Disco de The Fall: “Levitate”

First of all, if you don't know the Fall, you don't know Rock music. The Fall have well over 30 albums in print - they release an average of two a year, and they seldom repeat much in the way of material. Yes they are a recognizable style. Mark E. Smith's vocals are not much in the way of singing, in fact, he's been said to be tone deaf, but his word barrage is unique. This is not a soundtrack for your life, this is music that demands your attention and in its rather blasphemous way it can twist your thoughts. The Fall, have always smirked at high production, and opt usually for a very low tech sound quality. When you hear the fall, you really hear a band, not a studio overdub of what some producer hopes you'll buy. They have never sold out!

The Fall only get better with time, and this CD is great! This CD is sort of like the Sex Pistols breeding with the Chemical Brothers. Most electronic music lacks personality, but this CD gives it a unique voice...

After 20 years of complaining, frontman Mark E. Smith still finds the enregy for a truly inspired performance. Unlike their previous effort The Light User Syndrome, a throwback to The Fall's straighforward rock style of the '80s, this one finds them tearing up new sonic terrain. Levitate combines rhythm section driven rock and off-kilter low-fi electronica. Smith, with renewed vigor, spews forth his always bitter and usually humorous mix of vocals and poetry. Tracks such as "4 1/2 inch" are so wonderfully paranoid and claustrophobic that you wonder if even the band knows where the song is going (This is a high compliment). The cover songs "I'm a Mummy" and Jungle Rock" are throwaways, but the rest of the album is a fine continuation of The Fall's destruction of old rock forms and exploration of the new.

I absolutely hated this cd when I first bought it. I even gave about ten listens before shilving it for a year just to make sure that I hated it as much as I thought. And then about a year later I threw it in just for the hell of it and heard it in an entirely different light. For some reason the overuse of pop synth no longer turned me off but seemed quite interesting. Ten Houses of Eve and Masquarade are outstanding and 4 1/2 Inch is a superb hard edged Fall tune. Levitate is a unique Fall record in that it sounds like no other largely due to the heavy synth sound but in a way that's what actually makes a pretty cool piece of music. Fortunately this wasn't my introduction to The Fall but it's definitely a great supplement to the collection if you're willing to give it some time to sink in. On top of that it's almost always available for the cheap if you buy used.