Inspired by the Who, Bowie, and Sleater-Kinney threads, I've decided to embark on a much more perilous journey: In this thread I intend to listen to and comment on every Fall studio album and worthwhile compilation chronologically. iTunes says that's 35 albums, 519 songs, 1.4 days of MES and the gang.

Before I get started, my reasons:
1. 2008 marks the 10-year anniversary of my discovery of The Fall. I had seen them compared to several of my favorite bands at the time (e.g. Pavement, GVSB), so without hearing a note, I took some old CDs to Wazoo Records in Ann Arbor and traded them in for 458489 A-Sides (along with Magical Mystery Tour and I think a Doors album). The rest was history. For the next five years, I inhaled everything I could related to The Fall. Hundreds of dollars were sunk into legitimate studio albums, illegitimate live albums, wayward compilations for stray tracks. They were the only band I ever travelled to see live, flying to San Francisco in 2001. I was on email lists. I got into the bootleg trade, amassing over 50 bootlegs. In short, they were the only band that mattered.

Starting about five years ago though, I finally started burning out on them. They gradually left my regular rotation. I unsubscribed from the email lists. Bootlegs were left unlistened to. Their new material left a lot to be desired (to put it mildly). I haven't really listened to them in at least 2-3 years now (around the time I found the SOMB...hmm). So it's time for a full revisit of the catalog, especially now that the 2007 EOY stuff has settled down.

2. I'd like to expose more of the board to the band. If I can get one boarder to become a Fall fan blah blah blah

3. The board needs an ongoing Fall thread.

4. I'm having a kid in 2 months, and there's no way I'll be able to do this after that.


I think the above should be enough to keep me motivated to keep this thing going. I'm not what one would call a verbose boarder, so don't expect the essays that you'll find in the Who thread, just a few sentences for each album. To the other three Fall fans on the board: Please feel free to fill in the gaps and add the commentary I'm sure to miss.

I'm going to be grading each album as I listen to it. I thought some preseason ratings could be interesting. Here's how I would rate each album today, based on my recollections from 5 years ago:

Early Years: B+
Live At The Witch Trials: A
Dragnet: A-
Totale's Turns: B
Grotesque (After The Gramme): A+
Slates: A+
Hex Enduction Hour: A
Room To Live: B
Perverted By Language: A+
The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall: B-
This Nation's Saving Grace: A
Bend Sinister: A-
The Frenz Experiment: B
I Am Kurious, Oranj: C+
Seminal Live: C-
458489 A Sides: A+
Extricate: B-
Shift-Work: C
Code: Selfish: C+
The Infotainment Scan: A-
Middle Class Revolt: C
Cerebral Caustic: D+
The Twenty Seven Points: A+
Light User Syndrome: B+
Levitate: A+
The Marshall Suite: A-
The Unutterable: A
A World Bewitched (Disc 2): B
Etan's Dream Debased (Disc 1): B-
Are You Are Missing Winner: B+
2G + 2: C-
Country On The Click: A-
Interim: C-
Fall Heads Roll: D+
Reformation Post TLC: F

Note this represents the list of albums I'm going to listen to. This is what I consider to be The Fall Studio Canon. I have left out most live albums and compilations, the exceptions being live albums with studio material on them (which The Fall have done on several occasions), and compilations with most tracks not found elsewhere.

Naturally, I'm not actually going to get started tonight. Once I do, I'd like to post the top 2-3 tracks from each album as I go along. I've seen people use DivShare, but I see that you have to register. Is it safe? Or should I just use something like sendspace or mediafire?

Amazing.

By the way, your A+'s are right fucking on.

totally safe as far as i can tell... it's great because you can embed that streaming flash player and people can just click the share tab and download it if they want... plus it's pretty fast for uploads.

good luck on this thread, i think i'm going to predict a Fall burnout for you after maybe record number 16.

Is Reformation Post TLC that bad? Yipes, maybe it's a good thing I never got around to it...

