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A Billions Bulletin (May 13):

The Fall Needs a Tour Manager!

We're seeking an experienced tour manager to work with The Fall on their much-anticipated summer tour of North America. Those interested must be available from approximately June 17 through July 21 and willing to contribute to the driving on what will be either a two-van or one-van-and-trailer run. Please contact David T. Viecelli (Boche Billions) at boche@billions.com for more information.

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It looks like the recent Peel Session will be rebroadcast on John Peel's show next Thursday (May 22).

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Ed Blaney /Trigger Happy:

"Hope you are well,just a short note to let you know i will be playing a small set in Blackburn,North bar 16th May as Ed Blaney/Triggerhappy on stage around 10pm admission is £5. Its been a while but it will be good night 2 coaches leaving from Salford full of revellers.Blackburn will rumble. Maybe the odd guest........"

I asked if the "odd guest" would include Mark:

"As for the odd guest,you know me Stefan?/?/??? Who knows"

Ed also says that the DVD from the 25th Anniversary Fall gig (Blackburn, Sept. 22, 2002) is still in the works; latest word is that it may be out in October.

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From the BBC 6FM newsletter (thanks to David for passing this along):

"SMITHS WEEK
[stuff about what they'll be playing on the radio snipped]

The whole thing will culminate with a special Liz Kershaw programme live from Salford Lads Club on Friday with live music from Mike Joyce and Bonehead (ex of Oasis), Factory Records supremo Tony Wilson guesting on "It's My Party" and cameo appearances from The Buzzcocks and Mark E. Smith.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/artists/smiths.shtml"

It looks like the BBC are giving away 20 tickets to this Salford Lads Club event (Friday, May 16): email 6musicwebsite@bbc.co.uk to enter the draw. According to the SLC the Kershaw programme will be on from 1 - 4 p.m., so there's plenty of time for Mark to hop over to Blackburn for the Ed Blaney gig if he's so inclined.

May 16: The magnificent Steven Bending already has an mp3 of Mark's chat with Liz Kershaw from a couple of hours ago. Mark says the album will be out "in about six weeks" - that would make it around the end of June.

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Country on the Click is now scheduled to come out on June 9, according to both Opal Music and Amazon. We shall see. On May 16 Mark said it would be out "in about six weeks," but who knows for sure?

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Woog Riots tribute album:

From the Woog Riots site:

The Woog Riots are compiling a Mark E. Smith tribute album, which will be released in cooperation with the "Superstar" magazine later this year (2003). On this tribute album artists are free to write something about Mark E. Smith / The Fall or record a Fall cover. We will update you on this page about the release date and distribution. The following artists have submitted songs:

Barbara Manning and the Go-Luckys! (US), I, Ludicrous (GB), Jowe Head (GB), Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs (NZ), Preston School of Industry (US), Tocotronic (D), Chris Cacavas (US), Tom Liwa / No Existe (D), Knarf Rellöm (D), Jeffrey Lewis (US), Modesty Blaise (GB), Rockformation Diskokugel (D), The Black Eyed Snakes (US), Viva Las Vegas (E), Steve Wynn (US), Chris Brokaw (US), The Container Drivers (GB), The Hector Collectors (GB), Les Sourirers Trompeurs (F), Woog Riots (D).

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Stuart Newman of Fall tribute band The Hideous Replicas:

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Perverted by Language / Live at Leeds DVD (Cherry Red CRDVD30):

Cherry Red has listed this DVD on their website and it should be in the shops (or you can order it direct from CR).

