Witch Trials has a very 70s sound
― bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:40 (six years ago) link
and definitely feels like whoever was producing was trying to make them sound like a "real band"
It's like the producer thought the singer can't sing, the band can't play but the drummer's pretty good I'll push him up in the mix.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:41 (six years ago) link
See, I prefer Witch Trials to Dragnet. It's one of my favourite Fall albums.
― Full of bile and Blue Nile denial (Turrican), Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:43 (six years ago) link
I like it a lot
― bhad and bhabie (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:45 (six years ago) link
I think my ultimate Fall heroes apart from Smith are Scanlon and Steve Hanley, who stretch all the way from Dragnet into the late '90s. Amazing contributions all along the way.― timellison, Saturday, January 27, 2018 12:12 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― timellison, Saturday, January 27, 2018 12:12 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yup, although I never considered MES a hero. I don't care what John Peel said, when Scanlon and then Hanley left they were never the same.
― Full of bile and Blue Nile denial (Turrican), Saturday, 27 January 2018 00:47 (six years ago) link
Up till about 83 there was this frenzied, mad invention on every record. Take Slates; nothing else sounds like those songs, from the creeping menace of An Older Lover to the newsflash/pulp radio drama of Pink Press Threat, and the bouncing groove of Leave the Capitol. It's just stunning. And they followed it with Hex. That degree of creativity had to dissipate somewhat, and as the 80s wore on, they more often resembled a rock band, a very fine and unique one, but less terrifyingly alien than the earlier entity.
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:06 (six years ago) link
pretty sure MES would have nothing but justifiable contempt for the 'early stuff is better' POV
Levitate & the Marshall Suite Peel Session are pretty fuckin' alien, not to mention "Weather Report 2"
― sleeve, Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:15 (six years ago) link
^^^^^^
― imago, Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:24 (six years ago) link
I don't care what John Peel said, when Scanlon and then Hanley left they were never the same.
― Full of bile and Blue Nile denial (Turrican), Saturday, January 27, 2018 11:47 AM
this is the point of changing
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:46 (six years ago) link
Are there any good essays or pieces out there about The Fall and "Northerness" specifically? There's some good stuff in "Mark E. Smith and the Fall: Art, Music and Politics" (incl. Mark Fisher). Anything else?
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:50 (six years ago) link
seen this?
http://theconversation.com/northern-white-crap-that-talks-back-the-falls-mark-e-smith-spoke-for-weird-manchester-90710
― sleeve, Saturday, 27 January 2018 01:59 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8P6DDCZZhw
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Saturday, 27 January 2018 02:23 (six years ago) link
thx sleeve!
― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 27 January 2018 03:01 (six years ago) link
Witch Trials probably my least favorite in the catalogue up until early 90's Shift-Work, Cerebral Caustic, somewhere in there....and then it ramps up again for another great run!
― Patton Oswalt Defense Lawyer (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:07 (six years ago) link
pfft Shift-Work is awesome, in my top 5
― sleeve, Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:09 (six years ago) link
IMO (speaking as someone who was avidly buying their records at the time) "27 Points" lost the 90's plot a bit, along with that ridic "Touch Sensitive" box and the flood of stupid Receiver label outtake discs, all of a sudden there was a lot of superfluous product out there. "Cerebral" is hit & miss, but I love everything after that up to the AYAMW/Reformation period which is my least favorite even though there are stil great tracks scattered in.
― sleeve, Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:12 (six years ago) link
(by "everything" I mean "the proper studio albums", not the bazillion random live discs from the last 20 years)
― sleeve, Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:15 (six years ago) link
i love shift work too. Idiot Joy Showland, The War Against Intelligence, Edinburgh Man, You Haven't found it yet, White Lightning, High Tension Line. all completely awesome.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:26 (six years ago) link
It's funny cuz I dig most of those tracks but that period for me—save for the blast of fresh air that is Infotainment Scan—is where things go a little beige, or at least the left turns are fewer. But after that I''l rep for the five record run of Levitate through TRNFLP as shoulder to shoulder w/ pick 5 from Rough Trade/Beggars years
― Patton Oswalt Defense Lawyer (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:52 (six years ago) link
The Unutterable despite being CD-era overstuffed is just a completely WTF amazing record
― Patton Oswalt Defense Lawyer (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 27 January 2018 04:57 (six years ago) link
Shift Work, Code: Selfish, and The Infotainment Scan are this awesome little hidden, pastoral era.
I only ever saw the Fall during this time, on their American tour when they were first on Matador (Infotainment). They had this set with, if I remember correctly, these painted clouds suspended from something.
