2)Especially when Skinner asked, "Do you like any of the new bands who are calling you an influence." Mark said "Like who?" Skinner asked "Well, like Suede." There was a perfectly timed beat. "Never heard of them."
I have a Mark E Smith story actually. Back in the day Suede got asked to support The Fall on a couple of dates. To a man we were massive fans and VERY excited to be asked. Everyone told us he could be rough on support bands but he was great. Lots of time to soundcheck. (1)
He was friendly, helpful, told us to come straight to him with any problem. The shows were great, his crowd were great, The Fall were great. On our way home in the van we were listening to Richard Skinner and he had an interview with Mark. We listened in intently. (2)
Especially when Skinner asked, "Do you like any of the new bands who are calling you an influence." Mark said "Like who?" Skinner asked "Well, like Suede." There was a perfectly timed beat. "Never heard of them."
― Empire Burl Ives (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:55 (six years ago) link
loooool
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:00 (six years ago) link
It was just meThe hoover And the OAP
― Winter. Dickens. Yes. (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:24 (six years ago) link
Btw that living too late verse quoted itt, those words go through my mind all the time
― Winter. Dickens. Yes. (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:27 (six years ago) link
Tony Friel was reading The Fall and took the name from the title. My favourite band; this hasn't sunk in properly yet. Had been expecting/dreading it for years, tbh.
― albvivertine, Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:40 (six years ago) link
The Fall were everything to me
Can't bring myself to listen to any records yet somehow, but following on in the spirit of Mark being funny as fuck, anyone who hasn't already should check out the gigography section of thefall.org. Many many shows include various intros, asides and changed lyrics. And the later ones are just as amazing and strange as the ones from 81 or whenever.
A few choice ones:
"If only you could come from the Nynex gymnasium in your baseball jacket and comprehend. If only." (amended lyrics to "10 Houses of Eve")
"This is the last time you will ever see me reading lyrics again. Don't trust me. I love the carpet of Astoria 2. It's the only carpet that's worse than my house." (amended lyrics to "Spencer Must Die")
"I am Mark E Smith, these are my folk festival boys. Looking out for a grant. One! From the state culture 2000 of Suffolk."
"You walk into glass crystal mazes as the S.S. Viking regiment did. Into black. Into space. Into (...). You walk down into valley of kings. Out of glass. Out of space. In seventies disco lights." (amended lyrics to "Way Round")
"Now, who wrote the GM Vauxhall advert? Was it a, Neville Wilding? Was it 2, Julia Nagle? Or was it c, Richard and Judy? Or was it d? And the answer is e and f put together." (amended lyrics to "Touch Sensitive")
RIP
― Priory, Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:58 (six years ago) link
mes was on a coldcut record over acid house, right? the fall also covered a trucking song. he slagged it all but he quietly loved a lot too. music anyway.
― barreras, Thursday, 25 January 2018 05:28 (six years ago) link
Aw, MES. The Coldcut record is below. Friend who posted it said ‘oh look, he invented LCD Soundsystem!’
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmwVOTfh8g&t=64s
― kim jong deal (suzy), Thursday, 25 January 2018 06:02 (six years ago) link
Andy Zax @andyzaxI would never ordinarily advocate or endorse such a thing, but I feel as if the best tribute one could pay to Mark E Smith tonight would be to find a band playing in a club somewhere, wander onstage, and turn the guitarist’s amp down.
― new noise, Thursday, 25 January 2018 06:48 (six years ago) link
Priory – that's a superb topic / thought. One of the things that were very important to me were how their live shows were often nothing like the records. I still feel aggrieved when groups make every effort to sound exactly like their record releases. The shifting and improvised lyrics were a hilarious and brilliant aspect of that. He was doing it in Manchester last year – commenting at the audience. Can't remember what it was, but i seem to have given myself a massive hangover by staying up till half three drinking and watching Fall vids.
Now up eating cereal and listening to Last Orders and Stepping Out on Live at the Electric Circus.
'Everyone's in prison or in the army, all sincere, all phoney'
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 08:34 (six years ago) link
a good thing – i'll still be working out and being delighted and astonished by his lyrics till the day i die.
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 08:46 (six years ago) link
"I think I'll drop outBecome a no manAnd live my rules
But I'm the sort that gets out of the bath with a dirty face."
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 08:55 (six years ago) link
Ha ha, from the same song ('Various Times')
'A good case for the systemswe likewe get'
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 08:56 (six years ago) link
(that from 'The Present' - the past is a camp guard in berlin, The future - 'the beer is so weak, since they got rid of time round here' aaaand, 'The Lathe of Heaven', Smith's ref to UKlG, who pre-deceased him by a day)
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 08:57 (six years ago) link
Pink press threat!
MAN WITH CHIP: I'm riding third class on a one-class train.I'm set at nought like a wimpey crane.
I'm a pink prole threat.
GENT IN SAFE-HOUSE: Get out the pink press threat fileand Um-brrrptzzap the subject.
MAN WITH CHIP: It's de-louse, recluse time
(now v. bitter) When I get to the safe houseHanging rhymeHang this crummy blitz trad. by its neck
Pink press threatI escaped the pink prole effect GENT IN SAFE-HOUSE: It's a new prole art threat,So it's recluse, safehouse time NARRATOR: Then the clan beganGive them nail files soonThen the clan beganAgenda Item One
Pink press threatGet out the pink press threat fileNew prole art, the subjectIt's safe-house, safe-house time
Everybody hears the hum at 3 a.m.But in the safe-house, it's not around
Pink press threatGet out the wet lib fileNew prole art, the subjectSafe-house, safe-house tone
That clan has got away with 100 years of sheer brilliance until now
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 09:18 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAob4ONlBmo
― Ludo, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:06 (six years ago) link
now listening to the post-nearly man. hanging out with the grand fella
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:16 (six years ago) link
can’t believe i didn’t post this earlier:https://youtube/wygQmJ59E4Qand slates is amazing.
