Week 49: 09/02/12 - 30/10/12

One of the worst record covers in the world - what were they thinking? Anyway this is two tracks and is excellent - no mucking about, just straight up Fall goodness. Victrola Time shows up on re-mit but sounds a bunch better here - there's really energy to it and some urgency that's been sadly lacking in the latter output of the Fall. The flip side is a live version of Taking Off and is equally great. Just a solid performance, well recorded and all that kind of thing. It's a shame that this 45 didn't carry over to the albums.

Week 50: 30/10/12 - 21/07/13

And we get close to the close. Week 50 brings me the Re-Mit LP and the Sir William Wray 45. Re-Mit is okay, but doesn't really come alive for me - it sounds overproduced and the vocals are way down in the mix and a little murky. They kind of do another Monks cover on Kinder of Spine, but Marks kind of out of it here. Victrola Time has something about it, all wooshy electronics and furious drumming. And then it disappears - largely forgettable.

The William Wray 45 adds little to this, just different versions of the tracks on the album. Somewhat disappointing.

10 Records for 2014

So it's been a year of ups and downs but musically, it's been pretty solid - a lot of late entrants into this obviously but still a good un'. LET'S BREAK IT DOWN LIKE THIS:

10. Stark Reality - Acting, Thinking, Feeling

I picked up the Stark Reality boxset at the start of the year, and also had a trouser rubbing moment seeing it on the wall at my favourite record store in Oakland. Stark Reality is thee break digging record de jour - in the Tribe documentary Q-Tip makes no prisoners, appearing with two copies of the Music Shop LP in the background when he's talking. The Music Shop record I find a little trying, but the real gem here is Acting, Thinking, Feeling - a jazz piece in three movements. The second movement does it severely for me, but the whole thing is a wondrous reminder about the power of indie jazz. Also vibraphone. It's wonderful and uplifting and magical in equal measures:

09.  Noh Mercy

I've been buying a lot of stuff on a local label called "Superior Viaduct". They do a lot of Noise type recordings, but also Bay Area weirdness. This was a favourite on there (though the Factrix records are well worth picking up also), a complete channeling of Bikini Kill type sound but in the late 70s instead. The back cover states "No Boys With Guitars" and rightly so. This has swears in it, but it's pretty good at capturing their sound.

08. Danny Paul Grody

My new strategy when buying is records is to a) don't be afraid to buy things I'm sniffy of and b) always buy at least one thing I've never heard of and sounds interesting. So this came by a recommendation in Amoeba records, Berkley. I'm heavy into the Guitar Soli type sound at the moment and this hits the spot. Unsurprisingly DPG was initially in a Post Rock group. The LP is "Between Two Worlds" but I couldn't find any of it on You Tube so here's the man himself playing live. This type of stuff is the type of stuff that makes me feel wobbly inside at the moment

07. Gill Melle - Andromeda Strain

Never ever make a list of "records I would spend money on". I did this. I did do this, and within a week I was flicking through the "Rare" section in Stranded - Nothing is better than seeing records you'd never be able to afford, just to see them, and along comes the Hexagonal version of this soundtrack in good condition at a fair(!) price. I was ready and paid the money. The Andromeda Strain is an interesting one - the movie is 50% tedious procedure and 50% vague excitement but the soundtrack is this photo electro bonkers piece of magic that gives me jelly legs. I think it's worth the money - it's basically a 10" record, cut hexagonally in a hexagonal fold out sleeve. Beautiful and bonkers.

06. Mogwai - Les Revenants

Les Revenats was thee TV show that I got most excited and freaked out by this year - French, but looks like Swiss to me, a genuinely creepy and upsetting show about the dead suddenly coming back to life and acting as though nothing had changed. The show was perfect at capturing the kind of creeping dread that makes for a really good horror film. The score was perfect too - and I had to begrudgingly buy a Mogwai record. 

05. Neil Young

My time in California has been cornerstoned by a newfound appreciation for Neil Young. I was initially sniffy but I bought Harvest and that became the record I would always listen to when driving - I spent my mornings driving to the Supermarket listening to "Are you ready for the country" over and over. I am now working my way through his back catalogue (in year order natch) and finding these types of little gems all over the place. Never knew that this was a cover, nor that the original would be (for me) way better:

04. Elias Rahbini - Mosaic of the Orient

One I kind of tracked down - I really like the Quakers LP, and there was a beat on there that was kind of Turkish like and just a really nice sample. So I dug around the internet for a bit and uncovered this record. The track is 'Dance of Maria' and is the jam - a song I can play (and have played) over and over and over. The whole LP is worth a listen (but it took a wee while to track it down), but this is the business.

03. Cecil Leuter - Pop Electronique

I now have three copies of this library record. One Crea Sound, vague original, the Vadim reissue on vinyl and the same on CD. To me, this is it in terms of Libraries - a totally freaked out marriage of Moog, Drums and Guitar. You can take your Afro Rocks, and Stefano Torrosi's and leave me with this one. Fully outstanding from start to finish and completely unique and why I will always love picking up weirdo library records like this.