Despite what amazon.co.uk says, the DVD is Region 0 - playable on DVD players worldwide. Here's the tracklist:

Perverted by Language/bis: Wings / Totally Wired / Kicker Conspiracy / Hexen Definitive / Eat Y'self Fitter / Tempo House / The Man Whose Head Expanded / Smile / Draygo's Guilt - Hip Priest (excerpts) / Container Drivers

Live at Leeds University (March 17, 1981): Container Drivers / Hip Priest / Draygo’s Guilt / Impression of J. Temperance / Totally Wired / C'n'C-s > Hassle Schmuck / Middlemass / English Scheme / Winter / Jawbone and the Air Rifle / Slates, Slags, Etc (cut) / That Man / Before the Moon Falls / Prole Art Threat

I have the DVD and think it's excellent (although I'm probably in the minority - see reviews below). If you haven't seen the original PBL/bis IKON video you're in for a treat, and compared to my 1st or 2nd generation copy, this is much better quality. As for the Leeds gig, it's simply fantastic - it's like you're right there on stage next to Craig (which is where the videographer was standing for the most part). The quality is terrific considering the equipment used and the available light: not the best conditions for video recording. The only flaw that I noticed is that Slates is cut halfway through and it jumps into the beginning of That Man - not sure if this happened with the video master? An essential addition to your Fall collection, I think!

My rave review did not suit Ian very well:

The PBL disc arrived and it's *awful* quality, real take-it-back-to-the-shop bad. Granted, it sounds wonderful but the picture looks like the sort of thing I'd expect free on a downloaded Real Player file. I'm no expert on the technology, but the artefacting is hideous and distracting - great big blobs in the darker live shots and pixellated clumps everywhere you look, MES ghosting more than his early 80s self has any right to be doing. As much as I applaud Ikon stuff being reissued, I feel shortchanged by the effort put into it. I've tried a million different discs to make sure my machine's not gone weird, but to no avail. My old tapes of both films, including the Leeds show, still make for preferable viewing. Is anyone else having the same problem?

I appreciate that the multi-generation/format issues of the old version may make it hard to judge accurately, but I was quite surprised by the rave review you gave on Fall News. What's the verdict on the mailing list? That's the first time I've used that phrase in over a year, but I'm interested to know!

Rich:

The DVD popped through the door a couple of hours ago, and I've just been watching the live stuff. It's ace. The sound and video quality are a world away from the bootlegged version doing the rounds. For those that haven't seen it before, it's all filmed from the left of the stage, and it's a bit murky as there was no additional lighting - but it's fantastic. A must have.

Maurice:

I couldn't believe how poor the quality was. At first I'd actually thought I'd got a faulty copy. The VHS version I have (although old!) is of a much higher quality. It must be the first DVD which is actually *worse* than the video version. Although I enjoyed watching the Live in Leeds part I still brought it back for a refund.

Steven:

I've just compared DVD and video copies of PBL and am a bit shocked by the drop in quality on the DVD version. The sound has a really annoying hiss throughout and the picture quality has a sort of mottled look about it, colours are dull and there is a distinct blurriness. Sound probably would score a 3 out of 10 and picture a 4 out of 10.

The 1981 Leeds concert is a much better proposition. I haven't seen a bootleg of this concert but on the evidence of others that I've seen it is fabulous. I'd happily pay the £15.99 just for this.

To be honest, regardless of quality, it's a pretty welcome addition - if I were an audio snob I'd probably be pretty appalled at the audacity of Cherry Red in releasing this. But I'm not - and the packaging's quite good too and has a satisfying number of errors in the blurb.

On the whole I'm very much Pro.

Chris:

I can't believe that a Fall DVD finally gets released and there's negative reactions on FallNet. I tracked it down and (although I've never seen the video so can't compare the two) found it to be both wonderful and frightening (to coin a phrase). Having seen very little of the young Mr Smith I was shocked to see him laughing in interviews and generally mucking about with the band on the Perverted by Language video. And what a live band the early Fall were! Totally Wired is just... amazing. I have never found myself wishing I was older so I could have witnessed these shows for real. The sound and picture quality is pretty good, I thought. What did you want - digital special effects and dolby? It's all I wanted from a Fall DVD.

Well done Cherry Red who I guess stand to make about £5 from the whole enterprise. Let's have another one. Looking forward to the Blackburn DVD as well, though won't be holding my breath. Roll on Country on the Click too. I'm quite often singing to myself "We're not Galatasaray, we're Sparta FC" and "you mug old women, in your bobble hats". Classic.

