The Fall (band)

This article is about the English punk band. For other uses, see Fall (disambiguation).

File:Mes-fall.jpg

Mark E. Smith, Fall frontman (1981)

The Fall are a British rock music group, named after Albert Camus's novel.

Formed in Manchester in 1977 at the height of punk rock's rise, but never quite fitting into that movement or its post-punk/new wave offshoots, The Fall have continued for a quarter of a century to produce unpredictable and challenging music, varying richly in both character and quality, the abrasive lyrics and half-droned, half-ranted vocals of frontman Mark E. Smith providing the one constant note through more than two prolific decades of constant personnel changes. An interview with Smith in May, 2004 reported "49 (band) members, 78 albums and 41 singles," and also quoted the opinion of their longstanding fan, the legendary English DJ John Peel: "They are always different, they are always the same." [1]

From their first lineup of Smith, Martin Bramah (guitar), Tony Friel (bass), Una Baines (keyboards) and Karl Burns (drums) onward, the group produced a sound quite unlike anything else playing in the run-down dancehalls of northern England's new wave scene, drawing sometimes violent reactions from hardcore fans of uncomplicated punk guitar thrash. Their EP Bingo-Master's Break-out (1978), already minus Friel, and debut album Live at the Witch Trials (1979, and not, incidentally, a live album), now without Baines too, served up a caustic mix of belligerently provincial urban paranoia and scorn for cultural norms, atop a deceptively unsophisticated musical arrangement.

With Craig Scanlon and recent bassist Marc Riley on guitar, Steve Hanley on bass and Mike Leigh on drums (subsequently to be replaced by Paul Hanley and then a two-drummer lineup with a returned Burns), late 1979's L.P. Dragnet signalled a sparser, still more jagged feel, which was to fill out into a more grinding, industrial sound though Grotesque (1980), the 10-inch Slates (1981), Hex Enduction Hour (1982) and Room to Live (1982).

The autumn of 1983 heralded another dramatic change, this time to a relatively more pop music-oriented sound, with the arrival of Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, Californian Brix Smith, as guitarist alongside Scanlon, giving the group their nearest approach to hit-single stardom as well as the highly acclaimed albums Perverted By Language (1983), The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall (1984), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985), the underrated Bend Sinister (1986), the less memorable The Frenz Experiment (1988) and I Am Kurious, Oranj (the fruit of a ballet project between Smith and dancer Michael Clark), with Simon Rogers and later Marcia Schofield on keyboards, and Simon Wolstencroft replacing Burns on drums after This Nation's Saving Grace.

With Brix's departure in 1989, Bramah returned briefly for 1990's successful Extricate, leaving with Schofield in advance of 1991's Shift-Work. With Dave Bush joining on keyboards, 1992's Code: Selfish saw a welcome return to the group's unpredictable ways, followed by The Infotainment Scan (1993), Middle Class Revolt (1994) and Cerebral Caustic (1995).

With Bush gone and Scanlon sacked after 16 years (a decision later regretted by Smith), 1996 saw Brix's brief return and the arrival on keyboards, guitars and computers of Julia Nagle for The Light User Syndrome. The group was temporarily reduced to Smith and Nagle when a disastrous U.S. tour ended in the departure (April 1998) of Steve Hanley (bassist for 19 years), Burns (back for a final spell on drums) and guitarist Tommy Crooks, following a violent on-stage row with a drunken Smith.

From this nadir, the Fall achieved another comeback with Smith and Nagle being joined by Neville Wilding on guitar, Karen Leatham and later Adam Halal on bass, and Tom Head on drums for the acclaimed albums The Marshall Suite (1999) and The Unutterable (2000). Further rifts followed in 2001, the new lineup of Smith, Ben Pritchard (guitar), Jim Watts (bass) and Spencer Birtwistle (drums) releasing Are You Are Missing Winner to mixed reviews. The Real New Fall LP (reputedly renamed from Country on the Click after an earlier mix of the album appeared on Internet file sharing networks) followed in 2003, with a slightly different mix and some extra tracks for the US version.

The Fall's sound has generally remained constant from the clanking, almost rockabilly guitars of their early work to the amphetamine-rush of the more recent digitized backing tracks. What unites them is the sound of Mark E. Smith's ranted lyrical poetry. His lyrics are sometimes maddeningly obscure (especially to non-British listeners), and usually caustic in their satire, wildly imaginative in their scope, embracing politics (e.g. 'Marquis Cha Cha'), magic and mythology ('Elves', 'Wings'), devastating critiques of passing fads (e.g. see 'C.R.E.E.P' and 'Hard Life in Country'), and some brutal ad hominem diatribes (e.g. 'Sing Harpy').

Smith is far from a great singer, but his sense of rhythm and attack, however, is second to none.

Perhaps his most distinctive trait is an explosive syllable added after some words, such as in his delivery of a lyric from "Free Range": "This is the spring-uh without end-uh"

The Fall's influences are worn lightly, though Can, Captain Beefheart, and the more experimental work of The Velvet Underground are all evident, and their infrequent cover songs are mostly obscure songs by obscure musicians. A reggae influence is also evident. Like traditional reggae, which Smith reports having listened to frequently as a teenager, most Fall songs are composed of simple, repeating riffs that Smith rants/sings over in a rhythmic drawl.

In 2002 Q magazine named The Fall as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".

Trivia

• Former Black Flag singer and current Rollins Band leader Henry Rollins is an avid fan of The Fall, stating of Smith "after well over 27 albums the man still keeps spewing forth the highest quality vitriol. I never get tired of this guy. I have pretty much all those records. I like 'em a lot, and I wouldn't wanna be caught in an elevator with him when it wasn't working." [2]

• The Fall's song "Hip Priest" (1982) was used as the soundtrack to the climax of the 1991 film version of Silence of the Lambs.

External Links

• The Fall - Official Website
• The Fall Lyrics Parade
• Guardian article, Jan 2005
• Observer interview with Mark E Smith, Jan 16, 2005
• Punkcast#431 vid from Knitting Factory NYC Apr 9 2004