I agree - there's a big gaping gap in their development unrecorded by Peel between the 2 Witch Trials sessions and the Grotesque one that irritatingly sticks one when you hear the set in order. Having said that, there is technically one Dragnet song on there - 'Put Away' is on the second session in a different earlier arrangement.
I have this one, its a clear winner for crappy sound for dodgy Fall live releases, and that's saying something.... Sounds as if it was recorded on an old Boots C90 on a crappy 70's cassette player hidden in an beat up Addidas bag! A valuable addition to anyone's collection, will probably get released on vinyl for RSD next year.
The cover's too good. Needs clip art and sharpie scrawl and a more confusing title and then you're talking.
I honestly have no idea as I haven't heard either one, but tracklists appear to be the same, only the new one adds previously missing Bingo Masters Breakout and Brand New Cadillac instead of the "medley".
What's funn What's funny is that the picture is just a stock image you can buy on the internet. It has been used for other things like It really is the worst Fall cover ever.
Oh right Since I have that lp, and have never played it, and the original crap cd I really don't need the cd version of the lp (ie it has the same sleeve) which is in my Amazon basket. I know I buy any old ****e which has The Fall on the front cover, but that's really pushing it even for me. To go off slightly on a tangent, is anyone on Facebook that gets updates from the Official Fall page, which is apparently run by Cherry Red, still getting the almost daily updates for The Fall in Montreal, which actually isn't a gig but a completely unrelated art exhibition called The Fall? Whilst somewhat annoying, it does seen a very Fall thing!
Essential Listening Sad to see most of the tracks are now spread across all the two disc reissues that have come out over the years so the box will likely be OOP until someone reissues the whole box on vinyl
Live From The Vaults Series Released August to November 2005, all single CD’s apart from the last one which is a double. The cover above for one is pretty much how they all look. Really the last thing Fall fans wanted was another batch of live albums. What is also amusing is the assumed valuable nature of these recordings given by the title ‘Live From The Vaults’ – as if these had been locked in a vault somewhere (it was actually a box under MES’s bed I am led to believe). I skipped these as these recordings were already in trade circles and obtainable for free if you knew where to look, and it’s not as if the artwork was a selling point. It’s classic era material and the versions I have heard of these are pretty enjoyable. Pick them up if you see them really cheap I think. Oldham 1978 01. Repetition (Baines/Burns/Friel/Bramah/Smith) 8:13 02. Like To Blow (Smith/Bramah) 1:49 03. Frightened (Smith/Friel) 5:18 04. Stepping Out (Smith/Friel) 2:55 05. It's The New Thing (Smith/Bramah) 4:03 06. Futures And Pasts (Smith/Bramah) 2:40 07. Bingo Master's Breakout (Smith/Baines) 2:33 08. Industrial Estate (Friel/Bramah/Smith) 1:46 09. Psycho Mafia (Friel/Smith) 2:20 10. Mother-Sister (Smith/Baines) 3:01 11. Music Scene (Smith/Bramah/Pawlett/Riley) 5:28 12. Various Times (Burns/Smith/Bramah/Pawlett/Riley) 4:50 Recorded live at the Tower Club, Oldham on 21 August 1978 Mark E Smith - vocals Martin Bramah - guitar, vocals Marc Riley - bass Karl Burns - drums Yvonne Pawlett – keyboards Retford 1979 01. Psykick Dancehall (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 3:56 02. Rowche Rumble (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 5:06 03. Flat Of Angles (The Fall) 4:31 04. 