#21

the fallen book is a fun read - the one where that guy tries to track down every ex member of the fall
makes you want to dig out the back catalogue as well

extricate was pretty great - they were even in the charts around then
any of this nations saving grace/ dragnet/ grotesque (after the gramme)/ hex induction hour/ perverted by language/ the wonderful & frightening world of the fall would be my rec to the op

#22

You should definitely get these (in this order):

Slates
This Nationā€™s Saving Grace
Grotesque
Bend Sinister
The Wondeful and Frightening World
Extricate
Peverted by Language

And if you are still enjoying things at that point The Complete Peel Sessions would be a good place to go next.

Then you might have to bite the bullet and get every single Fall album (like me)

1 Like
#23

^This is absolutely true.

@crisps - I started with 50,000 Fall Fans Canā€™t Be Wrong and bought the singles around that. Pervertedā€¦ is excellent, as are Grotesque and ā€¦Saving Grace.

If you want recent recommendations, my feeling is that the last few albums have had great tracks but the weird unlistenable filler gets less weird and unlistenable which isnā€™t as interesting.

#24

:frowning2:

#25

if youā€™re digging Hex a lot go straight to Perverted by Language. less noisy due to a guitarist being fired (Marc Riley) but takes the hypnotic repetition to its peak. their two finest albums IMO.

#26

iā€™d say Your Future Our Clutter is their last great album (so far). hopefully not their last great album overall (always foolish to write them off isnā€™t it?) some of Sub-Lingual Tablet was well up to the same standard, shame they threw in a couple of shite songs to pad it out.

2 Likes
#27

i loved Re-Mit, still think itā€™s on par with their 80s stuff
great band

#28

A World Bewitched is an excellent best of/compilation of their 90s stuff. Some brilliant tracks on there. I remember having it on my headphones on the way to a job interview in 2001. I got the job. I was the only candidate. I still feel like a winner.

2 Likes
#29

i love about half of it but definitely padded out with some filler, like they finished half of it and just rushed the rest. feels a bit like theyā€™ve been gradually returning to form since Ersatz GB over the course of the last two albums. no idea what the next one will be like though now that his wifeā€™s gone

#30

the only certain thing about an album by the fall is that Mark E Smiths voice will somehow degrade further from the last one

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#31

he still sounds pretty good when heā€™s not doing the horrible phlegmy growl. hope whoeverā€™s been telling him to reel it in on the best songs is still about.

#32

has the whole band changed or is it just elena who has left?

#33

just her, and the new second drummer is apparently gone already as well. havenā€™t seen them since before he joined. from videos he seemed to a do a decent MES impression when the man had wandered off stage, which seems like a useful tool

#34
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#35

#36

#37

TRUCKERS need GREASE for ROADS

#38

Yeah YFOC was great.

Most recent (last 10 years) albums have been at least partly great.

1 Like
#39

Thanks all. Lots to go at. Think Iā€™m going to start with Extricate and This Nationā€™s Saving Grace.

#40

Interesting that you say this stuff is now unfashionable. I seem to remember it being both critically adored and, relatively, commercially successful at the time.

My first memories of The Fall are of the (to a young Coshā€™s ears) bewildering and scary Kurious Oranj/Seminal Live era. Like picking a scab, however, there was something fascinating about it and I was never entirely sure whether it was a less abrasive sound or just familiarity that made me get on with the early 90s material.

Anyway: Shift Work, Bend Sinister and Perverted by Language would be my choices. The 458489 compilations are pretty great too.

Iā€™ve drifted away from them since and think the Marshall Suite was the last album I bought. Should probably give some of of these newer recommendations a spin.