Vanity and Presumption

"And that's always been my viewpoint on it." Not my words but Mark E Smith on this The Tube interview with Muriel Gray on 8 November 1985.  It was a drive, a mantra, a manifesto that must have stayed through his life and defined his life. Whatever professional or personal problem dogged him, through band and relationship break-ups and various health issues, The Fall always existed. And despite Smith's death in 2018 they still do.  The Fall still exist because of the people who continue to play The Fall, talk about The Fall, podcast about the Fall, write about The Fall, tweet about The Fall, try to decipher Fall lyrics, try to explain Fall lyrics, turn up old pictures of The Fall, discover Fall music lost in vaults etc. It's time for me to bring the curtain down on my Fall in 40. Thank you to everyone who has read these, liked, commented, retweeted and engaged in any way. I did this for me, in part as a way to deal with the absence of someone who had been a pa...

It took a while but we got there. Right, noise... 1978 - Mess of My 1979 - Spectre Vs Rector 1980 - Totally Wired 1981 - Prole Art Threat 1982 - Just Step S'Ways 1983 - Smile 1984 - No Bulbs 1985 - Paintwork 1986 - Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers 1987 - There's a Ghost in My House 1988 - Bremen Nacht 1989 - Squid Law 1990 - Chicago Now! 1991 - Idiot Joy Showland 1992 - Everything Hurtz 1993 - Behind The Counter 1994 - Glam Racket - Star 1995 - Feeling Numb 1996 - He Pep! 1997 - Ol' Gang 1998 - Calendar 1999 - (Jung Nev's) Antidotes 2000 - Ketamine Sun 2001 - Crop-Dust 2002 - Janet Vs. Johnny 2003 - Mountain Energei 2004 - Blindness 2005 - Youwanner 2006 - Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy 2007 - Fall Sound 2008 - 50 Year Old Man 2009 - Slippy Floor (Mark Mix) 2010 - Bury pts. 1+3 2011 - Monocard 2012 - Victrola Time 2013 - Mister Rode 2014 - Fibre Book Troll 2015 - Dedication Not Medication 2016 - Wise Ol' Man 2017 - New Facts Emerge YouTube playlist What's yours?  

22 April: Single - Masquerade 28 July: Album - New Facts Emerge "It might become a whirlwind" Let's not think of this as the end. Instead let's call it another stop on the Circle Line of the Fall catalogue. We start with a single for Record Store Day. A re-mastered Masquerade (two versions of the song) was issued as a limited edition seven inch and has featured enough over the last 20 years to be passed over here in favour of the album. Eleni has departed so we're left with Smith, Greenway, Spurr and Melling, the Fall now a quartet for the first time since the early 90s. On the whole I prefer my Fall with a bit of keyboard but there's no doubt that some of this record absolutely rocks. We begin with the 30 second Segue . MES 'sings' and mumbles 'fol de rol' into a dictaphone and hits things with a stick by the sound of it. Which interestingly (although we can't hear him) is where the album ends. Coincidence? Does the album segue into itse...

19 February: EP - Wise Ol' Man "On the bus, the hill folk, remove, ear plugs" Two new songs, some alternative versions/remixes and a live track - this EP is a mixed bag. The title track belts along nicely and while you can barely understand a word MES says, Eleni's vocal plays well off him. A lot gets crammed into three and a half minutes. All Leave Cancelled weighs in a full five minutes longer. As with some of the Re-Mit and Remainderer output there's a lot going on here. A bit too much in fact. Dave's Spurr's bass holds things together as best he can while the group and MES do their own thing. It's a Schrödinger's cat of a song which is simultaneously great and terrible! The Dedication (Remix) is terrific though. I'm far too old for the drum and bass / dance music clubs but this is exactly what I'd what want to hear at them! OK, it should finish two minutes sooner but I can forgive it that. The Wise Ol' Man (Instrumental) is...