02. Robbie Basho - Wine Song

Didn't buy this this year but I think it was gifted to me a few years ago. It's weird what pops up in times of need, and I needed this record this year. Robbie "Beard" Basho made a bunch of Guitar Soli stuff, but I think this is his only serious vocal effort. The whole record is the sort of thing that makes me crumble inside but this song especially supported me through dark times and truly captured my mind state at times in the year. Basho records are surprisingly hard to come by, but they're good - this is probably a borderline acquired taste but my god, it's burrowed deep inside me, and I've spent far too much time in floods of tears whilst this has played and lifted my up:

01. Swell Maps - Trip To Marineville

At number one by time alone. Bought this in March, listened to it once and thought it was a solid but largely unsurprising post punk LP. Give it a decent listen in November and within minutes I'm dancing round my bedroom like a loon. Why it took me so long to pick this one up I don't know. I can well imagine the discussion around "Full Moon in my Pocket": "What are we going to do for the baseline on this one?", "Errrr, Mother Sky?", "Let's go!". The pairing of Full Moon and Blam! is the best thing I've heard all year - the drum crack that separates the two is incredible and the whole thing completely captures me every time:

Week 48: 21/05/11 - 09/02/12

And the train to awesomeness had to end somewhere - and it ends here unfortunately. Ersatz GB (again with the terrible cover), is not the best Fall album in the world. It's starts as it goes on - all furious groove but messy mixing, Mark is growling away but I can barely hear it. There's a track called "Mask Search" which to me harks of the Wicker Man but it's just okay. It has the second best line on the album: "I'm so sick of Snow Patrol". No shit sherlock. I couldn't find my favourite line so I googled for it: "I had to wank off the cat to feed the fucking dog". Not sure that's appropriate husbandry right there Mark. The Quietius went doo lally for this record but I got nothing from it. Ah well. Onwards and Upwards.

Week 47: 30/08/10 - 21/05/11

In this period The Fall released nada. I caught up with that Serial thing.

Week 46: 09/12/09 - 30/08/10

And nearing the finish line - And entering into the modern era. The Fall step up with Your Future Our Clutter. Great title, terrible cover - the Bury single is better but something of a throwback.

The album is fantastic though and The Fall are maintaining that steady roll they've been on for the last few albums. The album is all bass, twang and electronics. The initial showcase is driven by Mark shouting the title over a loudhailer thingy. Then there's some of that lo-fi stuff, that blends into a clean version of Bury. There's nine tracks, they're all really solid up tempo rockabilly type groovers. It's just a great cohesive whole. I find it difficult to identify single tracks as the whole package is clear and concise.

There's a cover: Funnel of Love, seemingly originally recorded by Wanda Jackson (and then deprived by her in 2003, if youtube is to believed). Her version is pretty slow, The Fall play it hard and fast with a lot of feedback and electronics. It's a huge standout and one of the strongest Fall songs of the past few weeks.

They end with Weather Report 2 - which starts off pretty normal, then ends up in a messy low fi growl. It's a strange world in which we live - at least the Fall are disturbingly consistent.

Week 45: 20/03/09 - 09/12/09

And the Fall almost enter the Tens/Teens/Tenties? And they drag me along with them. This saw a single release: Slippy Floor - a tour seven inch. The new development in the Fall release schedule is that 45s come out for one off events: tours, record store day etc. These things haven't come out on CD yet so I've ended up buying a few Fall 45s. Not that super rare one but still.

And this is The Fall of the almostt Tenties, The Real New Fall of course. And It Continues. The upswing of the ascending of the Fall. This is a really great little single - Mark and the Band are gelling again and there's a little bit of interplay between them. Slippy Floor (god knows what it's about) could lyrically be from the 80s - all metaphor and growling. Hot Cake continues the grime (Though it's clearly Slippy Floor again), maybe that's the part 2. All drums and electronics. Then they do a live version of Strangetown AT THE CAMDEN CRAWL. Who would've believed that the superest indie festival of all time would continue and host the Fall in 2010. It's a cracking version though, Mark takes about 30 minutes to come on stage and then mumble shouts his way through the song. And then they're off. On another wacky adventure. Adventure-uh.

Week 44: 29/06/08 - 20/03/09

Between June 2008 and March 2009 The Fall released not a sausage. I used the time to catch up with Podcasts and *gasp* realise that I now own every track the Fall have ever officially released. And I can start buying the records for next years project....

Week 43: 09/10/07 - 290/06/08

And now I have expectations. At this point Live is all about how much booze has happened. On record, and in the studio, The Fall are still as mighty as they ever were. This is a good good record too. I can't believe Mark's been to Alton Towers but he's written a song with that title. It's a good un, as is the following Wolf Kidult Man.

50 Year Old Man, and I guess Mark is about 50 at this point - he's proud of it, it would seem. I've Been Duped is a cracker too - all shouty chorus and Eleni, who has a voice for the Fall.

