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"I think it's really important that The Fall exist"

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"And that's always been my viewpoint on it." Not my words but Mark E Smith on this The Tube interview with Muriel Gray on 8 November 1985.  It was a drive, a mantra, a manifesto that must have stayed through his life and defined his life. Whatever professional or personal problem dogged him, through band and relationship break-ups and various health issues, The Fall always existed. And despite Smith's death in 2018 they still do.  The Fall still exist because of the people who continue to play The Fall, talk about The Fall, podcast about the Fall, write about The Fall, tweet about The Fall, try to decipher Fall lyrics, try to explain Fall lyrics, turn up old pictures of The Fall, discover Fall music lost in vaults etc. It's time for me to bring the curtain down on my Fall in 40. Thank you to everyone who has read these, liked, commented, retweeted and engaged in any way. I did this for me, in part as a way to deal with the absence of someone who had been a pa
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My Fall in 40

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It took a while but we got there. Right, noise... 1978 - Mess of My 1979 - Spectre Vs Rector 1980 - Totally Wired 1981 - Prole Art Threat 1982 - Just Step S'Ways 1983 - Smile 1984 - No Bulbs 1985 - Paintwork 1986 - Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers 1987 - There's a Ghost in My House 1988 - Bremen Nacht 1989 - Squid Law 1990 - Chicago Now! 1991 - Idiot Joy Showland 1992 - Everything Hurtz 1993 - Behind The Counter 1994 - Glam Racket - Star 1995 - Feeling Numb 1996 - He Pep! 1997 - Ol' Gang 1998 - Calendar 1999 - (Jung Nev's) Antidotes 2000 - Ketamine Sun 2001 - Crop-Dust 2002 - Janet Vs. Johnny 2003 - Mountain Energei 2004 - Blindness 2005 - Youwanner 2006 - Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy 2007 - Fall Sound 2008 - 50 Year Old Man 2009 - Slippy Floor (Mark Mix) 2010 - Bury pts. 1+3 2011 - Monocard 2012 - Victrola Time 2013 - Mister Rode 2014 - Fibre Book Troll 2015 - Dedication Not Medication 2016 - Wise Ol' Man 2017 - New Facts Emerge YouTube playlist What's yours?  
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2017 - New Facts Emerge

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22 April: Single - Masquerade 28 July: Album - New Facts Emerge "It might become a whirlwind" Let's not think of this as the end. Instead let's call it another stop on the Circle Line of the Fall catalogue. We start with a single for Record Store Day. A re-mastered Masquerade (two versions of the song) was issued as a limited edition seven inch and has featured enough over the last 20 years to be passed over here in favour of the album. Eleni has departed so we're left with Smith, Greenway, Spurr and Melling, the Fall now a quartet for the first time since the early 90s. On the whole I prefer my Fall with a bit of keyboard but there's no doubt that some of this record absolutely rocks. We begin with the 30 second Segue . MES 'sings' and mumbles 'fol de rol' into a dictaphone and hits things with a stick by the sound of it. Which interestingly (although we can't hear him) is where the album ends. Coincidence? Does the album segue into itse
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2016 - Wise Ol' Man

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19 February: EP - Wise Ol' Man "On the bus, the hill folk, remove, ear plugs" Two new songs, some alternative versions/remixes and a live track - this EP is a mixed bag. The title track belts along nicely and while you can barely understand a word MES says, Eleni's vocal plays well off him. A lot gets crammed into three and a half minutes. All Leave Cancelled weighs in a full five minutes longer. As with some of the Re-Mit and Remainderer output there's a lot going on here. A bit too much in fact. Dave's Spurr's bass holds things together as best he can while the group and MES do their own thing. It's a Schrödinger's cat of a song which is simultaneously great and terrible! The Dedication (Remix) is terrific though. I'm far too old for the drum and bass / dance music clubs but this is exactly what I'd what want to hear at them! OK, it should finish two minutes sooner but I can forgive it that. The Wise Ol' Man (Instrumental) is
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2015 - Dedication Not Medication

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11 May: Album - Sub-Lingual Tablet "how dare you prescribe me bed wet pill and deep grief?" As with Re-mit the first time this record came into my life was via a radio show. Stewart Lee (the comedian by whom all others must be judged) was sitting in for Stuart Maconie on the Freak Zone programme one night. Fall fan Lee played Auto Chip 2014-2016 and I absolutely loved it. As I'd struggled with Re-mit and The Remainderer it was a bit of reassurance about the upcoming album. Auto Chip sets a massively high bar but there's a lot of good stuff on it. Venice With the Girls kicks things off in full-on style. MES gives proper singing another try and largely pulls it off. The track is given breathing space at points where the guitars drop out to leave bass, drums and MES. It works.  Black Roof is credited to Smith and 'Dudes' Rob Barbato and Tim Presley who also recorded the bulk of it. It makes an interesting start but turns weird very quickly. Thankfully it'
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2014 - Fibre Book Troll

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27 October: Live album -  Live Uurop VIII-XII Places In Sun & Winter, Son Regular readers (thank you - and sorry) will know that I don't normally go near the live albums on this blog. As there are a couple of studio tracks on this as well though I need to feature it. The live tracks aren't brilliant. The group seem on great form but the sound quality lets this down. MES sounds very distant at times too. I'd pick out Chino, 50 Year Old Man and Reformation as highlights. The two studio tracks on it are a different version of Amorator and a first cut of Auto Chip - here called Auto (2014) Chip Replace . Amorator has more Elena on it, both in the synth and vocal department. I think I prefer it to last year's version. Auto Chip is the bare bones of the behemoth it becomes on Sub-Lingual Tablet. It's worth a listen, if only to give you an idea of the development the song takes. So for this year's choice I need to turn to a a compilation album called Modeselektio
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2013 - Mister Rode

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20 April: Single - Sir William Wray 13 May: Album - Re-Mit 9 December: EP - The Remainderer "I got a name I got a face" The single (another limited edition job, 1500 copies this time, for Record Store Day) has different versions of songs from Re-mit so let's just jump to that. My first exposure to the album was while on holiday with Mrs Vanity and Presumption in Cornwall. We had a self-catering place so were eating in a lot. The dining table was out of sight of the televison so we listened to Marc Riley 's BBC 6music show over dinner. At around 7:30 one evening he played Loadstones. Fantastic. When can I get my hands on this new album? Riley's no fool.  Loadstones was easily head and shoulders better than just about all the rest of the record to these ears (Victrola Time excepted).  I didn't much like the album at the time and I'm sad to say I still don't love it. It's not as coherent as some of the recent records. We get No Respects Intro to
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