Wigan Soul Scene! In The Fall lyrics book there's a Wigan Soul Poem which is actually quite lovely. Week 7 of The Fall project and it's a first: the first playlist which stretched beyond the length of my commute. 5 Hours 1 Minute. As such the music's been a little hard to digest.Anyway: Lie Dream of a Casino Soul / Fantastic Life - I love the cover, the single doesn't really do it for me. Lie Dream is okay, better live but Fantastic Life drags a little. The two live outtakes: Session Muscian which I kind of like, it's raucous and rolling. I'm Into CB / Stars on 45 which is fun but ultimately poor recording lets it down.
Then some live tracks from Hip Priest and Kamarads. I had this way before I got Hex Enduction (that LP was pretty hard to get hold of back in the day). As such I knew these four tracks like the back of my hand: A Shimmering Who Makes The Nazis, a punctual Just Step Sideways. And then the bestest version of Jawbone ever - all angular and Mark sounds like he's singing through a rag. A non-Marc Riley Harmony and on the line "The Air Rifle lets out a mis-placed shot" the drummer hits a cymbal. Boof!
And then the worst of the week: And This Day. The live version is 15 minutes of that annoying riff over and over - they seemed to really like this song even though it was way too long and too much for me.
Which leads into Hex iteself. I never really got on with this album - a lot of it either sounds too polished or too throwaway. There's great moments on it but to me, with the build up it really sounds like the band are exhausted and just going through the motions. The Classical is a great opener, and Jawbone remains one of their best songs for me. Hip Priest is, of course, the Fall and this is probably the best version all tension and weirdness. Fortress is throwaway for me, from the silly opener - Deer Park is great but again, better live. Mere Pseud Mag is almost punk by the numbers (again better live). Winter is severly tedious and why it stretches over two tracks is beyond me. Sideways and Nazi's were better elsewhere. Iceland is the real standout - recorded in Iceland and largely improvised it demonstrates that the band could really play. We won't talk about the studio And This Day.
A one-off(?) live thing - "Town Called Scrappy"; "I don't like Maggie", and then into Detective Instinct. I love this tune so much, that even a shitty audience recording of it does it for me. I'll declare my love more openly for it next week. And a live version of Wings with radically up beat music - glad that they put the work into improving this.
Look Know is all Marc Riley: bass and droning. I'm into CB is a little gem, Mark once again capturing the weirdness of English subcultures and making them out to be what we know them to be: slightly dangerous. I've never had a job; never been near a lorry.
Some other live stuff: Tempo House a little early which is a great live track and a functional verison of CB.
And then one of the weirdestly compelling live albums they did: Part of America 1981 - I adore the cover picture of the band in Philly. The US is split into the North and the South with SF being in the South. The two Chicago recordings are some of the best they've ever been. From the massively american intro - into the NWRA and the band are blazing. Hip Priest is equally as good, and Totally Wired is always a solid live song. Lie Dream is okay, and then Cash n Carry starts to drag. And then Older Lover, missing the mark of the Slates version, Deer Park's sounded better. And Winter - why do this live?
And more Live stuff keeps coming:Jazzed Up Punk Shit which is a little like Detective Instinct. AND THIS DAY AGAIN. And then Fall live in Germany, tin recording, great performance. A 12 minute NWRA is a killer, and tinny Your Heart Out really works. They do City Hobgoblins which is great and they close with Fantastic Life. Five Hours is a long time in the life of the Fall
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