A few weeks ago, when writing about Cocteau Twins I mentioned how I'd gone along to a gig by The Fall in 1982 that had left me totally bemused. Now I may have given the impression that Mark E Smith and his cohorts were an act that have always left me cold. If so, I now wish to clear-up any misunderstanding.I can't claim to be a massive fan, nor do I have many of their records in the collection. I did once own this particular 12" single, but I havent been able to find it anywhere in the collection for years. I've either loaned it to someone or had it nicked at some point in time. But thankfully, instead of having to pay a fortune for it, I've been able to enjoy it again courtesy of its inclusion on a truly fantastic 2004 compilation CD entitled 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong.
From 1985
mp3 : The Fall - Cruiser's Creek
If you don't know much about The Fall, the compilation is as good a place to start as any - it contains 39 songs drawn from 1978-2003 and demonstrates just how many different ways the band has made music over the years.
And you will soon see how over the years The Fall have been a big inflluence on so many bands that have picked up guitars over the past three decades.:-
From 1980
mp3 : The Fall - Totally Wired
From 1983
mp3 : The Fall - The Man Whose Head Expanded
From 1987
mp3 : The Fall - Hit The North
From 1993
mp3 : The Fall - Why Are People Grudgeful?
I'll stop there for now...........go out and buy the CD for yourself.
9 comments:
Awesome band -and a truly brilliant compilation with which to start.
Was listening to Eat Y'self Fitter which before the end of the song reminded me that I must delete it from the iPod. I am genuinely bemused by the adoration the old curmudgeon gets.
Some great picks for the non-believers to get into them there. 4 classic originals plus that bizarre reworking of the Lee Perry/Joe Gibbs tune.
One of my favourites by them over the last few years has been 'Frenz'. Well worth hearing if you haven't yet.
I think my feelings on the Fall are quite clear.
Ed - It's not a bad starting point but the Peel Sessions boxset gives a truer impression of the gruppe.
Ctel - he is not a curmudgeon but a complete git as was shown in April at Studio 24 in Edinburgh. The fanboy thing from people who should know better perplexes me no end. Saying that, they are the only band I would travel the length of the country to see.
Totally Wired always used to get the dance floor packed when I went to Edinburgh Uni student union of a Friday night. Not sure you could call it dancing though.
The Man Whose Head Expanded was the first Fall song I can actually remember hearing on the radio (Peel obviously). It's got everything - maybe it's the perfect Fall track. Once heard, never forgotten.
It has the riff and melody which in other hands may have seen it become a huge hit. But in The Fall's hands, it became the delicate balance of cacophony and delivery that made it so much better than that.
Drew -I love the Peel sessions boxset, though I think 6CDs can be a bit overwhelming!
Having also lost my copy of Cruisers Creek along the winding way, I'm always aggrieved that all the versions available nowadays shave a good couple of minutes off the 12'' version, which was the ideal length for pissing off pals addicted to Dire Straits back in the day. "Oh good, it's stopped. Argh, f*@! it's still going!!!"
Indeed, every time I hear Cruisers Creek, it's the Friday before Christmas & we're all celebrating a schoolpal's expulsion in a portakabin commandeered as a common room in the playground. It's just past noon, & things are already a little piddly. Just as the Fall reach their apogee, a bloody big industrial firework thingy goes off under the floorboards, & Atmosphere by Russ Abbott starts up on the ghettoblaster. Time to leg it. In twelve hours time, I will be found lying in a snow-covered field, talking to a horse... Ah, happy days.
BTW, L.A. on the CC single is notable as the very first Fall song John Peel didn't like. I can still recall his palpable deflation as he owned up during the Festive Fifty.
Believe it or not Simon Bates played Cruiser's Creek on day time radio one in 1985.
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