1986 - Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers
7 July: Single - Living Too Late
9 July: 10th John Peel Session - Hot Aftershave Bop, R.O.D., Gross Chapel/British Grenadiers,
US 80's/90s
1 September: Single - Mr. Pharmacist
29 September: Album - Bend Sinister
8 December: Single - Hey! Luciani
An American tour plus writing and recording new material meant there was no new Fall output until the second half of the year.
It started with the brilliant, thoughtful single Living Too Late. A reflection on people entering middle-age, the Reformation page on the song has a great analysis.
The John Peel session first aired in the same week gave us a different take on Hot Aftershave Bop, b-side of the Living Too Late single, plus three tracks that would show up on autumn's album Bend Sinister.
(Another thing for me to remember is that I was at The Festival of the Tenth Summer at G-Mex in Manchester to see the Fall alongside the likes of New Order, OMD, The Smiths and John Cooper-Clarke - all for £13!)
Before the album a single that ultimately became perhaps The Fall's signature track was released. Mr. Pharmacist, a cover of a 1966 single by Californian psychedelic rock outfit The Other Half, it was the Fall's most played live song, making almost 400 appearances over the years and was their biggest hit to date reaching a dizzying 75 in the charts.
I bought a new record player recently after being without one for some years and Bend Sinister was one of the first records I wanted to listen to. I didn't love it like I thought I might. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, I'm just not sure it hangs together like a lot of Fall albums. After the clarity of last year's This Nation's Saving Grace, Bend Sinister muddies the waters again.
There's two moods at play on the record. The cleaner sounding numbers like Dktr. Faustus, Shoulder Pads, Terry Waite Sez, US 80's - 90's and the aforementioned Mr. Pharmacist sit uncomfortably with the likes of R.O.D., Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers and Riddler. Smith and producer John Leckie seem to have been at odds over the recording and it's perhaps that incoherence that shows through.
The single Hey! Luciani came out in December at the same time as the play of the same name (written by Smith) was being performed at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I did go and see this with my friend Michael but have little recollection of it apart from the fact that it was strange!
That track was certainly under consideration as this year's choice but in the end I'm going with Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers.
Atmospheric and understated it closes side one of Bend Sinister. The first part of the song is a disjointed tale, perhaps of a salesman getting into uncomfortable situations - then the song switches into an adapted version of an old British army marching song which Smith's vocal neatly underplays.
I'm not a musician but if you are you might want to have a read of the Reformation page on the song which goes into detail about how it all comes together. All I know is that whatever it is that Smith and the group have got going on here they're doing it perfectly.
9 July: 10th John Peel Session - Hot Aftershave Bop, R.O.D., Gross Chapel/British Grenadiers,
US 80's/90s
1 September: Single - Mr. Pharmacist
29 September: Album - Bend Sinister
8 December: Single - Hey! Luciani
"I'll put you down"
An American tour plus writing and recording new material meant there was no new Fall output until the second half of the year.
It started with the brilliant, thoughtful single Living Too Late. A reflection on people entering middle-age, the Reformation page on the song has a great analysis.
The John Peel session first aired in the same week gave us a different take on Hot Aftershave Bop, b-side of the Living Too Late single, plus three tracks that would show up on autumn's album Bend Sinister.
(Another thing for me to remember is that I was at The Festival of the Tenth Summer at G-Mex in Manchester to see the Fall alongside the likes of New Order, OMD, The Smiths and John Cooper-Clarke - all for £13!)
Before the album a single that ultimately became perhaps The Fall's signature track was released. Mr. Pharmacist, a cover of a 1966 single by Californian psychedelic rock outfit The Other Half, it was the Fall's most played live song, making almost 400 appearances over the years and was their biggest hit to date reaching a dizzying 75 in the charts.
I bought a new record player recently after being without one for some years and Bend Sinister was one of the first records I wanted to listen to. I didn't love it like I thought I might. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, I'm just not sure it hangs together like a lot of Fall albums. After the clarity of last year's This Nation's Saving Grace, Bend Sinister muddies the waters again.
There's two moods at play on the record. The cleaner sounding numbers like Dktr. Faustus, Shoulder Pads, Terry Waite Sez, US 80's - 90's and the aforementioned Mr. Pharmacist sit uncomfortably with the likes of R.O.D., Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers and Riddler. Smith and producer John Leckie seem to have been at odds over the recording and it's perhaps that incoherence that shows through.
The single Hey! Luciani came out in December at the same time as the play of the same name (written by Smith) was being performed at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. I did go and see this with my friend Michael but have little recollection of it apart from the fact that it was strange!
That track was certainly under consideration as this year's choice but in the end I'm going with Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers.
Atmospheric and understated it closes side one of Bend Sinister. The first part of the song is a disjointed tale, perhaps of a salesman getting into uncomfortable situations - then the song switches into an adapted version of an old British army marching song which Smith's vocal neatly underplays.
I'm not a musician but if you are you might want to have a read of the Reformation page on the song which goes into detail about how it all comes together. All I know is that whatever it is that Smith and the group have got going on here they're doing it perfectly.
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