Aside from comps. These are the only five I've listened to hard, as it were, always wanted to hear more from them, seen them live twice but the vastness has always put me off. This thread could be very helpful. Cheers!

i've seen this done once before, but that was pre-reformation so i expect knowing that you have to finish on that soaking wet squib of awfulness will make this even harder.

i'd have to axe myself, do i stick von sudenfed on the end and make the task longer, but ultimately more pleasant, or do i end it on a low eb from which i may never recover until the next fall reccud comes out? apparently it's apparently finished but they're having label issues

i still need to hear these;

Early Years: B+
Totale's Turns: B
Slates: A+
Room To Live: B
The Frenz Experiment: B
Seminal Live: C-
458489 A Sides: A+
Extricate: B-
Shift-Work: C
Cerebral Caustic: D+
The Twenty Seven Points: A+
Light User Syndrome: B+
Levitate: A+
A World Bewitched (Disc 2): B
Etan's Dream Debased (Disc 1): B-
Are You Are Missing Winner: B+
2G + 2: C-
Interim: C-

my god, that's loads

you're daft

Fuck you I invented these threads in 2005 and re-invented them in 2007

rankings are right on, especially on Grotesque, Witch Trials and Cerebral Caustic. I need to hear Slates, apparently.

Funny--it's the only thing I've ever heard by them (thank you, awesome EP thread of 2007!). I would have to agree with the preseason rating of A+.

I have much to gain from a thread such as this.

Best thread ever. I salute you sir.

Not expecting a radical overhaul of your current ratings - maybe an upgrade for TNSG, Kurious Oranj and Fall Heads Roll.
Good call on these two - unfairly overlooked in the grand scheme -

The Marshall Suite: A-
The Unutterable: A

I'll be curious to read your thoughts on The Unutterable. I think you're overrating it a bit. There are strong tracks (Cyber Insekt, W.B., Serum) but a lot of filler, in my opinion. Probably a solid B for me.

I'm hoping you come to see the light on I Am Kurious, Oranj. That's an A- record.

here's a handy guide, for those who want to play along:

http://www.visi.com/fall/discography.html

Apparently I need to hear this. Interested to see how this turns out.

Side two is about as perfect as it gets, but any album with Brix on lead vocal loses grade points.

This is the new BEST THREAD EVAR on the SOOMB. Congratulations, CC.

But the real question is why did you pick a user name based on a album you consider to be a D+ ?

i didnt want to bring that up...

"This is the three R's"



Early Years
1977-1979

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/comp01.html

So going into this little exercise, I was a little worried that the band would just not hold up, that I outgrew the music or something. With so much time having passed since I last really listened to The Fall, I had visions of downgrading every single one of those preseason ratings while my Inner Fall Fan sobbed in a corner. Though that probably would have made for a much more interesting thread, once I heard that signature ramshackle noise at the start of "Repetition", I was happily back into the fold. Whew.

This compilation is made up of a bunch of singles The Fall released before and after their first album. Even though at this time in the band's history, they were a bunch of amateurs that couldn't carry a tune to save their lives, there are some catchy, energetic little punk numbers on here. Like many bands that formed in Manchester in 1976ish, The Fall started out as a sloppy bar band that were chiefly influenced by a single Sex Pistols gig they attended. Yeah, they threw in a little rockabilly ("Dice Man") or darker keyboard flourishes ("Various Times") here and there, but the mighty post-punk/art-pop/dance-pop/electronic behemoth that was to come was still just a wee little punk band at this time.

The best thing about this compilation is still "Repetition", which was a b-side on The Fall's first single. I can't think of another band that laid out their manifesto so succinctly on their first release. "Repetition in the music and we're never going to loose it." The song itself kind of sucks actually, but the lyrics really stick out considering where they were going.

Best songs:

Repetition
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Bingo Master's Break-Out!
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Rowche Rumble
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Rating: B (Preseason rating: B+)

Guys, let me know if this DivShare thing doesn't work for you. It seems inconsistent to me.

"We are The Fall / Northern White Crap That Talks Back"



Live At The Witch Trials
1979

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album01.html

More of the same for The Fall's first album. They're still a noisy little punk band, but they're playing with a lot more confidence now, and the songs are getting better and catchier. I listened to Early Years in the morning, and though I enjoyed it, it didn't really leave a mark. I listened to LATWT in the afternoon, and the tracks have been in my head ever since. It's a pretty consistent release, in that most of the songs sound the same and are of the same pretty high quality. The band has started to slow down a bit, and they're using the circusy keyboard a lot more.
 
