Bang f*cking bang, The mighty Fall: looking at their last few decades

August 2, 2018 4:17 PM

Webzine Perfect Sound Forever takes a look at The Fall's post-2000 studio LPs (all 11 of 'em - previous releases are reviewed here), plus an interview with the final Fall lineup (minus their frontman) and an Mark E Smith tribute from earlier this year. Previously.
posted by porn in the woods (8 comments total)

What about the one with my granny on bongos?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:55 PM on August 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

Also, think of the many punks of his generation (which MES never considered himself) who could barely keep their own respect after their first few albums

HEY NOW, THEM'S FIGH--

except for Mekons and Pere Ubu.

-- oh, okay, carry on then.
posted by mykescipark at 6:36 PM on August 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

but is he or isn't he Damo Suzuki?
posted by philip-random at 10:54 PM on August 2, 2018

I'm no Fall expert or super fan but I've had various albums of theirs come in and out of my life over the years and Your Future Our Clutter (or whatever it's called) is my all time number one, probably mostly nostalgically. Great memories of staying up til 4am with the girl I was dating at the time, drinking gin around the fireplace teasing the cat into scaling the walls with a laser pointer.

CHHHHIIII-NO
posted by mannequito at 11:46 PM on August 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

It was weird putting together a 2 hour tribute show, because of course I wanted to go deep into the heyday of their first decade, only to realize that there were quite a few gems from the last 30 years, even unto the very end. The sheer magnitude, man.

Anyway, "Sparta FC" ftw.
posted by whuppy at 5:15 AM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's still a pretty big bummer for me that there will no longer be annual updates from MES. I still find it shocking he died, which is doubly absurd since he looked like he was going to keel over since roughly 1995 or so. Amphetamines and whiskey is a tough diet I guess.

These articles are an enjoyable read, but really subjective. The album Re-Mit gets slagged off by the reviewer whereas I love that record. Then again, post-2008 or so MES became really incoherent...

Anyway.
"As if from heaven"
"Still the band by which others are judged"
posted by SystematicAbuse at 5:26 AM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

MARK E. SMITH IS GREAT!
posted by mc2000 at 10:01 AM on August 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is great. I read the Imperial Wax Solvent entry, sort of a short oral history as its from an interview with the band who now performing as Imperial Wax without MES, linked from the Fall FB group. Its been a celebration these last couple months, everyone posting memories, pic of weird merch and oddball releases, posting favorite tracks.

If you haven't heard the new/last album it is way heavier than Sub Lingual Tablet. And the review is right about the last track.

Funnily enough YFOC, Ersatz GB and New Facts Emerge all end similarly with very close miced raspy MES. I think he was expecting this for a long time. The great thing about "Nine out of Ten " on NFE is that after the last whispers the guitar keeps going on and on and on. Oh and it is recorded horribly. Stuck with it until the end.

My greatest regret is not seeing them on the last American tour, where they played in Asheville and then San Diego on the same tour and I had moved back to SD in the interim. I didn' tknow who they were. The band came into my friends coffee shop sans MES, my buddy serve Eleni, we didn't know who they were and we didn't go to the show. ~12 years later I flew to see them 3 times in one weekend in Salford. Kind of the opposite of an epic rock story, which is fitting.

Thanks for the post.
posted by kittensofthenight at 5:31 PM on August 3, 2018 [1 favorite]