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Urban Hat€monger ? · 02-28-2009, 08:54 PM

Bend Sinister - Beggars Banquet - 29 September 1986

Album Tracklisting: R.O.D. / Dktr Faustus / Shoulder Pads 1 / Mr Pharmacist / "U.S. 80's-90's" / Terry Waite Sez / Riddler! / Shoulder Pads 2

CD Extras: Living Too Late / Auto Tech Pilot*

*Each format had different bonus songs , I'm going by the CD version for this.

The album was released in the United States as 'The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus' and also included the 'Hey! Luciani' & 'There's A Ghost In My House' singles as additional extras.

Band Line Up: Mark E. Smith - Vocals , Tapes / Brix Smith – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards / Craig Scanlon – Guitars / Simon Rogers – Keyboards, Guitars / Steve Hanley – Guitars , Bass / Simon Wolstencroft – Drums, Percussion / Paul Hanley – Drums ('Dktr Faustus' & 'Living Too Late' only)

Critique: So where do you go on from your most successful & critically acclaimed album to date?
Well if you're Mark E Smith you get back together with the main person who helped you create that success in producer John Leckie and promptly spend the entire recording time arguing with him. Smith was annoyed that Leckie wanted to bombard the album with 'psychedelic shit' , Leckie was annoyed because Smith wanted to remaster the entire album from a muddy sounding copied cassette of the album he was listening to in his walkman thus burying all his production. Needless to say neither man looks back at this particular album with any fondness.
You can really hear the tension between the two men in the songs of this album. On the one hand you have the atmospheric tracks such as R.O.D. & Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers with their echoey guitars reminiscent of The Bunnymen or dare I say it U2 , which sound like some of the most mature songs The Fall had ever written up till this point.
On the other hand you have the garage rock that Smith knows & loves so well. Bournemouth Runner after a slow doomy beginning launches into a 60s bubblegum pop song. As well as that there's a killer cover version of The Other Half's Mr Pharmacist which Smith really makes his own.
Brix Smith has much less of a role here as she did in previous albums although she does contribute backing vocals most notably on Dktr Faustus & Terry Waite Sez. While not being the most classic Fall songs they do sum up nicely what the mid 80s Brix era Fall was about.
There are also a couple of oddities on this album. The first being 'U.S. 80's-90's' A song about Smith having some trouble with Boston immigration. No matter how much I hear this song i'm convinced it's a piss take of the Art Of Noise , I've never seen anything to suggest that but it sounds like a complete rip off , and I can't imagine Smith enjoying a band that has someone like Paul Morley involved somehow.
The other oddity is Shoulder Pads 1 & 2 (Shoulder Pads 2 is just a reprise) a lovely bouncy pop song that heavily borrows from the unlikeliest of sources. Keep reading & you'll see.

Songs You Need:

R.O.D. - Interesting choice for an album opener , it doesn't so much grab you in, It sort of entices you in with some lovely jangly guitar work and THEN hits you

Dktr Faustus - Decent Brix era song where you can hear her repeatedly shouting out 'FAUST BANANA , FAUST BANANA , FAUST BANANA' over & over again , if thats what turns you on.

Shoulder Pads 1 - A catchy addictive pop song that totally rips off the theme tune to 'Are You Being Served'. I mean how can that NOT be a highlight of an album.

Mr Pharmacist - It's around this time that Smith would put a cover version on every Fall album , and this is probably one of the best he ever did.

Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers - This is one of my favourite songs by The Fall , it's just dripping in atmosphere. Windswept is what this song sounds like to me. You could almost imagine the band doing a video of this on some freezing cold moor somewhere.

Terry Waite Sez - Short & sweet song mostly written by Brix about the famous hostage. Terry Waite's brother actually phoned up the record company & asked for a copy of the lyrics in case it had a clue as to where he was being kept.

Bournemouth Runner - More old school 60s garage Rock n Roll , I can never get enough of The Fall doing this kind of stuff

Verdict: Hated by Smith , hated by the producer , hated by critics , even hated by some fans. It would seem Bend Sinister really doesn't have a lot going for it. In fact I ignored it for a long time for exactly this reason. Bend Sinister does take a while to grow on you but once you get it there's plenty on offer on this album. On what would have been Side One on the original album there isn't a single bad track. It's the 2nd half of the album where things begin to fall apart. I'm not sure why Living Too Late was released as a single as it has filler track written all over it. Other low points are Riddler! & Auto Tech Pilot which are so forgettable I can't even remember what they sound like even though I only heard them about 20 minutes ago. The cassette version of the album had a live version of City Hobgoblins , I would have much rather had that instead to be honest.
Bend Sinister is a curious album to rate because personally I think the better songs on the album are better than anything on Nations Saving Grace , however the second half of the album despite having a couple of good tunes doesn't come anywhere close to being as good as anything on that album.
Originally I wanted to give this album a high score but the poor second half of the album means I have to drop that. So think of it as me giving the first half of the album 9/10 and the second half of the album 5/10 , giving it an average score of....

