Essential Links
1997
Interferance
Instrumental which does more or less what it says on the tin. Sounds like a car alarm going off after a crash into an untuned radio in a steel manufacturing factory. This is a good thing.
Crackhouse
Just the 2 live outings for this rarity. Spooky keyboard intro which becomes more and more hypnotic until an absolutely brilliant bass line appears, then the drums and a choppy guitar. Builds and builds until MES eventually enters spouting random letters as is his wont. Lyrics all a bit vague, but the overall subject matter speaks for itself - 'the house that crack built.' Stormer.
Recipe For Fascism
Spoken word with stupid noises. An 'attempt at a worthwhile tape.' I like the way he says, 'Fine tuning,' though. Art? Nah.
Everybody But Myself
A vaguely Western lonesome cowboyish type harmonica synth noise motif recurs througout. There's also some live crowd rabble rousing at the start, with someone (not MES) bawling, 'Crowd control' into the mic and meeting with the response, 'Is that all you can say? Fuck off.' The ad-libbing continues with, 'I can't seem to plug myself in...appliances are broken...Do me a favour - cut your lip and shut up.' The live version was on the added bonus CD and is nothing special - just MES repeating the title over and over...
Levitate
Not the most dynamic of Fall songs. Solid, functional drumming and a fine twangy guitar dictate the vocal melody. I say melody, I mean MESsing. Anyway, it trundles along and no harm done, but not much thrills either. Haphazard lyricism is the name of the game a la 'My friends said HMO times three' and 'snazzy japes of a Basingstoke shot.' Or something.
I Come And Stand At Your Door
And so is explained the earlier instrumental, Jap Kid, over which MES speaks on this track. The original, by The Byrds, called 'I Come And Stand At Every Door,' was a track from their 1966 album Fifth Dimension. The words are based on an anti-war poem by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet. The missing verse in the Fall's version, and hence the Jap Kid title, is: 'I'm only seven although I died / In Hiroshima long ago / I'm seven now as I was then / When children die they do not grow.'
Tragic Days
Nothing to see/hear. Move along. Worst taped rehearsal snatch ever.
Ol' Gang
Now that's what I call great synth and piano bashing. The oft wheeled out 'Walking down the street' phrase emerges over half way through the satisfying cacophony to develop into a street fighting narrative woven around the need to state 'Ol' Gang' as often as rhythmically possible. Also includes the rather splendid expression, 'Feeling pretty Manc.' The live version is a must hear good old thrash including 'a bit like Status Quo.'
Jungle Rock
True to form, this is completely unrecognisable from the original. Very synthy as opposed to rockabilly jangly. The Peel version's even stranger - the synth on it just grates, but the rumbling bass and sporadic guitar twangs make up for it when the synth stops, but only just. Hank Mizell wins, I think.
4 1/2 Inch
Wow. Now here's a sound you don't hear every day. A fantastic cut and paste job with drums, vocals and guitar all overlapping each other maniacally. When that main guitar riff kicks in, the whole thing just explodes into life. Great stuff. See the Fall online forum for an in-depth enthusiastic analysis and lyrics from JokerHystericalFace. Ecstatic midges!
Jap Kid
The Quartet of Doc Shanley
Take a bow Mr Steve Hanley. The growling bass on this is simply wondrous. Play it loud. The scraps of words and phrases amount to nothing, but they sound good anyway, especially the way Julia Nagle says, 'If you're like me, you're a complete and utter pranny. You'll know what I mean when I say recipe.'
I'm A Mummy
That's a great wee garage guitar riff there and imaginatively different from the original. 'I really came back to meet Paul McCartney.' Indeed. The original, a 1959 single by Bob McFadden & Dor features Bob doing a Droopy type voice. Hear what happens when HE walks up to somebody - the squeaky noise and screams are a treat. Also features Rod McKuen as a beatnik. The original, that is. Obviously.
Hurricane Edward
A real mixmash of ideas, sounds and timings. It starts with a clip from a TV/radio show or something delivered by 'a farm hand in Ross County.' The west country burr contrasts sharply with Tommy Crooks' broad Scottish accent at the end. In between times MES and some frantic drumming battle it out against the elements and the 'yellow thick ropes.' Good noises. Again, the live version is just instrumental.
Masquerade
Funky as fuck. Belatedly released as a single in 1998, this thumps along in stops and starts while MES outlines a vague financial, corporate greed theme over the top, with some playful word games such as 'Masqueraderie.' The Peel version is fantastic with added piano and Brix saying, 'This is new...Fresh,' followed by a whole bunch of different lyrics. The infamous live at Brownies version is mostly an instrumental affair, prefaced by the sense of impending violence/doom - 'And these three are gonna beat me up like the big men they are.'
Ten Houses Of Eve
And here come The Fall in techno colour. Jungle/drum n bass/whatever you call it type beats play host to MES dronings until they completely break down into a soft tinkling piano section and then back again to the dance treatments. Does the subject matter matter? 'If only the shards would relocate back in place/In your blue green and grey heart.' At the end the song sounds like its reinventing itself again on guitar before deciding not to bother. The live version is instrumental.