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
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