Couple of notable firsts on this album: MES abandons any notion of singing and "raps" for the first time on "Crap Rap / Like To Blow". This will become his trademark for the next 5 years. Also, "Live At The Witch Trials" marks the first experimental non-song they did. There will be one of these for most albums. Some are interesting, some are terrible, most are just there.
 
Great album title, btw. Considering their subsequent history of shitty album titles, they really blew their wad with this one.

Best songs:

Frightened
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Mother-Sister!
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Futures And Pasts
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Rating: A- (Preseason rating: A)

Does your name start with an S and do you work at a company whose initials are DW? If yes I applaud your quest. If no, I totally know a guy you should make a baby with.

Sorry, nay.

Regarding my user name: I happened to be listening to that album when I picked my ebay ID years ago, and it just stuck.

And before I forget: Thanks to visi.com/fall, the source of all things Fall. In addition to using them for occasional research, I'm stealing their images and linking to their discography pages.

Hopefully Dragnet and Totale's Turns tomorrow....

Well, a guy my girlfriend works with could definitely battle you for World's Biggest Fall fan. He made her a couple cd compilations and the liner notes were, eh, something to see. It wasn't the thought that went into it so much as the fact that it was all handwritten in ball point pen, and tiny. And it filled up the entire insert sleeve. Admirable, but slightly "walls of notebooks in Se7en-ish."

Oh trust me, I am far from the world's biggest Fall fan. Like any cult band there are some serious fanatics out there.

Biggest Fall fan on the board--that's another story

I think you underrated Heads Roll. It's way, way better than Country on the Click and the last one.

I understand where you are going with studio only, but I would have to advocate for the Peel Sessions set as an exception. They always played their best for Peel and the six disc set is an A+ across the board even for some of their thinner material. I will also say that the Call for Escape Route tracks included on Wonderful and Frightening World should stand on their own despite their inclusion on the W&FW CD.

Agree completely, the Peel box is the one Fall release that everyone who has any interest in the band should have. That said, I will be listening to most of the songs therein on their respective releases, so I'll probably pass on including it in this thread. Maybe if I'm still in the mood and want to keep things going, I'll tack it on the end. Or maybe I'll have a supplement thread for live Fall releases, since I'm also skipping some great ones like In A Hole and The Legendary Chaos Tape.


I don't know what this is. All I know is the CD. Though this might explain why I feel that album is overlong and scattered, huh?

No update tonight, kids. Way too busy today, I've only listened to like 3 songs from Dragnet (but they were corkers--"A Figure Walks" has been in my head all day)

The last six tracks- Slang King through No Bulbs were an EP called Call for Escape Route originally. I was a bit surprised when I saw that you rated WFW so low before, but with the EP it does drag a bit compared to Perverted by Language.

I think most of the stuff they released on Beggars in the 80s got a pretty unsympathetic first CD release. W&FW and TNSG certainly got singles dumped right in the middle of the original tracklist and it changed the flow completely but I think this was addressed on subsequent reissues.

That said, I just checked the 2005 reissues of 'Peverted by language' on Amazon and it bears hardly any resemblance to the original vinyl release. Not much you can do about that I guess. It's a project in itself unpicking the originals out of reissue soup if you first heard a different version. The tracklisting for the 1st release is always the one given here if it makes any difference http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/singlesalbums.html

"Spectre blows him against the wall
Says 'Die latin this is your fall'"



Dragnet
1979

http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/data/album02.html

Dragnet is the sound of a band coming into their own. They almost completely dropped the noisy punk band schtick and adopted the dark groove they would be exploring for the next few albums. A lot of this had to do with Scanlon and Hanley joining the band and Marc Riley moving from bass to lead guitar (with one of the best, most-distinct guitar sounds of the 80s--as much the Fall sound as MES' vocals. It sounds almost middle-eastern at times, and it always manages to sound catchy). The new blood meshed perfectly with MES, who was also finding his own voice--Dragnet is where the long spoken-word rant/stories he is known for really started.

