Monday 28 April 2014

Week 16: 03/04/1998 - 23/12/1988



We've all gone Oranj. Week 16 takes me into the unknown - never had Kurious Oranj so this is a first. But first some live stuff - Guest Informant from Backdrop and some forgettable stuff from Live Various Years.

And something special: I Am As Pure As Oranj, a live recording from the Edinburgh debut of Oranj. One of the best moments of my first time in San Francisco was spending an hour in SFMoMA watching a Michael Clark documentary. Mark and Brix showed up, and they showed a few of the interpretations. It wasn't far away from the weirdness here.

Mark kicks things off with "Dog Is Life", basically a standard Smith rant about Dogs or what not. Then they play through pretty much the album. It feels surprisingly coherent, and I imagine a bit more rehearsal went into this than Luciani. Jerusalem sounds cracking, never had much time for this one but it's really growing on me now - homesick I guess.

Kurious Oranj is daft and will unfortunately always be remembered as the theme to the orange on Lee and Herring. Yes Oh Yes is a total throwaway, I guess giving the dancers a break. Hip Priest is totally weird, it sounds like the album version, and then 3 minutes in they play Big New Priest over the top and then it goes back to Hip Priest again. Non album stuff too: Frenz which was probably quite nice to watch. And I'm not sure how Bremen Nacht and Cab It Up fits into the William of Orange story. But there we go - a together and fairly interesting set.

The album itself is a little disappointing after that. I like Big New Prinz, like an update of Hip Priest. The Overture sounds like Brix's idea: full on Jangle, like a US power ballad, with Brix sneering the name of songs over the top. Dog Is Life, sounds like the one from the show. Of the songs not in the show, Guide me Soft is somewhat forgettable. CD Win Fall 2088 AD is Acid Priest 2008. They end with Big New Priest, and it's pretty cracking but overall Kurious Oranj is more curious than orange.

Then a Peel Session: Dead Beat Descendant is good and pretty straight up for the Fall, nice guitar riff and everything. Cab It Up is similar. Squid Lord was better on Seminal Live and Kurious Oranj again with a crazy intro. I like the lyrics but it seems all a bit fun for a history lesson. And then the box set, which I used to own (the postcards long gone naturally). It always felt a bit more serious than it was. Acid Priest was too much techno for this Fall fan, but Jerusalem is the grower. And that was 1988.

Monday 21 April 2014

Week 15: 14/07/87 - 03/04/88





HIT THE NORTH! Wasn't this the video where the band were driving around Blackpool on the back of a truck. This was also the single of the 6 remixes - I only cover three of these and in a moment of guilt I bought the box set which contains the missing ones and will catch up. Promise. And weirdly the flip side of the single contains the studio Australians in Europe, which is surely one of their best songs. And the wonderfully Fall Dub version: Northerns in Europ. In a Neu! style this is the previous song played on a tape recorder whilst Brix and Mark chat over the top.

I'd never heard the part 1 Hit The North before with it's Kraftwerk intro. Part 2 is pretty much the same minus the intro, and part 4 is all techno. Some outtakes from one of the receiver comps reveals nothing especially outstanding.

Then Victoria with the daft single cover, never really liked this single, something pretty naff about it the whole affair. Guest Informant is one of Brix's best moments - she really gives it some but Tuff Life Boogie and Twister are a little weak.

Then they cover Day In The Life fairly faithfully (at least musically), the production is all Beatles and Mark is doing that thing where he tries to sing. It's good but then it ends with this backwards weird thing.

The Frenz Experiment was a fairly mature album in some ways - there's less mucking about and more good songs. And it all hangs together as an album. And songs that make a little sense - I can well imagine Mark leaving carrier bags around. Skip over Get a Hotel and Victoria and go straight into Athlete Cured - surely the best song about a investigation into conspiracy among athletes? Then the stand out: In These Times, all bass, jangle and Brix. Bremen Nacht is them doing Krautrock repetition. There was a free 45 with the album of Bremen Nacht and Mark'll Sink Us on. I like the latter even though it's quite slow.

Live in Cambridge of all places. Shoulder Pads with a stupid keyboard? Yes please. It's a pretty good show if not especially outstanding. They do songs like Frenz live, which is always a little weird - it's so slow it's got to be pretty boring for the audience. The throwback song they do is Pay Your Rates, it's great - super garagey and frantic. They end on Lucifer over Lancashire, but for some reason they've mucked up the tape and so you miss the intro. It's great, a really solid closer.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

Monday 14 April 2014

Week 14: 23/10/86 - 14/07/87




This is a first: a week without an official album release (I think at least). But we kick off with the heavy Hey! Luciani - possibly the only song written about Pope John Paul I. It's an odd one, kind of like the Tudors, as writ by Supergrass or similar. On the flip: Entitled is quite lovely, but I'm not sure what it's really about, it sounds a little like an argument between Brix and Mark. And then! Shoulder Pads #1b, any excuse to listen to this little piece of wonderment again.

And then a real treat: a short excerpt from the Disastrous Hey Luciani play. It's hard to extrapolate from the brief  (3 minute) track captured on the Fall Box Set but Mark seems a little unprepared for the whole thing. The bible says it ran for 100 minutes which truly boggles the mind. Imagine Mark muttering for 100 minutes about nothing in particular and you're pretty much there.