― timellison, Saturday, 27 January 2018 06:00 (six years ago) link
I love the run from Shift Work up though Cerebral Caustic. Annoyed that I never did get to see The Fall.. sigh
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 27 January 2018 07:04 (six years ago) link
i am pleased to report that Bargain Booze in Prestwich now has a Mark E Smith tribute in the window https://t.co/UYBuKJFQxv— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) January 26, 2018
― mark s, Saturday, 27 January 2018 10:00 (six years ago) link
that tribute in full:
Cheers to Bargain Booze in Prestwich, who let me leave a tribute to Mark E. Smith on their hallowed turf pic.twitter.com/IqZFkV47Lm— Red Robbo (@Orwell_Fan_Fan) January 25, 2018
― mark s, Saturday, 27 January 2018 10:01 (six years ago) link
I sat and drankFor three decades.I'm forty five.
would perhaps be more suitable there
― koogs, Saturday, 27 January 2018 11:25 (six years ago) link
i saw the fall only once in 2003. it looked like mes was sleepwalking but he definitely didn’t sound like he was sleepwalking. his voice was in the red non stop and there were no pauses between songs. a mix of new and older stuff, mainly mid to late 80s if older. the band was solid and on pure nerves. mes only turned down one amp. there were no fights. very fun night.
― barreras, Saturday, 27 January 2018 15:56 (six years ago) link
Saw them only once on the Main Stage at Phoenix 96 and they were great, MES on very much his best behaviour. They released the set as a stand alone CD iirc so MES must have thought it was a good gig. The mid-late 90s were crazy; just looking at the poster and that same weekend across that same stage you had Neil Young, Bowie, Bjork, Massive Attack, Sex Pistols, Alanis Morisette, Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Beck, Gza, Prodigy, Stereolab..
― piscesx, Saturday, 27 January 2018 16:56 (six years ago) link
I was at that. Iirc it was a different year they released on cd, phoenix 95 maybe
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 27 January 2018 17:07 (six years ago) link
Looked it up, it's both years but mostly 95, 4 songs from 96
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 27 January 2018 17:09 (six years ago) link
I was there too in 96, first time I'd seen them and all I knew by them was This Nation's Saving Grace. I remember it was in the middle of the afternoon, which felt weird, and the cameraman spent the whole gig filming Brix and ignoring the rest of the group.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 27 January 2018 17:56 (six years ago) link
I was aware of the Fall then but all I'd heard was Why Are People Grudgeful because it was on one of those Indie Top 20 CDs. I did like that set though. I was a bit daunted by the huge discography, and this was around the time they put out all those dodgy compilations, so I didn't actually take the plunge and buy something by them for a couple of years when I bought Perverted By Language on CD, it was the version with the singles on it so it had Wings which quickly became my favourite song by them and has remained so.
It's a pity that Phoenix festival wasn't successful because it was only about 25 miles from my home town, I went with my sister in '96 and my grandma drove us there, she had aunts who lived in a village near the festival site so she knew all the back roads and we skipped all the traffic.
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 27 January 2018 18:39 (six years ago) link
I saw 'em around that time, too... I remember them playing 'The Chiselers' and Karl Burns looking terrified during his bit.
― Full of bile and Blue Nile denial (Turrican), Saturday, 27 January 2018 18:42 (six years ago) link
I saw them once but got so drunk I don't remember a thing about the gig, which I guess is at least kinda appropriate.
― albvivertine, Saturday, 27 January 2018 21:05 (six years ago) link
Saw The Fall on the 1993 tour (w/ Scanlon/Hanley) and then again in 2001 when he had the young rockabilly backing band, lots of turning down the amps on that show. MES looked especially tired the 2nd time, as opposed to drunk (semi-functioning alcoholism?) the first time. Some setlists c/o the webz:
1993:M5Ladybird (Green Grass)Glam RacketLost in MusicWhy Are People GrudgefulI'm Going to SpainBig New PrinzThe MixerFree RangeThe League of Bald-Headed MenParanoia Man in Cheap Shit RoomIdiot Joy ShowlandStrychnineWarHit the NorthDeadbeat DescendentA Past Gone MadHigh Tension Line
2001:The JokeCyber InsektTwo LibransAnd ThereinTouch SensitiveCrop-DustBourgeois TownKick The CanF-oldin' MoneyMr. PharmacistSons of TemperanceMy Ex-Classmates' KidsEnigrammatic DreamI Wake up in the CityReprise: Jane - Prof Mick - Ey BastardoWay RoundI Am Damo Suzuki
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 27 January 2018 21:17 (six years ago) link
The Hearts DJ played 'Edinburgh Man' nice and loud at half time. The best part of the game for me.
