THE FALL Schallplatten & CDs

Review: We all lost a big one in 2018 with the death of Mark E. Smith. One of the most prolific songwriters of the preceding decades, and the only constant member of The Fall, he channelled humour of the disenfranchised, rage of the people, punk sensibilities and experimental tendencies to create something that genuinely sounded fresh. Amazingly, it still did by the time he bid us farewell. That's some longevity of vitality, and when a band has such a lifespan it's almost impossible to even consider a Best Of type release. White Lightening is as close as you'll get, then, focusing on ten tracks recorded by the outfit, in various iterations, between 1978 and 2001 - amazingly, charting two-thirds of the 40 year story in a way which, while not necessary expansive, really conveys exactly what they were about at different points in that career, and throughout their entire era-spanning run.

Review: The Fall apparently weren't thrilled with Rough Trade focusing so many resources on the Smiths, not least as it meant the full length video they wanted to make to accompany this, their sixth studio album, would not be possible, while the other band got the money to make one. Mark E Smith and company's response was to produce their own, and in many ways the 52-minute Perverted By Language Bis, directed by multifaceted French enigma Claude Bessy, remains one of the archetypal pieces of Fall iconography. The music isn't bad on its own, either, opening on the relentlessly catchy 'Eat Y'self Fitter', once described as "endlessly cycling rockabilly chug with extra keyboard oddities and sudden music-less exchanges for the chorus." 'Neighbourhood of Infinity' then picks up the pace, and grit, and we're soon in deep. A record that impresses musically and in terms of forward thinking production (see: 'Garden') without sacrificing the grass roots energy of post punk at the time.

Review: By the time Shift-Work came along, The Fall had put out 13 studio albums and been going for 15 years. Apparently ready to switch things up, Mark E Smith sacked guitarist Martin Bramah and keyboardist Marcia Schofield after the Australian leg of the tour for Extricate, cutting the lineup to four, for the first time in the band's history. Then he set to work finishing a record that had been started while on the road. Few would fail to pick up on the difference between here and before. While there's still plenty of those mesmerising, experimental, punk-not-punk goth moments, Shift-Work also embraces more pop sensibilities and seems to take more time to pay respect to rock & roll, or a gritty interpretation of it. Meanwhile, tracks like 'Edinburgh Man' and 'A Lot of Wind' feel introspective than ever.

Review: Originally surfacing in February 1990, the 12th studio album from The Fall came at a time when both the band themselves and Manchester music in general were at a commercial highpoint. Some saw the decision to collaborate with turntablist pioneers Coldcut as a nod to baggy indie-dance culture, but Mark E Smith had already joined forces with the London duo on two tracks on their debut album What's That Noise? In any case, this album's main single 'Telephone Thing' is regarded by many as an all time standout Fall tune, pairing a highly infectious breakbeat/scratch backdrop with some super sharp lyrics about the rise of surveillance culture. The gap left by Brix Smith, who had recently split up with the band's singer, was filled by former Fall member and Blue Orchids man Martin Bramah, who lends proceedings a rockabilly edge that runs through many of the tracks, especially the riotous 'Chicago, Now!'. But the Adrian Sherwood-produced 'The Littlest Rebel' is more like new wave synth pop turned inside out, ensuring there's plenty of variety and experimentation going on here.

Review: The Fall's Mark E. Smith was having a rather torrid time even by his own standards when the band made The Marshall Suite in 1999. He was fresh back from a US tour on which he had been fighting with fellow band members on stage and was later arrested after carrying on the shenanigans back at the hotel. The album itself builds on the techno sounds The Fall had explored on the preceding album Levitate but also with something of a return to the rockabilly-influenced sound from earlier Fall line-ups. Cuts like 'The Crying Marshal' are as strange and complex as they come with thumping jungle drums powering it along.

Review: These days you are as likely to find articles entitled Is 'The Classical' By The Fall Racist? as you are glowing reviews of this album. Sure, times have changed, and modern attitudes are different to what they were when this album was released, but it's up to you to decide if that diminishes the music. The Fall's fourth studio record is best exemplified by the anthemic title track and the lyrics point to the band's hatred of the music industry when it was written. The late Mark E Smith said, "It was our way of saying 'fuck off!' to those people."

Review: Demon Records have embarked on a project to put out four new vinyl reissues from Mark E. Smith and his cult band The Fall.The Infotainment Scan album landed back in 1993 on Permanent Records and went on to be the outfit's highest charting work, entering the UK charts at a frankly unbelievable #9. That said, it is the most accessible of all their records with its cover of Sister Sledge's 'Lost in Music' as well as tunes like 'Paranoia Man in Cheap Sh*t Room' and 'Glam Racket'. This is the first time it has been on wax in almost three decades.

Review: Last year, former Fall guitarist (and now celebrated radio broadcaster) Marc Riley stumbled on a rare bootleg recording of a concert the band had given to a sparsely populated audience at St Helens Technical College in the spring of 1981. To celebrate the gig's 40th anniversary, the recording has now been re-mastered and pressed to wax. It's a brilliant document of the Fall at their post-punk era best, with legendary front man Mark E Smith talking, singing, yelping and shouting has way through a series of raw, post-punk era workouts built around raucous, fuzz-toned guitars, low-slung basslines and loose-limbed drumming. For fans of Smith and his long-running band, it should be an essential purchase.