Joe:

If the original master tapes still exist (with IKON) the resultant transfer could/should have been so much better in terms of audio and video. It appears to have been lifted straight from a first generation copy. As an owner of the VHS original I was disappointed; a bit like the 2G album, it's certainy better than nothing but not as good as it might have been. The Leeds gig was good.

Conway:

I got the DVD yesterday from those good chaps at Action. For anyone outside the UK, Action is the best bet - after taking off VAT & fallnet discount it landed here for 16 quid and 40 pees.

Picture & sound quality has been widely discussed; I'd say it's about as good as a first or second generation VHS copy. The live stuff is fairly dark and wanders in and out of focus a bit (turning the brightness and contrast up a touch helped). But it is fucking well worth it. The PBL stuff is classic and the live gig is a real cracker. The sound is fine actually, given the vintage - no different (and often better) than live audio tapes from 1981.

Mark:

Alright I've watched this a few times now and read all the reviews so that I might blow some smoke up everyone's ass.

Hard to argue with PBL. It does look shittier than the vhs, but if you've never seen this before it must be pretty cool. Plus you can now skip around easily and show Totally Wired, Kicker, and Eat Y'self fitter to your friends
who like good stuff instead of killing the evening by slogging through a whole video of a band they probably don't/won't like. And it's still one of the best miscellaneous band videos in general.

The Leeds gig is about as good as an authorized bootleg, one-camera video gets. First, I'm surprised that so few have mentioned how great the audio is. You can hear everybody. And the shots of the audience are kept to minimum (I was pretty worried at the beginning when they were still showing the audience as Containers kicked in). The cameraman is pretty steady too. I like the way he zooms in on particular players, showing the fretwork; it's not so dominated by MES. Seems like a pretty strong performance too, really tight. Overall, there's little available to compare with a 1981 performance featuring the best lineup playing an outstanding selection of songs. If there's a 35mm 7-camera shoot of some other early 80's gig, bring it on. But as it is we're lucky to be able to experience this.

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Recession Festival, Aarhus, Denmark, May 1, 2003:

Setlist (thanks to Thomas and Martin):

Behind the Counter / Telephone Thing / And Therein / Green-Eyed Loco Man / Bourgeois Town / Mountain Energei / F-'Oldin' Money > Kick the Can / Contraflow / Touch Sensitive / Sparta F.C. / Mr. Pharmacist / Big New Prinz / There's a Ghost in My House / I'm Am Damo Suzuki // White Lightning / Dr. Buck's Letter

Martin:

The Fall is the headline on a three day's festival in Aarhus's Train. Last performance in Europe before headin' the United States of The USA. MES in great shape....No beer, ('till the encores) just Evian water, no sigarettes. (He didn't quit smoking, did he??) Audience throw flowers on the stage, MES doesn't notice. The band sounds great, Ben used new effect pedals, and the bass-player (give the bloke a name...) [okay - Steve Evets] seems to fit in well.

Martin kindly sent in a few photos:

Sebastian:

I went to see The Fall play at the Recession Festival in Arhus, which is only 350 km north of Hamburg. It was a great show and more than worth the long ride. It was my first Fall concert in 1 1/2 years, and I was surprised to see a completely sober and focussed Mark E. Smith. The band seemed very together and the sound was brilliant.

The Fall started with Behind the Counter and played a lot of good old favorites. There was only one track I didn't recognise (and very good it was!), but they played Sparta FC, Contraflow and Locoman, all of which were brilliant. The set was quite long, including the encore over 1 1/2 hours. The place wasn't packed, but the crowd was very enthusiastic and I saw quite a few people with bright smiles on their faces who obviously were as happy as I was to see The Fall in such good form. The band seemed to enjoy the show as much as the audience and there was no sign of tensions between band members.

I wanted to ask the band about the new album, but neither before nor after the show I was able to spot a band member anywhere. Much to my regret there was also no sale of CDs or other merchandise.

