1995 - Feeling Numb
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
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 before it does there's Bonkers in Phoenix. I don't suppose I'd have rushed to listen to it again without doing this but I know wonder if this is a lost Fall classic. Is there a brilliant psychedelic track trying to get out of the strangeness here? It's a yes from me.
I have a bit of a problem with knowing which of the many live Fall albums to include. If you want them all then I can't recommend You Must Get Them All highly enough. My (loose) rules are, contemporary to the studio work, same record label as the recent studio work, some studio work as well and I bought it at the time. All of which means I can include The Twenty-Seven Points.
I'm quite fond of this album. It may not be a great recording but it's a pretty good record of the group at the time (recorded between 1991 and 1995). Intros, outros, a stop-start Idiot Joy Showland and MES' spoken word (including Glam Racket lyrics) encapsulate the live experience at this point.
My high points? There's a furious Free Range plus brilliant renditions of Glam Racket/Star (two separate tracks put together in fact), Middle Class Revolt, Lost in Music and War!
The two studio tracks are session cast-offs Cloud of Black and Noel's Chemical Effluence. While there's not a lot to Cloud of Black it seems harsh on Noel's Chemical Effluence to be tucked away just before the end of this record.
The group finished a year with a John Peel session. One notable absentee was Craig Scanlon. The guitarist was fired after a 17-year stint with the group and at least co-writing more than 120 songs. It's amazing and at the same time not at all surprising that the group can pick up where they left off.
He Pep, Oleano and Chilinist (Chilinism, The Chiselers - whatever you want to call it) would all appear on 1996's The Light User Syndrome, The City Never Sleeps, with Lucy Rimmer on vocals, is a Nancy Sinatra cover that doesn't get a studio re-working.
Tough to pick one to represent this year (Glam Racket/Star was in the running again) but in the end I'm going with Feeling Numb. Feeling Numb is singled out by Brix as one that could have been so much better. It's one I love though (and sometimes find myself singing.) MES has turned his delivery to 'snide' and that plays off with Brix' backing vocals so well.
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 before it does there's Bonkers in Phoenix. I don't suppose I'd have rushed to listen to it again without doing this but I know wonder if this is a lost Fall classic. Is there a brilliant psychedelic track trying to get out of the strangeness here? It's a yes from me.
I have a bit of a problem with knowing which of the many live Fall albums to include. If you want them all then I can't recommend You Must Get Them All highly enough. My (loose) rules are, contemporary to the studio work, same record label as the recent studio work, some studio work as well and I bought it at the time. All of which means I can include The Twenty-Seven Points.
I'm quite fond of this album. It may not be a great recording but it's a pretty good record of the group at the time (recorded between 1991 and 1995). Intros, outros, a stop-start Idiot Joy Showland and MES' spoken word (including Glam Racket lyrics) encapsulate the live experience at this point.
My high points? There's a furious Free Range plus brilliant renditions of Glam Racket/Star (two separate tracks put together in fact), Middle Class Revolt, Lost in Music and War!
The two studio tracks are session cast-offs Cloud of Black and Noel's Chemical Effluence. While there's not a lot to Cloud of Black it seems harsh on Noel's Chemical Effluence to be tucked away just before the end of this record.
The group finished a year with a John Peel session. One notable absentee was Craig Scanlon. The guitarist was fired after a 17-year stint with the group and at least co-writing more than 120 songs. It's amazing and at the same time not at all surprising that the group can pick up where they left off.
He Pep, Oleano and Chilinist (Chilinism, The Chiselers - whatever you want to call it) would all appear on 1996's The Light User Syndrome, The City Never Sleeps, with Lucy Rimmer on vocals, is a Nancy Sinatra cover that doesn't get a studio re-working.
Tough to pick one to represent this year (Glam Racket/Star was in the running again) but in the end I'm going with Feeling Numb. Feeling Numb is singled out by Brix as one that could have been so much better. It's one I love though (and sometimes find myself singing.) MES has turned his delivery to 'snide' and that plays off with Brix' backing vocals so well.
Thank you for the mention! :)
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