It's also where the MONSTER tracks of The Fall first appeared. Spectre vs Rector is just devastating. Muzorewi's Daughter, Before The Moon Falls, and A Figure Walks aren't far behind. There's something indescribable and primal about these songs and this band that just completely clicks with me, that no other band has ever come close to matching.

If you're playing at home, this album is the start of Classic Fall Phase 1979-1983. It is essential.

Best songs:

Muzorewi's Daughter
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Flat Of Angles
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Spectre vs. Rector
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Rating: A (Preseason rating: A-)

As expected, this will be a lot slower than I would have liked. Any feedback on format or anything so far?

And yeah, sorry, as purist as it would be to listen to these things as they were originally released, I've lived and breathed the CD versions, so that's what'll be reviewed.

No complaints so far cock. When's the nipper due?

Probably common knowledge but Riley now hosts a fairly decent radio show here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/brain_surgery/

"Fucking get it together instead of showing off"



Totale's Turns
1980

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/live01.html

Fall fans are obsessive. They're inherently the type of people that will buy and rebuy anything and everything associated with their favorite band. And so an entire industry has sprung up that releases Fall Product on pretty much a quarterly basis. Since the band themselves are usually only capable of releasing one measly studio album a year, the industry has relied on live albums and compilations to fill the gaps. Unless you are an idiot completist like me, these releases are completely inessential and should be avoided.

Totale's Turns is The Fall's first live album, recorded around the time Dragnet came out. To sweeten the deal, they appended three unreleased studio songs, which is why I'm bothering with it (they repeated the same formula on a few other live albums that will also be covered later on). The live stuff is a bit of a letdown after Dragnet, focusing more on the pre-Dragnet punk sound. They're still good songs played with spunk, but there aren't any revelations over the studio versions. The "exclusive" studio songs sound like the leftovers that they are. "New Puritan" is pretty good, but it's a demo that needs to be fleshed out.

Best songs:

New Puritan
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Rating: C (Preseason rating: B )

"Wireless enthusiast intercepts government secret radio band and
uncovers secrets and scandals of deceitful type proportions"



Grotesque (After The Gramme)
1980

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album03.html

So great. As much as The Fall are held up as a hard-edged post-punk/garage rock band, they're really a pop group at heart, and Grotesque proves it. No matter how much MES is snarling or how much of a racket the band is producing, this album is chock full of toe-tapping tunes. Seriously, it is physically impossible to listen to a song like "New Face In Hell" and not bob your head. Same with "English Scheme", "Container Drivers", "The NWRA", etc etc. Great lyrics all over the place too, especially "C'N'C-S Mithering", 7+ minutes of MES ranting about the music industry of the day (I think).

This album is a high-water mark. If you're new to The Fall, you should start here for their early-80s period. Bonus: They started using a kazoo on this album!

Best songs:

English Scheme
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New Face In Hell
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C'N'C-S Mithering
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Rating: A+ (Preseason rating: A+)

There's 5 or 6 fall records I'd not want to be without but this ^^^^^^ is the big one. Amazing lyrics, you're right, the sort of demented stream of consciousness that has been lost to speed damage in later years. Lots of rockabilly influence bleeding into this one, 'container drivers' etc, MES called this their "country & northern" record.

Keep going CC.

"Here's the definitive rant"



Slates
1981

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album04.html

When Fall fans argue about the best Fall album, Slates never comes up. Not because it's an EP, but because they're really arguing about the second-best Fall album: It's implied that Slates is pound-for-pound the best thing the band ever released. All six songs are gems. "Slates, Slags etc" is unrelenting greatness. "An Older Lover" probably has MES' funniest lyrics ever. No throwaway tracks to pad the album out (natch), no annoying experimental bullshit. Yeah, it's an EP, but it's the best EP ever released by anyone, 23 minutes of perfection.

I played this album for a friend once, and 30 seconds into "Middle Mass" he proclaimed that they sounded like David Bowie. The only Fall-Bowie comparison in history?

Best songs:

Middle Mass
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Prole Art Threat
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Slates, Slags, Etc
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Rating: A+ (Preseason rating: A+)

"HEY THERE FUCKFACE!!
HEY THERE FUCKFACE!!"