Sebastian kindly scanned in the programme:

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Sanctuary releases:

Time Enough At Last:

Conway reports: From the notes it looks like the CDs have been remastered, but I haven't listened to any of them yet. The packaging is similar to the Rough Trade Singles Box - box (with terrible artwork), CDs in heavy card sleeves, and fold-out insert with notes by Daryl Easlea from Record Collector and some nice mid-90s photos of MES & Brix. The highlight was the note that read: "One can never write about The Fall without tipping the titfer to the remarkable Fall website, www.visi.com/fall"!

 

There's a review of the above on the Drowned in Sound website: read at your peril. The same writer (Joe Shooman) has also reviewed the Step Forward compilation and last October's Liverpool gig.

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Peel Sessions: Conway was right about the Peel Sessions 2xcd set: Sessions 6 & 7 are out and 19 & 20 (the two Jet period sessions) are in.

Session 1 Rebellious Juke Box / Mother Sister / Industrial Estate / Futures and Pasts Session 2 Put Away / Mess of My / No Xmas for John Quays / Like to Blow Session 3 Container Drivers / Jawbone And The Air-Rifle / New Puritan / New Face In Hell Session 4 Middlemass / Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul / Hip Priest / C'n'C-Hassle Schmuck Session 5 Deer Park / Look, Know / Winter / Who Makes The Nazis? Session 19 He Pep! / Oleano / Chilinist / The City Never Sleeps Session 20 D.I.Y. Meat / Spinetrak / Spencer / Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones

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Also, from The Guardian, a review of the Step Forward comp:

Dave Simpson
Friday May 2, 2003
The Guardian

With pop in its squeakiest state for aeons, the release of this CD collection is a good time to revisit one of British music's most determinedly cantankerous characters."We are the Fall. Northern white crap that talks back," sneers Mark E Smith here, a manifesto as uncompromising as his wearing of a "woolly" and flares at the height of punk rock.

The Fall created a new, still brilliant lo-fi, DIY spiky form of music while Mark E Smith sent postcards from the edge of his altered mindset and Manchester's netherworld, and introducing pop to previously unknown wit and worlds of industrial estates, prescription drug psychosis and supernaturally-possessed clergymen.

Culled from the 1977-9 period, with original press releases, sleevenotes and tracks like Rowche Rumble and Rebellious Jukebox, this collection traces the first explosion of Smith's blowtorch worldview and its impact.

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Here's a great interview with MES (click on the Interviews link) from July 12, 1981 that was intended for a San Francisco fanzine, but was never printed. Part two of J Neo Marvin's interview will follow soon, I hope.

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There's an article on Pitchforkmedia that distills some not-quite-up-to-date Fall News.

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The Orchestra Pit (May 16):

THE ORCHESTRA PIT - the first evening of a new club drawing together strands from experimental rock and adventurous new music on an every other month basis. Featuring:

NOUGHT- a powerful sonic blend of instrumentalists soldering rock, jazz and avant garde noise experimentation. Unique!

HIDEOUS REPLICAS - London's finest historical re-enactment society of The Fall, select interpretations/covers of Mark E Smith's classics circa 1977-1982.

POCKET - bright and bouncy pop played noisily and cleverly-fine instrumentals. 'Electrified Sunshine' - Baggage Reclaim.

Spinners of discs include S R Meixner (ex Contrastate), goodvillage, and a special selection of The Fall's back catalogue spun by Bad CB. The event will be hosted by Mark Braby.

Friday, 16th May 2003.
The Arts Café (28 commercial street, London E1.)
Nearest tube: Aldgate East/Liverpool Street.
7.30pm-12.30am.
Admission £5

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Steve Dean of Rubber Banana: Next Monday (May 12), I am presenting a 2 hour mockumentary on my history and The Fall. Will use a bunch of stuff not usually played, ie gig tapes and some interviews. Will attempt to cement it together with unlikely tales of the MES and co. AFAIK the station does not have web access but I'll be checking this out more at the end of the week.   [ This will be aired by a station in New Zealand. ]

May 27, 2003

This is the latest news and gossip off FallNet for those with weak stomachs.