Taurig is an encapsulation of why the band is so good at this point - all electronic bloops and bonkersness. They keep the pace up through out, and Mark can still churn out a song called "Senior Twilight Stock Replace". And of course, exploding chimney, to end. How many bands can release upwards of 28 studio albums, and still sound fresh and interesting on their last. Not Many.

Week 42: 18/01/07 - 09/10/07

And the Fall are Reformed. Reformation Post TLC continues that theme of the Fall being rather good. Reformation/Fall Sound is a serious Krautrock pairing - Mark growing through the tracks. White Line Fever is like a Rockabilly of the Fall past - it's not that great but it's nice to see them trying. And they continue at pace: My Door Is Never open, chugging along right up to Systematic Abuse. It's a really cracking little record.

And then the last Night of the Palais and they're on pretty good form. The Band at least are, Mark is a little three sheets to the wind and they suffer a little for this. They do Hungry Freaks which is pretty good. And My Door is Never - Mark's almost asleep at this point.

The rest of the gig chugs along until a super super drunk White Lightning, reaching the point of barely coherent now. They end with a cracking 9 minute version of Blindness - a great ending to the show. Then some oik gets on stage and moans that they shouldn't have left the stage, since it's the last night of the Hammersmith Palais! The cheek!. They come back on and do Reformation and it's great. Mark takes the piss and they're off again.

The Reformation single is as good as the album, all kraut guitars and remixes. Great.

Week 41: 29/04/06 - 18/01/07

Why they released I Can Hear The Grass Grow as a single is beyond me. It's okay, just not that great. There's a slow version. It's slower than the fast version. And there's a demo of Bo Doodak, which is like the album track but not quite as polished. Mark love's that "Modernity, Modernity' line a bit too much for my liking.

BUT. But. But. They cover Higgle-dy Piggle-dy. From that Monks tribute album. It's incredible - The Fall really could do the Monks like no other (not that anyone else tried to be honest). WAY DOWN.

The band don't quite get it, but Mark mumbles his way through the whole thing and it reminds me why the Fall are so necessary and so much a key part of my life. I love the Fall.

Week 40: 08/08/05 - 29/04/06

And to kick off Week 40 - that most improbably of covers: I Can Hear The Grass Grow. Wasn't this the first song played on Radio 1 or something? Anyway - the Fall do it straight up. As they are want to do.

And then Fall Heads Roll. There's something quite pleasurable about this version of The Fall - it's almost twee and Mark's in good form. There's the usual Fall ranty shouty stuff. And then Midnight In Aspen, which makes me fall in love with The Fall all over again. An beautiful instrumental - almost post rock; and then Mark mutters over the top in the way only he can. It's so beautiful that the memory of the Taxi track from the previous week is at once washed away.

There's even a reprise (the only thing better than the word "Reprise" is the phrase "Dub Version"). Blindness gets a studio recording and it's all rather good, chunky guitars and tight drumming. Clasp Hands has lost it's Classical throwback bit and is better for it. And then the album ends with Trust In Me: a weirdo one with (wait for it) no Mark. Just some rando from the band singing over it - it's sounds like high-rent indie nonsense though.

Then, one I missed, Live in New York. They kick off with Horror In Clay - it's a great intro. Halfway through the band come in and kick off a rawkus Boxoctosis but muck it all up by running into what sounds like Engineering problems.

When it gets going properly it's proper. One of their best intro songs - the guitars are hard again, and then Mark starts signing. And the thing about late period Fall gigs you rate the quality of the performance, basically in terms of how drunk Mark is. Here he is not that drunk and so the gig is pretty good. They kick right into Contraflow and it's the best they've been in years, everything gelling together really nicely. Middle Mass (!) of all things is incredible, totally revitalised and as interesting as it ever was. THEY DO TELEPHONE THING. And it's great, full on wah-wah tastic. The usual bunch of tunes from the live sets: Damo, Pharmacist, Hexagon, Dr. Buck etc. And the shows over. It's a winner.

Week 39: 17/11/04 - 08/08/05

This blog has seen some fairly significant neglect over the last month or so. I have a legitimate apartment moving excuse but despite the ups and downs, The Fall project has kept going.

So Week 39, and the releases are drying up a little now - only one single in this period: Rude (All the Time). Four tracks, and some of them have cropped up elsewhere.

Distilled Mug Art is one of those rambly jangly Smith affairs. Great title, good ranting but, as usual, god knows what it's all about. I Wake Up In The City is as good as it ever was - all lo-fi fuzz and shouty Mark. And then 5 minutes with a title far too rude to reproduce here. Basically a drunken conversation about a Taxi. This is probably the modern equivalent of WMC Blob 59 or something - far less interesting and sophisticated but as lo-fi. My Ex Classmate's Kids is the same music as Wake Up In The City but with different lyrics. It's as good. As Mark did say: Change is as good as a Rest.

Week 38: 27/02/04 - 17/11/04

And so the new Real Fall continues apace. And this week was a real mix of odds and sods with some gems tucked away in their midst.

Walk Like A Man is live and Mark is drunk. It stays pretty good though. And on the flip side of Sparta is a cracking live version of My Ex Classmates Kids - proper pub boozer rock magic.

