MB Classics: The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace

Neapolitan · 01-11-2018, 11:18 PM

I begin this review the fourth song in and I find the album annoying as **** so far. I can't believe I would say that any band from Manchester, or any band Post-Punk or one that did a Peel Session.

I never heard an album by The Fall all the way through till now. I at least heard one or two songs by them and was never impressed to hear anything more by them. So this is the first time for The Fall really. The song L.A. reminds me of Little Dune Buggy by The Presidents of the United States, actually vice a versa since the former was released first. However PUSA had the better tune. The Fall desecrated Gene Vincent's "Rollin' Danny." I was so appalled by what I heard I had to skip that song halfway through. Back to the ol' grind with the next song. Oh wait, I found out I was listening to Expanded Edition so I guess I can stop the torture now. Man how I wish that I realized that earlier.

At times this band is somewhere between U2, The Modern Lovers, Gang of Four, X, and Velvet Underground. For the most part the album is done in the style of Post-Punk but has certain elements that remind me of what was happening around the same time or even earlier like the Dunedin Sound (NZ), Cow-Punk (L.A.) NDW, and experimental stuff mix in as well. So my opinion doesn't come down to them to being unoriginal in anything they did on this album. So I am not faulting The Fall for doing that. It's practically inevitable that bands imitates a band or a sound, or even a singing style that preceded them. I listen to plenty of revival bands that borrow heavily from bands that were out years before. I see the album in its totally as a patchwork of styles that is stitched together with this annoying quality that runs throughout the album and basically ruins it for me.

I wasn't a fan of The Fall before and listening to this album didn't really change my mind on that account. This album had no saving grace.

rubber soul · 01-12-2018, 04:23 AM

Yeah, I was kind of surprised that people either really loved it or really hated it as if there was no inbetween. I'm not going to try and defend the album as I know the Fall is an acquired taste. Even now, I'm only getting more into the band as I've listened to a total of four albums so far (two that I owned including this one and Live at the Witch Trials and Grotesque- both great albums).

I do agree with Elph that it is something of a gateway album. Hearing Cruiser's Creek got me into buying this record and, later, the Frenz Experiment. I also had a compilation of some of their early work (How I Wrote Elastic Man is another favorite of mine). Anyway, when I listen to an album, I'm less concerned about the genre (in general anyway) and go with my gut- do I like this album or not? And this one, I really like.

**Goofle** · 01-12-2018, 04:44 AM

Peel Sessions > Entire genres.

rostasi · 01-12-2018, 02:54 PM

My life-long love affair with The Fall began, somewhat, after hearing DJ Bobby Skafish playing “Bingo-Master’s Break-Out!” and, later “How I Wrote ‘Elastic Man’” on his radio show on WXRT in Chicago, but it didn’t become full-fledged until “Grotesque (After the Gramme)” and the 10” “Slates” EP came into the tiny record distributor HQ I was working at beginning in 1980.

In ’81, the radio station I had a show at recorded them during their US tour; with it later being released on the album “A Part of America Therein, 1981.” This turned out to be my first time seeing them live (July, 1981). Well over a dozen more live shows would follow with my devotion to the greatest rock band ever, not waning as I amassed over 200 items related to The Fall - audio, video, books, t-shirts - since those days.

Yes, my admiration sometimes decreases when it comes to the alcoholic ramblings, mischief and the recent old-man-drunkard “whaaaa?” of MES, but the musicians he chooses nearly always come thru in amazing ways. Even the Brix era, of which this album is a part of [therein], had many a joyful moments that really, genuinely, seemed to bring MES into a state of mind where he appeared happier with life. [An aside: meeting Laura (“Brix”) during this time did not make me think she was some bubble-headed blond that many of the ego-bruised male fans said she was]. Yeah, the album starts off with her “variation” on a Deviants tune, but this was the era of the homage thru catchy melodies and choruses, slight gothicisms and less-soiled productions that could produce loyalty and adoration beholden to, for instance, Can’s “Oh Yeah” and “Don’t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone” and “Vitamin C” all in one song. There has always been room for seemingly throwaway chance elements on Fall albums and here we have the accidental tape erasure in a hotel room as a break-brake in self-ruminations during "Paint Work.”

So many beautiful conceptual layers in the, often, brilliant lyrics - even in the lesser Fall albums - make them such a joy and wonderment each time they’re heard. MES’ Northern musings as Finnegans Wake from a Salford typewriter. Rhyming couplets are often just plain forced, unnatural and lazy-minded. Maybe there is something to living too late?

~~MicShazam~~ · 01-12-2018, 04:24 PM

Track 1
Badass, underdeveloped and entirely too short. Quite a shame.

