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

John Peel Sessions

May 1978.

November 1978.

September 1980.

 

 

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

The August Album Challenge: 31. A Fall Album

I know it's probably meant to be an album regarding the time of the year, the fall, but it's an American term that we do not use here in the UK so on the last day of the month I thought I'd try to be funny and clever by spotlighting an album by The Fall, one of Manchester's finest bands.

The Complete Peel Sessions comprises each of the twenty-four sessions the group recorded for John Peel's radio show (spread across 5CDs). Peel was an avid supporter of the group from early in their career, and The Fall recorded more sessions for Peel's programmes than any other artist. The set was in the process of being compiled when John Peel died in October 2004. The set charts almost all of the group's musical phases up until 2004.

The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004

 Castle

Released June 2005

UK Chart #139

When Re-issued in 2013 it reached #97

For a comprehensive guide to the sessions, Producers and Band Line Up CLICK HERE.

Alphabet Beats #036: F is for... The Fall

F is for...

The Fall began life in Manchester back in 1976 and since 1979 they have pretty much released an album a year up until 2013 (a new album is on the cards apparently)! More than 90 odd albums (at least 30 of them being Live, and 35 compilations), more than 40 singles, 9 EP's and the tag as the favourite band ever of John Peel is their musical legacy.

The band seems an ever changing line-up with only one constant, lead vocalist Mark E. Smith. The singer is famously dismissive of musicians and when asked about the high turnover of Fall members said "if it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's [the] Fall".

A Young Person's Guide To The Fall.

The Albums
(This is not everything but it's as many as I could find. Click on the links to endure the music of The Fall!)

 
    Live at the Witch Trials (1979)
    Dragnet (1979)
    Grotesque (1980)
Totale's Turn (1980)
    Hex Enduction Hour (1982)
    Room to Live (1982)
Live in London (1982) Live
A Part of America Therein 1981 (1982) Live.

In A Hole (1983) Live
    Perverted by Language (1983)
    The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... (1984)
    This Nation's Saving Grace (1985)
    Bend Sinister (1986)
    The Frenz Experiment (1988)
    I Am Kurious Oranj (1988)
    Extricate (1990)
    Shift-Work (1991)
    Code: Selfish (1992)
    The Infotainment Scan (1993)
    Middle Class Revolt (1994)
    Cerebral Caustic (1995)

27 Points (1995)
    The Light User Syndrome (1996)
    Levitate (1997)
    The Marshall Suite (1999)
    The Unutterable (2000)
    Are You Are Missing Winner (2001)
Totally Wired...Rough Trade Anthology (2002) Compilation.
    The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) (2003)
Touch Sensitive....Bootleg Box Set (2003) Live
Time Enough At Last (2003) Compilation
It's The New Thing - The Step Forward Years (2003) Compilation.
50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004) Compilation.

     Fall Heads Roll (2005)
The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 (2005) Compilation
Live At Deeply Dale (2005) Live
    Reformation Post TLC (2007)
    Imperial Wax Solvent (2008)
Last Night At The Palais (2009) Live.
    Your Future Our Clutter (2010)
    Ersatz GB (2011)
    Re-Mit (2013)
Live Uurop VIII-XII Places in Sun and Winter, Son (2014) Live