And now onto week 6: The Fall project has a serious problem. Which is simply that thanks to an influx of low quality audience recorded live shows, the playlists are getting longer and longer. So this week was a manageable 3 hours 4 minutes, week 7 has stepped up to a 5 hour behemoth. Ah well, I've made my bed. This week I caught up with three tracks: Brand New Cadillac, My Condition and Pop Stickers (78-79). The first two are typical for the time, the latter is a weird one, a throwaway bunch of words that would become choc stock.
And then straight into the 80s and more live stuff. Cary Grants wedding (trad), Totally Wired (always sounds the same to me) and then a cracking version of the NWRA with a super buzzy synth. For a 9/10 minute song it really shines live. Then a version of Totally Wired recorded up the road in Berkley.
And then into a full show - 1981 Glasgow. They open with a weirdo version of Blob 59 (maybe). The show is okay quality wise - a bit thick in the mix but there's a piercing version of Jawbone and they even do Printhead which is cracking. And Middle Mass, which should not work live but totally does - it's all about Marc Riley according to the bible. I think it's one of my favourite Fall songs, the lyrics are rich and the music is rough.
Peel Sessions of Mass, Lie Dream, Hip Priest (first time round) and the wondrous CnC Hassle Schmuck. The latter is the standout Fall peel session for me (so far) - they start of doing CnC mithering, and then up the tempo when they learn that Arthur Askey has just been shot. Then it's straight up rockabilly - a great tune.
Then Slates, a weirdo little 10" which they recorded to avoid the charts. I had the US version, with it's "Five Dollars Only - U Skinny Rats". I love the cover, and the way that Prole Art Threat is written as a play. The image on the cover bemused me for years - I only had the small version on the Slates/America CD - it always looked like a weird goat character. Only when I got the 10" did I realise it was the band but the image was rotated.
Slates is The Fall of course - 6 tracks capturing the essence of the band. From the aforementioned Riley bashing Middle Mass, the mysterious Older Lover - right to the punk blast of Prole Art Threat. Slates, Slags really works when it shouldn't and then Leave the Capitol, signalling the end of their relationship with Rough Trade.
Then some scrabbly live tracks - Session Musician, and a great Middle Mass version called Middle Mass Explanation with Mark rambling on about nothing in particular. They do Container Drivers, Session Musician and then another blast from the past: Your Heart Out which sounds great.
A second peel session - they were clearly on a roll at this point. And it's all gone a bit HEX. Deer Park, my second favourite track from that LP: "In an off-licence I rubbed up with some oiks, who threw some change on the Asian counter and asked politely if I could covet two lagers" surely one of the best lines. Look, Know I don't like so much and Winter I always found a little pointless. Then a super tinny version of Who Makes the Nazi's. All the pieces were in place for Hex.
And to close it all off there's a live version of Deer Park, as good as the session version, and then a medley of a bunch of random things named: I'm into CB (stars on 45). There's another version of this lurking over the hill.
So The Fall continues - it's difficult to realise that this was one of their most productive and expansive periods, and so the volume of output has increased dramatically. Slates remains one of their best releases but it feels too small to be considered an album and too long to be a single. I guess they succeeded then.
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