Track 2
Sounds like a drunk Alice Cooper moonlighting with another band.
A lot of modern rock and metal has entirely too quiet guitars and it robs the
music of power. These guitars sound powerful. There's an odd contrast in how
it sounds like the guitars would have been almost deafening if you were in
the studio when they were being recorded, and yet the singer is just sort of
talking.

Track 3
Hated it for the first few second, but the change makes it a lot more interesting.
For the first few seconds I feel like I'm stuck in a lasagna commercial or something.
Bring back the creepy part! Yeah... so this song is part good, part awful.
Ping ponging between the two for most of the song.
Actually, it feels a bit weird that it's over 5 minutes long when it literally just
repeats those two parts back and fort repeatedly.

Track 4
We're at the first track and it's about time that I get honest about the singer: He's
a bit crap, isn't he? He's just sort of moaning and talking into his microphone in this
incredibly annoying accent. I never understood the appeal of this sort of vocal. Where's
the power? The expressiveness? It's crap.

Musically, the track is the first unremarkable song on the album. It would have had a
bit more flavor if the organs in the background hadn't been so extremely quiet and buried
in the mix.

Adding insult to injury, this song is repetitive as hell. The first three songs were really
pretty interesting in various ways, but this one just seems like filler.

Track 5
Right from the outset: Somebody please get rid of the dude with the microphone. He kills this -
and not in a good way. If this is going to be how it goes for the rest of the album, I'm not
going to be friends with this thing.
Halfway through, the music gets a bit more interesting. Neat. The singer is very quiet, which
is good. Of course it doesn't last long, so...

Track 6
If this was just the bass player and the drummer, I'd be quite happy to hear the rest of this album.
This song has a sort of impressionistic thing going on. It's a pretty simple core arrangement with
what seems like some loose improvisations slathered on top. It works pretty well.
Best song on the album so far! I almost like it.

Track 7
Sounds like an attempt at sounding like Velvet Underground. I want to flush both singers here in the
nearest toilet. Blah.

Track 8
Jesus Christ this album feels long.

Tracks 9-16
**** it, I don't like this album. I can see how there's a strong aesthetic to this album and how it's
all performed with a good amount of conviction, but I can't say I that enjoy it - or even find it
very interesting.

"You don't get it!" True. I don't appreciate this whole branch of rock. Very simple, uninteresting guitar
lines and terrible vocals. It's just like with most hip-hop, in that you're supposed to tune into it on
a whole other level than I'm able to.

I'm voting honestly, not diplomatically, so this get's a really low score. I'm honestly not trying to
be a contrarian and I did give the album a listen, which is more than most people in this world will.

3/10 - Not my thing. In fact not even ****ing close.

**Frownland** · 01-12-2018, 04:32 PM

You'll learn.

Oriphiel · 01-12-2018, 04:42 PM

Hey Mic, what Post Punk bands/songs do you like?

~~MicShazam~~ · 01-12-2018, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

Hey Mic, what Post Punk bands/songs do you like?

I'm sure I've heard some that were allright, but I've never shown an active interest in the sub-genre, so I can't even come up with anything specific.

Oriphiel · 01-12-2018, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I'm sure I've heard some that were allright, but I've never shown an active interest in the sub-genre, so I can't even come up with anything specific.

How do you feel about these?

~~MicShazam~~ · 01-12-2018, 05:06 PM

I completely forgot about Siouxie, even though I used to own one of their albums.

All three of these tracks are better than anything on that The Fall album, although I wasn't exactly extremely impressed by that Pauline Murray track.

So basically, Siouxie and Gang of Four come the closest to being my thing. Still... I don't imagine I'll be listening to this sort of thing "on my own time", aside from maybe a favorite track or two if I find one I like more than most. The above Siouxie track is a pretty good candidate for that. It's got some really good ideas going for it and I like her voice.

View Poll Results: Rate it!
10	7	36.84%
9	1	5.26%
8	2	10.53%
7	2	10.53%
6	0	0%
5	3	15.79%
4	0	0%
3	1	5.26%
2	1	5.26%
1	2	10.53%
Voters: 19. You may not vote on this poll

01-12-2018, 04:32 PM	#16 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	You'll learn. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

01-12-2018, 04:42 PM	#17 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	Hey Mic, what Post Punk bands/songs do you like? __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

