2005 - Youwanner
28 February: EP - Rude All The Time
26 September: Single - I Can Hear the Grass Grow
3 October: Album: Fall Heads Roll
With Jim Watts making a second and final exit from the group towards the end of 2004 The Fall are now a five piece - MES, Elena, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Steve Trafford (bass) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums).
Both singles this year are limited editions. The Rude All The Time EP was actually recorded in 2001 and features Watts and Ed Blaney. The Fall Online says that the title track was pulled at the last minute by MES so the 2,000 copies feature Distilled Mug Art (Mix 15), I Wake Up In The City (Mix 5), My Ex Classmates Kids (Mix 4) and what I shall refer to as 'Taxi'.
I've written about the first three tracks previously and I won't bother with 'Taxi'. There were just 1,000 copies of the I Can Hear the Grass Grow/Clasp Hands double A-side which came out a week before the album. I don't have one.
A personal story before I get stuck into Fall Heads Roll. I'd moved in with my girlfriend (now wife) the week before FHR was released. She knew I loved the Fall but had only limited knowledge of their back catalogue.
I had to go to London for a meeting so tasked her with buying the album. She did this, went home and stuck it on, heard Ride Away and wondered what she'd let herself in for! It certainly isn't representative of what's to come - its old Northern Soul melody hidden under reggae guitar chops and keyboard while MES has a go at person unknown. It's a bit long but has grown on me over time.
I am a big fan of FHR and have no problems with 'rock' Fall. Pacifying Joint and What About Us?, a tale of an East German immigrant rabbit unhappy at Harold Shipman's morphine distribution (I've taken this literally for comic effect) properly set the tone of the record.
So it's a bit of a shock to find a delicate Midnight in Aspen immediately following. Don't ever tell me the Fall are one-dimensional. The Reprise pops up after Assume which thrashes and batters it's way through four minutes. Please give me directions to the mosh-pit!
I think I remember making a rule that I couldn't choose the same song twice. It had to be the first year of release. Otherwise it would be Blindness again. There's not much left to be said about just how good this is but I love the way it slowly becomes 'cleaner' during the track, at 0:33 and 2:18 (I think - might be my ears.) That device echoes the magnificent Spectre vs Rector and is used again brilliantly a few years down the line. It would be easy to single out Trafford's bass on this, and we should, but everything is right about this, everything.
Bo Demmick has a Generation X King Rocker drums feel about the backing (there's nothing wrong with that!) and it's an excellent cover of I Can Hear the Grass Grow. It's better faster! I'll cover Youwanner later.
The pace is only slightly reduced for Clasp Hands which chugs along nicely (minus the John Peel session Elves section) and then Early Days of Channel Führer comes and stops you in your tracks. It's even more soft and beautiful than 'Aspen'.
Reformation tells me that Breaking The Rules is Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons' Walk Like a Man with different lyrics. Wikipedia tells me they were written by Bec Walker - an aspiring singer on work placement at the Rochdale studio where it was recorded. It's decent and Smith sounds like he's having fun.
Trust in Me returns to the dodgy doctor theme "If you need an x-ray, I'll come around to your house." MES sits this one out and leaves the vocals to "Billy (Pavone), Ding (Archer), Kenny (Cummings) and Phil (Schuster)", they do a great job.
I was a little worried when I sat down to listen to FHR after a few years break. My Fall tastes have changed a little during this process. The early nineties stuff I've downgraded a bit, the turn of the century work I have much more appreciation for. It's ok though, I still love this album.
So, as I can't choose Blindness, Youwanner gets the vote. Like the magnificent Fall in Fives I consider this a song for putting on the car stereo and driving faster than you should. Shout along with MES and play air drums* trying to keep up with with Spencer Birtwistle while Ben Pritchard's guitar screams along. Outstanding.
*please drive responsibly
26 September: Single - I Can Hear the Grass Grow
3 October: Album: Fall Heads Roll
"A work in progress, due about 2026"
With Jim Watts making a second and final exit from the group towards the end of 2004 The Fall are now a five piece - MES, Elena, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Steve Trafford (bass) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums).
Both singles this year are limited editions. The Rude All The Time EP was actually recorded in 2001 and features Watts and Ed Blaney. The Fall Online says that the title track was pulled at the last minute by MES so the 2,000 copies feature Distilled Mug Art (Mix 15), I Wake Up In The City (Mix 5), My Ex Classmates Kids (Mix 4) and what I shall refer to as 'Taxi'.
I've written about the first three tracks previously and I won't bother with 'Taxi'. There were just 1,000 copies of the I Can Hear the Grass Grow/Clasp Hands double A-side which came out a week before the album. I don't have one.
A personal story before I get stuck into Fall Heads Roll. I'd moved in with my girlfriend (now wife) the week before FHR was released. She knew I loved the Fall but had only limited knowledge of their back catalogue.
I had to go to London for a meeting so tasked her with buying the album. She did this, went home and stuck it on, heard Ride Away and wondered what she'd let herself in for! It certainly isn't representative of what's to come - its old Northern Soul melody hidden under reggae guitar chops and keyboard while MES has a go at person unknown. It's a bit long but has grown on me over time.
I am a big fan of FHR and have no problems with 'rock' Fall. Pacifying Joint and What About Us?, a tale of an East German immigrant rabbit unhappy at Harold Shipman's morphine distribution (I've taken this literally for comic effect) properly set the tone of the record.
So it's a bit of a shock to find a delicate Midnight in Aspen immediately following. Don't ever tell me the Fall are one-dimensional. The Reprise pops up after Assume which thrashes and batters it's way through four minutes. Please give me directions to the mosh-pit!
I think I remember making a rule that I couldn't choose the same song twice. It had to be the first year of release. Otherwise it would be Blindness again. There's not much left to be said about just how good this is but I love the way it slowly becomes 'cleaner' during the track, at 0:33 and 2:18 (I think - might be my ears.) That device echoes the magnificent Spectre vs Rector and is used again brilliantly a few years down the line. It would be easy to single out Trafford's bass on this, and we should, but everything is right about this, everything.
Bo Demmick has a Generation X King Rocker drums feel about the backing (there's nothing wrong with that!) and it's an excellent cover of I Can Hear the Grass Grow. It's better faster! I'll cover Youwanner later.
The pace is only slightly reduced for Clasp Hands which chugs along nicely (minus the John Peel session Elves section) and then Early Days of Channel Führer comes and stops you in your tracks. It's even more soft and beautiful than 'Aspen'.
Reformation tells me that Breaking The Rules is Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons' Walk Like a Man with different lyrics. Wikipedia tells me they were written by Bec Walker - an aspiring singer on work placement at the Rochdale studio where it was recorded. It's decent and Smith sounds like he's having fun.
Trust in Me returns to the dodgy doctor theme "If you need an x-ray, I'll come around to your house." MES sits this one out and leaves the vocals to "Billy (Pavone), Ding (Archer), Kenny (Cummings) and Phil (Schuster)", they do a great job.
I was a little worried when I sat down to listen to FHR after a few years break. My Fall tastes have changed a little during this process. The early nineties stuff I've downgraded a bit, the turn of the century work I have much more appreciation for. It's ok though, I still love this album.
So, as I can't choose Blindness, Youwanner gets the vote. Like the magnificent Fall in Fives I consider this a song for putting on the car stereo and driving faster than you should. Shout along with MES and play air drums* trying to keep up with with Spencer Birtwistle while Ben Pritchard's guitar screams along. Outstanding.
*please drive responsibly
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