The Fall Albums (38)
'Imperial Wax Solvent'
Release Date 1/1/2008
Tracks 12
Label UME Imports
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What The Critics Say
Recorded after a tour that found leader/vocalist/lyricist Mark E. Smith handing out his umpteenth set of pink-slips and changing about half the band, Imperial Wax Solvent is a surprisingly vital and solid release, benefiting from a hungry young band under the guidance of a veteran who is inspired, jaded, and often sounds twice as hungry as the young bucks. After getting the artful, "difficult" number out of the way ("Alton Towers") and riffling through the garage rock-loving song ("Wolf Kidult Man") that's a hallmark of every great Fall album, Smith speaks to his age with the monolithic, 11-plus minute highlight "50 Year Old Man" ("I'm a fifty year old man/What you gonna do about it?") where buzzing, throbbing, and quintessential riffing from the band gives way to rustic banjo plucking right before the free jazz freak-out comes in. Even in a discography filled with legendary maverick tracks, "50 Year Old Man" is a standout, one that contains the great Smith insult "You're a gym teacher/You're a cancer/And I expect/A little shit." This beast is tempered with the following "I've Been Duped" where Eleni Polou -- returning bandmember and Smith's wife -- delivers a punkish and ever so simple hook as the gripping guitar and drum throb returns. "Taurig" brings the early Devo-styled electronics, "Tommy Shooter" is a midtempo, full-bodied winner, while "Latch Key Kid" returns to the first person rebellion against the stereotypes with "Got my muso wit/Can't do up my zip/I'm a latch key kid." Every necessary bit of Imperial Wax Solvent proves Smith is not the mess he's been painted as, and while it would be nice to say it's everything great about his Fall in equal shares, that breakaway single like "Cruiser's Creek" or "Touch Sensitive" is missing, unless the rock-solid hook of "Senior Twilight Stock Replacer" can overcome its the unmanageable title. This is top-shelf Fall, but it's best for those who have already studied one or two of their other masterpieces. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Punkcast 2004: Live at the Knitting Factory, New York 9 April 2004'
Release Date 10/9/2006
Tracks 17
Label Hip Priest
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What The Critics Say
Another fringe release in the Fall's giant discography, the Punkcast 2004 CD is a straight audio rip of the Knitting Factory New York DVD that was included in the Access All Areas, Vol. 1 set (which was itself a video rip of the original VCD released by the great underground NYC archivists Punkcast). It's a good, solid show without too many surprises or disappointments. The 2004 edition of the band deliver worthy versions of the chestnuts "Mr. Pharmacist" and "I Am Damo Suzuki" but they really shine on the more recent material, especially "Dr. Buck's Letter." Sound quality is just about fair, plenty of the tracks are misnamed or misspelled, and there are no liner notes, leaving anyone with the DVD and some computer know-how no reason to bother. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Live at the Garage, London: 20 April 2002'
Release Date 10/2/2006
Tracks 10
Label Hip Priest
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'Live at the Knitting Factory'
Release Date 1/1/2006
Tracks 11
Label Hip Priest
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Recorded during the Fall's visit to Los Angeles in 2001, this remarkable album captures a remarkably unstable live show, largely peopled by recent material -- but none the worse for any of that. Most of the terms that are traditionally applied to a Fall live show are applicable here, from raucous and rambunctious to seething and snarling. What renders this set so valuable, however, is Smith's refusal to acknowledge anything remotely approaching a comfort zone, neither for himself nor for his audience, and this set expertly captures the ensuing dislocation. The CD, however, tells only half of the story -- the same show is also featured on disc one of the Access All Areas, Vol. 2 DVD, where you can see, and not simply hear, the audience reeling before a full-on Fall onslaught. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
'Live at the ATP Festival'
Release Date 1/1/2006
Tracks 11
Label Hip Priest
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Like the Live at the Knitting Factory album, this audio document of the Fall's April 2002 appearance at the ATP Festival is better experienced aboard the Access All Areas, Vol. 2 DVD. Nevertheless, with scintillating versions of the seldom-heard "Cyber Insekt," "My Ex-Classmates' Kids," "F'oldin Money," and "Enigmatic Dream" joining old warhorses "Bourgeois Town" and a dynamic "Mr. Pharmacist," all woven in and around some magnificent Smith ad-libs and introductions, the performance comes highly recommended whatever format you wind up experiencing. