http://fallingandlaughing.com/tagged/MES

That is an *awesome* use of the internet.

TNSG box due in Jan. Sid, did you check the W&FWOTF box? I'm curious about the way the tracklisting looked from your end of the telescope.
It was as I remember it from the UK release, was the US release different? (re discussion of Beggars-era running orders on here, c2008).

Saw this band on the weekend! They were ridiculous and great. Mostly YFOC material but that was OK because I enjoy that album a lot.

Here is a photo from the festival that I found amusing:

Dang, you are lucky. I would be so, so excited if they came to Chicago again. One of the best shows I've ever seen.

I haven't checked out the latest issues, though I've heard good things about the quality. Having picked up all those LPs back in the day, then the singles A's and B's sets, then the BBC box... I'm pretty much set, save for the unreleased live stuff on the new box.

Most of the US Beggars Banquet LP releases at the time where different, to varying degrees. Usually, they had the odd single-only track tacked on somewhere. My W&FWOTF has "C.R.E.E.P." added at the end of side one, "No Bulbs" added to the start of side two. Otherwise it's the same. I imagine the LP reissue, much like the original UK, probably benefits sonically from having the shorter tracklist.

Excited about the upcoming new LP. Very "Greek Metal" sound, according to MES - whatever that means.

Saw Fall gruppe last night. Raft of new songs suggesting the next record is likely to be a stormer, possibly the best yet of the recent surge.

Also played most of YFOC, 2 from IWS, Reformation, Strychnine, Mr Pharmacist and - stone me - 2 from Dragnet.

Good band.

Afterthought - I took with me a couple of charlies who hadn't see Fall since 1998 and 1979 respectively. Both absolutely blown away.

Your post inspired me to go lurk at the Fall board for a while. My old account is still active!

Why is that place so busy? What are we doing wrong here?

Seeing the fall in 1998 and/or 1979... damn.

This is a good thread.

I hope to see this band one day!

So so sorry I didn't see them when they were in town.

Shit.

i've not seen them since 1989, need to rectify that stat
report i read on koko set said smith had more energy than the rest of the group, which sounds like a big turn around

He was commanding and sober - sneaking sips from a water bottle hidden behind an amp stack - but I did say to that commentator that he was being a bit hard on the drummer. That guy plays like he's in Danzig ir something.

Afterthought #2 - one of the new songs was long and wordy, almost like a Hex era song, and seemed to be a diatribe about the awfulness & impudence of These New Puritans.

Yeah, the 79 guy is the only person I know who saw The Sex Pistols, opening for The Pretty Things in 1976 before they'd been signed. Another friend of mine saw The Fall open for The Cramps at Erics in Liverpool in 1979. I sit at the feet of these old guys, keeping their glasses topped up, taking it all in.

That said, I'm pretty sure I've seen The Fall at least once a year every year since 1987.

New album should be here some time in September. Hopefully they can continue with their recent streak of awesomeness.

The notion that The Fall have a song about gossip girl is one of the more ridiculous things I've heard in a while.

Salivating over this regardless

Great title. 'Black Sabbath but with big gaps in it'. Where do I sign up?

Ersatz G.B. is awesome, that makes it three really solid albums in a row for The Fall. Not sure where I'd rank it in comparison to Imperial Wax Solvent or Your Future, Our Clutter yet but it definitely doesn't disappoint. Lou Reed and Metallica need to listen to 'Greenway' to hear how an old guy rambling over heavy metal riffs should sound. And that Gossip Girl song 'Nate Will Not Return' may be the best thing on here, it's fantastic.

I enjoyed my first listen of the new one today. "Happi Song" was a pretty unexpected, and not at all unenjoyable, change of pace. Gossip girl song is a barnstormer.

Some great recent MES interviews - he's really doing the rounds for this one and he's on fine form.

http://thequietus.com/articles/07465-mark-...erview-the-fall
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...ea-6260036.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/aaf3ba02-0549-11...l#axzz1ew0vk3oE

In other news, saw this band last night, Greenway on paternity leave so Pressley from the Reformation era drafted in as standby at short notice. We got a good mixed set of the new one, the usual oldies_covers ('White lightning' particularly good) and a couple of recent gems that had lain dormant for a while - Latchkey kid, Systematic abuse, the latter being the highlight of the night for me. And here it is.



As you'll gather, MES on sparkling form, almost bantering at times, and the live mixing routine taken to new levels of excellence_weirdness.

Elsewhere, did a LOL on noticing that Greenway is missing from the band listing on the incredibly shoddy inlay to Ersatz: GB

Thanks for the links. Always quotable, he is.

“I’m in two minds about traveling. The good thing about it is it keeps the group on their fucking toes. They have to be tired for two or three days. A lot of groups nowadays they just think they’re in their little shuttle-bus. The wife’s not very pleased and the group aren’t very pleased, but I just think it’s just good to keep them on the fucking go all the time, even if it’s for useless things. I’ve always been like that. What you get then is ‘Why did we travel for two days just to be onstage for fifty minutes?’ and I say: ‘Because you fucking do.’ If you don’t like it you can fuck off. You’re very lucky to have a job.”

After pretty positive reviews for the last few Fall albums, Pitchfork, oddly, slams the new one: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16081-...fall-ersatz-gb/

Not that odd, really. This new one's a dud.

Kudos to Pitchfork for not playing along. I'm guessing Mojo gave it four stars, am I right?

Yeah, its patchy for sure. Comes over well live. Mojo - 4 stars. The Wire really liked it.

The hardest thing to swallow in that p4k article is also probably the most true: that if you took away MES, you'd have sub-mediocre hard rock. His backing band come off like a local garage band, but not in any good way. Maybe it's time to call up your granny and the bongos.

I saw The Fall on Friday. Pretty much as good as I've *ever* seen them. And I've seen them. I also saw Scratch Acid, Boredoms (twice), Watt & Hurley, Half Japanese, Robyn Hitchcock, Jeff Mangum, lots of other stuff at ATP, you know. But you don't want to hear about that.

Old news, as these 'From The Basement' vids have been knocking about for a while, but if you haven't see them - they are tremendous.

I think Nigel Godrich helped produce, which might explain why it sounds so good. There's a few decent bands in the series including Radiohead and Sonic Youth.