LINER NOTES: THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING WORLD OF THE FALL - VOLUME 3 [1990-94]

       1.     Sing! Harpy
       2.     I’m Frank
       3.     Black Monk Theme, Pt. 1
       4.     Arms Control Poseur [Album Version]
       5.     Hilary
       6.     The Littlest Rebel
       7.     Edinburgh Man
       8.     The Book of Lies
       9.     You Haven’t Found It Yet
       10.   The Mixer
       11.   Return
       12.   Time Enough at Last
       13.   Everything Hurtz
       14.   Immortality
       15.   Gentlemen’s Agreement
       16.   Ladybird (Green Grass)
       17.   Glam-Racket
       18.   Service
       19.   The League of Bald-Headed Men
       20.   15 Ways
       21.   The Reckoning
       22.   M5#1
       23.   You’re Not Up To Much
 
 
Whereas the line between the first two phases of The Fall are blurred – Perverted by Language, essentially – that which separates the second and third is more clearly demarcated, falling between I Am Kurious Oranj and Extricate. That said, Extricate is a transitional work, less repetitive than its forebears, yet not entirely indicative of the sound the group were about to embrace. It was also the first Fall album I listened to, and perhaps for this reason it’s one of my favourites.
 
It has been suggested that the reason the fiddle features as predominantly as it does on Extricate is because Smith’s now ex-wife Brix was shacked up with Brummie violinist and pseudo-boho Nigel Kennedy. Moreover, that many of the album's songs were about her, which Smith refuted. The most obvious example of this is the opening track, 'Sing! Harpy', which fades in to the sound of Kenny Brady's violin and contains lyrical references that point in that direction. The tune itself was written by original group member Martin Bramah, who had re-joined the group in Brix's absence. It was to be a temporary arrangement; on the Australian leg of the album’s subsequent tour, Bramah was sacked, along with keyboard player Marcia Schofield.

'Sing! Harpy' should have been a single, but 'I’m Frank' wouldn’t have been a bad choice either. Said to be Craig’s Scanlon’s tribute to Frank Zappa (I’m unqualified to comment) it’s a better song than is often given credit for. After that there’s 'Bill is Dead', which is more than likely autobiographical: an account of renewal in the wake of the trauma of death (of Smith’s father) and divorce (from Brix). Again, Smith denied all of this, which doesn’t mean it isn’t so. 'Black Monk Theme, Part 1' follows – more violins – and then 'Popcorn, Double Feature', which was released as a single but shouldn’t have been. Both are covers, of The Monks and The Searchers respectively. Side 2 is a little more hit and miss; 'Hilary' and 'The Littlest Rebel' are the highlights.

As with previous Fall albums, the cassette and CD included a number of tunes that didn’t feature on the record. The one that really should have is 'Arms Control Poseur', which originally appeared on the B-side of 'Popcorn, Double Feature'. The album version is superior, but you get both on the 2007 re-issue. Credited to Scanlon, Smith and Wolstencroft, according to Marcia Schofield it was one of the songs Bramah brought with him, as was 'Hilary' which is attributed solely to Smith.
 

After the dismissal of Bramah and Schofield, The Fall were operating as an unprecedented four-piece, comprising Smith, Scanlon, Hanley and Wolstencroft (with Dave Bush drafted in on auxiliary ‘electronics’). The album that followed – Shift-Work – is more upbeat than its predecessor, but not necessarily better for it. Again, the first side is the stronger. 'Idiot Joy Showland' is good, 'Pittsville Direkt' is good, 'Book of Lies' is very good, but best of all is 'Edinburgh Man', a song that may or may not recall fondly the milieu described in 'Bill is Dead'. The most interesting tracks, though, are found on the second side – the dance-tinged 'You Haven’t Found it Yet' and 'The Mixer' – and give a clearer indication of where The Fall was headed.

For Code: Selfish, Bush found himself promoted from electronics to keyboards & machines. The result is a harsher, noisier record and an underrated one. Indeed, its first side, on vinyl and cassette, might be one of The Fall’s very best. The opening tracks, 'Birmingham School of Business School' and 'Free Range', kick the doors down in very much the same way that 'Lay of the Land' and '2 x 4' do on The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... . 'Return' does a similar job to 'I'm Frank', but with more vigour. For 'Time Enough at Last', Scanlon digs out the guitar sound he employed on 'Wings', while Hanley’s bass borders on the sublime. 'Everything Hurtz' has swagger, and the sequencing on 'Immortality' rounds things off nicely.

