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.