From Iceland To Luton....

For that difficult fifth album The Fall released an album that still sounds as fresh, invigorating and inventive today as it would have done upon its release. Recorded in Iceland and an abandoned cinema in Luton, Hex crackles with the kind of fervor you just don't seem to get from bands today. The album is dominated by the dual drumming of Paul Hanley and Karl Burns and the wonderful bass playing of Steve Hanley that drives most of the tracks along. Smith himself rarely sounded as abrasive or vitriolic and the album is all the more essential for it.

Hex contains some of the most uncompromising post-punk songs ever committed to record with Craig Scanlon providing some of the most abrasive guitar work on any Fall album.
Smith has, in the years since, claimed that he thought Hex Enduction Hour was going to be his last-ever, and maybe that explains why for a lot of people it's the definitive Fall album.

The Fall - Fortress/Deer Park

Albums Of The Year Part 2....

Kenny Anderson's recordings were given new life in 2011 thanks to lush, fresh and flourishing ambient instrumentation of producer Jon Hopkins. Simple songs, beautiful production, understated and subtle throughout. Diamond Mine will stand the test of time like all good well crafted music does. It is a very short album but is reflective, at times poignant and very unique.

I have had a look at all the year end lists and they all seem to have one glaring omission in the shape of Ersatz GB . It may not be a This Nation's Saving Grace or a Perverted By Language but Ersatz GB still trumps most records released this year. Ersatz GB is Smith's 29th studio album, and while not necessarily his best, it certainly demonstrates that his appetite for creating angry, angular, wonderfully warped state-of-the-nation addresses is hardly diminished.

When it came out in February I failed to see what all the fuss was surrounding Let England Shake. I didn't really pay it mush attention until a few weeks ago and will gladly admit to being so wrong. It is an album of outstanding quality and variation with songs that are sparse with powerful lyrics describing the horrors of war from the perspective of the young soldiers who are slaughtered in them. Passionate, thought provoking and clearly a labour of love Let England Shake is a is a sublime piece of work that fully deserves the praise that has been heaped upon it this year.

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Bats In The Attic

Favourite Cover Versions...Part 4

Originally by US garage band, The Other Half, another of my favourite covers is The Mighty Fall's version of Mr Pharmacist. The Fall have always done a good line in covers with the likes of Rollin' Danny, Victoria and There's A Ghost In My House to name a few but Mr Pharmacist is the one for me. Still a live favourite to this day and it's easy to hear why. Taken from the album that a lot of Fall fans consider to be at the peak of their most fertile creative period, Bend Sinister, the track is one of The Fall's most accessible songs and is no worse for it.

Buy Bend Sinister HERE .

As it is Mark E Smith's 54th birthday today here's an extra helping live from Glasgow's Renfrew Ferry.

You Don't Have To Be Weird To Be Wired....

Three months in and I have yet to post anything on the maverick that is Mark E Smith. There are many bloggers out there who are far more able than myself to comment on the genius or otherwise of The Fall gaffer...yes he does come across in interviews as quite unpleasant and a bit of a dickhead but ultimately it's the music that matters and there is over 30 years of seminal music from the many line ups of The Fall...not all of it great but some of the finest music by The Fall is up there with any of the best music of the last 30 years...

My first introduction to The Fall was in the mid 80's when I picked up a copy on vinyl of Palace Of Swords Reversed, a collection of tracks from 1980 to 1983 that contains some of their best early work including Kicker Conspiracy, The Man Whose Head Expanded and Totally Wired...and still an album that I play regularly today...

I do prefer,if there is such a thing,the more commercial side of The Fall in particular the four albums between '85 and '88 - The Wonderful and Frightening World Of..., This Nation's Saving Grace , The Frenz Experiment and Bend Sinister.

Overall I think we have to treasure the unique vision of Mark E Smith and the unique sound of The Fall and concentrate on the music and not the man behind it...