this autumn i’m gonna try and chronologically listen to as many releases by the fall as i can; will try to document my findings in this thread as i go

wanted to start things off with one of the band’s most quintessential early tracks, “repetition” from their debut EP bingo-master’s breakout

first full length up is the band’s debut LP, live at the witch trials; i’ve spent a little time with this one in the past but honestly kinda forgot how solid it was, especially given that it was recorded in a single day (just like the first beatles album!)

tracks like “industrial estate”, “frightened”, and “rebellious jukebox” are all classics for sure, but the song that stood out to me the most this time around was “two steps back”

also wanted to give a shout out to the last song on the record, “music scene”, which i’d totally forgotten about; love the way MES starts yelping “six minutes!” and “6:40!” as the track keeps going

next up is the “rowche rumble” single, released in july 1979; definitely feels up to par with the best stuff on live at the witch trials. VALIUM, KSH-KSH

hot take but the b-side is even better! the last minute is a great showcase for the band’s new guitarist craig scanlon, who would stay with the group all the way to 1995 (an incredible accomplishment given the fall’s absurdly high turnover rate)

honestly my favorite thing about craig is that he was erroneously credited as “craig scanlan” in the liner notes of every release for his first 12 years with the band. to be fair if mark e. smith misspelled my name i probably wouldn’t have the guts to correct him either

unfortunately MES and the gang next fell victim to the dreaded sophomore slump; dragnet, released in october 1979, isn’t a -bad- record, but neither the band’s playing or mark’s writing deliver on the promises of “rowche rumble”. opener slaps though

it’s definitely the... spookiest of the band’s early albums? you gotta imagine it was pretty well served by its october 26th release date. plenty of good options for your post-punk halloween mixtape, like “a figure walks” and “before the moon falls”

best track on dragnet is easily the closer though; the album version is great but you gotta check out the peel sessions take, recorded almost a year earlier in november 1978 at the second of the band’s many appearances on peel’s program

i will have this memorized by winter

hey team sorry i slept through the daily morning conference call, i was up til two am calculating the statistics of an english post-punk band’s personnel turnover in the late 70s and early 80s

before i post any more songs in this thread i do want to make a few tweets catching up on the changes the fall’s lineup has gone through thus far so let’s do it

the fall was founded in 1976 by: mark e. smith (vocals), martin bramah (guitar), tony friel (bass), and una baines (percussion). una baines soon switched to keyboards when the band hired their first full-time drummer, karl burns, later that year

this lineup recorded the fall’s debut EP, bingo-master’s breakout, in 1977, although tony friel and una baines would leave the band before it came out in 1978. they were replaced by marc riley on bass and yvonne pawlett on keys for the next single, “it’s the new thing”

after live at the witch trials, martin bramah and ken burns leave the band and marc riley switches from bass to guitar. the following new members join up for the “rowche rumble” single: craig scanlon (guitar), steve hanley (bass), and mike leigh (drums)

haven’t mentioned him before this but bassist steve hanley is like, an essential addition to the group. in the late 80s, mark e. smith referred to hanley as “the most original aspect of the fall”

after “rowche rumble”, the same lineup records dragnet, then yvonne pawlett leaves. drummer mike leigh would last one more release (the “fiery jack” single, january 1980), before being replaced by steve hanley’s brother paul

this lineup is where things start to get really good, imo. dragnet was a bit of a stumble but the summer of 1980 was the summer of the fall. in july of that year, the band put out one of its best-ever singles, “how i wrote elastic man”

MES and the gang took all of the fall’s best qualities to new heights on this one. it’s like a deranged sequel to “paperback writer” and easily a strong contender for my favorite fall song. the fact that MES sings “plastic man” when the song is titled “elastic man” drives me NUTS

*sneezes my brain out through my nose and throws it against the wall*

just a month after “elastic man”, the fall released “totally wired”, another landmark single that has since become recognized as one of their trademark songs and a definitive slice of english punk anxiety

building on the momentum of those two singles, the fall released their best album yet, GROTESQUE (AFTER THE GRAMME), a few months later in november 1980. MES described the record’s music as “country ‘n’ northern”; its album cover was drawn by his sister suzanne

track three, “new face in hell”, is another of my very favorite songs by the band. it finds the group digging into a hypnotic groove reminiscent of “what goes on” by the velvets and MES tooting away on a kazoo in between some delirious bouts of spoken word

