I have the first issue CD's for Live at the Witch Trials (SFLPCD1) and Dragnet (SFLPCD4) - they both say "Distributed in the UK by EMI" on the back insert and have "EMI Swindon" in the hub area... Maybe they sent the master tapes to EMI and there they remained?
Certainly the key ones, like The Early Years, Hip Priests and Kamerads, Palace of Swords etc. Many of the later ones are just pointless recycling though so I think we can skip those.
Rowche Rumble July 1979 Mark E Smith - vocals Marc Riley - guitar, vocals Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley – bass Craig Scanlon - guitar Steve Hanley - bass Mike Leigh - drums Yvonne Pawlett - keyboards 01. Rowche Rumble (Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 3:59 02. In My Area (Smith/Riley/Pawlett/Scanlon) 4:00 Now things start to get really interesting. Original members Bramah and Burns leave, and in the TV documentary MES admits he was ****ting his pants at this time as he didn’t have a band. In one of the greatest strokes of luck in music he convinces a couple of local teenage musicians to join the band, Craig Scanlon – guitar, and Steve Hanley – bass (Riley switches to second guitar). Craig and Steve would become the most important members of the band after MES over the next two decades and be the musical core of the band. I’ll talk more about them in the future but for now I will just say both of them were essential to the Fall sound and both were brilliant musicians. In Spinal Tap fashion Mike Leigh becomes the latest drummer. The first result of this new line-up is the fantastic Rowche Rumble, one of the key Fall singles. It’s a darker and harder sound but the key to its genius is the arrangement, which seems more sophisticated than the straightforward ‘all play at once’ style previously. MES continues to get better and better, the parts where the music drops out and it’s just him and the drums are great, especially at the end. Lyrically it’s tight and funny and fairly straightforward in content terms, being an attack on the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, who made valium pills, and the hypocrisy of those condemning people smoking weed and taking speed while being ok with the ‘house wives’ all being addicted to tranquilisers. The B side is great as well, I have no idea what most of the lines mean but sonically they sound great, and it’s notable as you first get a glimpse of what Scanlon and Hanley are capable of, especially the guitar playing. Rowche Rumble has always been one of my favourite Fall songs of all time.
Man, I really, really want to contribute to this thread, but the timing right now is horrendous for me. I'll try to chime in when I can. Since I was born in 1975, I'm obviously way too young to have gotten into the Fall when they started. My intro to the early singles came from the excellent Early Years comp, which had a huge impact on me when I discovered it. Nearly every song is a classic. "Rowche Rumble," "Bingo Master's Breakout," and "Psycho Mafia," in particular, are favorites. So discordant and unique, yet super catchy. Haven't listened to Witch Trials in eons, but I agree with most of what's been said so far.
Great [ambitious] thread! I was acquiring a lot of music back then and had the Step Forward singles and Live at the Witch Trials. As it happens, I reviewed The Fall's show at the Palladium opening for The Buzzcocks... The Yachts were 3rd on the bill. I can't remember what I wrote and I don't think I "understood" The Fall at all, but they were my favorite band of the night, by some distance. Truthfully, I didn't become a real fan until later... Totally Wired, Leave The Capitol, Fantastic Life... l used to spin a number of their records when I was DJ'ing at Maxwell's. They played in Hoboken a few times and Pat Clark (who lived upstairs from the club) was their tour manager in the US... he is the inspiration/subject of Pat Trip Dispenser. Getting ahead of ourselves there, but ahhh... the good old days.
