Disco de The Fall: “The Marshall Suite”

Here's a man who doesn't take a bit of hardship lying down. Faced with a shrinking, ageing fan base, and deteriorating internal relations in the band (resulting in the band - fed up with his bullying and erratic behaviour - walking out last year) it seems Mark E. Smith is determined to go down screaming. This makes for quite an interesting spectacle and this first cd of the 'new' Fall shows a remarkable recovery. The rhythm section is weaker than we're used to, but the band delivers the goods nonetheless with some killer late-gothic tunes like 'Jung Nev's Antidote' and 'The crying Marshall'; frustrates with a shoddy Saints cover and reassures with some good old rockabilly in 'F'oldin Money'. This album demonstrates that in spite of their steady decline over the years the Fall are still better than they've ever been! (certainly no small feat...)

Once again Mr. Smith presents a set of music that satisfies, confounds, amazes and, at least in my case, glues itself in the CD player. We even get a potential hit single in "F-Oldin' Money". The Fall may have been other things in other times, but that was then & this is now. I mean, WHO ELSE is the Fall, really? I waited a long time for the domestic release of this album and it was well worth it.

There is something missing here. The musicianship is limited. Had Mark Smith not alienated his former bandmates, we might have been able to continue into something truly remarkable suggested by tracks like "Hurricane Edward" on the preceding "Levitate". The better tracks on here ("Touch Sensitive", "Antidotes", "The Crying Marshall") proceed from the model suggested by "Levitate"'s better tracks - heavily processed sound.

What we did end up with here is an interesting collection of noise, like an industrial-tinged grunge music with the occasional layer of strings on top. It's pretty interesting in places and does show that the Fall is not dead, but they're by no account at the top of their artistic game.

this is a very cool album.. It's very diverse but has a somewhat commercial appeal while remaining very abstract and songless in parts. Songs like "Touch Sensitive" and "F-oldin' Money" are very catchy and rock-like while other songs like "The Crying Marshall" are more weird and have obscure dance beats. A great mix! Mark E Smith is perfect on this album!!! A great comeback.