― call me by your name..or Finn (fionnland), Sunday, 28 January 2018 00:20 (six years ago) link
xp I really like My Ex-Classmates' Kids (which is why I don't think Are You Are Missing Winner is that bad really)
― Colonel Poo, Sunday, 28 January 2018 00:35 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42EfHW5npko
i had a riot watching this tonight.
― meaulnes, Sunday, 28 January 2018 00:43 (six years ago) link
Now that is cool.
― Video reach stereo bog (Tom D.), Sunday, 28 January 2018 00:54 (six years ago) link
That's really cool!
― khat person (jim in vancouver), Sunday, 28 January 2018 04:17 (six years ago) link
it is. and it's worth pointing out to non-scots that Hearts = Heart of Midlothian football club.
― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, 28 January 2018 04:30 (six years ago) link
Xpost:mojo video. So nice to see him laughing and enjoying himself so much. Such a character. Man, I don't think I'll ever stop missing him. I haven't stopped blasting The Fall since Wednesday. Sometimes I think Peel was right, they really are all you need.
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Sunday, 28 January 2018 06:42 (six years ago) link
― Fizzles, Sunday, 28 January 2018 07:18 (six years ago) link
beginning to feel my way slightly, probably best expressed by messages to another fall fan (obv all getting in touch with each other):hey! likewise. it’s hit me harder than i expected and tbh media reports/social media/personal reminiscences don’t really help. there’s something v central about them, and at the moment i don’t know how to represent that. feel it’s best done through small observations or categories of stuff than grand statements. will let you know how it goes as i would like to put something together but it will need to be different from anything else out there that i’ve seen. yes, same here. paul hanley put it well just now i thought: “I’m not one for crocodile tears and hagiography, but the thought that this is now a finished piece of work has made me genuinely sad. Well, that was tearful. I've updated the 2017 Fall Gigography page, including videos from the last Fall outing on 4 November at QMU in Glasgow. Thanks to Mike Ritchie for those. And thank you to the immortal MES. https://t.co/hzJpQ16zaL
Well, that was tearful. I've updated the 2017 Fall Gigography page, including videos from the last Fall outing on 4 November at QMU in Glasgow. Thanks to Mike Ritchie for those. And thank you to the immortal MES. https://t.co/hzJpQ16zaL
I’m not one for crocodile tears and hagiography, but the thought that this is now a finished piece of work has made me genuinely sad. https://t.co/ZgU39qldr4— Paul Hanley (@hanleyPa) January 28, 2018
― Fizzles, Sunday, 28 January 2018 08:19 (six years ago) link
BBC6 has a concert available for a limited time from 1995 Roadhouse and lots of tributes.
― EvR, Sunday, 28 January 2018 09:03 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry06oPMtB20
i hate the guts of shakin' stevens.
― meaulnes, Sunday, 28 January 2018 18:51 (six years ago) link
Hey little singer come on upShow us your house and show us your cock
― Winter. Dickens. Yes. (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 28 January 2018 22:34 (six years ago) link
the working class has been shaftedso what are the fuck you staring at?your philosophy in life it seemsliving out some ad man’s dream
― Fizzles, Monday, 29 January 2018 03:20 (six years ago) link
Finally felt up to listen to something and ended up going with New Facts Emerge for whatever reason. No real stereo setup at home so cranked it up in the car, incidentally the same setting that i’d first heard it back in the summer. Anyway, it’s not an original thought but it’s just impossible not to be affected by Nine Out of Ten; by the song itself and its position as the last song on (presumably) the last Fall album.It reminds me a bit of Job Search, which has that similarly forlorn feel, pared-back, no drums. (At the time I was amazed at how close it came to the tones and colors of Perverted By Language) But also of Ol’ Gang. Both songs use a backing track that repeats—on Ol’ Gang Smith lets it play out once and only starts singing the second time around. Nine Out of Ten flips that to devastating effect.
“Then I was older…”
The sound of the guitar absent Smith’s voice is so close to how death actually feels: (they were -just- here, they can’t be gone)
― Priory, Monday, 29 January 2018 03:43 (six years ago) link
Just got the dvd of that Hacienda gig (includes 3 other gigs as well) and though it was a bit expensive (about $50)I'm very glad I did, as it's shit hot! MES is absolutely on fire, making an effort to get the lyrics right and in sync with the change-ups. Not often the case with many live shows. Sweetheart was prone to this as well. Anyway the dvd is outstanding and definitely recommended to whomevers inclined. Also was listening to that "red box" comp. from a few years back and was nearly in tears during last minute or so of O! Brother. Anyone who ever sex The Fall were a "one note/idea" proposition, just aren't really listening. I was overwhelmed by the poignancy of those last few verses and Mark's vocals are quite well...gorgeous.
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Monday, 29 January 2018 03:47 (six years ago) link