If you have anything to say, you can mail Stefan, but you can't mail the FallNet mailing list direct anymore. To subscribe to FallNet, send mail to fallnet-subscribe@ yahoogroups.com.

29apr03 ATP, PoSR review, Peel Session & Step Forward CDs, Made in the NW, Jeremy Vine show, bits
28mar03 Jim Watts sacked, Country on the Click details, Peel Session, Turkey gig, 85 & 88 gig photos, Luz's "The Joke" comic, Pascal LeGras new work, MES T-shirt, Fall on emusic, Fall Tattooing rip
24feb03 news about books, Mojo top 50, Claus Fall guitar, Beggars vids, Corsa ad link, 9feb83 + 88oct8 photos, '78 So It Goes clip, Hanley bros interview, several early music press scans, other bits
9jan03 Independent interview, Early Singles, Listening In, UK chart placing history, Razor Cuts, Pascal LeGras video, Record Collector, ring tones, Blue Orchids CDs, Peel's Fabriclive
4dec02 Electric Ballroom gig, Virgin Radio, Fall vs. 2003, MES death row picks, Conway's wallpaper
8nov02 PPP review and lyrics, Dave Harrop, Manchester Online soap opera
15oct02 UK gig reports, 1983 photos, Fall press kit
20sept02 loads of upcoming releases, jigsaws, Vauxhall advert, Mark Prindle int., couple of music press scans, Slates movie clip, Fall Tattooing
23aug02 singles box and Totally Wired reviews, Rocking Vicar, lots of old music press scans
3july02 2G+2 reviews, 6FM mp3, Bourgeois Blues, bits
13jun02 2G+2, Wire 25th anniversay piece, custom Fall gig, PDFs of four old articles
16may02 Blackburn, London, ATP gig reviews, BBC 6FM, Sydney 1990 int., French cartoon
19apr02 US tour cancelled, Mojo article, Select (June 91), bits & pieces
19mar02 Euro tour reviews, Record Collector interview., Wire review, new Fall discog., misc.
13feb02 comp results, Athens review, Bournemouth Runner, Pan
13jan02 Timekode, Pan, bad German translations, NME 2/25/89 interview
02jan02 album reviews, ancient Usenet refs
12dec01 MCR gig reviews, album reviews, Pan
28nov01 mammoth US tour edition
13nov01 first batch of AYAMW reviews, London Forum gig reports
5nov01 Euro gig reports, Knitting Factory Knotes interview
19oct01 UK gig reports, studybees interview
30sep01 tour / booking details, 1979 fanzine interview
9sep01 not much
28aug01 Flitwick single, 82/83 gig pics
27jun01 Faustus
31may01 Dublin pics, Cash for Questions, Guardian interview
29apr01 IR, UK gig reviews
9apr01 NL gig reviews
3mar01 Dublin gig, Invisible Jukebox
28jan01 World Bewitched details
1jan01 some ace Castlefield pics
19dec00 more reviews
1dec00 tour reviews, crap interviews
10nov00 Unutterable reviews
21oct00 Stanza festival, HighSmith Teeth, comedy dogs
11oct00 RFH reviews, new Cog Sinister releases
12sep00 DOSE interview, Fall calendar
22aug00 Portugal, Manchester gigs 
9aug00 bits & pieces
23jul00 Psykick Dance Hall, Pure As Oranj details, Triple Gang reviews
9jul00 few bits
20jun00 Ashton, Hull, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, Edinburgh reviews, old Volume piece
30may00 LA2 reviews
22may00 few old LP reviews
2may00 bits & pieces
24apr00 TBLY #19 details, Prop details
8apr00 more Leeds reviews. WSC interview, other interview snippets
26mar00 Doncaster, York, Leeds reviews, BravEar interview (plus others)
14mar00 various reviews, old Liz Kershaw i/view
24feb00 Past Gone Mad details
13feb00 few bits & pieces
30jan00 tour details, Tommy Blake stuff
20jan00 TBLY #18 details, Hanley in Mojo
10jan00 Dragnet doylum, New Year message, etc

older news: Nov 1997 - Dec 1999