2nd Dark Age (The Fall) 2:02 05. Rebellious Jukebox (Smith/Bramah) 3:05 06. Muzorewi's Daughter (Smith/Carroll) 3:35 07. In My Area (Smith/Riley/Pawlett/Scanlon) 4:14 08. Choc Stock (Scanlon/Smith) 2:58 09. Printhead (Smith) 3:12 10. A Figure Walks (Smith) 4:54 11. Fiery Jack (Smith/The Fall) 4:47 12. No Xmas For John Quays (Smith) 6:49 13. Psycho Mafia (Smith/Friel) 4:26 Recorded live at the Porterhouse, Retford on 16 November 1979. Mark E Smith - vocals Marc Riley - guitar Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley - bass Mike Leigh – drums Los Angeles 1979 01. Psykick Dancehall (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 4:43 02. Rowche Rumble (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 4:59 03. Flat Of Angles (The Fall) 4:54 04. Rebellious Jukebox (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 2:54 05. Various Times (Burns/Smith/Bramah/Pawlett/Riley) 6:52 06. Stepping Out (Smith/Friel) 4:35 07. Your Heart Out (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 2:35 08. Dice Man (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 1:50 09. Spectre vs Rector (The Fall) 11:06 10. Choc Stock (Scanlon/Smith) 3:43 11. Muzorewi's Daughter (Smith/Carroll) 3:43 Recorded live at the Anticlub, Los Angeles on 14 December 1979. Mark E Smith - vocals Marc Riley - guitar Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley - bass Mike Leigh – drums Glasgow 1981 01. Blob 59 / Prole Art Threat (Smith/Riley) 3:47 02. Totally Wired (Scanlon/Riley/Smith) 3:58 03. Jawbone And The Air-Rifle (Hanley, S/Riley/Scanlon/Smith) 4:01 04. An Older Lover (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P/Riley/Scanlon) 5:10 05. Printhead (Smith) 2:57 06. Middle Mass (Smith/Hanley, S/Riley/Scanlon) 4:18 07. Slates Slags Etc (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P/Riley/Scanlon) 7:28 08. English Scheme (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 2:23 09. Fit And Working Again (Smith/Riley/Hanley, S/Hanley, P) 2:47 Recorded live at the Plaza, Glasgow on 23 February 1981 Mark E Smith - vocals Marc Riley - guitar Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley - bass Paul Hanley – drums Alter Banhof, Hof, Germany 1981 01. How I Wrote Elastic Man (Riley/Scanlon/Hanley/Smith) 5:53 02. Fortress/Totally Wired (Burns/Riley/Scanlon/Smith) 5:41 03. Jawbone And The Air-Rifle (Hanley, S/Riley/Scanlon/Smith) 3:51 04. An Older Lover (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P/Riley/Scanlon) 6:17 05. The N.W.R.A. (Smith/Scanlon/Hanley, S) 12:13 06. Prole Art Threat (Smith/Riley) 2:39 07. Your Heart Out (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 3:03 08. No Xmas For John Quays (Smith) 3:18 09. Hip Priest (Hanley, S/Riley/Scanlon/Smith) 9:18 10. Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul (Smith/Riley/Scanlon/Hanley, P) 3:36 11. Session Musician (Smith/Riley/Scanlon/Hanley, S) 8:28 12. Leave The Capitol (Smith/Riley/Scanlon/Hanley, S) 4:15 13. City Hobgoblins (Riley/Scanlon/Hanley/Smith) 3:35 14. Slates Slags Etc (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P/Riley/Scanlon) 6:26 15. Fantastic Life (Smith/Riley/Scanlon/Hanley, P) 7:16 Tracks 1-7 & 9-11 recorded live at Alter Bahnhof, Hof, Germany on 22 May 1981; tracks 8 & 12-15 recorded live at SO36, Kreuzberg, Berlin on 23 May 1981 Mark E Smith - vocals Marc Riley - guitar Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley - bass Paul Hanley - drums Karl Burns – drums
I took a bullet for the team, since I recently picked up the LA set. Historically interesting, I suppose, but it's a really terrible audience recording. The kind of thing you might once have picked up from a guy with a suitcase of cassettes at Camden Town, but not something that ever needed to be officially issued on CD.
I have 4 of these that I got cheap when they came out. Oldham, Retford, LA and Alter Banhof. Would like the Glasgow one too, but haven't seen it cheap or 2nd hand. I just think of them as interesting bootlegs, even if they were (sort of) licensed to them from M.E.S tape stash. Some really good gigs although they are bootleg quality in terms of sound. Great time for the band and some strong performances caught on tape. The artwork is shoddy as... , but if you think of them as a batch of bootleg cassettes you'd get from a market stall back in the day just copied onto cd's they are worth having because of these are snapshots of a vintage time for the band at a real peak.
Yes pretty much true but if you get them cheap they are basically a more durable format of said cassettes.
