Your Future Our Clutter

Another wonderful album from our friends, The Fall. This one sees our Mark produce a record of 9 songs that are some of the tightest he has created, or rather conducted. The opening track kicks off with a long introduction of thundering drums followed by the guitars and growling bass and the second song, Bury Pts. 1 + 3 is class in a glass. This one begins as if it's been recorded off the telly using one of those old tape recorders before becoming a little clearer for a few bars and eventually evolving into full clarity for the majority of the song. The video for this is brilliant, each band member filmed in crystal clear slow motion. Check it out on

http://www.visi.com/fall/index.html

Go to the Fall News section and the recent posting on the right.

It's almost as good as Fall Heads Roll (which is saying something) so I'd like you all to rush out to your local record emporium and purchase a copy and double the sales for the poor man. Mr Black has done his bit by going to see The Fall live in Aberdeen (thank you Sir). It would be great to see them tour over here but, alas, I think I'll be waiting a long time.

Look on the discography section of the above website an you will see all the live and compilation albums that the various record labels of the Fall have released over the years. It's hard enough keeping up with their own studio output without adding the myriad of spurious records that regurgitate the same songs but there do appear to be some live gems amongst them.

I would also recommend the Peel Sessions boxset that was released shortly after John Peels untimely death. A great deal of the track on that lot (8 discs) are superior to their studio cousins.

The Fall continue to be a wonderful example of a band that get better with every record. They can be a challenging listen to the uninitiated particularly if you start with their early stuff but once you get over that initial shock of hearing something completely different to the other stuff you've been listening to you may just find a sound that you can stick with.

Mark E Smith's voice has changed over the years and his ability to hold a tune has diminished with age, but at 53 he's still capable of whipping a bunch of younger musicians into shape and the latest batch seem very tight.

Teenage Fanclub

I have just bought Shadows, the new album by Teenage Fanclub and I can tell it will be a grower. I already love it but it will get better as I listen more over the next few weeks. You can check out a variety reviews on the world wide interweb and they all say the same thing; The Fannies have been growing into their ever evolving sound for the past 20 years. The twists of screeching feedback and scuzzy sounding guitars have given way to a softer folky feeling but the harmonies are still there and their mastery at song writing.

They still have the odd Big Star moments but sound more like The Byrds in some cases. I read one review and it compared their earlier work to a band called Raspberries so check them out on YouTube.

They are coming to Vancouver in October and playing a small club on the south side of downtown so Tracey and I are going with a couple of friends.

Here's the link to their website:

www.teenagefanclub.com

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Although this is a childrens' book and full of the imagery of fairy stories, CS Lewis must have been smoking something when he wrote it. People have read biblical connotations into these stories for years and I guess Aslan in resurrected at one point but I think I'd have to read all the Chronicals of Narnia to see it.

In any case the story is well known to everyone. I used t watch the cartoon version at Christmas when I was a kid. The recent live action story is slightly more detailed than the book itself (the cartoon is much closer to the original), but at the end of the day it's a children's book and not shouldn't be considered anything else.

He was definately on something when he wrote it though. I'm surprised there's not more references to Alsan calling everyone Dude.

Frankenstein

This gothic tale of reanimation was first published anonymously in 1818 and tells the story of young Victor Frankenstein who studies philosophical sciences (not sure what this is, exactly) and creates a human form from bits of other people. Through a process that is left very vague, but involves lightning, the figure comes alive and sends extreme fear through young Victor, who flees his laboratory.

Years pass without sight or sound from the creation until it becomes clear that is simply a temporary respite. Shunned by society the creation, referred to throughout as the "daemon", hides in the countryside and observes society from the safety of the shadows (not the group that Cliff sang with). He comes across a family deep in the woods and observes them for some time, learning their language and their history.

This curiosity leads to the daemon to approach them one day to befriend them and finally be accepted within a, albeit small, community and feel the love that everyone else experiences, only to be shunned again and driven away. This send the daemon into a rage and he decides to pursue his creator, intent on bringing misery to his life.

This story was said to be the inspiration for modern horror as it deals with reanimation, murder and fear. It's a dark and tragic novel with no real ending. You're left with a sense of dissatisfaction but it's nevertheless an exiting account of revenge and pursuit.

Are Audio Books Cheating, Brian?

A friend of mine who will remain nameless, but lets refer to him as Brian Black for the purposes of this post, has started downloading audio books and listening to them in the motor vehicle as he trundles along the roads. His question is "is this reading".

I would say, "no", it's more like listening really. However, for those who can't read I think audio books are marvelous. OK, I'm only joking. Audio books have been around for years and our kids have some examples of them that we've listened to in the car; Harry Potter books read by Stephen Fry are great examples. We've also got the Chronicles of Narnia. I enjoy listening to them in the car and it makes a chance from music when you're on long journeys.

I might start having a look through iTunes for books for work. Good idea Brian (I main nameless person who is definitely not Brian Black or anything).