And then Interim: "Rehearsals and Live", so a mix of things. Clasp Hands is a live song - all angular jangles and Mark can barely speak. Blindness is that lovely Fall creeping madness - all brooding and fear. And onwards - the band sounds better than ever to be honest, no fear and just leaning into the music. Then a live? version of Wrong Place which sounds as cracking as ever.

And then a real treat: A Rehearsal? Live? version of Sparta (#3 natch), the music is restrained, it's just Mark and Elena - she hardly knows the words and he's bizarrely coherent. There's a blend of their approaches which turns into magic - her delivery is read, mildly Germanic. Mark kicks it off: "I am Mark E Smith...We start tonight with theme from Sparta FC, A film yet to be made, by the great director, Iralothep, You're True God". It's followed up by a live version of Pseud Mag Ed., sounding more frantic and urgent than it did in the 80s - it's even more amazing that Mark remembers the words. And then Spoilt Victorian Child, and another one sounding as fresh as ever. The album with Boxtosis - and following the previous, this is another really great and essential LP. I feel weird about the Fall right now - they're a good band again - fun and interesting.

And then the last Peel Session, as documented on the BBC4 doc. Clasp hands sounds great, with a breakdown that harks back to Elves - Mark's really mining the past now. The production is tight and the next two songs: Blindness, and What About Us are really good - the band chugging along as they can. Wrong Place sounds great and then a bonkers cover of I Can Hear The Grass Grow.

There's a bonus track on the Peel Session box called Job Search. Sounds like Jane, is low fi.

This is the Fall circa 2004, I couldn't be happier.

Week 37: 08/06/03 - 27/02/04

And The Fall are back. With a capital B. The Real New Fall that is. This is a tough one for the project - I read post hoc that the UK and US editions of the album differ, but I think I'll take an executive decision and only listen to the US version, which is the version I ordered.

It's a bloody winner though - top notch throughout from the start to the finish. Some of this was previewed last week but for once the album versions are better than the sessions. So there's Green Eyed / Mountain and the Real New Form are flowing. Mark's on form, and the band are on form and they're both gelling together in a wonderful way. I think I spent a lot of time waiting for the old Fall to come back and this ain't it - it is the new Fall. There's a whole new sound here, but the connection between the band and Mark is back and stronger than ever. This could be one of my favourite Fall LPs of all time.

Sparta is as good as the session - a bit of lightness of touch, and they're all back singing together. Again, no idea what's going on lyrically but it's a top drawer track. And Contraflow follows it - one of their best songs in a long side. I hate the Country Folk so much. There's a bit of weirdness, and a bit of jangly folk type stuff. Boxtoctosis is back on the rockabilly/indie blend they're ploughing and it's good - OPEN THE BOX! OPEN THE GOD DAMN BOX!. It keeps the pace up, before dipping into something like Pinball Machine territory with Houston. Then my favourite: Portugal. No idea again but the music has oomph and it seems to be the band reciting a letter sent to Mark maybe - basically a lengthy complaint. When the narrator says "They were swearing, throwing newspaper with Snotballs" The band reply "SNOTBALLS!", in a mocking way. Fantastic.

The Protein Christmas single is a continuation of this with a bit of harder edge. Then there's a few bonus tracks from the Fall Box Set and this week is over. It's so good to have the Real New Fall back again - winning winners throughout.

Week 36: 17/09/02 - 08/06/03

Sometimes, in life, you're on the ropes, taken too many blows and about ready to give up. I realised last week that I didn't need to hear another live version of the standard Fall setlist poorly recorded ever again. This week was destined to be short, until I decided to include Mark's second spoken word album: Pander, Panda, Panzer!

And thank god I did, because if anything needed to remind me that The Fall are something totally special it's a 45 minute spoken word / cut up recording. It's so essential, so present and so now that it's like a punch of adrenalin in the Fall Project.

It's a weird one - small parts  Blue Jam, small parts The Fall being read out by an old man but fully incredible. Mark muses for a bit: I was 10 years old when I was born, I was 20 when I died. Then it cuts away to a live recording of Mark reading Fall lyrics to a appreciative audience. He doesn't sound in the greatest form and for the first time he sounds old - the words don't sound the same anymore. It's initially jarring but then he gets into the groove and you realise that the Fall is not a journey between different sounds and different lyrics - it's a consistent story: the old blending in with the new. He tells a Foot and Mouth Joke:

Two cows in a field, one says to the other "what do you think about the mad cow disease, the foot and mouth", the other says "it don't affect me, I'm fucking duck". The joke was all around but Mark tells it mid-flow for no reason. God knows what it's like to have a conversation with him. He reads Idiot Joy Showland, and then later Lucifer over Lancashire. It's incredible - the delivery is near singing, the background is white noise. There is seriously no-one in the world who could pull this off. A total one off.

