Week 11: 22/08/84 - 13/05/85

And now into Wonderful territory for propers. the CREEP single, in all of it's green vinyl poppy goodness. I like this one, it's up beat without sounding too different from the Fall. AND another dub version on the 12" - good work Mark.

Then a Janice Long session: No Bulbs which I never really like, too happy sounding, Draygo's Guilt which is really an album track. Stephen Song the Brix band naming track which is quite sweet - for once Mark being nice about the band I suppose. Slang King is tiresome though.

Then them lot live - they do Craigness which is one of my favorite tracks on the record, and it's good live - quite subtle and slow. The usual period suspects and then Kicker Conspiracy with Brix shouting - it's still not as good as the single version though. At the end of Pat Trip Dispenser Mark 'tells' the band to do Middle Mass, suggesting another one of his surprises - but the version they do isn't bad, even if clearly a surprise.

And Saturday Live! This is where the awkward discussion comes from - the presenter trying to engage an indifferent Mark in some kind of conversation. A 2 minute question is met with the response: "D'Reckon?". "Are you going for a more accessible sound these days?" "Well you have to these days - matter of survival". They do a version of Elves which Brix wrote as a Stooges rip off and a blend of Fortress and Marquis Cha Cha.

And then the LP in full - this was the first Fall album I owned on the Beggars CD reissue. I love this record a great deal, it's accessible and interesting but a little bit weird. There's straight up rockabilly stuff in Copped It and Lay of The Land and then weirdness in Bug Day and a sense of fun which was lacking in the previous stuff. Craigness is the highlight for me, stripped back and mysterious and Disney's Dream Debased was something to do with Disney rides maybe? Who knows but it's a great song.

Wrapping up this period some receiver stuff from Nation's Saving Grace. Hinting that something even better than Wonderful was coming. Couldn't Get Ahead in a rough live version is such a great tight song. A disturbingly titled Barmy (Long Version) isn't that long by Fall standards but then it opens at the close: Wings. This is the version on the Backdrop CD and for me the best version of this song, live an threatening. The band are spot on, and it brings the tune alive. A tale of time travel, stuffing from the wings and the problems of changing the past and the effect it has on the future: HERE IS A LIST OF INCORRECT THINGS. I love the way Mark sings "An academic k neaded his chin". A small alteration of the past can cast time into space. Small changes can alter more than a mere decade. It's such a great song, and this is the best version.

Week 10: 02/12/83 - 22/08/84

This week is a week of bits and bobs, with seemingly no official releases to make it.

Anyway - Perverted By Language, which never made it onto an LP - entirely forgettable. If we needed a reminder how bad those Receiver comps are then Fiend With A Violin reminds us - no idea if this is the right time frame for this one.

And moving into Wonderful territory - a live version of 2x4, crunching and rockabilly. The Wonderful Peel session is okay with a huge highlight. Pat Trip Dispenser is more menacing than it is on the record and features Brix! 2 by 4 is 2 by 4 and CREEP is more poppy in this version.

But! Words of Expectation! One of the best Fall songs ever - 9 minutes 16 seconds of a simple bass and guitar rift with Mark muttering over the top: "Every now and then I would like to try something like this". I'm a head wrangler! Just when you think it's all getting boring.

Then the David Jensen session : God Box, Lay of the Land, Oh! Brother, CREEP.  Moving closer to the album versions - there was some awkward conversation with Mark as a part of this I think but iTunes is refusing to play it. And then the Oh! Brother single (backed with God Box). And then the most un-fall like thing going: a dub version of Oh! Brother called O! Brother. Genius.

Week 09: 13/03/83 - 02/12/83

Week 9. And another live version of Pilsner Trail - retitled Plaster on the Hands for Backdrop. Leading to Peel Session version of Perverted By Language tracks: Smile, Garden, Hexen, Eat Yourself. The band sound a bit tired and for me these tracks don't really work. I don't like Smile: all mouth and no trousers and the recordings sound over produced. Garden goes on and on without really going anywhere. I like Hexen but the LP version is better. Eat Yourself needs more meat than it has here.

And then out of nowhere comes a live version of Words of Expectation! It's not that good but what a weirdo song to play live - 9 minutes of repetition. He Talks is a live throwaway which sounds a bit like Draygo's Guilt.

