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Dudes who listen to The Fall

DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
edited March 2014 in Strut Central
Are there folks who are Fall completists? Fall enthusiasts? They have something like fifty albums, which makes it really hard to pick a place to start. I've heard a bit here and there and have owned a 10" by them, but their sheer mass of output makes it seem more trouble than it's worth to get involved. If any of you dudes truly and throroughly ride, please to provide a sketch of their lengthy career and an album or two that's good for a starting point.
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  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    I asked the same a while back and was seen right by LazarusO dude.

    Speak!
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    These 2 I've found to be the only Fall albums I need...





    I don't doubt that there are others I would like, but I'm good with these.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    I don't doubt that there are others I would like, but I'm good with these.

    This is the vibe I get from them. I kinda like some of the stuff I've heard, but I've never been really grabbed by one of their songs. Couple that with more albums than most folks have in their entire CD collection, and I am hesitant.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,963 Posts
    Heh.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    The North will rise again!

    @jimster
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    I thought I was exagerrating when I said 50 albums, but I just counted and they appear to have 39 studio albums and at least 5 live albums. That'stoo much.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts


    Essential heads know the transaction
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    DJ_Enki said:


    Essential heads know the transaction

    Being surface of broken eye.
  • SnappingSnapping 995 Posts
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    :beerbang:
    Attached files
  • CastenedaCasteneda 100 Posts
    The Fall have a consistent catalog. Most of their albums are solid, but not necessarily spectacular. I ended up getting rid of most of my Fall albums, but this album still blows my mind on occasion, featuring two drummers on a majority of the album:
    Attached files
  • toby.dtoby.d 254 Posts
    All the people I know who are into The Fall are very into The Fall. I bet there are loads of completists. I've never been able to work out where to start either.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    Of the ones not mentioned so far, I love "This Nation's Saving Grace."

    Also if you like Pavement's "Slanted & Enchanted" then you might like the Fall album they ripped off "Grotesque"
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    My personal favorite is Dragnet, but my feeling is that This Nation's Saving Grace is probably the one record to listen to if you want to decide whether or not you really like The Fall. All the DNA is there. If you like something on that record, you can follow whichever of its threads interest you (broadly speaking, go back in the catalog for the bug-out stuff, forward for the groovier stuff [such as it is]), and if you don't like anything on that record, I think you can step out of the enterprise without having to worry about whether or not what you heard was the truly representative shit.
  • LazarusOblongLazarusOblong 896 Posts
    DB_Cooper said:
    Are there folks who are Fall completists? Fall enthusiasts? They have something like fifty albums, which makes it really hard to pick a place to start. I've heard a bit here and there and have owned a 10" by them, but their sheer mass of output makes it seem more trouble than it's worth to get involved. If any of you dudes truly and throroughly ride, please to provide a sketch of their lengthy career and an album or two that's good for a starting point.

    I was a Fall completist for a while but gave up sometime during the 90s. I've heard some of their stuff since then but declining quality (mostly due to band instability) just made it a bad percentage move to try to keep up.

    Fifty albums is way low, I think, since there are also tons of comps and EPs, and over 20 live releases.

    My favorite is still the 1st I ever heard, Early Years 77-79. After that I'd recommend Dragnet, Live at The Witch Trials, Fall in a Hole (early live stuff from New Zealand), The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, Grotesque, This Nation's Saving Grace, and Hex Enduction Hour.

    There's a 6 CD set of their complete Peel Sessions! Some might say that's excessive...

    From a mid-80s EP:



    From Perverted By Language (which should be on the above list, too):

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    edith head said:

    Also if you like Pavement's "Slanted & Enchanted" then you might like the Fall album they ripped off "Grotesque"

    Okay, so sounds like I'll soon have a 3rd Fall album. Thanks for the reco.
  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    As an intro I agree with This Nation's and Hex Enduction Hour.

    For me most of what they released in 70's/80's is very good and also 3 or 4 of the releases from 2005 have been a good return to form also.

    In terms of completists, I have a friend who is only missing 3 original releases all of which were during the dip in the form they had in the late 90's I think. He's been to see them live around 12 or 13 times.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    edith head said:

    Also if you like Pavement's "Slanted & Enchanted" then you might like the Fall album they ripped off "Grotesque"

    Okay, so sounds like I'll soon have a 3rd Fall album. Thanks for the reco.