And then we're into Susan vs Youthclub - the sound of the time is a crunchy electro rock thing - I'm still reeling from Pander so I've no idea what this is all about. And then their second to last Peel Session. And it's a cracker. Sparta FC is cracking, "Come and then I'll show you, how I will change, when you give me, something to slaughter". It's probably great if you know about that there football but it's bristling and it's not like we've got the old Fall back but it's like the old Fall have grown up and are still making great songs. Then the second road-based song: Contraflow continues the pace: I HATE THE COUNTRYSIDE....SO MUCH. The band are in a groove. Then a weirdo cover of Mr Bloe, mixed into a new song - Green Eyed Loco Man. All very good.

And then a curve ball: Mere Pseud Mag, from back in the 80s. Mark doesn't revisit the past my arse. But my god this sounds as good as the original - he even remembers most of the words.  I never was a big fan of this one but it's been giving a new lease of life. It seems that after trudging round the world playing the same bloody songs in the same bloody order, the Fall have been given a swift quick up the arse.

Week 35: 27/12/01 - 17/09/02

Another week, another dose of the Fall Live. This time at the Garage and at ATP. Nothing particularly exciting here, but another song brought back from the dead: To Nkroachment: Yarbles. Yep. Both sets open with this cheerful number.

Apart from that it's business as usual - the same songs, the same crappy sound quality. Mark sounds a bit out of it in these gigs which detracts from it somewhat. The songs are pretty much the same across both sets - The ATP audience definitely drew the short straw though, it's pretty crazily bad that one.

Ah  well. I think this signals the last of the live recordings, hopefully. Maybe they'll move on to more interesting things next week. There's always next week on the Fall Project

Week 34: 07/04/01 - 27/12/01

And with these I leave the Bible behind. Are You Are Missing Winner: Great title, terrible cover. The Fall really need a kick up the arse cover wise in this period, they veer from nonsense to stuff so bad it looks like a child drew it. The albums okay though, Mark sounds good throughout and sounds a bit more considered than on past albums. Bourgeois Town is a good cover, My Ex-Classmate's Kids revisits Touch Sensitive territory with aplomb. Ibis Afro-Man is the "Paintwork" of the album, the sore thumb. On a refreshed listen, this is actually the best they've been in some time. Really good record.

2G+2 captures some of the Fall as they toured. For some unknown reason this period is scrutinised, so it's pretty much more of the same, but perhaps with better sound quality. They include the I Wake Up In The City which is almost the same as My Ex-Classmate's Kids but it's not loss, as it's a great tune. Proper Fall.

Then more of the US tour. The problem with this tour is that the band played almost the same setlist each time. So I'm just exhausted by hearing the same sets. The Joke / Cyber Insekt / Two Librans / And Therein/ Paintwork and so on and on and on.

The reissues from Hip Priest, which I guess is some Fall fan somewhere are as good as the others, i.e. terribly recorded, audience tape recordings of the band. Given that every gig is 10 million decibels, why is it that the audience sounds way louder than the band in these things? These things all blend into each other. It's nice to hear Mr. Pharmacist but not when Mark's hammered and is barely coherent.

They seem to end with Way Round which is a really good ender for them - quite mental and urgent. There's an interview tacked on to the SF gig. "Interview" mind, just a cut up of Mark Talking really. It's good to hear him not drunk and talking. He still talks about Manchester like it's the 1980s.

And then two more from Touch Sensitive. Again the same track listing. Over and over, 5 hours. Very tiring actually. They end with Damo Suzuki - it's good and I'm sure it's a fun one to play. What has he got in that paper bag. Probably a dose of vitamin C.

Week 33: 17/07/00 - 07/04/01

After no releases last week - this week was a 5 hour stampede. Mainly down to the ultimate US tour, where every date seems to have been officially released. But that's to come.

The Unutterable, which could have been forgettable but actually it's really really good. Cyber Insekt and Two Librans chug along and Mark's on good form. It's like a vintage Fall LP, a bit of weirdness, some tape stuff, and then a rockabilly Banger. In this case the banger is all about Mark hating roundabouts. Him and Me both - though here they call them Traffic Circles. Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes is a bit cheesy but that's forgivable really. And then the last track is a weird one - sung by not Mark but it's a straight up Fall cover version style rocker type affair. It's great.

It's now traditional to release a whole bunch of alternative versions of entire albums for the Fall. So there's a bundle of bonus tracks which don't really do much.

Then Rude All The Time (single). Totally weird - sounds like Mark was showing the Lo-Fiers how to do it. I Wake Up In The City is an absolute belter though, all treble fuzz and banging drums.

And then the live sets. The weird thing about the Bootleg Box Set is how indistinguishable each set is. It's pretty much the same set list on and on. Largely Unutterable stuff, with a few surprises thrown in. The band are on cracking form...for a while at least. There's a real stamina issue, with the energy levels trailing off over the course of each set. Mark is either in time with the band or totally off but generally it's pretty good. I'm not sure about the efficacy of releasing these type of shows though, there are times when some chump in the crowd is announcing the songs as they start, and he's louder than the band. It's all for the cause. Mark struggles with the words to F-Oldin Money which is not surprising.

