The Fall Album: “Grotesque (After the Gramme)”

Northern England's working-class answer to Can at their zenith, 'Grotesque' is easily the quintessential Fall album. All extraneous elements are discarded: no Brix, no techno nonsense, just pure ME Smith and Co. Lo-fi, cantankerous, humorous, and infectious, 'Grotesque' is possibly the best product Manchester ever produced. 'English Scheme' and 'In the Park' alone make this record mandatory. And now with additional tracks...

I am currently addicted.....almost 20 years ago, in the mid-80s, the cover of this album screamed at me to buy it from a Berkeley record shelf.....and hence the Fall was discovered. With the additional songs added at the front, this CD kicks even more arse than the lp, what with the awesome "How I Wrote Elastic Man" and "Totally Wired" added......also great is "English Scheme", "New Face in Hell" and "C'N'C-s Mithering"...Mark's wonderful Mancunian snarl and memorable observances set to irresistibly catchy, lo-fi rhythms....wow.....love it! Punk out! If you love Mark and the Fall, purchase!!

This is a full album & 2 singles that came out before it. I'll start w/ the singles. Elastic Man & Totally Wired are in my esteemed opinion the most brilliant & worthy use of the 7" format is the history of the universe. Hank Rollins even agrees. I heard TW 1st & played it all the time, picked up some later lps & onyl played them a few times & figured The Fall must be better in small doses [a 1981 single Lie Dream of a Casino Soul is similarly fabulous] but eventually got around to Grotesque & realised how overwhelmingly wrong was I. Here you have wit, groove, innovation, a certain need to jump around the room. I am proud to say this was recorded the year I was born [1980]. Some of the songs are short & punkish, like Pay Yr Rates, English Scheme & In The Park ["you thought it'd be great but a good mind does not a good f**k make"], whilst the rest are a bit more trance-like w/ narratives about unsavoury characters & record industry hobnobbing & regional pride, witness the finale The North Will Rise Again [initialed for the title to the confusion & subversion of the masses]. There's even a notable surf guitar solo in the Container Drivers. It's far from average punk, w/ inventive studio multilayering that reveals itself more on repeated listenings [of which you will have many w/o a hint of boredom]. Much more could & should be said but my only complaint is that a minute has been edited off the end of Putta Block where Mark does his worst Bill Haley impression, & they even have a pic of the 7" label under the cd to acknowledge, 4 minutes where it's 3 on the cd. But what's here is all good stuff. REALLY GOOD STUFF I should say.

This is a brilliant record full of exhilarating, heart-pounding ROCK. It's rocking, it's spooky, it's menacing, pissed-off(not in a fake "hey, look at me and my torn clothes and bad hair-cut, i'm a disenfranchised youth just trying to be heard, this is natural, this agression, it comes out of MY youth, were doing something important with our anger, to be heard! My youth is in full blossom, i'm going through puberty, Whats this weird hair?" dead kennedy's, black flag type way). The first track "Pay your rates" is played fast and all willy-nihilly(like a rabid pit-bull

conducting the musicians). Track two "english scheme" has some cool key-board work and an awesome shift halfway through the song. Track three "New face in hell" is one of the best songs on the album; it has a cool laid-back groovy feel but has multiple little drum-rolls that krackl n' pop and bounce off your funny bone. Beleive me, this song is the coolest. When i listen to NFIH, i like to look at the back cover of the album, at the band hanging out, drinking booze. They are cool. I say to myself(or whoever is around) "those guys are cool". Track four "cash and carry" is equally cool but scary and powerfull as all hell; it's just acoustic guitar(and some background effects at times)and drums beating methodically melancholicly. I savor over every second of this 7+ minute song. I would live in it if i could. The longer the song goes on the more it draws you into it, leaving you stunned, paralyzed by it's merciless monotony AND THEN! whats this ! whats happening DRUMS POUNDING IN FROM OUT OF NOWHERE! GUITARS jack-hammering their way into your gut, it's the rockabilly freakout of the "container drivers" that beautifully closes side one(if you have the vinyl copy).

Side Two is looser. Not too loose though, the songs are likable right off the bat but may take a couple listens to appreciate and enjoy. MES' lyrics are more story-related compared to side ones rantings on stupid californians or wireless enthusiasts. The two masterpieces on side two are "the impression of J.temparance" and "NWRA". The first is a spooky horror story that makes my skin crawl every time i hear it, it builds-up with a climactic keyboard and guitar attack and mark smith chanting "This hideous replica, His hideous replica!!". The "NWRA" is an awesome 10 minute monster mish-mash of guitars keyboards, kazoos and other devilish goodies. MES sing speaks through the whole song, his voice clangs around and bounces off the instruments and gets more intense until he hits his peak, drunk off the possibilities of words: "There were men with bees on sticks, a man with butterflies on his face, his brother through acid in his face, his tattooes were screwed , the streets of SoHo will reverberate, with drunken highland men. Grotesque was the Fall's first masterpiece(and there are plenty more that came after).

This is a brilliant record full of exhilarating, heart-pounding ROCK. It's rocking, it's spooky, it's menacing, [mad](not in a fake "hey, look at me and my torn clothes and bad hair-cut, i'm a disenfranchised youth just trying to be heard, this is natural, this agression, it comes out of MY youth, were doing something important with our anger, to be heard! My youth is in full blossom, i'm going through puberty, Whats this weird hair?" dead kennedy's, black flag type way). The first track "Pay your rates" is played fast and all willy-nihilly(like a rabid pit-bull

conducting the musicians). Track two "english scheme" has some cool key-board work and an awesome shift halfway through the song. Track three "New face in hell" is one of the best songs on the album; it has a cool laid-back groovy feel but has multiple little drum-rolls that krackl n' pop and bounce off your funny bone. Beleive me, this song is the coolest. When i listen to NFIH, i like to look at the back cover of the album, at the band hanging out, drinking booze. They are cool. I say to myself(or whoever is around) "those guys are cool". Track four "cash and carry" is equally cool but scary and powerfull as all hell; it's just acoustic guitar(and some background effects at times)and drums beating methodically melancholicly. I savor over every second of this 7+ minute song. I would live in it if i could. The longer the song goes on the more it draws you into it, leaving you stunned, paralyzed by it's merciless monotony AND THEN! whats this ! whats happening DRUMS POUNDING IN FROM OUT OF NOWHERE! GUITARS jack-hammering their way into your gut, it's the rockabilly freakout of the "container drivers" that beautifully closes side one(if you have the vinyl copy).

Side Two is looser. Not too loose though, the songs are likable right off the bat but may take a couple listens to appreciate and enjoy. MES' lyrics are more story-related compared to side ones rantings on stupid californians or wireless enthusiasts. The two masterpieces on side two are "the impression of J.temparance" and "NWRA". The first is a spooky horror story that makes my skin crawl every time i hear it, it builds-up with a climactic keyboard and guitar attack and mark smith chanting "This hideous replica, His hideous replica!!". The "NWRA" is an awesome 10 minute monster mish-mash of guitars keyboards, kazoos and other devilish goodies. MES sing speaks through the whole song, his voice clangs around and bounces off the instruments and gets more intense until he hits his peak, drunk off the possibilities of words: "There were men with bees on sticks, a man with butterflies on his face, his brother through acid in his face, his tattooes were [messed] , the streets of SoHo will reverberate, with drunken highland men. Grotesque was the Fall's first masterpiece(and there are plenty more that came after).