pavement ripped this one off -hard- with the song “conduit for sale!” from their debut LP. possibly the track that prompted MES to publicly deride the band for being unoriginal

slow-burn travelogue “c ‘n’ c-s mithering” finds the fall heading west to the states for some more music industry meta commentary, providing some of the album’s funniest moments in the process.
see ya mate! YEAH SEE YA MATE

far less of a drudge is the song that “mithering” abruptly transitions into, “the container drivers” - perhaps the best example on the album of the band’s trademark “mancabilly” sound

the record culminates in what just might be the best closing track on a fall album, “the NWRA” (the north will rise again) - a dense and literary tale of violent political insurrection in smith’s homeland of northern england. YOU CAN STUFF YOUR AID

next release up on the docket is SLATES, a six-track mini-album that the band released in april 1981. always kinda found this thing to be one of group’s more accessible releases; it’s definitely their most economical if nothing else

my favorite track from the release, “leave the capitol”, continues the band’s run of stellar album closers; in an alternate universe i am a #resistance poster and tweet a link to this song at mitch mcconnell once a day

the fall next arranged some U.S. tour dates to support SLATES; however, drummer paul hanley was unable to get a visa, allegedly due to the fact that he was only 16 and therefore too young to enter the alcohol-serving clubs where the band were scheduled to play

surprisingly enough, MES remedied this turn of events by hiring back the band’s first drummer, karl burns! although karl initially planned to rejoin the band solely for the U.S. tour, he ended up resuming his role as a full-time member, which means now the fall has two drummers

this two-drummer lineup can be heard for the first time on the fall’s next single, “lie dream of a casino soul”, from november 1981. the first release with more than one original member in like two years!

okay, so now that the fall had two drummers, they were ready to make what is arguably the best album of their career: HEX ENDUCTION HOUR. recorded in iceland and released in march 1982, it’s the perfect distillation of everything the band had been working towards up to this point

the album kicks off with another of the band’s now-trademark songs, “the classical”. obviously i don’t condone all of the lyrical choices MES made on this one, but no collection of the fall’s essential tracks would be complete without it

another of the best-known songs from the album is the semi-autobiographical “hip priest”, later featured on the soundtrack to silence of the lambs. certainly good music to “skin your humps” by

but my favorite song on the album would have to be the record’s two-part centerpiece, “winter”. feels like mark e. smith recounting a surreal tale from his childhood on a segment of this american life or prairie home companion or something

i do think they kinda nerfed it by splitting it in two and inserting a fade in the middle but the second half builds to such a satisfying drone that it’s impossible to listen to one without the other

MES really peaked as a storyteller on this album imo; “winter” is probably the best example of that, but i’m also a big fan of “jawbone and the air-rifle”, a modern fable about a rabbit hunter being cursed by a spell-casting grave-keeper

another of my personal favorites from the record would be “fortress / deer park”, which finds MES offering more commentary on his local music scene and denouncing unnamed peers as “fat captain beefheart imitators with zits”

basically, if you’re reading this thread and only interested in checking out a single fall album, HEX ENDUCTION HOUR is one of two that i would wholeheartedly recommend. nothing from the first several years of the band’s career provides a more thrilling and satisfying experience

(i will also leave this here)

when i go a full day without updating my big fall thread

anyways, 1982 was quite the busy year for the fall; they followed up HEX’s march release by putting out another single, “look, know” in april. solid track, but i actually prefer the b-side, “i’m into C.B.”

before the year was through, they’d put out another full-length album, ROOM TO LIVE, released in september; doesn’t really represent a significant step forward for the band, so it’s generally considered to be their least essential record of the 80s

i’m not really a big enough fan of the record to say it’s super underrated or anything but hey, it’s got a few tracks i like. chief among those would be “marquis cha cha”, which was released as a single more than a year later, due to record label issues

also quite fond of the opener, “joker hysterical face” -- because what is mark e. smith if not the post-punk equivalent of the joker

one track that i think is actually a little underrated is “solicitor in studio”; ROOM TO LIVE may not be the definition of an essential fall release, but it definitely wasn’t a chore to revisit this time around

sometime around the end of 1982, MES and guitarist/keyboardist marc riley had a falling out, which led to the latter’s dismissal in january 83. riley would later say that “joining the fall was the second best thing that ever happened to me. the best thing was getting kicked out"

riley would of course be immortalized on one of the fall’s early live records, FALL IN A HOLE, released later in 1983 after he’d been fired