Some live distractions (Hit the North and US 80s 90s from Backdrop), and then onto There's A Ghost In My House. I remember seeing the 7" hologram sleeve version in Replay records in Bristol but I never bought it. I'm not mad keen on the song - I think there was a video of Mark gurning round a house (though it looked a lot like a pub). Sleep Debt Snatches I like a great deal - mainly because it's long and goes on and on. Mark will indeed sink us and Haf Found Borman is a little bit of a throwaway track.

Peel Session #11 is okay - Athelete Cured is great, such an odd little story. And Australians In Europe is one of the great Fall songs: 50% mumbling, 45% repeating the title, and 5% Mark indicating that he doesn't really like the title. Twister is dull and Guest Informant was better as a single.

Then we end with a cracker: A live show for Radio 1: The bible says it's only a part which kind of makes sense but the whole thing is brilliant and (for once) well recorded. They play Australians In Europe and it sounds every bit as urgent and essential as the Peel Session, a bonkers version of Shoulder Pads follows. Brix shines on Terry Waite Sez - 100% sneer. Then the throwback is Fiery Jack before they end on a furious Lucifer over Lancashire and they're right back in Grotesque territory, all raging guitars and a barely audible Mark straining to be heard

Monday 7 April 2014

Week 13: 01/02/86 - 23/10/86




Unlucky for some but this was a calm hours worth. There's a weirdo live instrumental called Countdown but it has nothing to do with the TV show.

Living Too Late is a great single - classic Fall bass and guitar repeats over the usual nonsense. And then Living Too Long (geddit) which is twice the length. Fantastic.

They do a peel session which is super tinny and not super great. I don't much care for Hot Aftershave Bop and the remainder was better done on the LP. Mr. Pharmacist is theeee classic Fall single, with the Leigh Bowery video and that intro to Lucifer over Lancashire. That song is crazy - all up tempo guitar twang and Mark shouts. The title alone.

Bend Sinister was a bit of an odd LP for me - I don't think I ever had a copy of it but I think I taped it from a friend. I like the record - it's a nice blend of the pop and the weird stuff. The sound is great throughout, Brix sneering and the super jangle of her guitar. The two highlights are: Shoulder Pads - super whistle organ and Mark declaring: It's M.E.S. in Shoulder Pads!. It's a fantastic single. Gross Chapel is the long one so should be good but somehow falls a little short. I hate US 80s-90s, all that stupid drums. Then the bizarrely weird of Terry Waite Sez. Not sure what this is trying to tell me but I like it. Bournemouth Runner has hints of Cheese a la Rollin' Dany. Riddler is a bit too rocky for my liking but I'll go with it.

Thank god it ends with another go at Shoulder Pads - if they'd done that as the whole album I would have been very pleased. Put that on repeat!

Week 12: 13/05/85 - 01/02/86


And we're off into week 12 and a more sedate 3 hours of The Fall. The Wonderful and Nations albums were box-setted recently and so there's a bumper lot of outtakes and weirdo material from those records to plough through: "Demo Suzuki" an almost indistiguishable from the album version of Damo Suzuki. The outtake craze seems to have died out somewhat since the introduction of CDs in the 90s - but these outtakes are diverting rather than interesting. There's a demo-y version of Paintwork, with a heavy jangle guitar but that's about it in the truly interesting stakes.

And two versions of Ma Riley - the Marc baiting track. SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO NEW FACE IN HELL! It's a tune even though it's hard to tell if Mark's being nice or nasty.

Couldn't Get Ahead is old school rockabilly Fall - Brix sneers, the guitars are "angular". It's probably about old men in pubs but Rollin' Dany I never really liked. It feels like they're pissing about too much. There's a unique track called Edie which is largely instrumental I think.

And then we get to the album proper. I love both Wonderful and Nation a great deal but there's just something more together about Nation. I love the title and the cover is fantastic. Two tracks bookend it: Mansion / To Nkroachment: Yarbles - the latter having lyrics but being essentially the same song. I remember a teenage me trying to decipher each word in the latter's title. Listening to it in isolation is a failure - it works as a whole. Bombast has a stupid spoken intro but is a solid tune. What You Need has this reggae type guitar and great lyrics: What You Need? An Oven Mitt!. Get Up! Make A Buck! I've never been to L.A. but I'm sure that the song captures it in all it's glory. The closing three are wondrous, My New House is stupid Mark: Have you seen my new house?. It's probably about yuppies or something like that. Paintwork is the winner on the LP, all clips and weirdness before the repetition kicks in and the TV excerpt goes over the top of it. Then the Can tribute - I like how he starts with Paper Bag and Vitamin C and then quickly gives up on name checking Can songs.

The Peel session that follows is okay. They do Faust Banana which was to become Dktr Faustus, a hint of the next LP. Cruisers Creek was probably a better live song than it is on record. To top it all off - the best version of Lucifer over Lancashire from the Backdrop CD - everything you want from that song, blazing guitar and Mark shouting to be heard over the top. And week 12 is done.