11 May: Album - Sub-Lingual Tablet "how dare you prescribe me bed wet pill and deep grief?" As with Re-mit the first time this record came into my life was via a radio show. Stewart Lee (the comedian by whom all others must be judged) was sitting in for Stuart Maconie on the Freak Zone programme one night. Fall fan Lee played Auto Chip 2014-2016 and I absolutely loved it. As I'd struggled with Re-mit and The Remainderer it was a bit of reassurance about the upcoming album. Auto Chip sets a massively high bar but there's a lot of good stuff on it. Venice With the Girls kicks things off in full-on style. MES gives proper singing another try and largely pulls it off. The track is given breathing space at points where the guitars drop out to leave bass, drums and MES. It works.  Black Roof is credited to Smith and 'Dudes' Rob Barbato and Tim Presley who also recorded the bulk of it. It makes an interesting start but turns weird very quickly. Thankfully it...

27 October: Live album -  Live Uurop VIII-XII Places In Sun & Winter, Son Regular readers (thank you - and sorry) will know that I don't normally go near the live albums on this blog. As there are a couple of studio tracks on this as well though I need to feature it. The live tracks aren't brilliant. The group seem on great form but the sound quality lets this down. MES sounds very distant at times too. I'd pick out Chino, 50 Year Old Man and Reformation as highlights. The two studio tracks on it are a different version of Amorator and a first cut of Auto Chip - here called Auto (2014) Chip Replace . Amorator has more Elena on it, both in the synth and vocal department. I think I prefer it to last year's version. Auto Chip is the bare bones of the behemoth it becomes on Sub-Lingual Tablet. It's worth a listen, if only to give you an idea of the development the song takes. So for this year's choice I need to turn to a a compilation album called Modeselektio...

20 April: Single - Sir William Wray 13 May: Album - Re-Mit 9 December: EP - The Remainderer "I got a name I got a face" The single (another limited edition job, 1500 copies this time, for Record Store Day) has different versions of songs from Re-mit so let's just jump to that. My first exposure to the album was while on holiday with Mrs Vanity and Presumption in Cornwall. We had a self-catering place so were eating in a lot. The dining table was out of sight of the televison so we listened to Marc Riley 's BBC 6music show over dinner. At around 7:30 one evening he played Loadstones. Fantastic. When can I get my hands on this new album? Riley's no fool.  Loadstones was easily head and shoulders better than just about all the rest of the record to these ears (Victrola Time excepted).  I didn't much like the album at the time and I'm sad to say I still don't love it. It's not as coherent as some of the recent records. We get No Respects Intro to...

21 April: Single - Night of the Humerons "Science hasn't recorded it yet" Just the one offering in 2012, and a limited edition one at the that. Night of the Humerons (fantastic name for a record) was released for Record Store Day in 2012 and there were just a thousand copies of this seven inch single. With a live version of Taking Off from last year's Ersatz GB on the b-side (which is alright but unspectacular) I'm left with one track to choose for this year - good job it's excellent. Victrola Time has an intro most bands would give a career for. After just over a minute of drums and synth twiddling you're thinking 'oh, pretty decent instrumental track here' and then at 1:15 MES joins with some sort of unholy wail like you've never heard before. If you picked this apart it's probably pretty simple stuff but put it together and wow! Extraordinary.

7 November: Single - Laptop Dog 14 November: Album - Ersatz G.B. "How can we stand firm against the process?" A busier touring schedule (and perhaps the change of record label) meant nearly 18 months had passed since the last recorded output before a limited edition single appeared in November. The lead track was Laptop Dog and that was accompanied with versions of Cosmos 7 & and Monocard that differed from the soon to be released album. I seem to remember enjoying the album when it came out but going off it after a few plays. First time listening in a while so here goes... ... I'd file it under good but not great. It makes an excellent start with the frantic Cosmos 7 . It has shades of The Past about it, particularly in the keyboards. That's a good thing.  Taking Off ticks the Smith random exclamation box "Bonjela complexion", "8pm, tidy Italian" and reflects the album as a whole - it's good, but not quite 100% on it. Nate Will Not Re...