Holy Northern white crap, I found this on-line: Saturday, December 1 1979 Palladium Theater, New York Fiery Jack / Muzorewi's Daughter / Rowche Rumble / Various Times / Psykick Dancehall / Flat of Angles / Choc-Stock Incomplete? Supporting Buzzcocks. Guy Ewald in the February 1980 New York Rocker: "The second-billed Fall saved the show for me. What an attitude on these guys -- they acted like the audience wasn't even there. Lead singer Mark E. Smith casually paced the stage, one hand in his pocket, as he sang, screamed, screeched and preached over the band's pumping, menacing drone. Without traditional R&R dynamics, the Fall constructed an impressive wall of sound; the set ended with the guitarists crouched over their small amplifiers, wrestling the last sounds from their instruments. A few heads bobbed, a few mouths booed, but as Smith would later tell the NYR, the Fall are "not about rock 'n' roll," but ideas. An intriguing and highly original band."
Was that the Palladium show? If so, the full line up was: Undertones/Fall/Buzzcocks. And yeah, the Fall did kind of steal the show. Buncha punks.
Sorry pal, but I'm gonna challenge your memory with that one, and this gigography confirms my recollection. http://www.theundertones.com/_/Shows_1976-1983.html The Undertones opened for The Clash on September 20 and 21, 1979 at The Palladium and played a show at Hurrah's a couple of days later. They were back in Ireland in December. The bill on the night in question was: Buzzcocks The Fall The Yachts I loved the Buzzcocks, but they disappointed me live, especially after The Fall had (as you say) stolen the show. It's funny. I think I wrote what was quoted above... it captures my primal memories of that night. But the NY Rocker took liberal editorial license in presenting a consistent voice... I often barely recognized my own reviews in published form.
Okay Guy, I'll go along with that. In my defense, if you recall, we were drinking with Andy Schwartz in some Bleecker Street dive before the show. He was buying, and I lost count after 10 vodka and oranges. It figures I'm hazy about the show but not the liquor. No wonder he never paid me.
And The Clash gig was only a couple of months earlier in 1979 at the same venue. It's amazing that I remember as many details as I do. And it shocks me to think that I was just 25 at the time.
Well, the first issue CD sounds great (SFCDLP1) as they must have used the master tapes. I will have to see what's on that deluxe edition from a while back (since they found the master tapes) and see if I need to re-buy it...
is rowche rumble the one with the awesome casiotone like keyboard? I have the 50,000 Fall fans can't be wrong comp and have been listening to it all day...I also have the Hex cd and a few other things and I look forward to following along on this thread
Dragnet Released 26 October 1979 on Step Forward Records 01. Psykick Dancehall(Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 3:51 02. A Figure Walks(Smith) 6:13 03. Printhead(Smith) 3:17 04. Dice Man(Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 1:46 05. Before The Moon Falls(The Fall) 4:34 06. Your Heart Out(Smith/Riley/Scanlon) 3:07 07. Muzorewi's Daughter(Smith/Carroll) 3:44 08. Flat Of Angles(The Fall) 4:58 09. Choc-Stock(Scanlon/Smith) 2:40 10. Spectre vs. Rector(The Fall) 7:57 11. Put Away(Smith) 3:26 Mark E Smith - vocals, keyboards, kazoo, tapes Marc Riley - guitar, vocals Craig Scanlon - guitar, keyboards Steve Hanley - bass, vocals Mike Leigh - drums With: Kay Carroll – vocals Recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale 2-4 August 1979 Produced by: Grant Showbiz Hmmm…where do I start with Dragnet. It is regarded as one of the key Fall albums but it has always left me a bit cold. The problem for me is the production. It makes Witch Trials sound like a Phil Collins album. ‘Murky’ is the description often used. It sounds like it was recorded on a cassette, down a telephone, with blankets placed on all the amps. Combined with often very dark lyrics it’s quite a claustrophobic experience. Perhaps I am being too harsh. I’m not certain if the sound is what they wanted or it was just inexperience. The thing is the songs are good and it just seems to me that it could have been a much better album with a better production. Alas we don’t have any Peel sessions from this time to compare or to be the go to versions of these tracks. Rowche Rumble/In My Area from a short time before both sound excellent, and if you compare Dragnet to the quite frankly astounding material released in the next year you do wonder what went