Disco de The Fall: “Time Enough At Last”

The world is always a better place with a curmudgeonly Fall album snarling at you in your home, and there is certainly no shortage of them to choose from, official and otherwise.

Between 1996 and 1997 the Receiver label, part of the Trojan group, put out half a dozen albums of previously unreleased Fall material. This box set collects the second batch of these, originally released separately in 1997 - Oxymoron, Cheetham Hill and The Fall Live - 15 Ways To Leave Your Man (all named after Fall songs), with new liner notes by Daryl Easles and as much documentation about them as exists. Unfortunately, this is very little.

A new collection of Fall demos, rehearsals, out-takes, alternative mixes and live recordings is very much my cup of rat poison. However I do like to know roughly to what I am listening, and am frustrated by the total lack of provenance that comes with these. We know that they date from between 1979 and 1996 and the third album comes with a recording date of 26 June 1996 at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, but even this proves deceptive.

Most of all three discs seems to actually date from the nineties, judging from how each track sounds, with the exception of E.S.P. Disco, which is actually Psykick Dancehall wearing a new hat but sounding as if played by a line-up similar to that of the Dragnet album from whence the song comes.

The first two albums are peppered with live performances, tracks 6 to 12 of Cheatham Hill all being live for example, though the audible absence of Brix E Smith from many of these suggests that they do not all date from June 1996. On the other hand, only the first nine tracks of the ostensibly live 15 Ways are actually from live performances.

Fifteen of the tracks come from 1996's The Light User Syndrome, eight from Code: Selfish (1992), seven from Cerebral Caustic (1995), four from Middle Class Revolt (1994), two from Bend Sinister (1986), two from Shift-Work (1991), two from Perverted By Language (1983), and one each from The Infotainment Scan (1993), Extricate (1990), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985) and I Am Kurious, Oranj (1988), though the live versions in particular could be more recent than their parent albums. Three of the live tracks were originally non-album singles from between 1988 and 1992 (Ed's Babe, Hit The North and White Lightning), and the instrumentals White Lines and Italiano were previously unreleased titles.

Some of the juxtapositions, edits and segues suggest the mischievous hand of Mark E Smith at work, and the sound, though variable (like most Fall albums), is no obstacle to the enjoyment of any of the tracks which form a kind of alternative history document

I saw this collection in the store the other day, and having heard good things about the Fall, I decided I would pick this up and try it out. Bad idea. The first album in the collection is mostly pretentious, techo-drum laced, reverb infested attempts at music, whereas the other songs are just plain unintelligable. I only made it about 5 songs into the second album because it was the same. The last album, a live album, has such poor recording quality that it is nauseating to listen to. Even more nauseating are Smith's vocal attempts. Nasally, un-intelligable yelps and babble make up his vocals. I'm used to some vocalists who lack a good sense of melody, but Smith is quite possibly the worst. I can't see why so many people like this band. It's possible that thier other, earlier albums are better, but for someone attempting to get into the Fall, this compilation did just the opposite for me. I want by 20 bucks back.

If you are looking to buy an album by the Fall, I would recommend not doing so at all. If you must, at least steer clear of this collection of crap. If you really want interesting "art punk", stick to Sonic Youth or Television intstead.