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Having exorcised enough bile for two bands on their rickety release Interim, the Fall loosen up their attitude, tighten up their delivery, and squeeze out a rocking album that relies heavily on its highlights. Fortunately, there's plenty, most hitting with the thwack of the "Sparta FC" single or the Light User Syndrome album. "Pacifying Joint" is a punchy exercise in hooks and sheen, "What About Us" is snide Mancabilly of the highest order, and "Blindness" hypnotizes and chugs its way into the Top 25 original Fall tracks ever. Flashiest of the lot has to be a soaring cover of the Move's hippy anthem "I Can Hear the Grass Grow," a raucous singalong adaptation that brings sweet reminders of the group's take on the Kinks' "Victoria." Bringing up the second line are the usual brainy meanders like "Bo Demmick" and "Youwanner," plus the hip-shaking rave-up "Clasp Hands." Less ambitious songs and quirky numbers like the country-bumpkin reggae "Ride Away" and the lazy, acoustic "Early Days of Channel Führer" round out the album well, but some B-side-worthy leftovers tacked onto the end keep this from being Dragnet -- or Country on the Click, for that matter. Instead of just stealing the riff, "Breaking the Rules" would do better if it actually turned into "Walk Like a Man" and the Mark E. Smith-less "Trust in Me" is a fair Placebo-meets-Comsat Angels track that's horribly out of place here. Vocalist/Fall czar Smith is writing and singing with plenty of purpose up to this point, and if you hack off the misguided finish, Fall Heads Roll proves they can still live up to their legend. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Since the turn of the century, the Fall's output has been as predictable as Rush's old "three studio albums, then a live one" way of doing things. For the Fall it's "one cracking, great album, then one that's shoddily put together". Compilations from outside sources - which have been generally very good since 2000 - muddle up the sequence a bit, but we're talking band-approved releases, which the live/rehearsals/leftovers Interim is. With some exciting new tracks, Interim beats 2G+2 - a similar collection from 2002 - by a mile, but noisy audience recordings, odd tape edits, and chaotic rambling makes this a better hardcore-fan album than an introduction to the band. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Of the class of '77, the Fall seemed the least likely to survive. Fiercely independent, with a ferocious sound that contained little commercial appeal, surely the Fall were doomed to perpetual obscurity and swift oblivion. Needless to say it didn't quite work out that way; instead the group developed a rabid underground following that has remained by their side to this day. All of which makes this release particularly imperative, documenting, as it does, their appearance at the 1978 Deeply Vale Festival, one of the few recordings of their live performances to survive from this early period in the band's history. The tape quality ranges from poor to middling (hiss is present to some extent throughout), the sound is murky to muddy and notably thin (it helps to turn up the bass), and the tape literally runs out in the middle of a medley, bringing the CD to an abrupt end. Fans, however, won't give a fig about any of that, nor about the fact that even Marc Riley acknowledges the Fall were not "a particularly tight outfit" that day, because history was in the making, as the group geared up to break out of Manchester and take their music to the world. Mark E. Smith was in particularly ferocious form, his vocals swinging from a sub-spitting image Johnny Rotten to a hilarious attempt at an American accent during several of the intros. This early in their game, the bands' antecedents were clear -- they had the rage of the Stooges, the repetitive drone of the Velvet Underground, the dark cacophony of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and an occasional twist through the buzz saw pop of the Buzzcocks, all delivered up in a blaze of beats, a thrump of bass, a blizzard of guitar, and an angry swirl of keyboards. Punk fire, gothic gloom, and with a wondrously ramshackle approach to song structure, the Fall weren't entirely alone in their musical vision, but still they conjured up a sound so unique it enthralled millions for decades to come. Thus, even with all its flaws, Live at Deeply Vale is a worthy monument to their fiery beginnings. ~ Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The second in a pair of mid-'90s concert discs from the Fall, Pearl City 1996 fares better than its counterpart, 1995's Idiot Joy Show, if only for the top-notch execution of early favorites like "U.S. 80's-90's" -- listed here as "15 Ways" -- and the scorching "L.A." But the latter, an outstanding rendering of the band's beloved hypnotic 1984 underground hit, doesn't keep the group from turning in an iffy live set at the 1995 Phoenix Festival. The most obvious example of self-mutilation comes via the disorganized, musically cluttered "Das Vulture Ans ein Nutter-Wain," and while a number like "Powder Keg" lives up to its name, this disc is probably best left in the hands of Fall devotees. ~ John D. Luerssen, All Music Guide
'Live at the Phoenix Festival 95-96'
Release Date 11/4/2003
Tracks 13
Label Strange Fruit
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Two years running, the Fall's performance at the annual Phoenix Festival was broadcast live on the BBC by DJ John Peel, and this sharply packaged set rounds up both of them in their almost full glory -- just two tracks are excised, 1996 revisits to the storming versions of "Pearl City" and "Behind the Counter" that opened the 1995 set. The Fall were experiencing one of their undisputable live peaks around this time, no matter how many clouds clung to their immediate future. The studio albums Cerebral Caustic and Light User Syndrome, too, were proving the band's continued magnificence and, though it is very easy to become simply overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of Fall live albums out there, both the sound quality and performances captured here raise this one high above the run of the mill. Plus, is there a better live version of "Glam Racket" going around than this one? ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
