THE FALL - PERVERTED BY LANGUAGE [1983]

The Man Whose Head Expanded [*]
Ludd Gang
Kicker Conspiracy [*]
Wings
Eat Y'Self Fitter
Neighbourhood of Infinity
Garden
Hotel Blöedel
Smile
I Feel Voxish
Tempo House
Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot
Pilsner Trail [#]

Review

by Ned Raggett

Punk may have been the initial spark for the Fall, but by 1983 they had made it clear that whatever trend was next was not for them. Brix Smith made her debut with the band on Perverted by Language, helping to introduce the slightly more pop-friendly era of the group with another fine album. She takes lead vocals at various points throughout, notably "Hotel Bloedel," while her husband plays violin and adds extra spoken word thoughts along the way. The hints of strange beauty that the Fall can sometimes let into its world appear here more than once -- whether it's Brix's influence or not isn't clear, and why not? "Garden" still hits hard while using a softer chime at its heart, while "Hexen Definitive" is almost a country (and western) stroll. Even for all the slightly more accessible touches for a wider audience, the Fall remain the Fall. "Smile" shows the band's abilities at tense audio drama excellently, a relentless, steady build with the Steve and Paul Hanley and Karl Burns rhythm section leading the way, winding up to a total explosion that never comes. Smith's increasingly frenetic vocals match the looming dread of the track to a T. "Neighbourhood of Infinity," notable for its appearance on Palace of Swords Reversed, crops up here in a studio take, again a sequel of sorts to "The Man Whose Head Expanded." Musically it hits its own stride, another of the many motorik-tinged tunes that helped give the Fall its own particular edge ("I Feel Voxish" also fills that bill, and quite well at that). "Eat Y'Self Fitter," touching on everything from meeting heroes (maybe) to returning late rental videos, makes for a great start to things, an endlessly cycling rockabilly chug with extra keyboard oddities and sudden music-less exchanges for the chorus.

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THE FALL - LIVE AT THE WITCH TRIALS [1979]

Tracks List:
- Frightened
- Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow
- Rebellious Jukebox
- No Xmas for John Quays
- Mother-Sister!
- Industrial Estate
- Underground Medecin
- Two Steps Back
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Futures and Pasts
- Music Scene

Although this classic album has been reissued and expanded, this is my original 1st issue from 1979 on Step Forward records.

The story goes that the band had booked a five day session in the studio, but Mark E. Smith was taken ill for the first three days. All of the tracks for this were recorded on the fourth day and it was all mixed on the fifth.

I've drifted in and out of the bands output over the years, but I never get sick of this ugly/beautiful debut. The brilliant songs come thick and fast, from the opening "Frightened", to classics such as "Rebellious Jukebox", "No Xmas for John Quays", "Industrial Estate" and "Two Steps Back"

That the first Fall album in a near endless stream would not only not sound very punk at all but would be a downright pleasant listen at the start (thanks to Yvonne Pawlett's electric piano on "Frightened") seems perfectly in keeping with Smith's endlessly contrary mind. His inimitable drawl/moan and general vision of the universe (idiots are everywhere and idiotic things are rampant) similarly sprawls all over the music -- there's no question who this is or whose band it is as well. That said, most of Live at the Witch Trials is co-written with Martin Bramah, whose guitar work here is noticeably much more inclined to chime and ring instead of brutally scratching away like Craig Scanlon's awesome work would soon do. Bramah's not just there to sound tuneful, though, and the killer Marc Riley/Karl Burns rhythm section both keeps up the energy and provides surprising grooves. On chugging tracks like "Two Steps Back," it's not hard to tell Smith's Krautrock fandom is coming into play. With Pawlett's keyboards providing a pretty garage kick on top of it all, the result is an all-around treat. Brilliantly scabrous tracks are everywhere, one of the most memorable being "Rebellious Jukebox," simultaneously one of the most tuneful and aggressive songs from the early lineup, Smith pouring it on along with the band as a whole. The driving funk of "Music Scene," meanwhile, redefines misanthropy (and more) with a particularly central Smith target in mind. "No Xmas for John Quays," meanwhile, almost establishes the Fall formula on its own -- Smith chanting and yelling over a quick, semi-rockabilly shamble and attack punctuated with unexpected stops and starts. Note -- the Cog Sinister CD re-release of the album, in keeping with similar perverse reissues in the Fall's back catalog, is mastered directly from vinyl, and more than once sounds it.

