I think I have everything on cd, and I've certainly not played most of the compilations/live stuff but I think its great you are doing every release!!
The Fall vs 2003 Released December 2002 on Action Records (CD and 7") 01. Susan vs Youthclub (Smith/Milner) 3:40 02. Janet vs Johnny (Smith/Pritchard) 2:49 03. Susan vs Youthclub (remix) (Smith/Milner) 4:15 Mark E Smith - vocals Ben Pritchard - guitar, vocals Jim Watts - bass, guitar, programming Dave Milner - drums, vocals, keyboards Elena Poulou - keyboards, vocals Produced by: Grant Showbiz Perhaps a somewhat forgotten single which sneaked out amongst the sea of compilations and live albums. And a ‘proper’ line-up forming around Ben and Elena who would record the next album, this is in retrospect the beginning of getting back to form. Susan vs Youthclub is mostly made up of keyboard and electronic sounds. A really great set of lyrics which I kind of think deserve a better tune, but still very enjoyable. Janet vs Johnny is an early version of the track that would appear on the next album. This is more electronic than the album version and slower, but again an interesting track. The third track, the remix is fine. A nice little enjoyable single but nothing spectacular. The (yet another) new line-up finding its feet.
I think the Superior Viaduct Pressing is very well done. All 5 of the LP's and two of the singles they reissued are excellent.
Actually, I think "Susan Vs Youthclub" is quite spectacular, a track that begs for repeat listens. So many interesting sounds going on and one of MES' classic story lyrics!
It's The New Thing! The Step Forward Years Released March 2003 on Castle 01. Psycho Mafia 2:13 02. Repetition 4:55 03. It's The New Thing! 3:28 04. Frightened 5:02 05. Crap Rap 2 - Like To Blow 2:06 06. Rebellious Jukebox 2:57 07. No Christmas For John Quays 4:39 08. Industrial Estate 2:01 09. Futures And Pasts 3:28 10. Music Scene 8:02 11. Rowche Rumble 4:02 12. Psykick Dancehall 3:49 13. Flat Of Angles 4:56 14. Dice Man 1:46 15. Before The Moon Falls 4:33 16. Muzorewi's Daughter 3:42 17. Choc-Stock 2:40 18. Spectre Vs Rector 7:57 19. Second Dark Age 2:01 20. Fiery Jack 4:52 Sublime music of course but a rather random collection of the Step Forward years.
Time Enough At Last Released April 2003 on Castle CD1 - 15 Wyas To Leave Your Man CD2 - Oxymoron CD3 - Cheetham Hill This is just one of those cheap ‘clamshell’ boxes with three of the Receiver albums included. Pretty pointless but at least it was cheap.
Oddly enough, this was how I really got into The Fall. I can't remember where or why I bought this but I listened to it on a long journey down to Cornwall and was so taken with it (even though these are cheapo Receiver comps) I started getting obsessed and bought the whole back catalogue.
For what it's worth, I think all three discs have been remastered. It's an attractive package (still lacking track sourcing details) and a nice complement to The Other Side of the Fall. (Was that covered here?)
Words Of Expectation - BBC Sessions Released May 2003 on Castle (Double CD) 01. Rebellious Juke Box 3:02 02. Mother Sister 3:09 03. Industrial Estate 1:46 04. Futures And Pasts 2:37 05. Put Away 3:35 06. Mess Of My 3:16 07. No Xmas For John Quays 4:14 08. Like To Blow 1:48 09. Container Drivers 3:41 10. Jawbone And The Air-Rifle 3:25 11. New Puritan 7:16 12. New Face In Hell 5:02 13. Middlemass 3:56 14. Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul 2:44 15. Hip Priest 9:26 16. C'n'C-Hassle Schmuck 4:14 17. Deer Park 4:27 18. Look, Know 5:08 19. Winter 8:04 20. Who Makes The Nazis? 2:57 21. He Pep! 4:17 22. Oleano 3:11 23. Chilinist 5:22 24. The City Never Sleeps 3:00 25. D.I.Y. Meat 2:35 26. Spinetrak 2:42 27. Spencer 3:36 28. Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones 3:38 Brilliant release at the time, before we could imagine there being an actual ‘complete’ Peel sessions box. This double CD collected in their entirety sessions 1 to 5 and 19 and 20. I’m not sure about the logic behind the choice of sessions, maybe licensing issues, but the first five sessions are like an alternative early history with treasures throughout.
Words of Expectation is great. Utterly bizarre that the later sessions were tacked on the end, but no more bizarre than not actually including the session which included the title track! And, of course, the Peel version of Container Drivers is special.
Are we ever gonna get to The Real New fall Lp? Jesus , they really went off the boil with all those compilations. Still, kudos to the OP for such a diligent effort.
I mean, that was sort of why I asked a similar question. Let's say the Fall put out 30 random compilations and such from 2002-2004. Being completist about this in a thread that is supposed to encourage discussion seems counter-intuitive. Why do I want to talk about Words of Expectation, for example, when the Complete Peel box was put out just a year or two later? Why would I post about The Step Forward Years *after* those albums have already been discussed 40 pages ago? etc. [ I see that nobody has responded to that one at all.] I appreciate the idea behind "doing everything" wholeheartedly (and it's a thankless job to manage one of these threads) but I think some curation is necessary to keep people interested. These album-by-album threads work best when there is a sense of the band's development and history and progression being put forth over time, and as such I think the most successful of them usually just focus on major canonical entries. As it stands, 30-something studio albums is a pretty big discography to discuss in and of itself without all the ephemera and label cash-ins.
I think it is pretty interesting to see exactly how this all went down and what a deluge it was. I guess we can picture that while all these non-essential comps are coming out that MES and the gang are cooking up a real good one. An informal apology? Joking. Plus, this thread was started with a particular system. It'd be strange to switch courses no?
I agree. With The Fall, I think it would've been best to make a highly selective list of which comps to cover. You could discuss only comps that most fans agree made a big impact, or which best cover a particular era. For example, overing the Beggars-era A- and B-sides comps would be warranted, but maybe the only Peel Sessions comp that needs to be discussed is the complete box for obvious reasons. Or, if we absolutely have to be completist about it, just knock out all the unimportant or redundant comps for each year in one single post.
I get what you are saying but I made the decision at the start to do everything and I'm going to stick with that. The problem is who is to say one compilation is important and one not, I have read people's comments saying some compilation that I thought was quite lightweight actually was important to them. As a 'buyers guide' also it is useful to cover them. Plus the live albums are a real mixture - some are rubbish, others are essential and very important. And most of the time it depends on the person which is which. You can't do just the studio albums either, that doesn't tell half the story of the Fall, as you miss the singles and odd things like the Peel session box. Plus there are many oddities like the spoken word albums, those mostly live albums that contain some unique studio tracks, etc. Only two possible options when I started it - either do everything or just the 'canon' studio albums really. And the second option would have missed so much it makes the first option the only one really.
Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on this. But of course, you're the captain of this ship, so we will all ultimately defer to you. Besides, I don't think any of us would expect you to change course this far into the thread. It just gets tedious spending weeks in between studio releases covering an increasingly long list of mostly pointless comps. Probably the best way would be to focus on studio albums, singles, and Peel sessions. Then people can discuss any comps or live albums if they feel like it so long as we're at the point in the chronology. But again, I do realize we've gone this far into the "completist" route, that we might as well keep it going.
