1982 - Just Step S'ways
6 March: Album - Hex Enduction Hour
19 April: Single - Look, Know
27 September: Album - Room to Live
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 more than I could ever say about it.
(Three weeks after the album's release I saw the group for the first time. Sadly I remember next to nothing and no set list exists.)
Look, Know/I'm Into CB was another fantastic single released the following month. Steve Hanley wrote the music for Look, Know and saw it more as a Dexy's Midnight Runners piece than it became. I'm Into CB is a companion piece to New Face in Hell. The protagonist in this one faces jail for unspecified reasons (not having a licence?) rather than the murder of his neighbour though.
Room to Live was not the follow-up album I think any Fall fan was expecting. Studio time was booked to record a single and Smith suddenly suggested recording more songs, often with only part of the group. At the time it was massive disappointment but I think it's aged better than might have been expected.
The title track, Hard Life in Country and Marquis Cha-Cha can bear repeated listening, the rest take a bit more effort (and as for Papal Visit!) I heard Steve Hanley on a podcast recently saying that it could have been a really good record given another six months. Who am I to argue with him?
So after all that, even though I think Hip Priest and Deer Park are two of my favourite songs, Jawbone and the Air-Rifle is one of the great Smith stories, and And This Day is one of the most Fall-like Fall tracks ever recorded my selection is Just Step S'ways. Two reasons...
There's a train of thought that when Brix joined the group she helped to invent a 'poppier', polished Fall. This track shows how that sound was already ready to be drawn on.
The second reason is that I found an old 'mixtape' from the start of 1983 that I'd added this song to. It was favourite tracks of the time (one per artist) and would have been one of the first tapes I'd made on my 18th birthday present hi-fi (it was that or a party!)
You can see it on side two, mistakenly called Just Step - sandwiched between the Danse Society and Testcard F. (My writing was much better then!)
(Coincidentally, Bandwagon Tango by Testcard F has a 'Space Invader' synth intro that could be mistaken for 1983's The Man Whose Head Expanded.)
Smith mentions in the intro that this is the 'commercial last chance' of 'Big Priest'. Whether he means Hex in general or this track is unclear but it is as radio-friendly a track as the group had put together at this point. It's catchy, Kay Carroll provides the well-placed 'aah-aahs' in the background, it bounces along until 2:18 and then it goes up a gear.
If this had been a single could it have been the hit that got that the group on Top of the Pops as Steve Hanley always wanted?
So for the 18 year old me (someone not unfamiliar with the 'ice flicks of Bacardi') - Just Step S'Ways.
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 more than I could ever say about it.
(Three weeks after the album's release I saw the group for the first time. Sadly I remember next to nothing and no set list exists.)
Look, Know/I'm Into CB was another fantastic single released the following month. Steve Hanley wrote the music for Look, Know and saw it more as a Dexy's Midnight Runners piece than it became. I'm Into CB is a companion piece to New Face in Hell. The protagonist in this one faces jail for unspecified reasons (not having a licence?) rather than the murder of his neighbour though.
Room to Live was not the follow-up album I think any Fall fan was expecting. Studio time was booked to record a single and Smith suddenly suggested recording more songs, often with only part of the group. At the time it was massive disappointment but I think it's aged better than might have been expected.
The title track, Hard Life in Country and Marquis Cha-Cha can bear repeated listening, the rest take a bit more effort (and as for Papal Visit!) I heard Steve Hanley on a podcast recently saying that it could have been a really good record given another six months. Who am I to argue with him?
So after all that, even though I think Hip Priest and Deer Park are two of my favourite songs, Jawbone and the Air-Rifle is one of the great Smith stories, and And This Day is one of the most Fall-like Fall tracks ever recorded my selection is Just Step S'ways. Two reasons...
There's a train of thought that when Brix joined the group she helped to invent a 'poppier', polished Fall. This track shows how that sound was already ready to be drawn on.
The second reason is that I found an old 'mixtape' from the start of 1983 that I'd added this song to. It was favourite tracks of the time (one per artist) and would have been one of the first tapes I'd made on my 18th birthday present hi-fi (it was that or a party!)
You can see it on side two, mistakenly called Just Step - sandwiched between the Danse Society and Testcard F. (My writing was much better then!)
(Coincidentally, Bandwagon Tango by Testcard F has a 'Space Invader' synth intro that could be mistaken for 1983's The Man Whose Head Expanded.)
Smith mentions in the intro that this is the 'commercial last chance' of 'Big Priest'. Whether he means Hex in general or this track is unclear but it is as radio-friendly a track as the group had put together at this point. It's catchy, Kay Carroll provides the well-placed 'aah-aahs' in the background, it bounces along until 2:18 and then it goes up a gear.
If this had been a single could it have been the hit that got that the group on Top of the Pops as Steve Hanley always wanted?
So for the 18 year old me (someone not unfamiliar with the 'ice flicks of Bacardi') - Just Step S'Ways.
Have you read PH's book? It's excellent.
ReplyDeleteFinished it recently. Fantastic insight. Would love to see more from him. PBL next please!
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