wrong. But many people seem to love Dragnet so perhaps I’m in the minority. In the Fall member merry-go-round Yvonne Pawlett has left and Kay Carroll (MES love interest and band Manager) adds some vocals. The Riley/Scanlon/Hanley line up are beginning to find their feet but their contributions are often buried in the mix. Psykick Dancehall continues the tradition of great opening tracks, the ‘up-beat’ numbers are all very good (Put Away, Dice Man, Printhead, Choc-Stock) and Before The Moon Falls is a great song. A Figure Walks and Your Heart Out are also solid tracks. It’s not an album I would recommended for someone looking to hear The Fall for the first time (that would be Grotesque) but, despite its faults, it’s still an essential album for any Fall fan. Special mention for the excellent sleeve, which is iconic. Like Witch Trials the master tapes for this album were found in the EMI vaults so the Sanctuary/Castle CD uses these (although anyone expecting this to lift the murk will be disappointed). We will talk about the Fiery Jack single later, but the CD also includes both tracks from the Rowche Rumble single and interestingly a few different takes and false starts of those two tracks which were also discovered in the EMI vaults. It’s great to have these ‘alternate’ versions, something that is almost unheard of with regards to early Fall material, due to various label issues we don’t even have the master tapes for some of the albums now, and needledrops have been used for reissues for some releases, so session tapes are a real blessing. Anyway, what do you think of Dragnet?
This is the first Fall album I bought. When I first heard it I thought it was a very dark and challenging listen but over time I have grew to like it and play it regularly.
Just listened to my IRS CD copy of Dragnet - it sounds as poor as the first one sounds great... I'll have to get out my original Step Forward LP, I'm guessing it won't sound any better. Too bad, as there are a lot of great songs on here, one of my favorites being "Flat of Angles", love the guitar and keyboard work on this one!
uh oh already behind.. well I got my castle 2 cd live at the witch trials... nice package..will get to listening to it.. what are the recommendations for Dragnet?? thanks in advance
The same series as Witch Trials I think (all of them together mean you get all the stray tracks added on to the relevant albums, except for one track which we will get to later which is another story).
"The problem for me is the production. It makes Witch Trials sound like a Phil Collins album." -Jim B. Classic! This was my first record of theirs and i didn't know what to make of it at first and would listen to it on and off trying to make sense of it. It took a loooooong time to appreciate it. The first record that really clicked for me was the Slates 10". I didn't fully appreciate Dragnet until years later after i've digested much more of their catalog.. Strangely enough, this became one of my favorites of theirs despite the awful recording and i think it's the first where they REALLY became The Fall as we know and love them. The only song I still don't like is 'Choc-Stock'. I still cringe when i hear it! The opening track is probably my favorite (Psykick Dancehall) and surprisingly enough, whenever i play the record my wife always mentions that "Your Heart Out" always manages gets in her head. A woman that appreciates the Fall? She's a keeper! To sum it up, a very under appreciated record but worth the time to penetrate it's murky/quirkiness.. 8/10 for me
Dragnet was my first album by The Fall and I was hooked. It has always sounded weedy as if recorded intentionally on the cheap and then the cassette was left to age in an oak barrel-sided station wagon. I took this Lo-Fi approach, along with the cheap guitars and MES singing into cups and tape recorders, as an about face reaction to the predominant music production values. And this was way before Pavement, GBV, et al. While the original IRS CD is not stellar, it's a flat transfer of either the master or safety copy but probably crap converters. I still prefer it to the revisionist remastering to make it sound "beefy" to put it in the words of the reissue producers. The Fall, beefy? Please.
Hey, there were always women (and at least one woman) in the band* of MES! (*= please correct me when wrong for a certain month in a certain year, it's not easy to follow all the changes of members of The Fall)
Love the Live at Witch Trials! limited my listening to the first disc so far.. I have ordered the Palace compilation with the bonus disc.