17 April: Single - Bury! 26 April: Album - Your Future Our Clutter "A new way of recording, a chain around the neck" Another limited edition single paved the way this year. Bury! #2+4 was backed with Cowboy Gregori for International Record Store Day . Cowboy Gregori references YFOC's Cowboy George and is a decent piece of rockabilly/callback to the old 'country and northern' sound. I far prefer the longer album version of Bury! I think this one misses from leaving out the 'lo-fi' introduction. Your Future Our Clutter landed the same month. If you're thinking 'only nine tracks, I feel a bit short-changed' then that is the wrong thing to think. It's a great record start to finish. The group are well and truly settled in and produce some astonishing work. It fits and flows beautifully. The last great flawless Fall album? O.F.Y.C. Showcase is a great opener. MES opens things up and the group slowly join in. It builds and builds. Dru...

31 July: Single/EP - Strychnine 30 September: Single/EP - Strychnine Vol 2 16 November: Single - Slippy Floor "You might like to scoff and guffaw" The Strychnine EPs were iTunes download compilations. The first one contained the title track, I Feel Voxish, Victoria and Hit The North. The second had the title track (again), Psykick Dancehall, Fiery Jack and Repetition. Good tracks all but they seem like odd choices at this stage of the group's existence. Anyway, nothing new to see here. The Slippy Floor single contained the 'Mark mix' of the title track, 'Part 2' of Hot Cake and a live version of Groundhogs cover Strangetown. The Fall online says it was a "Limited edition tour single released for the November 2009 UK tour. Released as a special one-off on Action Records ahead of the forthcoming 2010 album" and who am I to disagree with that. I'll give Slippy Floor and Hot Cake more of a 'going over' when I get to next year...

28 April: Album - Imperial Wax Solvent "And don't forget, you tried to destroy me" With 'The Dudes'' tenure in the group ended we're left with essentially the last line-up. MES, Elena, Dave Spurr, Pete Greenway and Keiron Melling. And what a record they produce for starters. Imperial Wax Solvent is a particular favourite of mine and spent a long time in the car when I wasn't having such a great time at work. Firing it up on the drive home made the world a better place. It opens with Alton Towers , a track which isn't really representative of what's to come. It's kind of jazz. The group lope along while Smith delivers a spoken lyric that is very difficult to penetrate. The theme park won't be using it as an advert at any time soon, that's for sure.  Wolf Kidult Man is much more of an example of how the group would operate from here. Put simply, it rocks. Nice Twilight Zone sample to finish off too. 50 Year Old Man is e...

12 February: Album - Reformation Post TLC 20 February: Single - Fall Sound 9 April: Single - Reformation! The Single "I have woken up" Recorded after last year's acrimonious split, Reformation Post TLC features 'The Dudes' (as the Americans Tim Presley, Rob Barbato and Orpheo McCord were affectionately known) plus first appearances from Pete Greenway and Dave Spurr. The album title references last year's walkout. The T and L standing for 'traitors' and 'lying' or 'treacherous lying' depending on your view. I'm sure you can work out what the C stood for. By and large I listen to the albums as I write these blogs but Mrs Vanity and Presumption put this CD in the car last year so it's had more of an outing than some others. My opinion hasn't massively changed from its release. Some of it I really like, lots of it I don't. Over! Over! starts with a defiant MES cackle. There were probably better choices as an alb...

