SOUNDTRACK4LIFE: THE B-SIDES: Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 220 The Fall

Live at the Witch Trials - The Fall

Step Forward Records

Produced by Bob Sargent and The Fall

Released March 1979

Back in early 1978 I went to see Siouxsie and the Banshees at The Greyhound in Croydon, it was a Sunday night and the venue was a place that we went to quite often and had seen bands like Buzzcocks, Ramones and Talking Heads, Generation X, The Jam, The Boys, The Damned etc.

The support for Siouxsie and the Banshees that particular night were a band who at the time were unsigned and I'd get to know of a lot down through the years, thanks to a certain DJ called Mr Peel - The Fall.

They didn't release their debut single until around August 1978 and as someone who was an avid collector of records released on Step Forward Records (who had released the first singles by The Cortinas, Chelsea, The Models and Sham 69) I had to make sure I got a copy of The Fall's Debut EP. Have to say that I loved Psycho Mafia much more than Bingo-Master's Break Out!

Side A

1. Psycho Mafia

2. Bingo-Master's Break-Out!

Side B

1. Repetition

Step Forward Records

SF7

Produced by The Fall

It didn't disappoint either and they followed it up with It's The New Thing / Various Times (SF9 November 1978).

With a couple of singles under their belt they set about recording their Debut Album and also the first album to be released on Step Forward Records (as up until then they had been primarily a label for singles).

No Singles were included on the album. My favourite track has to be Industrial Estate (I seem to have a vague memory of seeing a feature on TV that had a short film of them playing the song, I can't recall if it was The Old Grey Whistle Test or some other programme now).

By the time the album was released Drummer Karl Burns had left the band and Guitarist Martin Bramah followed shortly after to set up a new band Blue Orchids (musically a million miles away from what he had been doing with The Fall! The band also included Una Baines a former member of The Fall!) leaving Mark E. Smith as the sole original member of the band.

The album was well received in some quarters. Record Mirror (known more for it's Pop sensibilities than either Punk or Post-Punk leanings) gave it Five Stars and declared it to be "a rugged, concerned, attuned, rebellious jukebox".

The Fall have gone on to make 30 Studio albums, released more than another 30 Live Albums, 46 Single, 13 EP's and have around 40 odd Compilations to their name. They released their latest album last year: Sub-Lingual Tablet on Cherry Red Records.

Other Step Forwards Records Releases

From

The Fall

Rowche Rumble / In My Area

SF11 July 1979

Firey Jack / 2nd Dark Age / Psykick Dancehall #2

SF13 January 1980

Dragnet

SFLP4 October 1979

77 - Early Years - 79 *

SFLP6 1981

*This was a Compilation of the Singles and B-Sides