2004 - Blindness
28 June: Single - Theme from Sparta FC #2
?? July: Single - 2 Librans
4 August: 24th (and final) John Peel Session - Clasp Hands, Blindness, What About Us?, Right Place, Wrong Time/I Can Hear The Grass Grow (plus Job Search which was recorded but not played on the show until a couple of weeks later - after it had been pressed on a one-off single for Peel's 65th birthday.)
?? September: Single - Blind Man
1 November: Live and rehearsals album - Interim
Some revolving door group action this year as Dave Milner left to be replaced behind the drum-kit by Spencer Birtwistle (who'd left at the end of 2001), and Jim Watts, who'd left/been fired in the spring of 2003 was back on bass later in the year.
If you think you know Sparta FC inside out by now, think again. The single is a super-aggressive version with plenty of Elena backing vocals. Marvellous. It's backed with a very acceptable live version of My Ex-Classmates Kids.
As for why 2 Librans appears as a single four years after it was released, I'll let the The Fall online explain: "A single-sided demo was sent out by Voiceprint to people who returned all 8 tokens from the Voiceprint CD album reissues of 2002. The tokens had promised a CD, to be compiled by Mark E. Smith, which was to include unreleased material. A note came with the 7" explaining that Mark E. Smith had sold the rights to Sanctuary Records so the CD could no longer be issued and the 7" was a replacement."
Does anyone else get emotional knowing that this is the last Peel session? Just me? Like last year's it benefits from the fact that the songs are pretty well-formed.
Clasp Hands (with a couple of Elves/I Wanna Be Your Dog breaks!) is a solid but unspectacular start, What About Us? is a bit slow and the pace and the backing vocals are superior on the album that follows. Wrong Place Right Time doesn't quite bounce along as the original did, and the album version of the old Move song I Can Hear The Grass Grow is better than this one which is on the slow side.
Job Search sounds like a 'kitchen sink' job - everything is thrown at it. The guitar part from 'The Acute' (to these ears) gets drowned at times by strange keyboard noises while MES chunters on about who knows what. It's not one of my favourites.
I'll cover Blindness at the end for obvious reasons. At least John Peel got to hear it before he died.
Blind Man was another limited edition single. A demo of Blindness sent to mail order customers of Voiceprint records to promote the forthcoming album Interim.
Interim had a working title of 'Cocked' and the album is a bit, well, half-cocked. It's not a great live version of (All) Clasp Hands to kick things off, and the Blindness demo that follows is clearly a bit short of the versions we know and love.
The live What About Us? version(s) again feels under-paced, I'm Ronney The Oney (did I read somewhere this was inspired by Mousse T's Horny '98?) is a cracking little instrumental that leaves me a bit disappointed that it wasn't taken further.
It's a muddy if energetic version of Green-Eyed Loco Man (cutting in a version with very different lyrics to the album track) that follows before a superb multi-vocal tracked Mod Mock Goth that might have got the nod this year if it wasn't for Blindness. Is this the start of the Smith 'gurgle' vocal?
Like the Peel session, a live Wrong Place doesn't hit the spot, Sparta FC No 3, is most remarkable for Elena's shouts of 'hey' not being in quite the right place and Smith's pronunciation of Galatasaray. If you hadn't heard the other versions you'd love this.
Mere Pseud Mag. Ed. has all the energy of last year's Peel session but little of the sense of togetherness, I don't think anyone's choosing this Spoilt Victorian Childe over the original but the way the volume changes is good for grabbing your attention if you're drifting off. The album finishes with Boxoctosis Alarum which is another of Interim's high points. It's a fairly faithful rendition with added smoke alarm!
When I started this odyssey (it's taken me way longer than first planned) I thought Hip Priest or Deer Park might be the best record ever made. It's Blindness though isn't it? I change my mind about which version I like best regularly but today it's the Peel session version.
It starts off all about the bass but there's room at times for the drums, vocal and a slashing guitar sound to take centre stage. MES is on great form too and his vocal is another masterclass. I love the shout of "walking bass, walking bass."