Mr Pharmacist is now a staple of the live shows, and probably replaces Hip Priest as the singalong track. It's a great tune though and let's the band really attack it. The other song which is a totally weird revival is Paintwork - a weird song to do live and a weirder song to bring back from the dead. It's largely instrumental when they play it, which is unsurprising. The other two brought back from the dead is I am Damo Suzuki, and And Therein. Damo must be a fun one to play live.

I can't afford to be tired of the Live stuff though - there's more to come next week....

Week 32: 27/10/99 - 17/07/00

This week the Fall released no records. I made up for this by listening to Beer podcasts, buying the back catalogue of the New York Rock n Roll Ensemble, and finding out that one of my favourite records of the year is on Shrimper of all labels. Maybe the joke's on me.

Week 31: 05/02/99 - 27/10/99

I Know, I Know, I Know, I Know, I Know, I Know....Touch Sensitive kicks off The Marshall Suite and it's still the best thing they've done in ages. AND THEN. F-Oldin' Money which is one of the best covers they've ever done. There's something totally fresh in the music now, an urgency and the loss of the usual suspects has meant that whilst the Fall have lost their signature sound, Mark's starting to work out who to make it work.

Shake-Off is almost like the Fall of old but modernised - Mark's mumbling about stuff but it's not to a relentless rockabilly beat but to something more polished.

Not to say that the Marshall Suite is a winner, it's a little up and down for me - it's more solid than albums previous but there's still something lacking. Might be Mark's lost his confidence a little or that he's not worked out the band yet. Antidotes outstays it's welcome a little. And Birthday Song falls into the Edinburgh Man type melancholy a little too easily.

Rounding off Marhsall Suite are odds and sods - A live version of Jet Boy which is a cover but I hated it. And a whole bunch of single B-Sides.

And then an XFM live concert. The bible goes nuts over this and I really don't know why. The sound quality is weirdly terrible - it sounds fine, but it's like the mix is all wrong and Mark's on this permanent echo and sounds a little out of it - the band play through Touch Sensitive even though he's either forgotten the words or got them all in the wrong place. And either he's dicking about with the guitars or someone's not ready but it's a little reaching at times. 10 Houses of Eve sounds great but the mix makes the whole thing a little muddy. Ah well. There's a shocker coming next week I know.

Week 30: 17/05/98 - 05/02/99

Approaching the Millennium and we find The Fall not necessarily in rude health. Health being the operative word here - Amy and I watched the BBC4 documentary this week. Mark was pretty hammered throughout that one, I think this was the time when it felt like he was out of control.  And I think this started to effect the music as well - it feels less coherent, less together than usual. And for the Fall that's probably saying something.

But the music - and we start with a Peel session which is barely together. Antidotes especially wallows in incomprehensibility. The band sound perky and eager but there's no gel there and Mark sounds like he's rambling on the spot,

And then a wondrous sneaky thing. Inch was ostensibly a Smith side project but the bible reveals it to be a off cut from Levitate. The Inch were meant to be producers of Levitate but were sacked. AND WHY - Inch sounds 100% better than anything on L (bar I'm a Mummy) and is miles above the version that appeared on the album. Heavy crunching guitars and bleepy bloopy keyboards. It's great.

And then the remarkable single: Touch Sensitive. Right back in the Rockabilly with added "hey Hey Hey!"'s. The lyrics seem to be about Mark being a grouchy old man. It's bloody brilliant and in the way that only The Fall could do it. They're totally back together in this one - pop song amaze balls. There's a dance mix of course which, again, sounds like a outtake from Spaced. The b-side is all over the place. But that A-side though. Genius.

It would have ended there but I decided to dip my foot into the Mark Smith solo project: The Post Nearly Man. It was quite expensive to get a CD copy, so I snagged it on Amazon of all places.

It's a hard thing to deal with - it's not really spoken word, and it's certainly not The Fall. It's kind of like three people reading some of Mark's scrawling with occasional musical interludes. It's part HP Lovecraft Cthlu type stuff and part Mark rambling. There's a little bit of the hotel skit that he did way back on the Luciani play.

First listen I thought it was bonkers but on fifth or sixth listen I think it might be the best thing he ever did - as an album, as a whole it's totally spellbinding. And in the way that Mark does, it sounds incomprehensible but utterly enrapturing at the same time. There's other people speaking throughout. At times it reminds me of the Stephen Jesse Bernstein record - something that exists, that is wonderful but you can't really explain why you like it so much. The Post Nearly Man is fantastic and impenetrable. I love it.

That cover though - why he sticks with Pascal Le Gras is beyond me, his work is generally like a child pissing about with MS Paint.

Week 29: 26/08/97 - 17/05/98

Hmmmm. A 2 hour week again - I have an internal rule that if the playlist is 2 hours I only listen to it once a day, if it's less then I do two. So I got in a lot of Kermode and Mayo and a small dose of the Fall. I start with a few odds and sods from Northern Attidude  - a bunch of randos on a random label. Nothing outstanding but a confirmation that Mr. Pharmacist is a staple live show thing now. This is a good thing.

