The Fall - Country On The Click (2003)

Shortly after 'Are You Are Missing Winner' was released in November 2001, The Fall played a short, well-received US tour, although despite the positive reception, the fabled line-up merry-go-round continued as Spencer Birtwistle quit after an altercation with someone from a New York venue's management, and was later replaced by Dave Milner, who had less than an hour of rehearsal time before his first gig in Manchester. They toured constantly throughout 2002 to raise some much-needed cash, but towards the end of the year Ed Blaney resigned as the group's manager over problems regarding visa applications for a proposed US tour. He was replaced by Eleni Poulou, under whose guidance the band decamped to Lisa Stansfield's Gracieland Studios in December 2002 and January 2003 and recorded songs for their next album, to be called 'Country On The Click', as well as recording their 23rd John Peel session in February 2003. The album was originally due to come out in April, but the release date was pushed back, with it eventually being listed on Amazon's forthcoming releases as appearing on 4 August 2003. However, at some point in the first half of 2003 the album was leaked online, which led to the original release being withdrawn and the album being remixed and re-sequenced by Smith, and then re-titled as 'The Real New Fall LP'. Ben Pritchard has since said that the internet leak was the best thing that could've happened, as the band were all really unhappy with Grant Showbiz's mix, especially on 'Theme From Sparta F.C.' and 'Recovery Kit', although at the time the perceived opinion was that the band were furious that it had leaked. The music press were almost entirely enthusiastic about the album when it did finally officially appear in October, with The Wire's John Mulvey considering it one of Mark E Smith's perennial 'returns to form', and Mojo's Ian Harrison saying that it was the group's best since 'The Infotainment Scam'. Both versions of the album have their fans, and so here is the original Grant Showbiz mix so that you can make up your own mind. There are a couple of covers around for this one, but like the recent Zappa post, I imagine that the artwork was already completed by the time the original release was cancelled, and was just updated afterwards, so this could very well be what it looked like in the first place.

Track listing 

 
01 Theme From Sparta F.C.
02 Proteinprotection
03 Mountain Energei
04 Contraflow
05 Green Eyed Loco-Man
06 Last Commands of Xyralothep Via M.E.S.
07 Boxoctosis
08 Ho(e)uston
09 The Past
10 Recovery Kit
11 Mike's Love Xexagon
12 Susan Vs Youthclub

The Fall - It's The New Thing (1980)

I've been listening to a lot of The Fall since the sad death of leader Mark E Smith last year. I've followed the band since day one, purchasing their first EP as soon as it came out, and continuing to buy their records for the next 20 odd years. If you'd asked me who my favourite bands were in the early 80's I always used to say The Fall and Cabaret Voltaire, and that still stands today, although there are now quite a few others added to the list. I've wanted to post something as a tribute for a while, but wasn't sure what to choose, as there have been so many compilations over the years which have collected just about everything they've ever released, so I thought that I'd just go back to the very beginning and collect their Step Forward singles, plus a couple of live tracks from the 'Short Circuit' compilation, a rare Peel session recording, and a track from a bootleg single. It all adds up to the perfect introduction to this ground-breaking and innovative band, and shows just how prolific they were, releasing all this stuff in just two years. They carried on issuing albums for the next 38 years, making them one of the longest running bands in history, and just before Smith's death I bought their last release, the double 10" album 'New Facts Emerge', and it was just as good as their output from two decades before. If you're not familiar with the band then you can hear how they seemed to emerge on the scene fully-formed, with their unique sound in place from the very beginning, and hopefully it will encourage you to try more of their massive output.

Track listing

01 Bingo-Master's Break-Out! (single 1978)

02 Psycho Mafia (b-side of 'Bingo-Master's Break-Out!')

03 Stepping Out (from the 'Short Circuit' compilation 1978)

04 Repetition (b-side of 'Bingo-Master's Break-Out!')

05 It's The New Thing! (single 1978)

06 Mess Of My (Peel Session 1978)

07 Various Times (b-side of 'It's The New Thing!')

08 Last Orders (from the 'Short Circuit' compilation 1978)

09 Dresden Dolls (from bootleg single 1977)

10 Rowche Rumble (single 1979)

11 In My Area (b-side of 'Rowche Rumble')

12 2nd Dark Age (b-side of 'Fiery Jack')

13 Psykick Dance Hall (No. 2) (b-side of 'Fiery Jack')

14 Fiery Jack (single 1980)