And closing in on the eighties. So we start with the 2nd Peel session: Put Away, Mess of My, No Xmas for John Quays and Like To Blow. This time produced by Bob Sargeant, who would go on to produce the debut LP. The sound is urgent but still all high end. They're still punks - especially on Like To Blow, but that annoying organ sound ruins it all for me. I love the line: "I live on snacks, potatoes in packs". Because crisps y'know.
And then a weirdly untracable one: ESP Disco on Oxymoron - an early psykick dancehall. It sounds a little live but it's too well recorded for that - it's a great track.
Then the debut album. I think I found this one in Bath Replay when that still existed - the InLine CD issue. I never really like the record - they apparently focused on recording it quickly rather than the sound. Produced by Bob of above, it's super super tinny. And it's weird - there are two tracks (Crap Rap 2 or Live at The Witch Trials) which would have made great opening tracks, but they're not - they open with Frightened. It's a weird listen - a lot of the tracks they were playing live. A fantastic opening to Mother-Sister: "What's this song about?","Errr, nothing". The Live At The Witch Trials/Futures and Pasts pairing is brilliant - something odd into something frentic: "I was in a drunken dream, the pubs were closed it was three o'clock". And then they end with "Music Scene", an 8 minute meander - which announces the time at around 6 minutes and then someone (Bob?) chips in a bit later "Okay Steve-o, that's plenty" and they keep going for a couple of minutes. This was center to my teenage theory that the best Fall songs were always the longest one on the album. Soon to be quashed by And This Day.
And then by the magic of Dragnet the last entry in this time period is the Rowche Rumble. I bought my copy at that Northern Soul shop that used to be off Division Street in Sheffield. Tattered cover but one of my favourite Fall Songs. "The Doctors need prescriptions, The Wives need the pills: Rowche Rumble!". And on the flip: In My Area, which is typical of the stretched out songs they were doing at the time, very considered. But that bloody organ again. The Dragnet CD finishes everything off with 4 outtakes of Rowche Rumble and 2 of In My Area. Outtakes are a very 90s affair - i.e. we've put the album on the CD, we've remastered it, what else can we do? Let's put on the stuff which should have been left on the cutting room floor. Interesting when you hear real progression to an eventual sound. But not interesting when it's 3 slightly different versions - 2 of which stop before they get going, because the band aren't together enough. Bloody puritans....
No comments:
Post a Comment