following marc riley’s dismissal at the beginning of 1983, the fall released another duo of great non-album singles; first up, “the man whose head expanded”, a paranoid but humorous piece that has since inspired comparisons to the work of philip k. dick

this mark e. smith quote about the song in 1997 makes it sound more relevant than ever in the age of fake news

then there’s “kicker conspiracy”, a song about “english soccer violence being triggered off by rubbish management and frustration that the game's been taken away from its support, that the game is so boring there's nothing else to do”

and now we reach a moment i’ve been excited to get to for days. in april 1983, the fall play a show in chicago; in attendance is a 20 year old fan of the group, an american literature and theatre student named laura elisse salenger — known to her friends as “brix”

raised in los angeles and nicknamed after the clash song “guns of brixton”, brix was a huge fan of the fall. in an interview from 2016, she recalled, “something hit me so hard I became obsessed with them,” although she clarified, “not in a psycho fan way”

as the story goes, brix ended up literally bumping into mark e. smith after that chicago gig. the two immediately hit it off; a few months later, they were married, and brix started playing guitar in the fall

to this day, brix’s entry into the fall is seen as a landmark moment in the band’s career. her creative vision would steer them towards greater pop success than they’d ever seen before, all without sacrificing the chaotic madness that defined the group

basically, she was fearless and crazier than him. she was his queen, and god help anyone who dared to disrespect his queen

with brix onboard, the fall would next release their sixth full-length, PERVERTED BY LANGUAGE, in december 1983; while brix wouldn’t take a creative role in the band until the next album, PBL still finds the fall completely reinvigorated and venturing into exciting new territory

the album kicks off with a classic, “eat y’self fitter”, a six and a half minute song about mark e. smith, uh, buying a computer or something. the music video is essential viewing, even if it does kinda turn into a bit of an endurance test by the end

while most of the album was recorded before brix was inducted into the band, it does feature the first appearance of her vocals on a fall record, on the song “hotel blöedel” - not one of my favorite tracks on the record but a fun pair of words to say

when it comes to this period’s shorter, poppier tracks, the album’s sixth track, “i feel voxish”, is one of my very favorites; almost sounds like it could’ve been released on DFA in the mid aughts

and then there’s “garden”, another long-form track that slithers along like a snake about to offer you some fruit. the lyrics are some of mark’s most enigmatic yet, not even gonna try to unpack them in a tweet lol

most of the talking points that surround brix joining the fall boil down to her leading the band in a more accessible and commercially viable direction. of course, the fall would never become a “pop band”, but what their next two singles presuppose is... maybe they would?

first up is “oh! brother”, released in june 1984. an update on a track the band had been playing live since the late 70s, it’s easily the poppiest single the group had released yet, thanks in no small part to brix’s sugary backing vocals

then comes “c.r.e.e.p.”, released just two months later (the fall do love their summer singles); it’s another of the band’s very best non-album singles imo; more great backing vocals from brix, but the highlights are those chiming guitars and keyboards

mark e. smith....... chuck e. cheese........ cinematic parallels

mark “entertainment” smith

alright i’ve given you mortals a brief respite but it’s time to get back to it..... welcome to THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING WORLD OF THE FALL

released in october 1984, TWAFWOTF is the first full length where you can really start to feel brix’s influence. definitely the band’s most accessible and focused project since SLATES; for the first time in history, not a single track on a fall album passes the six minute mark

personally i kinda miss the long-form numbers! but this album is still filled with bangers and not to be skipped. the record’s second track, “2 by 4”, is a pretty good indicator of what you’re in for this time around, a great no-frills rocker

my personal favorite from the record would probably be “slang king”, which feels like the perfect synthesis of the band’s older sensibilities and their new, more straightforward approach. little keyboard part during the chorus is great too!