The second side isn’t nearly as good. At just over six minutes, 'Two-Face!' outstays its welcome. 'Gentlemen’s Agreement', on the other hand, ranks alongside 'Bill is Dead', 'Edinburgh Man' and 'Disney’s Dream Debased' as one of The Fall’s most poignant moments. The less said about 'Crew Filth' the better.

On 19 October 1993, I attended my first ever Fall gig, a calamitous affair at the Kentish Town Forum, supported by a much heckled Ted Chippington. Set-list as follows:
 
Happy Holiday (instrumental) / M5 / Ladybird (Green Grass) / Idiot Joy Showland / Why Are People Grudgeful? / Glam Racket / I'm Going to Spain / Free Range / Lost in Music / Big New Prinz / A Past Gone Mad / Behind the Counter / Strychnine / War / Paranoia Man in Cheap Sh*t Room / High Tension Line / Deadbeat Descendant.
 
After keeping the crowd waiting for over an hour, Smith proceeded to fiddle with his band’s monitors, launch microphones in the direction of the sound engineers to the side of the stage, abort songs before they’d got going, and behave generally is if he’d rather be somewhere else (although to be fair the sound was a bit shoddy).

The Infotainment Scan, released earlier that year, was and still is The Fall’s highest charting album. Yet of the five albums from this period, this is the one that has dated the most. The first four tracks are exempt: 'Ladybird (Green Grass)' and 'Glam Racket' must rank among the best tunes The Fall have produced; 'Lost in Music' and 'I’m Going to Spain' are covers, so sound quite unlike anything else. Thereafter, Dave Bush is let loose to do pretty much what he likes, creating a strange sort of alternative rock-techno hybrid in the process. It actually works quite well, if you don’t mind a bit of Italian-house mixed in with your Fall.

By the time I went to see The Fall again in January 1994, at the Brixton Fridge, I’d caught up. Here’s the set-list:
 
Happy Holiday / Return / M5 / I’m Going to Spain / 15 Ways / Free Range / Big New Prinz / The Mixer / The Reckoning / I’m Frank / Paranoia Man in Cheap Shit Room / Glam Racket / Hey! Student / A Past Gone Mad / Strychnine / Behind the Counter / Ladybird (Green Grass).

They were on excellent form that night. I distinctly recall hearing 'The Reckoning' and being blown away by it, even though it was completely new to me. It would materialise on the next album, Middle Class Revolt, which in many ways carried on where The Infotainment Scan left off. So too would 'Happy Holiday' and 'M5', yet these tunes were familiar because they’d already appeared on the Behind the Counter EP released in December ’93. And this is the problem with Middle Class Revolt. By the time it was released in May 1994, no less than six of its tracks – '15 Ways', 'Behind the Counter', 'War', 'M5', 'Hey! Student' and 'The $500 Bottle of Wine' – had surfaced in one form or another on the singles that preceded it. Not that this diminished the quality of the album in itself, but it did lessen its impact. 'You’re Not up too Much', which sounds a little out of place here, softened the blow.
 

And then came Cerebral Caustic, which I didn’t like very much, and instead of moving forward I continued to look back. I don’t rule out ever compiling a fourth chapter in this series, but it is unlikely that I will. It’s not so much that The Fall ceased to produce good music from around 1995 onwards, but rather that Smith’s schtick became repetitive and chaotic – stumbling over his words, sometimes growling, his voice shot.

It does not do to equate the genius of The Fall with the genius of Mark E Smith. They would have been nothing more than a curious, if compelling, phenomenon without a select group of musicians capable of realising the vision: Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Brix Smith-Start, Karl Burns, Paul Hanley, Martin Bramah, Simon Wolstencroft, maybe ‘he of classical training’ Simon Rogers. That’s half of it, and Smith’s idiomatic way with words is the other. That they coalesced in one band is almost unheard of.

What I think did it for me was the realisation that there would never be another 'Wings', 'Leave the Capitol', 'Athlete Cured', 'Dktr. Faustus'; tunes with a clear narrative and enunciated diction. Whether Smith chose to abandon these methods or just no longer possessed the vocal dexterity is moot. He – no, they – left quite enough to be getting on with, and we can be grateful for that.
 

[Listen to here.]