An excellent approach. I was forced into much the same due to my age and resources, as well as availability (I was 13 when I got into the Fall and have very little money) and it meant that every morcel was savoured. There's not exactly a shortage to material to digest. Happy listening!
I like the grime of the original cd. Wasn’t Bend Sinister the album infamously mastered from cassette? I would like to hear the new version as it’s a Fall favourite of mine, certainly my favourite Beggars Banquet era album.
According to the liner notes, only two tracks (Riddler! and Terry Waite Sez) were mastered from cassette.
Indeed, this much repeated myth is put to bed on the new edition which states that only "Terry Waite Sez" and "Riddler!" were mastered from cassette - it was always audible at the end of the latter when one can hear some tape warp and the hiss is more noticeable. The new edition makes the hiss on TWS even more noticeable(!) but does a great job with the sound overall as well as adding an alternate mix of TWS from a mastertape, possibly by way of compensation.
It’s listed on the RSD Germany site too, hopefully I can pick up a copy on Saturday as it’s the only studio album I dont have on vinyl as for some inexplicable reason I only bought the CD when it was released.
The original vinyl of IWS wasn't released simultaneously with the CD, IIRC. It followed a few weeks later and there were 500 for the world!
Even after 40 years of buying The Fall and with around 100 albums in my collection (yes I did buy all the dodgy comps and live albums) Witch Trials is still my favourite Fall album!
This may be the only RSD release I am interested in but it is not a U.S. release as far as I can tell.
Which is probably the reason I didn’t get it right away and by the time I got around to looking for it it was too late, I did live in the US when it was released so that was probably a contributing factor too.
Anyone else pick up the RSD Imperial Wax Solvent release? Warped? How does it sound? Hoping Cherry Red will give this a full release soon...
It sounds fine but its not flat which was my main issue. Few ticks and pops on mine but may just require another clean. Some surface noise in places. Never owned the album before so i can't compare it to any other copies.
The reissues Of Witch Trials (which has the US track list replacing Industrial Estate with Various Times) And Dragnet are now out.
You have excellent taste! My #1 Fall album is Grotesque, followed closely by This Nation's Saving Grace. Love Printhead and Flat Of Angles on Dragnet!
Ohhh. I would never relegate Totale's Turns that way. It's way too iconic and representative of The Fall. - It completes the devolution of the band from the relatively high-gloss Live at the Witch Trials to the shockingly raw Dragnet to something even further down into dodgy unproduced territory. - And it does such a thing to represent the band's biggest move yet, to a much wider release on "big" indie Rough Trade. - Its tracklist is heavy on singles material ("Fiery Jack," "Rowche Rumble," "In My Area," etc.) and demos (most of side 2) to minimize overlap with Dragnet (3 tracks) and Witch Trials (only 1). - Its template of live/studio/outtake/garbage collage hodgepodge would be visited time and time again over the decades (see Seminal Live, The Twenty-Seven Points, 2G+2, Interim, etc.). I mean, I get that there are lots of albums to choose from, but Totale's is no less than any of them and better than many.
The version of "No Xmas For John Quays" on "Totale's Turns" is one of the most important recordings of their career. Not only it is an extraordinary performance, as fierce as it is confrontational, it shows how crucial Steve Hanley already was to the their sound and demonstrates in no uncertain terms, MES's attitude towards musicians.
Next set of reissues. Hex, Room to Live and In A Hole. But, no vinyl for In A Hole, and the CDs are all together in a £40 box set. FALL SOUND ARCHIVE | THREE new reissues from The Fall available to pre-order now! - Cherry Red Records
I have a lot of love for Cherry Red but these releases are all over the place. We get the US "Witch Trials" which was a decent move but "Dragnet" comes with a 7". Now we get Hex as a triple LP with a 7" but Room To Live as a double with a load of extra stuff we've already heard on the Santuary editions from the mid '00s. Why not continue the theme with a double Hex with the Look, Know 7" and a single RTL with a reproduction Marquis Cha-Cha 7"? The latter is crying out for a reproduction/reissue. I'll be having HEX as I've always refused to buy that on vinyl again until it was on 4 sides of vinyl but that third LP is unnecessary. Also, that CD box is really over-priced. It's a good solution to the general ennui towards CDs but it contains nothing we haven't heard before and is £10 too much.
Amazing this, isn't it? He's such a dedicated and diligent scholar of The Fall and it's absolutely remarkable that he's turned this up. That it's almost verbatim somehow make it all the funnier.
Been following his search for this on the Fall Online Forum - dramatic moment when he finally posted it yesterday! Well worth it for what is one of their truly great tracks.