    Okay, I'm too much of a fan of Slanted and Enchanted to just now be realizing that this is uncanny...

  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    Unsurprisingly Mark E Smith was never particularly gracious about Pavement "paying homage" to them.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    SP 1200 said:
    Unsurprisingly Mark E Smith was never particularly gracious about Pavement "paying homage" to them.

    Hahaha. The last time I saw The Fall maybe 10 years ago, Mark E. Smith yelled "I DONT CARE IF IT'S ME AND YOUR GRANDMA, ITS STILL THE FALL"

    what a lil curmudgeon
  • soulcitizensoulcitizen 304 Posts
    MES autobiography is hilariously great from start to finish. I ride with everything on 45 and LP up to Hex Enduction as are the ones I bought as they came out. Slates hasn't been mentioned? PINK PROLE THREAT!

    Does the content translate outside the north of England, it's very of its time and place? (Genuine question)

    (Just realised my avatar...)
  • soulcitizensoulcitizen 304 Posts
    Recently been listening to (Martin Bramahs) Blue Orchids 'the greatest hit' LP after decades, a fine fall-related album
  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    soulcitizen said:
    MES autobiography is hilariously great from start to finish. I ride with everything on 45 and LP up to Hex Enduction as are the ones I bought as they came out. Slates hasn't been mentioned? PINK PROLE THREAT!

    Does the content translate outside the north of England, it's very of its time and place? (Genuine question)

    (Just realised my avatar...)

    It's a good read, just found it in a cupboard yesterday looking for old Iceberg Slim/Payback Press books. Must return it to my mate.

    I'm friends with a guy that was the lead guitarist in the late 90's (designed the artwork for Levitate). There's youtube footage of the infamous NYC 1998 gig with him punching MES onstage (bit of a girly punch tbh) before MES got sent to Rikers but was never an inmate I think.
  • ScottScott 420 Posts
    So with 20+ studio albums, what are the live shows like? One song from each LP, or do some just get ignored?
  • LazarusOblongLazarusOblong 896 Posts
    soulcitizen said:
    Does the content translate outside the north of England, it's very of its time and place? (Genuine question)

    No, it really doesn't.

    But it doesn't matter to me. I don't care what the lyrics mean. It's not relevant to the appeal of the band.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    Scott said:
    So with 20+ studio albums, what are the live shows like? One song from each LP, or do some just get ignored?

    when I saw him it was a lot of material from the latest release.
  • Possum SlimPossum Slim 353 Posts
    They usually tour when there's a new album out.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    SP 1200 said:
    They usually tour when there's a new album out.

    So, all the time? Then they record the tour, put out a live album and tour again.
  • soulcitizensoulcitizen 304 Posts
    LazarusOblong said:
    soulcitizen said:
    Does the content translate outside the north of England, it's very of its time and place? (Genuine question)

    No, it really doesn't.

    But it doesn't matter to me. I don't care what the lyrics mean. It's not relevant to the appeal of the band.

    Ok, that's strange to me as their entire appeal is the lyrics and identifying with what MES is saying. Great original lyricist above all else IMO
    Glad you find what you find but I guess I'll always be confused how they had any popularity outside their 'environment' (glad they have)
  • LazarusOblongLazarusOblong 896 Posts
    soulcitizen said:
    LazarusOblong said:
    soulcitizen said:
    Does the content translate outside the north of England, it's very of its time and place? (Genuine question)

    No, it really doesn't.

    But it doesn't matter to me. I don't care what the lyrics mean. It's not relevant to the appeal of the band.

    Ok, that's strange to me as their entire appeal is the lyrics and identifying with what MES is saying. Great original lyricist above all else IMO
    Glad you find what you find but I guess I'll always be confused how they had any popularity outside their 'environment' (glad they have)

    I didn't know what "Rowche Rumble" was all about until years after I'd first heard it, but I always thought it was a great song, if that helps any.

    I think there's a reason Mark E. Smith doesn't include lyrics with his albums.

    Maybe this will help:

    http://thequietus.com/articles/03925-the-fall-and-mark-e-smith-as-a-narrative-lyric-writer
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