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.