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:17 (six years ago) link
shouldn't have listened to 'bill is dead' today, too much
― Shitpost in Opposition (King Boy Pato), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:17 (six years ago) link
it just goes to show what an amazing artist he was that all the FB posts about his death on my feed have a completely different song attached. more than anyone, he was persistently brilliant.
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:19 (six years ago) link
modernity, moderninitywater lane zero one seven one fifty five double ninedream sat maytents and tomatoes at Blackpoolwhere Jimmy Bloomfield has been brought back to hostJousts In Moderninityone of the many football grounds have been converted to hold this revived sport
― #TeamHailing (imago), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:22 (six years ago) link
NTS doing an MES tribute show this morning https://www.nts.live/ currently playing "Service" which is making me feel sad
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:27 (six years ago) link
Fizzles's link fixed (for me at least): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wygQmJ59E4Q
― Tim, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:27 (six years ago) link
Always loved this bit from Winter 2:
The mad kid had 4 lights, the average is 2.5 lightsThe mediocre has 2 lights, the sign of genius is three lightsThere's one light left, that's the one lightThat's the science law
― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:30 (six years ago) link
listening to that track right now, the Peel session version is also great
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:33 (six years ago) link
I live in the same suburb of Manchester as MES, feels appropriate to share some sightings "in the wild"...
A few years back I was having lunch in a local Italian restaurant with my wife and parents and spotted Mark with Elena on the pavement outside, animatedly admiring an immaculate 1980 type Honda Civic.
He was also a regular in The Foresters Arms pub just up the road, owned by nearby brewery Joseph Holt. This determinedly local boozer has invitingly frosted windows and a big sign next to the front door: "NO CHILDREN, NO EXCEPTIONS".
The last time I saw him was about 8 months ago, alone in another pub, sitting at a tall table with his notebook just having a drink and writing. I had my daft/lovely medium format film camera with me and was *this close* to asking if I could take his picture, but didn't want to disturb his train of thought (or get a telling off).
― that mustardless plate (Bill A), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:39 (six years ago) link
a thing i loved about that song is the line“two white clouds cross the skylook like krakens”which with extraordinary economy and strangeness conveys the world of a frozen submarine and subterranean landscape.
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:39 (six years ago) link
xpost about winter. bill those are lovely sightings/observations - thanks. (and thanks for fixing the link, tim)
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:41 (six years ago) link
the fall have the unique distinction of being the only band i can't start playing and have on in the background while i try to do something else - i just have to listen to mark and his lyrics, it just feels wrong not to pay attention
rip you hilarious brilliant arsehole
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:41 (six years ago) link
It's the best version.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:43 (six years ago) link
Just picking up on Mark Riley's show last night via iplayer - pretty much broke on his show around 8:30 so its well yeah.
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:44 (six years ago) link
xp that session is, for me, the highlight of what is pretty much uniformly pure gold, the Complete Peel Sessions box set:
2-1 Deer Park 4:262-2 Look, Know 5:052-3 Winter 8:032-4 Who Makes The Nazis? 2:54
https://www.discogs.com/The-Fall-The-Complete-Peel-Sessions-1978-2004/release/530824
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:47 (six years ago) link
It's funny, in the past few weeks, I've been listening to the later and "lesser" Fall albums and have been really enjoying them, after not having listened to the Fall for a long time. I'm liking the more casual vibe on them, where there doesn't seem this pressure to make "great" albums. Lord knows I've listened to Hex and This Nation's too many times. I really like The Real New Fall LP.
― Fake Sam's Club (I M Losted), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:56 (six years ago) link
my one sighting of MES in the wild was him going into a bookies on the lower broughton road in salford ca 1989
― faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 25 January 2018 10:57 (six years ago) link
My one sighting, of the whole lot of them, they were walking down the Great West Road in the direction of Island's Peter Square studios (they might not have been going there, just I knew where that was as I'd done some work here in the past).
Anyway, it looked exactly like the first bit of the "Eat Yrself Fitter" video. I went "Blimey, it's the Fall" but I was alone so hey.
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:06 (six years ago) link
St Peter's Square.. But you knew that, right?
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:07 (six years ago) link
I once served MES when I was working at the Music and Video Exchange bookshop in Notting Hill. He bought a copy of Rudolph Grey's oral biography of Ed Wood, Nightmare of Ecstasy. He was incredibly polite.
― Agharta Christie (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:10 (six years ago) link
Had a piss alongside him once.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:12 (six years ago) link
go on...
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:14 (six years ago) link
There's not much more to the story tbh!
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:20 (six years ago) link
well there goes my hope of writing the first anatomically-correct mark e smith erotic fiction :(
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:27 (six years ago) link
i am damo suzuki's wang
― (the blues version in his Broadway show) (crüt), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:29 (six years ago) link
i was once being served next to him in a pub in derby, and I nodded, and after saying 'all right' he said 'i love derby, you know - there's nothing to do here.'
― Fizzles, Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:51 (six years ago) link
MES OTM
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:51 (six years ago) link
Perfect.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:53 (six years ago) link
When I'm stuck in traffic or simply trying to walk along a pavement somewhere, I often think about something he once said in an interview about pavements and roads in England - in comparison to the US and Europe I think - and how they were 'designed for 15th century dwarves'.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:57 (six years ago) link