01-12-2018, 02:54 PM	#14 (permalink)
rostasi . Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 4,007	My life-long love affair with The Fall began, somewhat, after hearing DJ Bobby Skafish playing “Bingo-Master’s Break-Out!” and, later “How I Wrote ‘Elastic Man’” on his radio show on WXRT in Chicago, but it didn’t become full-fledged until “Grotesque (After the Gramme)” and the 10” “Slates” EP came into the tiny record distributor HQ I was working at beginning in 1980. In ’81, the radio station I had a show at recorded them during their US tour; with it later being released on the album “A Part of America Therein, 1981.” This turned out to be my first time seeing them live (July, 1981). Well over a dozen more live shows would follow with my devotion to the greatest rock band ever, not waning as I amassed over 200 items related to The Fall - audio, video, books, t-shirts - since those days. Yes, my admiration sometimes decreases when it comes to the alcoholic ramblings, mischief and the recent old-man-drunkard “whaaaa?” of MES, but the musicians he chooses nearly always come thru in amazing ways. Even the Brix era, of which this album is a part of [therein], had many a joyful moments that really, genuinely, seemed to bring MES into a state of mind where he appeared happier with life. [An aside: meeting Laura (“Brix”) during this time did not make me think she was some bubble-headed blond that many of the ego-bruised male fans said she was]. Yeah, the album starts off with her “variation” on a Deviants tune, but this was the era of the homage thru catchy melodies and choruses, slight gothicisms and less-soiled productions that could produce loyalty and adoration beholden to, for instance, Can’s “Oh Yeah” and “Don’t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone” and “Vitamin C” all in one song. There has always been room for seemingly throwaway chance elements on Fall albums and here we have the accidental tape erasure in a hotel room as a break-brake in self-ruminations during "Paint Work.” So many beautiful conceptual layers in the, often, brilliant lyrics - even in the lesser Fall albums - make them such a joy and wonderment each time they’re heard. MES’ Northern musings as Finnegans Wake from a Salford typewriter. Rhyming couplets are often just plain forced, unnatural and lazy-minded. Maybe there is something to living too late?

01-12-2018, 04:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Track 1 Badass, underdeveloped and entirely too short. Quite a shame. Track 2 Sounds like a drunk Alice Cooper moonlighting with another band. A lot of modern rock and metal has entirely too quiet guitars and it robs the music of power. These guitars sound powerful. There's an odd contrast in how it sounds like the guitars would have been almost deafening if you were in the studio when they were being recorded, and yet the singer is just sort of talking. Track 3 Hated it for the first few second, but the change makes it a lot more interesting. For the first few seconds I feel like I'm stuck in a lasagna commercial or something. Bring back the creepy part! Yeah... so this song is part good, part awful. Ping ponging between the two for most of the song. Actually, it feels a bit weird that it's over 5 minutes long when it literally just repeats those two parts back and fort repeatedly. Track 4 We're at the first track and it's about time that I get honest about the singer: He's a bit crap, isn't he? He's just sort of moaning and talking into his microphone in this incredibly annoying accent. I never understood the appeal of this sort of vocal. Where's the power? The expressiveness? It's crap. Musically, the track is the first unremarkable song on the album. It would have had a bit more flavor if the organs in the background hadn't been so extremely quiet and buried in the mix. Adding insult to injury, this song is repetitive as hell. The first three songs were really pretty interesting in various ways, but this one just seems like filler. Track 5 Right from the outset: Somebody please get rid of the dude with the microphone. He kills this - and not in a good way. If this is going to be how it goes for the rest of the album, I'm not going to be friends with this thing. Halfway through, the music gets a bit more interesting. Neat. The singer is very quiet, which is good. Of course it doesn't last long, so... Track 6 If this was just the bass player and the drummer, I'd be quite happy to hear the rest of this album. This song has a sort of impressionistic thing going on. It's a pretty simple core arrangement with what seems like some loose improvisations slathered on top. It works pretty well. Best song on the album so far! I almost like it. Track 7 Sounds like an attempt at sounding like Velvet Underground. I want to flush both singers here in the nearest toilet. Blah. Track 8 Jesus Christ this album feels long. Tracks 9-16 ** it, I don't like this album. I can see how there's a strong aesthetic to this album and how it's all performed with a good amount of conviction, but I can't say I that enjoy it - or even find it very interesting. "You don't get it!" True. I don't appreciate this whole branch of rock. Very simple, uninteresting guitar lines and terrible vocals. It's just like with most hip-hop, in that you're supposed to tune into it on a whole other level than I'm able to. I'm voting honestly, not diplomatically, so this get's a really low score. I'm honestly not trying to be a contrarian and I did give the album a listen, which is more than most people in this world will. 3/10 - Not my thing. In fact not even **ing close.

01-12-2018, 05:06 PM	#20 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I completely forgot about Siouxie, even though I used to own one of their albums. All three of these tracks are better than anything on that The Fall album, although I wasn't exactly extremely impressed by that Pauline Murray track. So basically, Siouxie and Gang of Four come the closest to being my thing. Still... I don't imagine I'll be listening to this sort of thing "on my own time", aside from maybe a favorite track or two if I find one I like more than most. The above Siouxie track is a pretty good candidate for that. It's got some really good ideas going for it and I like her voice.