Fall
News - 11 August 1998
Fall
News - 11 August 1998
I heard today of the sad death of FallNet regular Andrew "Rick" Richardson aka Riddler. I met Rick once in person, but his warmth and humour meant that I considered him a great friend. Many others on the list also remember him dearly. I particularly will treasure his introduction of the Cut-out-and-keep-Craig Scanlon to those of us at the Peveril before the Fall's crappy Hacienda gig in 1996; few of us will forget his hilarious and libellous posts, some of which will hopefully get reposted here in weeks to come. Our sympathies go to his wife and family. One of the nicest blokes I've met.
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Gigs
London LA2, 12 August
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Article from melody maker;
Mark E Smith returns from the brink of disaster as an actor, a solo artist and leader of a new line-up of The Fall, with live gigs in the offing and material already in the works for the band's new album. The mercurial Smith, who has previously been cast in plays, told the Maker this week about his debut film appearance.
"It's a film called 'Glow Boys'," he said. "It's about a nuclear power station, and I play the bloke who works in the canteen."
Asked who was making the film and what other actors were appearing in it, a typically unimpressed Smith said: "No idea. I don't know. They got in touch with me. I went and did my song and went home again. 'One Take Willy', as they call me. It's all right. It's like doing videos, really." The film is directed by Mark Waller, it will be showing in independant cinemas from October, and it was filmed at Oldbury nuclear power station.
Smith has recently been putting the finishing touches to a spoken-word album, "Thought Transference - Complete", which is to be released by Artful, through BMG, on August 31.
"I've always wanted to do something really powerful on my tod. I've tried writing scripts and I like writing prose and that, but I haven't got the discipline with it. It's exciting, really. Strange. I'm quite pleased with it. Everyone who's heard it - it's really done them. "There's one track called 'The Horror In Clay', and there's another called 'I'm Bobby', about a girl who thinks she's a DJ but isn't. 'Dissolute Singer - guess who that's about?"
The new-look Fall make their debut at the Manchester University Student's Union on August 11, where tickets are L9.50. They follow on at the London LA2 on August 12. Tickets cost L10.50 in advance, and are available from the Maker ticketline.
The line-up comprises Smith, girlfriend Julia Nagle on keyboards, Karen Leatham (sic??) on bass and Thomas Patrick Murphy (???) on drums. Smith has been recruiting since April's ill-fated American tour, during which he was arrested in New York for assaulting Nagle and accused of being in onstage fights with the band - who then split. Smith was told he would not be charged if he fulfilled three conditions. One was that he had to attend alcohol and treatment counselling.
Asked how the therapy was going, he chuckled: "It's going very well. You have to go once a week." There was more laughter when asked if he was now on the wagon and a simple answer - "No." When asked if he thought the American police would drop the charges, he mumbled "I expect so." He was emphatic that there was no chance of any former members of the Fall returning to the line-up and stated that no friendships had survived the split.
"Now I feel really good, actually. It's great to be just creative and get on with my own affairs. I want a group, but it's great not to be thinking about their bloody problems, just concentrate on my own." The band will be starting on a new Fall album in November.
"Yeah, we've got quite a bit [of new material]. Five or six songs. The ones that the old members couldn't play...the last Peel session was pretty representative. I'm trying to get that Fall primitism with distorted electronics and very basic drums."
* Arc (sic), the band formed by ex-Fall members, play in London at the Borderline on August 10.
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From: Simon Fluendy
Subject: <fallnet> Daily Express
Today's Daily Express: Don't Miss Concert of the Week The Fall Opening sentence 'Quite simply the finest band that ever there was... Also amusing story about Marc Riley being made to lalala all the keyboard parts. "True Northern Soul" Friday, 7 Aug Page 48. Big pic of crumple-faced one.