Then Levitate. I have a lot of time for Levitate - I kind of agree with the bible in that it feels half baked sometimes but overall it's pretty strong. And it's one of the few Fall records which really gets that blend of hard electronics and their Rockabilly sound, and Mark's sounding great finally. I like Hurricane Edward, with it's Mr Hughes was right in retrospect intro.

AND THEN OMG! I'm A Mummy - surely one of their best songs of all time and possibly one of the great covers of all time. Taking that twee I'm a Mummy from Bob McFadden and For and turning it up to 11. The other half of Bob McFadden was born in Oakland and Bob was responsible for the Medium is the Massage LP - it's a total joy. Then Doc Shankley: If, like me, you are a complete and utter pranny you know what I mean when I say recipe. No idea what this is about but it's great. 4 1/2 Inch is effectively Inch (next week for that one) but is great. Jungle Rock is another good cover, not quite I'm A Mummy though. And they close out okayish Levitate, Everybody But Myself. It's a melting pot. There's some bonus tracks on the CD but these are pretty forgettable.

Masquerade single b-sides are okay but nothing outstanding. Then a Peel session with Touch Sensitive! And it sounds nothing like the resulting single: it just goes to show that adding a "Hey Hey Hey" really lifts a song.

This being the late 90s, there also has to be a vinyl version of "club" type remixes. And the Fall never disappoints. You want a "Mr. Natural" Funked up remix of Masquerade? You got it. It sounds like incidental music from the club scene in Spaced - like I can't ever imagine any kind of DJ actually playing this out and I can't imagine any Fall fan playing this regularly. I couldn't find this on CD so I shelled out for the 10". Not even coloured vinyl. Amateurs. On the Flip side things get serious: PWL Remix time. The album was recorded at PWL which might go some way to explain the super punchy sound they got on this one.

Remember that time that the Aphex Twin got asked to do remixes and he just claimed to always give them a tape of whatever was lying around at the time. Well the PWL mix sounds something like the Fatboy Slim approach to remixes: Let's change the speed and tweak the drums. Thus it's the most pointless remix ever. Any they adjusted the speed in the wrong way - it's slower than the original. NUTTER VAINS.

Week 28: 05/12/96 - 26/08/97

No pictures this week because they didn't actually release anything - just a humble 30 minutes of odds and sods. A forgettable version of Everybody but Myself. Mark announces "Das Vulture Ist Ein Nutter Wein", begins to count the band in and they just play at a random segment. Genius - and they sound angry too which is nice. There's a track called Interference. It's wibbly wobbly space noises for about 5 minutes. Ol Gang live is good and it's a good song. That is all. So much for that "work ethic".

Week 27: 16/03/96 - 05/12/96

I seemed to have missed this one somehow and what a one to miss. The Light User Syndrome. I never bought this one at the time, I don't remember it getting favourable reviews. And to be fair it's largely forgettable - quite heavy on decent but non magical Fall tracks. And a couple of heavy hitters too: Vulture and He Pep! are big tracks which were live favourites. Mark looks like Eddie Marsden on the cover though. There's a non Mark vocal on Stay Away which provides some respite but it just sounds weird. The Chisilers was good but much more appealing as a single than an album track. The problem with the album is that it sounds like the Fall on auto pilot.

Then The Fall! Live! At The Astoria! 26th June 1996. It's okay. A little wayward in places - they do a cracking version of LA with one of the band shouting over Brix's bits. And Mr. Pharmacist is now becoming a staple of the live sets, and with good reason.

Then The Fall! Live! At Various Festivals! Truly if you've heard one forgettable concert, you really have heard them all.

Then A Peel Session. I remember hearing this one, but not the music really. It sounds 200 times better than the versions on the things above which is sort of depressing. Brix totally channels mid 90s indie on Spinetrack, to a frightening degree. The reason I remember it: They do a Captain Beefheart cover. Beatle Bones of course. Mark does the intro bit in his own way and I thought that would be it but they do the whole thing. It's okay. Not nearly as good as their Monks covers but you can't win them all.

Week 26: 26/06/95 - 16/03/96

Halfway. Literally Halfway through The Fall's career and in my real life, I was heading up to Sheffield to start University. This week coincided with the Fourth of July here, so I haven't really listened to much of the playlist but I got a good measure of the Fall in this period (I will listen to all the tracks at least three times this week I promise).

Three albums that balloon the playlist up to a mighty five hours. The Album is Cerebral Caustic which is kind of okay, a little bit the Fall on autopilot. The Brix novelty has worn off a little. There feels like there are tracks here (Rainmaster I'm looking at you) that should have been left on the cutting room floor. And a lot of the tracks that are good, are better elsewhere, whether that be live or in session. They do Life Just Bounces again, but it's not nearly as good as the original or that live version with the thing about Pipes. Bonkers in Phoenix is meant to be like being at Glastonbury. Well it is utter shit and a waste of time so maybe he's right. Ha Ha. It's not a bad record but there's just not enough oomph to it.

Thankfully the CD has a bunch of "Rough Mixes" of the tracks - so you get to hear them all twice, albeit some slightly differently. No improvement.