7/10

02-28-2009, 08:54 PM	#70 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	Bend Sinister - Beggars Banquet - 29 September 1986 Album Tracklisting: R.O.D. / Dktr Faustus / Shoulder Pads 1 / Mr Pharmacist / "U.S. 80's-90's" / Terry Waite Sez / Riddler! / Shoulder Pads 2 CD Extras: Living Too Late / Auto Tech Pilot* Each format had different bonus songs , I'm going by the CD version for this. The album was released in the United States as 'The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus' and also included the 'Hey! Luciani' & 'There's A Ghost In My House' singles as additional extras. Band Line Up:* Mark E. Smith - Vocals , Tapes / Brix Smith – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards / Craig Scanlon – Guitars / Simon Rogers – Keyboards, Guitars / Steve Hanley – Guitars , Bass / Simon Wolstencroft – Drums, Percussion / Paul Hanley – Drums ('Dktr Faustus' & 'Living Too Late' only) Critique: So where do you go on from your most successful & critically acclaimed album to date? Well if you're Mark E Smith you get back together with the main person who helped you create that success in producer John Leckie and promptly spend the entire recording time arguing with him. Smith was annoyed that Leckie wanted to bombard the album with 'psychedelic shit' , Leckie was annoyed because Smith wanted to remaster the entire album from a muddy sounding copied cassette of the album he was listening to in his walkman thus burying all his production. Needless to say neither man looks back at this particular album with any fondness. You can really hear the tension between the two men in the songs of this album. On the one hand you have the atmospheric tracks such as R.O.D. & Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers with their echoey guitars reminiscent of The Bunnymen or dare I say it U2 , which sound like some of the most mature songs The Fall had ever written up till this point. On the other hand you have the garage rock that Smith knows & loves so well. Bournemouth Runner after a slow doomy beginning launches into a 60s bubblegum pop song. As well as that there's a killer cover version of The Other Half's Mr Pharmacist which Smith really makes his own. Brix Smith has much less of a role here as she did in previous albums although she does contribute backing vocals most notably on Dktr Faustus & Terry Waite Sez. While not being the most classic Fall songs they do sum up nicely what the mid 80s Brix era Fall was about. There are also a couple of oddities on this album. The first being 'U.S. 80's-90's' A song about Smith having some trouble with Boston immigration. No matter how much I hear this song i'm convinced it's a piss take of the Art Of Noise , I've never seen anything to suggest that but it sounds like a complete rip off , and I can't imagine Smith enjoying a band that has someone like Paul Morley involved somehow. The other oddity is Shoulder Pads 1 & 2 (Shoulder Pads 2 is just a reprise) a lovely bouncy pop song that heavily borrows from the unlikeliest of sources. Keep reading & you'll see. Songs You Need: R.O.D. - Interesting choice for an album opener , it doesn't so much grab you in, It sort of entices you in with some lovely jangly guitar work and THEN hits you Dktr Faustus - Decent Brix era song where you can hear her repeatedly shouting out 'FAUST BANANA , FAUST BANANA , FAUST BANANA' over & over again , if thats what turns you on. Shoulder Pads 1 - A catchy addictive pop song that totally rips off the theme tune to 'Are You Being Served'. I mean how can that NOT be a highlight of an album. Mr Pharmacist - It's around this time that Smith would put a cover version on every Fall album , and this is probably one of the best he ever did. Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers - This is one of my favourite songs by The Fall , it's just dripping in atmosphere. Windswept is what this song sounds like to me. You could almost imagine the band doing a video of this on some freezing cold moor somewhere. Terry Waite Sez - Short & sweet song mostly written by Brix about the famous hostage. Terry Waite's brother actually phoned up the record company & asked for a copy of the lyrics in case it had a clue as to where he was being kept. Bournemouth Runner - More old school 60s garage Rock n Roll , I can never get enough of The Fall doing this kind of stuff Verdict: Hated by Smith , hated by the producer , hated by critics , even hated by some fans. It would seem Bend Sinister really doesn't have a lot going for it. In fact I ignored it for a long time for exactly this reason. Bend Sinister does take a while to grow on you but once you get it there's plenty on offer on this album. On what would have been Side One on the original album there isn't a single bad track. It's the 2nd half of the album where things begin to fall apart. I'm not sure why Living Too Late was released as a single as it has filler track written all over it. Other low points are Riddler! & Auto Tech Pilot which are so forgettable I can't even remember what they sound like even though I only heard them about 20 minutes ago. The cassette version of the album had a live version of City Hobgoblins , I would have much rather had that instead to be honest. Bend Sinister is a curious album to rate because personally I think the better songs on the album are better than anything on Nations Saving Grace , however the second half of the album despite having a couple of good tunes doesn't come anywhere close to being as good as anything on that album. Originally I wanted to give this album a high score but the poor second half of the album means I have to drop that. So think of it as me giving the first half of the album 9/10 and the second half of the album 5/10 , giving it an average score of.... 7/10 __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.