Play loud. And often.
?? July: Single - 2 Librans
4 August: 24th (and final) John Peel Session - Clasp Hands, Blindness, What About Us?, Right Place, Wrong Time/I Can Hear The Grass Grow (plus Job Search which was recorded but not played on the show until a couple of weeks later - after it had been pressed on a one-off single for Peel's 65th birthday.)
?? September: Single - Blind Man
1 November: Live and rehearsals album - Interim
"Have mercy on me"
Some revolving door group action this year as Dave Milner left to be replaced behind the drum-kit by Spencer Birtwistle (who'd left at the end of 2001), and Jim Watts, who'd left/been fired in the spring of 2003 was back on bass later in the year.
If you think you know Sparta FC inside out by now, think again. The single is a super-aggressive version with plenty of Elena backing vocals. Marvellous. It's backed with a very acceptable live version of My Ex-Classmates Kids.
As for why 2 Librans appears as a single four years after it was released, I'll let the The Fall online explain: "A single-sided demo was sent out by Voiceprint to people who returned all 8 tokens from the Voiceprint CD album reissues of 2002. The tokens had promised a CD, to be compiled by Mark E. Smith, which was to include unreleased material. A note came with the 7" explaining that Mark E. Smith had sold the rights to Sanctuary Records so the CD could no longer be issued and the 7" was a replacement."
Does anyone else get emotional knowing that this is the last Peel session? Just me? Like last year's it benefits from the fact that the songs are pretty well-formed.
Clasp Hands (with a couple of Elves/I Wanna Be Your Dog breaks!) is a solid but unspectacular start, What About Us? is a bit slow and the pace and the backing vocals are superior on the album that follows. Wrong Place Right Time doesn't quite bounce along as the original did, and the album version of the old Move song I Can Hear The Grass Grow is better than this one which is on the slow side.
Job Search sounds like a 'kitchen sink' job - everything is thrown at it. The guitar part from 'The Acute' (to these ears) gets drowned at times by strange keyboard noises while MES chunters on about who knows what. It's not one of my favourites.
I'll cover Blindness at the end for obvious reasons. At least John Peel got to hear it before he died.
Blind Man was another limited edition single. A demo of Blindness sent to mail order customers of Voiceprint records to promote the forthcoming album Interim.
Interim had a working title of 'Cocked' and the album is a bit, well, half-cocked. It's not a great live version of (All) Clasp Hands to kick things off, and the Blindness demo that follows is clearly a bit short of the versions we know and love.
The live What About Us? version(s) again feels under-paced, I'm Ronney The Oney (did I read somewhere this was inspired by Mousse T's Horny '98?) is a cracking little instrumental that leaves me a bit disappointed that it wasn't taken further.
It's a muddy if energetic version of Green-Eyed Loco Man (cutting in a version with very different lyrics to the album track) that follows before a superb multi-vocal tracked Mod Mock Goth that might have got the nod this year if it wasn't for Blindness. Is this the start of the Smith 'gurgle' vocal?
Like the Peel session, a live Wrong Place doesn't hit the spot, Sparta FC No 3, is most remarkable for Elena's shouts of 'hey' not being in quite the right place and Smith's pronunciation of Galatasaray. If you hadn't heard the other versions you'd love this.
Mere Pseud Mag. Ed. has all the energy of last year's Peel session but little of the sense of togetherness, I don't think anyone's choosing this Spoilt Victorian Childe over the original but the way the volume changes is good for grabbing your attention if you're drifting off. The album finishes with Boxoctosis Alarum which is another of Interim's high points. It's a fairly faithful rendition with added smoke alarm!
When I started this odyssey (it's taken me way longer than first planned) I thought Hip Priest or Deer Park might be the best record ever made. It's Blindness though isn't it? I change my mind about which version I like best regularly but today it's the Peel session version.
It starts off all about the bass but there's room at times for the drums, vocal and a slashing guitar sound to take centre stage. MES is on great form too and his vocal is another masterclass. I love the shout of "walking bass, walking bass."
Play loud. And often.
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