? October: Single - Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy "Way down to heaven" With a great album (IMHO) fading into the rear view mirror and music for a new one already written it was surely time for another big Fall fall-out. Eight years and one month after the very public split at Brownie's in New York another Fall 'engine room' walked out. Ben Pritchard, Steve Trafford and Spencer Birtwistle headed home after a curtailed gig in Phoenix that had included MES scuffling with the singer of support band The Talk. This seems to have been the final straw in a tour that also included Smith pouring beer over the tour bus driver while they were doing 80 mph. MES being MES this was just a minor bump in the road for the group. They were playing again two days later with Mr and Mrs Smith now joined by Tim Presley and Rob Barbato of Darker My Love plus Orpheo McCord of On the Hill. There was one last release from the old line-up to come though. Higgle-Dy Piggle-Dy was another ...

28 February: EP - Rude All The Time 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...

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 "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...

13 March: 23rd John Peel Session - Sparta FC, Contraflow, Groovin' with Mr Bloe/Green-Eyed Locoman, Mere Pseud Mag Ed 27 October: Album - The Real New Fall LP Formerly 'Country On The Click' 8 December: Single/EP - (We Wish You) A Protein Christmas "Dear dope, if you wanna catch us - you need a rod and a line" I don't know why the group went more than four years without a Peel session so let's just be glad that they picked up the thread they left in 1998. And what a return! Best session since the late eighties/early nineties? There's a bit more urgency about this version of  Theme from Sparta FC  which really suits it. "Fantastic", said Peel. He's not wrong. Contraflow is up next. Ben Pritchard's 'choppy' guitar is a massive hit with me, but the backing vocals don't quite work as well as the album version. Green-Eyed Loco Man  is more guitar than synth-driven (nothing wrong with that) and is preceded by about ...

10 June - Live album: 2G+2 2 December - Single: The Fall vs 2003 What if all the world carroted and mashed into your eyelids? While I tended to avoid live albums 2G+2 makes the cut in that it does contain some 'studio' tracks and I did buy it. Not at the time though, I was obviously labouring under the misapprehension that this was 'just' a live work and picked it up a couple of years late. The live tracks came from the November 2001 tour of America.  I do find it interesting that the group are in a rare phase where there's no unrecorded material being performed. It's no surprise that most of the tracks are from the last couple of years (My Ex Classmates Kids, Kick the Can, F-Oldin' Money, Ibis Afro-man) while we also get The Joke, (Mr) Pharmacist and I am Damo Suzuki . The three studio recordings were last year's I Wake Up in the City plus New Formation Sermon and Distilled Mug Art. There's also some MES spoken word in the shape of E...

? August - Single: Rude (All The Time) 5 November - Album: Are You Are Missing Winner It is cruel and blind and does not compensate After last year's (I realise now) excellent The Unutterable was there an inevitability about a big Fall personnel change? Adam Helal, Neville Wilding, Tom Head and Julia Nagle all departed to be replaced by Ben Pritchard, Jim Watts and Spencer Birtwistle. A significant addition was Ed Blaney who, as well as co-writer, would be Fall broker, manager, and producer as well as friend and collaborator with MES. Rude (All The Time) was a limited edition issue single so wasn't one that I was familiar with. (I'd stopped buying singles back in the mid-90s but even if I hadn't I'm not sure I'd have been switched on enough to get hold of this mail order special.) Smith, Blaney and an acoustic guitar turn out an interesting little tune that would have benefited from a full group and studio treatment I'm sure. B-side I Wake Up in...

6 Nov 2000 - Album: The Unutterable "I loved you now and now you're gone" A confession - I really didn't like The Unutterable when it came out. I still didn't like it when I gave it a listen before one of The Fall Cups over on The Fall Forum some years ago. Hearing odd tracks after Mark E Smith's death made me think I might have got this album slightly wrong but I haven't heard it in its entirety in about eight years. Here goes... ... What was I thinking? This is tremendous! (I might write about why my taste may have changed in a future post but for now let's crack on with this so I can listen to it on repeat.) MES sounds in great form from the off and the production ( Grant Showbiz back in the chair for a studio album for the first time since Shift-Work ) is much cleaner than recent efforts. In fact, is The Unutterable the most different and most the same album in the Fall catalogue? As well as travelling some well worn Fall paths is ...