I Can Hear The Grass Grow Released September 2005 on Slogan/Sanctuary 7" Single 01. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (Wood) 2:49 02. Clasp Hands (Smith/Trafford) 2:32 Mark E Smith - vocals Ben Pritchard - guitar Steve Trafford - bass, vocals, guitar Spencer Birtwistle - drums Elena Poulou - keyboards With: Simon "Ding" Archer - banjo (track 2) Produced by: Mark E Smith and Tim "Gracielands" Baxter Released in the USA on CD with these tracks: 01. I Can Hear The Grass Grow 2:52 02. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (slow version) 3:18 03. Bo Doodak (Smith) 4:14 A taster of the new album to come. I like the song, it’s one of Roy Wood’s great Move singles, and although it’s ‘another’ cover I think the Fall pulled of a decent version, it rocks and MES seems to put the effort in. Wood’s unusual song structure seems to suit the Fall.
Yes, it is a good cover of a song i was not that familiar with before i heard this version. Subsequently i checked a bit of The Move out and they were really good so it worked for me as both a fine Fall effort and a gateway to the original band. Even though i knew he was highly regarded and The Move were revered as a fine band; i had dismissed Roy Wood as a bit of a glam era novelty act because of the Xmas tune and See My Baby Jive (which is a great song), so this was a useful release to help me appreciate a really talented guy. Never bought this single though. I pretty much stopped buying Fall singles after The Chisellers as the b sides were by and large no longer unique non album tracks nor that interesting (with a few exceptions of course).
I Can Hear The Grass Grow, by The Fall I think I prefer the "slow" version to the regular one (which subsequently appeared on the album).
Fall Heads Roll Released October 2005 on Slogan Records, part of Sanctuary Records Group (CD and LP) 01. Ride Away (Poulou/Smith) 5:02 02. Pacifying Joint (Smith) 3:46 03. What About Us? (Smith/Poulou) 5:51 04. Midnight In Aspen (Smith/Trafford) 3:13 05. Assume (Smith) 4:08 06. Aspen Reprise (Smith/Trafford) 1:53 07. Blindness (Smith/Birtwistle) 7:24 08. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (Wood) 2:51 09. Bo Demmick (Smith) 4:16 10. Youwanner (Smith/Archer/Pritchard) 5:02 11. Clasp Hands (Smith/Trafford) 2:46 12. Early Days of Channel Fuhrer (Smith/Pritchard) 3:48 13. Breaking The Rules (Walker) 2:26 14. Trust In Me (Smith/Trafford) 3:35 Mark E Smith - vocals Ben Pritchard - guitar Steve Trafford - bass, vocals, guitar Spencer Birtwistle - drums Elena Poulou - keyboards, vocals With: Simon "Ding" Archer - banjo (track 11), bass (track 10), vocals (track 14) Billy Pavone - vocals (track 14) Kenny Cummings - vocals (track 14) Phil Schuster - vocals (track 14) Produced by: Mark E Smith, Simon "Ding" Archer and Tim "Gracielands" Baxter The US version on Narnack is almost identical - the only difference is that it is an alternative version of Blindness on the US version which is a few seconds shorter. The US vinyl version was better as it was on two albums rather than one. FHR was quite a big deal at the time as it was really the peak of the renewed interest in the group at the time so quite a well-publicised release. It’s an album any Fall fan from any period should buy and enjoy and the third best Fall album of the new century after the Unutterable and Country on the Click. It’s a very strong set of songs played well and an impressive album. I would rate it highly but I do have a few issues. Firstly (like most later Fall albums) it is too long and could have done with a bit of trimming down both in track times and songs themselves. At almost 60 minutes it seems long where it could have been a killer album at 40 minutes. I do find it a little one dimensional at times and it’s very in your face, like an assault on the senses. That may be the mastering, I only have the CD, but it lacks the variety of the last album. The band was very tight live around this time and the songs sounded really good live. And lastly I think the material sounds better on the corresponding Peel session. Especially Blindness. I had got a little bored with Blindness as it seemed to crop up everywhere and was being hailed as a ‘great new Fall classic’. I think this was over selling it rather. It’s very good but not as good as MES thought it was, the ‘repetition’ got a little boring as the riff is pretty simple and the song doesn’t go very far. Anyway, minor quibbles aside, a very solid album and one that further enhanced the ‘elder statesman’ standing of the Fall and the renewed interest. I really liked the line-up and things looked bright going forward and so I was not happy when the entire band was later sacked (apart from Elena of course) and replaced by the US support band!