RIP Mark E. Smith

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

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?

seen this?

http://theconversation.com/northern-white-crap-that-talks-back-the-falls-mark-e-smith-spoke-for-weird-manchester-90710

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8P6DDCZZhw

thx sleeve!

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!

pfft Shift-Work is awesome, in my top 5

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.

(by "everything" I mean "the proper studio albums", not the bazillion random live discs from the last 20 years)

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.

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

The Unutterable despite being CD-era overstuffed is just a completely WTF amazing record

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.

I love the run from Shift Work up though Cerebral Caustic. Annoyed that I never did get to see The Fall.. sigh

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

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

I sat and drank
For three decades.
I'm forty five.

would perhaps be more suitable there

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.

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..

I was at that. Iirc it was a different year they released on cd, phoenix 95 maybe

Looked it up, it's both years but mostly 95, 4 songs from 96

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.

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.

I saw 'em around that time, too... I remember them playing 'The Chiselers' and Karl Burns looking terrified during his bit.

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.

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:
M5
Ladybird (Green Grass)
Glam Racket
Lost in Music
Why Are People Grudgeful
I'm Going to Spain
Big New Prinz
The Mixer
Free Range
The League of Bald-Headed Men
Paranoia Man in Cheap Shit Room
Idiot Joy Showland
Strychnine
War
Hit the North
Deadbeat Descendent
A Past Gone Mad
High Tension Line

2001:
The Joke
Cyber Insekt
Two Librans
And Therein
Touch Sensitive
Crop-Dust
Bourgeois Town
Kick The Can
F-oldin' Money
Mr. Pharmacist
Sons of Temperance
My Ex-Classmates' Kids
Enigrammatic Dream
I Wake up in the City
Reprise: Jane - Prof Mick - Ey Bastardo
Way Round
I Am Damo Suzuki

The Hearts DJ played 'Edinburgh Man' nice and loud at half time. The best part of the game for me.

xp I really like My Ex-Classmates' Kids (which is why I don't think Are You Are Missing Winner is that bad really)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42EfHW5npko

i had a riot watching this tonight.

The Hearts DJ played 'Edinburgh Man' nice and loud at half time. The best part of the game for me.

Now that is cool.

That's really cool!

it is. and it's worth pointing out to non-scots that Hearts = Heart of Midlothian football club.

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.

xp I really like My Ex-Classmates' Kids (which is why I don't think Are You Are Missing Winner is that bad really)

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

— Fall news (@fallnews) January 27, 2018

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

BBC6 has a concert available for a limited time from 1995 Roadhouse and lots of tributes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry06oPMtB20

i hate the guts of shakin' stevens.

Hey little singer come on up
Show us your house and show us your cock

the working class has been shafted
so what are the fuck you staring at?
your philosophy in life it seems
living out some ad man’s dream

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)

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.

Beefheart not fucking sweetheart. Fucking spell check on kindle sucks!!!!!

And "says" not "sex". For Christ sake man. Sorry folks!

*pogos furiously to oh brother bassline*

Beefheart not fucking sweetheart. Fucking spell check on kindle sucks!!!!!

Captain Sweetheart :)

At school, q Captain Beefheart concert had a surprising cameo in a history project. The teacher mistakenly read his name out as Captain Beefeater, annoying my friend Owain. Captain Sweetheart is better though.

Captain Sweetheart is my fav thing :)

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)

I was thinking what a good final track for... everything... 9 out of 10 was, but that's a really nice observation about the doubling up. It's also nice that his voice is so raw and exposed in the mix.

Great live clip of "Words Of Expectation" interspersed with MES talking about the group, and then Kay Carroll yelling at Tony Wilson on the phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtUI7KSXZ68

btw research on the Gigography site reveals the first of the two Fall shows I saw required me to rush from home, TV-watching the Mets' miraculous World Series Game 6 win. So best night ever, or at least top 10.

Saturday, 25 October 1986 Ritz, New York City, New York

Barmy / City Hobgoblins / Living too Late / U.S. 80s-90s / Terry Waite Sez / Riddler / Mr. Pharmacist / Lucifer over Lancashire / Shoulder Pads / Gut of the Quantifier / Gross Chapel-GB Grenadiers / Bombast / Prole Art Threat // R.O.D. // L.A. / Cruiser's Creek