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Rebellious Jukebox
This week’s list is dedicated to the long-running Manchester-based group THE FALL. They’re one of my favorite bands of all-time and recently, I’ve begun to listen to their catalog again, this time in chronological order. Therefore, I thought that this week I’d present 10 of my favorite Fall albums and add some commentary as well. I have purposely omitted compilations and live albums, of which The Fall have plenty. Some of these are essential listening, though they would comprise another list.
The Fall – Grotesque (After the Gramme) (Rough Trade)
In my mind, this is where The Fall went from a great, albeit totally unique post-punk band, to something on an even greater level. “New Face in Hell” was copped years later by PAVEMENT for their “Conduit for Sale” (on Slanted and Enchanted) and it’s one of this album’s many great tunes. However, my favorite track is “C’n‘C Smithering”, as a good an evisceration of the music industry as I’ve ever heard.
The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera)
Regarded by many fans as a bona-fide classic and perhaps their greatest album, I definitely think it’s one of their best as well. Showcasing a two-drummer lineup, the rhythms are propulsive and heavy while MARK E. SMITH‘s ranting and raving (especially on “The Classical” and other jaw-droppers like “Fortress/Deer Park” and “Who Makes the Nazis?”) is at its all-time peak.
The Fall – Perverted by Language (Rough Trade)
Continuing with the two-drummer lineup, this underrated 1983 album also functions as the debut of guitarist BRIX SMITH, at the time Mark E. Smith’s wife and a chief contributor to the music they would make until her departure at the end of the ’80s (and also briefly in the mid ’90s as well).
Her influence wouldn’t really be felt until the following year’s The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, but regardless this contains some of The Fall’s greatest material. Try “Garden” and “Eat Y’Self Fitter” for starters.
The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace (Beggars Banquet)
Possibly their most well-known album as well as the most acclaimed (along with Hex Enduction Hour), this is more difficult listening than those accolades would leave one to initially believe.
Still, the rewards are plentiful, with classics like the blistering “Spoilt Victorian Child”, Brix’s electro-ish “L.A.” and “I Am Damo Suzuki” peppered throughout this landmark release.
The Fall – Shift-Work (Fontana)
One of their more underrated releases, this is perhaps because it’s a softer and more introspective release than what fans were accustomed to beforehand. This features “Edinburgh Man”, a tender homage to the titular city in Scotland, alongside more traditional (i.e. less tender but just as great) Fall material like “Idiot Joy Showland,” “The War Against Intelligence” and “Pittsville Direct”.
The Fall – The Light User Syndrome (Jet)
My favorite Fall album of the ’90s, it was also the last Fall album that Brix Smith played on (she was also on 1995’s Cerebral Caustic). Her contributions are felt heavily here and at times, this feels more like a mid ’90s Beggars album than like most of the Fall’s (admittedly diverse) ’90s work. Also notable is the addition of keyboardist and guitarist JULIA NAGLE, would would play with The Fall until 2001.
The Fall – Levitate (Artful)
Perhaps the Fall’s most controversial and divisive release, I am among those who really like it despite its obvious shortcomings. First off, the cover is so amateur-looking that it could give BLACK SABBATH‘s Born Again a run for its money in the “so bad it’s good” department.
Also, with Nagle co-writing five of the album’s fourteen tracks and guitarists CRAIG SCANLON and Brix Smith leaving the year before, the album was much more electronic-dominated than any of their releases other than perhaps 1992’s Code: Selfish.
More than the techno influence of Code: Selfish, though, the album feels like it’s barely holding together and as such, artists like CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, POLVO and DEERHOOF come to mind when listening to it.
The Fall – The Unutterable (Artful)
An underrated classic, this remains my favorite album of the last decade. The first nine tracks here are as good as it gets, with higlights including “Cyber Insekt,” “Two Librans,” “Sons of Temperance” and “Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun”.
The album loses a little steam in its last third, though “Hands Up Billy” (the only track to feature lead vocals from guitarist NEVILLE WILDING, who also wrote it), the album’s twelfth tracks, is absolutely excellent.
The Fall – The Real New Fall Lp (Narnack)
Released in 2004 to rave reviews and often cited as one of the finest Fall albums in decades, I think this is an excellent effort. I do think the accolades are a bit much, though, and possibly influenced by the fact that they hadn’t released a record in the U.S. since 1999’s The Marshall Suite.
Regardless, “Green-Eyed Loco Man” (one of The Fall’s few love songs) starts things off with a bang and elsewhere, the single “Theme from Sparta F.C.” is one of their finest songs ever. I’m also quite fond of “Mike’s Love Xexagon”, a track referring to THE BEACH BOYS‘ MIKE LOVE as “the worm in the bacon of BB”.
The Fall – Fall Heads Roll (Narnack)
Featuring a solid cover of THE MOVE‘s “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” and the blistering, bass-heavy corker “Blindness”, this was a solid follow-up to The Real New Fall Lp and to my ears, their last solid effort as well.