Hex Enduction Hour
1982

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album05.html

Some pretty big changes here. Karl Burns was added as a second drummer. Burns and Paul Hanley sound like they're constantly trying to outdo each other on drums. Steve Hanley added some oomph to his bass to keep up. Marc Riley amped up his guitar to be as prominent as it was when he didn't have such a huge rhythm section behind him. And MES added even more snarl to go above Riley. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the band would never sound tighter, fuller, or better. They sound absolutely massive on this record, like they could pack stadiums. But they also reigned it in and never sounded quieter than they did on songs like "Hip Priest", "Winter", and "Iceland". Brilliant.

So why only an A? "And This Day" is up there for most annoying song ever. Obnoxious noise that just. won't. end. The chorus on "Jawbone And The Air-Rifle" has always bothered me too, something about the way the band sings the melody.

Fun fact #1: "Hip Priest" is easily the most-heard Fall song ever, heard by millions of people during the closing scenes of Silence of the Lambs. I don't know what it says about The Fall that they were seen as a suitable band for a serial killer to listen to, but hey, exposure.

Fun fact #2: The album is exactly one hour (probably why they had "And This Day" go on for so long)

Fun fact #3: According to legend, Berry Gordy wanted to sign a rock act to Motown in 1982. The Fall were on the verge of being signed until he heard the opening lyrics to "The Classical"

Best songs:

The Classical

Hip Priest

Fortress/Deer Park

Rating: A (Preseason rating: A)

PS. I'm switching to just uploading the tracks to Mediafire. Divshare seems to really degrade the quality.

Their greatest record. I don't know what to tell you about "And This Day". It's a classic. Long as hell, incomprehensible, chaotic, loud. It's like the band trying to approximate the apocalypse. Try listening to it on headphones. That's how I fell in love with it.

Here we fucking go.

I can see how it might appeal to a certain segment of Fall fans, those that prefer their Fall to be noisy and messy and chaotic. I like those things too, but I need my Fall to have hooks.

Great cover. Cigs smoked here, have a bleedin guess etc.

talking of long noisey/ messy rock songs;

and this day > sister ray

*waits to get laughed off the planet*

but yeah, hex enduction hour is a perfect album and its fucking horrible

"I'm from a town called M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M
Marquis! Cha Cha!"



Room To Live
1982

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album06.html

The one misstep in The Fall's 79-83 glory period. The songs on it just aren't very strong, and the band don't seem to have their hearts in it. They sound a lot sloppier and less in command of what they're doing than they did on Hex. Only seven songs--was this a stop-gap release? Are these the leftovers from Hex, which was released only a few months earlier? Were there tensions in the band, with Marc Riley leaving later in the year?

On the other hand, Room To Live does contain "Marquis Cha-Cha", probably my favorite Fall song ever. I love the "Latin flavor", funky guitar, shuffling rhythm, MES' paranoia-filled tale of an ex-English DJ in South America. Such a fun, catchy track, I've never listened to it without at least nodding my head.

Best songs:

Marquis Cha-Cha

Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul


Rating: B- (Preseason rating: B )

"Up The Stairs, Mister"



Perverted By Language
1983

http://visi.com/fall/discog/data/album07.html

I'm ever so slightly disappointed by this one. There was a time when it was my favorite Fall album (hence the preseason A+), but now it seems a touch repetitive after Hex. It's basically Hex's evil twin brother: More of the same thunderous two-drummer rhythm with MES barking on top, only darker and louder. The songs that follow that template are stellar: "Garden", "Smile", "Tempo House", "Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot" are all arguably better than their counterparts on Hex and represent the band at the absolute peak of their powers. The rest of the album is kind of filler though, except for "Eat Y'self Fitter", which is just about as fun and catchy as "Marquis Cha-Cha" (and have you seen the video?).

This album marks the end of Classic Fall Phase 1979-1983.

Best songs:

Eat Y'self Fitter

Smile

Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot


Rating: A (Preseason rating: A+)

"Spectre vs. Rector" is amazing.

maybe Dragnet is the best Fall album, impossible to say. Definitely the best-sounding though.