And then on to the 27 Points. I bought this at the time on two cassettes - I remember it being pretty cheap for a double album, I don't think I listened to it much but it's actually aged pretty well.  There's a spread of tracks, and the quality is generally pretty high. A cracking version of Return here, a decent stab at Ladybird Green Grass.

And one of the best moments of the Fall: Idiot Joy Showland, played brilliantly but Mark's not happy so he stops the band and pulls them off stage for 5 minutes. "RIGHT REX - YOU BETTER GET THIS SORTED". He then plays a tape of 10 points that he hates about a person. All of these will come back to you and confirm you as a damn pest. They don't come back on and finish Showland.

A fiery version of Mr Pharmacist, Bill Is Dead again?. And then it's gone, to be added to the list of "Above Average" live albums. All of the live stuff is kind of rolling into a single mass at this point, and so I breeze through The Idiot Joy Show without missing a beat.

The Peel session was awful: He Pep!, Oleano, Chilinist, The City Never Sleeps. The Fall safely on autopilot here. The latter is weird, I don't know who the vocalist is but they've been studying that book on mid-90s indie female vocals pretty hard. More of those Receiver things round this out and make me think that that was the most uneventful five hours of the Fall so far. Halfway though.

Week 25: 05/10/94 - 26/06/95

A short one and this week got lost in the fourth of July build up. The christmas Peel session though - another version of Glam Racket! Another!. Then Jingle Bell Rock, and a weirdly good version of Hark The Herald Angels Sing. And then Numb at the Lodge which is all about Prozac it would seem. It's good in a Brix kind of way.

And then a whole bunch of live stuff - mainly from "In The City" which proved the hardest CD to source so far, being largely unavailable. I paid market price.

They kick off with a lengthy intro tape, and into the Joke, which is now a live staple track. They do Bill is Dead halfway through the set, which is both a) an odd one to revive and b) an odd one to play live anyway. They close with Life Just Bounces which is a great track and I'm happy to see it persist. The last track on this weeks playlist is an intro tape from The Roadhouse - it's the same track as In The City. Pah!

Week 24: 14/01/94 - 15/10/94

I was right into The Fall in '94. It's all coming back now - I even bought these records when they came out.

This week starts with a good Peel Session: M5, the awful Behind The Counter, Reckoning and the finally recorded Hey! Student!

And then Middle Class Revolt which was something of a nothing record. It's all part of the Fall story though, listening to these records is something like a long hike (as they call 'walks' in the US), it's never bad and sometimes you realise that it's not great but it's always interesting.

MCR is interesting, 15 Ways is an odd one, I'm not sure what Mark's trying to tell us here. The Reckoning is the gem, a song in Edinburgh Man vein - melancholy abounds. The tracks are good, electronic. Something like Surmount All Obstacles is great, all bloopy bleep with Mark hollering over the top. It's all very bland. You're Not Up To Much is the track of the album, chanting and misery combined into a glorious whole. Symbol of Mordgan is the weirdo track, Craig Scanlon ringing John Peel to talk about the football. With a delicious reveal: it was him! all along on Australians in Europe, talking to the preacher!

They sure as hell save the best till last: as out of nowhere comes the third Monks cover, and they do Shut Up!. It's utterly glorious, the Fall pulled through the garage.

The single tracks (and infinite remixes) are tedious: the world does not need a shitty house remix of Middle Class revolt that goes on for 7 minutes. And it sure as hell doesn't need another one. And it definitely doesn't need a Surmount All Obstacles remix. Pah. Those Castenskiold sleeves though. Myself and my good friend Malcolm spent a summer afternoon painting the 15 ways one onto my bedroom wall. When my parents painted over it when I moved out, my Dad painted over the heads and then took a picture of it.

Week 23: 25/04/93 - 14/01/94

It's all slowing down a little now. As we approach the mid 90s the Peel stranglehold and The Fall do a session for the Mark Goodier show: Mark Goodier, Mark Goodier, Mark Goodier.....On Radio 1. And it's super tight: the best version of Glam Racket so far, A non-annoying War, 15 Ways and a furious Past Gone Mad.

And then a whole bunch of weirdo live tracks: Deadbeat Descendant and other old songs (shift work?, Big New Prinz?) the Fall are dredging the back catalogue or someone is on their behalf. This is now the era of Mark being barely coherent when singing live. It's not like he's given up, but more that he's starting to drink too much.

The Behind The Counter was also one of the signs of those interminable, never ending remixes. Whoever realised that by releasing three different formats you gained chart positions should be shot. So many bad remixes from this.

And then, via Oxymoron, the first Glam Racket with Brix! and her rap part. The bible considers the return of Brix to be the kick in the arse that The Fall needed and I'm not one to disagree - she's on fine form on this, all yank snarl. And giving space to a vocalist who isn't Mark seems to ignite the band, maybe they relish the lack of fear.

That would have been the end, if it wasn't for a mistake on my part. I labelled the Nottingham '92 concert as being released in 2014.  To be honest it's largely forgettable, though being of a relatively high standard audio wise. They do And Therein which is, I guess the curveball. The War Against Intelligence never sounded better to be fair though.