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THE FALL - TOTALE'S TURNS (IT'S NOW OR NEVER) [1980]

TRACKS:

• Intro
• Fiery Jack
• Rowche Rumble
• Muzorewi's Daughter
• In My Area
• Choc-Stock
• Spector Vs Rector 2
• Cary Grant's Wedding
• That Man
• New Puritan
• No Xmas For John Quays

The first of what would be a veritable flock of live albums, some legit and some hovering on the edge of it, Totale's Turns, with the same lineup as Dragnet, found the Fall in a hilariously aggressive mood, as the statement of purpose "Intro" demonstrates. "The difference between you and us is that we have brains!" proclaims Smith, and from there it's off into their version of rock & roll hell. Song choices range over the first two albums and various singles, delivered with the at-once on form and shambling elan that characterized the band's rough and ready early days. The Riley/Scanlon guitar team performs their own brand of anti-guitar hero guitar heroics, scratchy, twanging, cutting, kicking into rave-up energy more often than not. The Leigh/Hanley rhythm section matches it all quite well, leaving Smith to be the howling, sneering, gurgling, and perfectly charismatic center of attention. There aren't as many one-off side comments as might be thought, but at one point he does note to the audience that "last orders are at half past ten." Some brilliant performances are to be had -- "Rowche Rumble" kicks into gear with just Leigh and Smith setting the rhythm and the pace before everyone else pours it on, a straightforward, endlessly cycling riff driving everything before it. "Muzorewi's Daughter" immediately follows, its tense exchange between slow, rolling beats and explosive chorus fully intact and even more ragged. Two of the band's most famous early numbers get some great run-throughs -- "Spector vs. Rector" has a brief intro about "those flowers, take them away" before shifting into a stuttering, lurching groove somehow perfectly suited to Smith's delivery. Meanwhile, "No Xmas for John Quays" concludes the album with all the murky and righteous kick one could want, the keyboards at the end adding even more craziness.

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THE FALL - GROTESQUE (AFTER THE GRAMME) [1980]

Track List:

• How I Wrote Elastic Man
• Untitled
• Totally Wired
• Putta Block
• Pay Your Rates
• English Scheme
• New Face In Hell
• C'N'C-S Mithering
• Container Drivers
• Impression Of J. Temperance
• In The Park
• WMC-Blob 59
• Gramme Friday
• The NWRA

More classic Fall, this is the album that you would play to someone who wanted to know what the defining sound of the band was. It's this.

"The Fall's third record really announced just how far ahead of the British post-punk pack the band were, in the sense that you listen to this record and it doesn't impress simply because it's "ramshackle", "personal" and "DIY". It's all these things, and it's also a full-on, well-crafted, every-song-a-killer one-chord-jam rock and roll album."

Kicking off with the thrilling bite of "Pay Your Rates," on Grotesque, the Fall really started hitting its stride, with Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon now a devastatingly effective combination, somehow managing to sound exactly placed between random sloppiness and perfect precision. The sharp rockabilly leads and random art rock racket thrived on both counts, with Smith as always the mad jester ripping into anything and everything while having a great time doing so. The final song of the album was especially fierce -- "The N.W.R.A.," short for "the north will rise again," Smith's own take on the long-standing "soft south/grim north" dichotomy in English society given extremely bitter life. Throughout the record, a slew of really good producers keep an eye on things -- besides the band themselves, there are Grant Showbiz, Geoff Travis, and Mayo Thompson all contributing. The end result is crisp without being polished, rough while packing its own smart punch (though "W. M. C.-Blob 59" intentionally sounds like it was recorded eight rooms over). Some nice variety starts appearing more and more in the Fall approach as well -- "C'n'C-s Mithering," a brilliant vivisection of California and its record business, and the attendant perception of the Fall themselves, relies on acoustic guitars instead of electric, creating an understated but still great groove. "Impression of J. Temperance" fits more immediately with what had come before, but the martial drums from Paul Hanley and Riley's freaky keyboards create some crazy atmospheres. Of course, Smith sends everything over the top, whether it's his rant about governments, dead neighbors, and scandals on the hilarious romp "New Face in Hell" or "In the Park." As a side note, the hilarious music scene caricatures on the front cover and wind-up liner notes add just the right level of acidic wit to the proceedings.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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