of course, you can’t talk about this album without mentioning its closing track, “disney’s dream debased” — a song about brix taking mark e. smith to disneyland...... to disastrous results

brix recounting the events that inspired “disney’s dream debased”

recorded and released alongside THE WONDERFUL AND FRIGHTENING WORLD OF THE FALL was another EP, CALL FOR ESCAPE ROUTE

the tracks from this thing actually found their way onto the US cassette version of FRIGHTENING WORLD (along with “oh! brother”, “c.r.e.e.p.”, and their respective b-sides), creating a huge frankenstein’s monster of a record fitting of the album’s title

as a stand-alone release, ESCAPE ROUTE isn’t too much to write home about, but it does feature one essential track in the almost eight-minute long “NO BULBS”, which is kinda the last hurrah for this classic two-drummer version of the band

shortly after the band toured in support of FRIGHTENING WORLD, brothers steve and paul hanley left the band. here’s steve discussing their departure in 2016:

if you aren’t noticing the pattern that’s emerging as more and more members come and go over the years, most musicians who leave the fall do so because of mark e. smith. here’s some great quotes of MES responding to this topic when it comes up in a 2011 interview

great quote about the departure of marc riley AKA “happy fall guitarist” back in 82 from this amazing article about tracking down ex-fall members as if they were survivors of a cult or something https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jan/05/popandrock

haven’t updated this thread in a few days but that’s only because the high quality of the next studio album i have to tweet about is SO IMPOSING

before i get to the next record though, in march 1985 the fall released their second compilation of non-album material, HIP PRIEST AND KAMERADS - a collection of tracks that the band had released on the kamera record label

(i haven’t been and will be continuing to not cover which record labels the fall’s material was released through; there isn’t enough room in my brain to keep track of that AND all the personnel changes)

anyways, this is a pretty weird little comp. definitely would’ve been worth picking up back in the day since it included the singles the band released during the HEX era, but the inclusion of tracks from HEX itself feels odd

i think it would be cool to find an original copy of this thing out in the wild, but really one of the only reasons to add this thing to your library would be if you wanted a copy of “fortress” that fades out before “deer park” comes in (????)

the other reason to check this thing out if you’ve already heard all the singles would be the 15 minute live version of HEX closer “and this day” which ends the compilation - pretty cool!

i forgot to tweet about it cause i wasn’t sure if i wanted to cover compilations, but the fall’s first collection of non-album stuff came out back in september 1981: EARLY YEARS 77-79 contains the singles and EPs from the WITCH TRIAL and DRAGNET eras

while i’m tweeting about non-album stuff, i just wanted to post “pat-trip dispenser” from the “C.R.E.E.P.” single - maybe the best fall b-side? named for the band’s US tour manager, who lived above maxwell’s in hoboken, NJ

right, so the hanley bros. are out, marking the end of the fall as a two-drummer band; karl burns assumes full drumming duties and mark hires simon rogers to replace steve on bass

maybe it’s a reflection of losing both hanleys at once, but the fall’s next single “couldn’t get ahead”, released in june 1985, is unfortunately among this period’s least essential tracks

fortunately, steve hanley rejoins the band a mere four months later; sounds like all the dude really needed was a little paternity leave to care for his newborn child. MES is so happy that he inscribes “s hanley! he’s back!” onto the vinyl of the band’s next album

the next album in question you ask? only what is arguably the band’s crowning achievement, THIS NATION’S SAVING GRACE

released in september 1985, today TNSG’s is widely viewed (often along with HEX) as being the band’s best album. I can’t tell you if it’s better than HEX, but hey: it sure ain’t worse

at the very least, i’ll say that they’re both their respective era’s finest moments, perfect distillations of what the fall were up to at the time. considering we’re in the brix era now though, TNSG is definitely more accessible, so it might be a better first listen for new fans

let’s talk about some tracks though; after a brief instrumental intro, the album kicks into full swing with “bombast” one of the most pummeling, high energy tracks the band would ever record

it features what is definitely one of mark’s best introductions to a fall song ever: ALL THOSE WHOSE MIND ENTITLES THEMSELVES, AND WHOSE MAIN ENTITLE IS THEMSELVES, SHALL FEEL THE WRATH, OF MY, BOMBAST”

here is some poor soul on the band’s encyclopedic fansite, the annotated fall (“TAF”) trying to unpack that statement

another big favorite of mine from the record is “what you need”, which feels like it’s got some of mark’s best spoken word stuff in a minute. come your horrible new dad!

one of the more successful songs from the record, the near-instrumental “LA” is one of the band’s first experiments with a more electronic sound, and a huge success at that

co-written by brix and MES, it’s obviously a love letter to the city that the former had left behind upon marrying mark and joining the band. leaving los angeles for manchester definitely sounds like it would’ve been a big adjustment

sean o’hagen touched on this transition in an interview with brix for the guardian in 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/01/brix-smith-start-interview-rise-fall-rise-mark-e-smith-nigel-kennedy-philip-start-the-extricated