Anyone else like this band? I've just discovered them, though given they are a 70s band I realise I am quite late. They remind me a bit of other bands I like, sort of like Mogwai or Low or codeine
Was listening to the original single release of totally wired the other night. Not massively familiar with all their stuff but some top albums in their early work
Hey there, fuck-face! I don't see the Mogwai comparison at all, although I love both bands. Elves rather rips off I Wanna Be Your Dog but is still a great tune.
Can't listen to The Fall without wanting to gouge my eyes out but saw them at the Indigo 02 a few years back. Amazing gig with a blinding band of young uns and his missus bashing out the music with Mark E. Smith posturing around and grimacing whilst occasionally deigning to push a key now and again and growling incoherently. Whatever he is - he was a one off spellbinding post-modern northern genius of punk. Or summat like that. Saw him again at Glastonbury last year where he was being filmed for the BBC so he made an effort and I didn't get 'it' that time. Or maybe it was just the fucking mud....
Sometimes he's just a bit shit. Or you aren't in the right mood, I dunno. But when he's/you're in the zone, there's nothing like it.
50,000 Fall Fans Can't be Wrong is a decent introductory best-of that covers from the 1970s up to the early 2000s. It's a mix of singles and album tracks, so see what you like and go from there. IMO, the best thing they ever did is the Slates EP, the best full-length album is Perverted by Language, but there's really no shortage of great stuff.
He's been shit live for many years in my opinion, apart from around Light User Syndrome/Doc Shanley when there were one or two in the band who could give as good as they got on stage, and that brief hiatus when half of the classic line-up came back. I saw them last year and it was no longer like watching some situationist prank involving an artistic genius playing the part of a gurning tramp completely unsuited to singing or appearing on a stage - it was just watching a gurning tramp completely unsuited...
I remember when I first got into the Fall, they seemed like this legendary band fronted by a weird old guy who had recorded a million albums and been around forever. And that was almost 25 years ago...
This Nations Saving Grace is one of the finest albums ever made Hex Enduction Hour isn't far behind. Plus Slates, Wonderful & Frightening World of... and Live at the Witchtrials
After Dylan's win this year, I reckon next year's Nobel Prize for Literature ought to be a face-off between Mark E Smith and Shaun Ryder.
Hex Enduction Hour Slates This Nations Saving Grace The Infotainment Scan Your Future, Our Clutter Though strictly speaking Slates is an EP.
I went to see The Fall earlier this year having never seen them before or listened to their albums. The band was really good but I thought they were being fronted by Uncle Peter - didn't understand a word of it
