My Fall collection consists of 81 releases on vinyl or CD, including a few on both formats. I've decided to write a series of reviews explaining why I love some of these albums.
This is the first band I saw play live and I immediately loved the concert experience. All I could think about was when I would be able to go to another concert. I had missed so many opportunities to see the bands I liked.
The first studio album was Live At The Witch Trials, released in March 1979. However, The Fall were touring for almost two years before that release. A compilation of singles and demos covering those two years was eventually released in 1981, and that's where I am going to start.
I've often thought that the first album you hear by a band is the one that you end up rating higher than everything else because it introduces their sound to your ears. For me, the first Fall album that I bought was Grotesque. I think, for that reason, I somehow missed the significance of this Early Fall compilation. It was released in 1981, so The Fall already had three studio albums and a live album to their name by the time I bought this compilation of singles and a demo. After reading about the formation of the band and looking at the songs they played at the early shows, this release now seems much more important than it did at the time. I almost feel like I am discovering the music for the first time. I eventually added most of the singles that make up this album to my collection, but I love hearing it as a coherent piece. I feel like I'm closer to the songs than I ever was.
Repetition was probably played live more than any other song during those formative years. It's like a statement of intent for what was to come. When I listen to those lyrics, it describes The Fall. I've since learned that Martin Bramah was going to be the vocalist, but Mark E Smith seized that role because his guitar-playing wasn't that good at the time? Like most of my favorite vocalists, Smith can't really sing. However, he's extremely effective and I've learned to love his unique delivery-ah. I can understand why a lot of people would hate the music; it's raw; it's unconventional; it's not designed to be smooth or pleasant. Repetition is a raw song, as many of the songs on this album are. But this sounds like The Fall already, and it has Smith's wry humor in the lyrics. Repetition is a vital part of The Fall's sound.
Bingo Master's Breakout and Psycho Mafia are arguably an easier listen. Both are faster and a lot more bouncy than the plodding delivery of Repetition. This sound is closer to punk than the album's opener. One thing that jumps out at me listening to this is the vast amount of information in the lyrics and it feels like an assault.
Various Times offers something completely different. This is a song that narrates a story and it grabs me and draws me in. The band gets to showcase its skills here, with the heavy bass line and the drums playing an important part. It feels like it carries more weight than the two previous songs. Over the years, this structure appears regularly. This song wouldn't feel too out of place on Hex Enduction Hour. I don't remember anything else sounding like this at the time. It's The New Thing ends Side 1 and it's another bouncy track. As with many Fall songs, it talks about the music business. Smith was obsessed with singing about the industry, journalists and how inept most other bands were at the time.
I remember sitting around for hours with friends trying to figure out some of the lyrics in Rowche Rumble from the Totale's Turns version. It wasn't easy with no Internet and nothing to use as a resource. It took ages before we decided on "beer and speed is okay, but wanting full use of your body isn't." One of us ended up making a tape which just repeated that song about 10 times. It was a strange world full of Swiss gnomes, and we were hooked. Incidentally, I highly recommend The Annotated Fall website if you are curious about the lyrics and their possible origins.
In My Area introduces us to a dwarf and a doppelganger. Many of Smith's lyrics were taken from literary works he had read or films that he had seen. Other influences came from his own surroundings. Dice Man was based on Luke Rhinehart's novel and it's about having the ability to change, as The Fall did with their musical style on a regular basis.
According to Smith, Psykick Dance Hall No.2 was written about a building in his area which used to be a dancehall and ended up hosting meetings for old psychic women. I particularly like these lyrics which are somewhat prophetic:
When I'm dead and gone
My vibrations will live on
In vibes not vinyl through the years
People will dance to my waves
The Fall took influences musically from Can and The Velvet Underground, among others. A lot of their songs from this period feature a scratchy, tinny guitar sound. The lyrics often favor the stream of consciousness method that Don Glen Vliet (Captain Beefheart) was so fond of.
2nd Dark Age is a rant about the general state of things and namechecks ABBA. There's a lot going in in this song lyrically, despite its short running time. Fiery Jack has a great intro and uses the repetitive style described in the album's first song. It describes a particular type of character that Smith saw in people around him; hard men with hard lives who coped with their existence by drinking and using drugs.
This collection of songs seems heavily focused on life in Smith's town. The band's sound is raw and gritty, and just starting to form some of the sounds that I grew to love over the years. When I listen to Early Years, I am magically transformed to the time when I was just starting to form my own opinions about the music I liked, rather than go along with the accepted sounds delivered by what was played on the radio and TV. I realized that some of the rock albums I owned were pretty uninteresting compared to post punk and The Fall. My taste started to change.
I fully accept that The Fall are an acquired taste. Smith's voice clearly annoys a lot of people. The lyrics might appear like total nonsense if you didn't grow up in England or haven't explored some of the things referenced in the songs. But I find a lot of this funny in a dark way, and I love the layers of sound. Musicians often seem to be doing their own thing, but it somehow comes together. This happens to an even greater extent when we get to albums just a couple of years later, but I'll cover that another day.
Early Years is a fascinating glimpse into the origin of a great band. I enjoy visiting this formative era and I'm looking forward to continuing the journey. This isn't where I would begin if I were introducing someone to The Fall, but I would definitely suggest checking it out when they are familiar with the band. It's a rewarding listen.
Here's Rowche Rumble:
Bass – Marc Riley (tracks: Side A), Stephen Hanley (tracks: Side B), Tony Friel (tracks: Side A)
Drums – Karl Burns (tracks: Side A), Mike Leigh (tracks: Side B)
Guitar – Craig Scanlon (tracks: Side B), Martin Bramah (tracks: Side A)
Guitar, Keyboards – Marc Riley (tracks: Side B)
Keyboards – Mark E. Smith (tracks: Side B), Una Baines (tracks: Side A), Yvonne Pawlett
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