Then we have the Fall live in Iceland - The bible rated this highly and many thanks @eugeneverb who sourced me a copy of this when all seems lost. Though to be honest it's a weird one - the balance is all out of whack, drums really loud and vocals quiet. Sounds like they were playing in a cave. I read the Fallen whilst on holiday and reading about all Mark's attempts to offset the band it sounds like they're all out of focus here. The Classical is limp and even Eat Y'self Fitter doesn't sound great. Garden - even by the Fall's standards this is an odd live one. Kicker Conspiracy? I'd rather the single version. And then backdrop - stripped off it's freewheeling rotating glory and ending up sounding a bit hollow. Oh Well.

The Man Whose Head Expanded is a cracking single though with it's fast-slow-fast bit. I bought my copy from Revolver in Bristol and raced. Ludd Gang is great - all chants and riffs. And then one of their best singles: Kicker Conspiracy, with that great football ground video. Pat McKack! The single version of wings is not nearly as good as the live one on Backdrop but it remains one of my favorite songs of theirs - understandable but weird with it. Top drawer.

And then a version of Backdrop where Mark sounds utterly wasted and never really gets going. And all this before Perverted By Language. I always felt PBL was the band in transition  - or rather the easing in of Brix into the sound.

Eat Y'Self Fitter is one of the best - a tale of going out on the town. This had a video which was almost a literal interpretation with the band having scorpions on their faces for no reason. The rest of the album feels a bit weak though to me. Garden, Neighbourhood are forgettable. Hotel Bloedel is Brix but not good Brix. And the closing Tempo House is great but goes on a bit. I like the blend of Hexen and Strife Knot but the two songs themselves aren't the best. So 1983 was the band in change.

Week 08: 22/06/82 - 13/03/83

I've just been on a massive holiday - hence I'm somewhat behind with the Fall project (writing not listening though thankfully). But onwards to week 8, which is basically the New Zealand tour plus Room to Live. But with odds and sods this week added up to 5 hours of listening.

The Melbourne show is good, kicking off with a pre-Brix I feel voxish. I'm into CB is crackling - all tight drums and meandering vocals - and a live version of Solicitor In Studio, more together than the version of the album. Typical solid Fall performance - above standard for them and well recorded to boot.

Then an alarming reminder of And This Day thankfully cut short to a reasonable 5 minutes.

And then into In A Hole. Why Mark tried to squash this one is beyond me - it's a fantastic live album. I bought the german bootleg from Record Collector in Sheffield and it took me a while before realizing that they'd recorded a skip when transferring the record. The band are on top form - screaming through Prole Art Threat, drowning Mark out. The highlight of the whole thing is the ten minutes of Backdrop - a classic repeating Fall song, full of dense made up nonsense and crazy drumming. The reissue brings in crazy versions of Container Drivers, C 'n' C Mithering which cuts into Black Night by Deep Purple and an eight (eight) minute version of Who Makes The Nazis.

The only way to follow that up is with my favorite Fall LP of all time: Room To Live. The bible hints that this was poorly received and is still poorly thought of but for me it encapsulates why the Fall are so interesting as a band. The first side is pretty straight up Fall rockabilly stuff: "Her Back Head's full of Skriking Kids...Ted Rogers Brains Burn in Hell!", the aborting single of Marquis Cha Cha. Hard Life in The Country is the Fall capturing country living again and the title track is straight up Rockabilly.

But then on to the second side: Detective Instinct is wondrous - a baseline over which Mark talks about nothing in particular, punctuated with shouts of the title. Two thugs knock down a tree for an old ladies whim. Solicitor in Studio rolls with it and is again rockabilly style with a ton of fuzz. And then Papal Visit to end everything with violin and drums. It's probably about something but it's good and too dense to figure out.

The CD carries a superb live version of Detective Instinct - a brave one to try but so good as it works. And then some wrap up tracks which I'm not sure of the time period. An early version of Pilsner Trail which never really made it onto a record but is good (but not backdrop good which suffered a similar fate). From Fiend with a Violin: A straight up version of I feel voxish and a bonkers version of the Man Whose Head Expanded. A dodgy live version of Wings and from Cheetham Hill - a weirdo version of Eat Yourself Fitter. More of that later. Then a live version of Room to Live - never their best song, always their best album