About the author

-
Handsome, well-meaning, but slightly a careless type.
Not malicious, I hope you understand and grasp.

(Athlete Cured)


The Fall were part of the soundtrack of my life for about 35 years. After Mark E Smith's death in January 2018 it's still hard to believe that there will be no more Fallsound.

I can't remember the first Fall record I heard. It may have been Totally Wired, Rowche Rumble or Bingo Master's Breakout. I'm sure my friend David would have been the person who played it around 1980 or 1981.

I can't remember the first Fall record I bought. It could have been either of the above or maybe How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'.

The first fall gig I went to was at Swindon's Brunel Rooms on 26 March 1982. All I remember is two drum-kits and someone who kept shouting for Spectre vs Rector.

I'm fairly sure the first Fall album I bought was Dragnet. Most likely from Kempster's on Commercial Road in Swindon.

What I do remember is buying a bootleg cassette* of the first five John Peel Sessions, I think for a fiver, at the Futurama 4 Festival in September 1982 at the Deeside Leisure Centre in Queensferry, Flintshire. This more than anything got the Fall under my skin and they've stayed there.

My '5 John Peel Sessions' cassette
* As I spent several hundred pounds on Fall records subsequently I guess home taping didn't kill music.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1983 - Smile

-
Image
23 March: 6th John Peel Session - Smile, Garden, Hex Knot, Eat Y'self Fitter 27 June: Single - The Man Whose Head Expanded 19 September: Single - Kicker Conspiracy ?? November: Single - Marquis Cha-Cha 5 December: Album - Perverted By Language "Decadence and anarchy, he said, he smiled" The first post-Marc Riley output is, for me, one of the Group's high-water marks. The March John Peel session, featuring four songs to appear on December's Perverted By Language, is as good as it gets. Sessions for the show were supposed to last around 15 minutes, this one weighs in at just over half an hour and there isn't a wasted second. After Eat Y'self Fitter Peel said that he might have fainted during the playback! Eat Y'self Fitter would also be Peel's Fall selection for his appearance on Desert Island Discs . After a brief break on the Kamera label The Fall were back on Rough Trade for The Man Whose Head Expanded single in June. It starts with
Read more

1982 - Just Step S'ways

-
Image
6 March: Album - Hex Enduction Hour 19 April: Single - Look, Know 27 September: Album - Room to Live "When what used to excite you does not" I realise this might seem a contrary choice from the greatest album ever made but I'll explain further on. Hex Enduction Hour was recorded in Iceland and Hitchin in late 1981 against a backdrop of tension in the group and even the possibility that this was to be their last work. I'm delighted it wasn't but if it was to have been, what a way to go! This has taken me a while because I find it quite difficult to write about 'Hex' as I've read so much about it. Probably best I don't go into too much detail and embarrass myself so for now I'll just say it is at times powerful, confrontational, provocative, contrary, thoughtful and brutal. In reflective moments Mark E Smith, who never had much time for looking back at his old work, would say he was proud of the record. That endorsement is worth way
Read more

1995 - Feeling Numb

-
Image
27 February: Album - Cerebral Caustic 7 August: Live album - The Twenty-Seven Points 22 December: 19th John Peel Session - He Pep, Oleana, The Chiselers, The City Never Sleeps "From remedies and Prozac, I'm kinda two-tone" According to Brix's book she was shocked at the state of the group and MES' health when she returned in 1994. She was also disappointed with the Cerebral Caustic album, particularly the way MES handled the recording of his vocals. I think there are a lot of high points on the album but those comments make you wonder if a fully fit and compliant Smith could have taken it up a few notches. The album roars in with (probable) anti-Political Correctness rant The Joke, and then Brix giving Don't Call Me Darling the full treatment. Other favourites from the record are Life Just Bounces and The Aphid, a song that manages to sound like a cover of a weird dance craze song from the 1950s or 60s. The album does peter out somewhat but befor
Read more