http://www.visi.com/fall/news/mexpress.gif (~90K)
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From The Guardian Guide, 8 Aug 1998, p8 :
The Fall (with pic of besuited Wolstencroft, MES, Hanley, Scanlon)
It's been the best part of a year since The Fall last played live in the UK (eh?), but in that time Manchester's oldest living punk, Mark E Smith, hasn't been idle. As well as making a spoken word album, The Post-Nearly Man (out on September 1), he had a bit of trouble with the authorities in New York when the band did some gigs there recently. Smith instigated an on-stage punch-up with the rest of the group, which wasn't in itself out of character. This time, however, the band fought back. Smith was left without a group, and, to add insult to injury, found himself under arrest for assault. Completely undaunted, he recruited new members, and here they are, making their debut at a gig which may or may not include songs from Smith's much praised last album Levitate. (Caroline Sullivan)
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From Key:
Blah 24th August ..compilation CD "Live Various Years"; bonus CD from April 88
Deadbeat Descendant
Big New Prinz
Grudgeful
Free Range
Shiftwork
Strychnine
Das Vulturs
Spine Track
Behind the Counter
Interfrancs
Hip Priest
Interfranc (reprise)
Bonus:
Carry A Bag Man
Yes Oh Yes
Us 80s 90s
12 quid
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From: Gez
Subject: Re: <fallnet> "Live Various Years"
At 12:43 pm +0100 10/08/98, Duncan Lynskey wrote:
>Can any of the mathematicians amongst us predict a date at which there
will
>be more naff Fall compilations in circulation that actual real Fall albums?
Lets see:
20.5 studio LPs (inc. half of Seminal Live)
8.5 live LPs (the other half of Seminal Live, but not the Receivers etc)
7 non-Receiver/Castle compilations
11 Rec/Castle etc compilations (just about)
8 non-CogSin re-releases
7 CogSin (or summat equivalent) re-releases (I think, I'm losing count)
10" LPs -> triple CDs all count as one release. Numbers probably don't quite add up, but they're not far off.
Excluding "The Collection" as an outlier, the earliest "naff comp" was Sinister Waltz, released 22 Jan 1996, so we're getting about 4 comps a year; Xmas 2000 should see the "naff" takeover...
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From: Duncan Lynskey
Trailer for Channel 5 prog on Barnsley WMC used HTN as background.
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>From: oomagooma
>Subject: diy fall
>you should check out the children of the revolution page on the
>international kazoom orchestra's site - there's a great fall homage
>called DIY FALL, and the other songs are all
>quite fall-compatible!
>the address is
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Cabaret/1391/
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Graham C:
John Peel 10:20 pm: ‘perhaps the most interesting aspect of this next song was - and I’m not going to play all of it, it’s about 13 minutes long - is that it was Mark E Smith’s debut appearance on vinyl... ‘ Starts Louie Louie by John the Postman, released Feb 78. (Haven’t seen CD in shops yet. )After playing ‘about a fifth of it’ he mentions TBLY & Rob's address, contact details. Issue 12 out now... he says is ‘very positive, forward looking and quite uplifting.
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From: "Daniel E. Boen"
Subject: <fallnet> Strange FallCon in RS Online
Interesting tidbit from RollingStoneOnline, the worst music website on the net:
Buttholes to Surf Elsewhere
The Fall once recorded a song entitled "Leave the Capitol," advice that seems to have struck a chord with the Butthole Surfers, who've apparently decided to sever their relationship with Capitol Records after four years.
"We're looking elsewhere, which is a pretty bold move for a band that doesn't have the clout of a Mariah Carey-or a Marcy Playground for that matter," says Buttholes drummer/co-founder King Coffey.
etc., etc.
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From: Tom Wootton
I was listening to the extended version of Ain't Going to Goa by the Alabama 3 recently. At the end D Wayne Love (at least I believe that to be the young man's name) lists various people who he respects, there's a fair few including someone called Mess E. Smith. Anyone know who it could be?
Also, listening to Ol' Gang last night (LP version, you pedants), and right at the end, just after Smith goes 'Well its goddamn its ol' gang' and everything goes quiet you can hear Smith laughing the line 'all true'.
Tom
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From: Peter Reavy
Subject: <fallnet> Tragic Days
This track, less a piece of music than a piece of documentary, needs some detective work done on it. It starts with a lot of hiss and you can hear bird song. So I suggest, it was recorded outside on a portable tape deck. Then we hear the group at some kind of practice. Very muffled sounding. As if we're outside the building they're rehearsing in. Then a few clicks. Can't work out what these are. Finally we hear somebody tapping, perhaps on a window.
It is as if it was recorded by a member of the group who doesn't play guitar, bass or drums, who was outside the recording session, and can be heard knocking on the outside of the building to attract the group's attention, without success. The track then segues into I Come And Stand At Your Door.
Peter
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From: Chris Kovin <
Subject: <fallnet> Grimm of the Week
The Manikin
One day I was going for a walk when I came to a thick wood, and there I met a Big Thing with a long, long tail--yards of it trailed behind!
Wanting a bit of fun, I seized hold of the long tuft of hair and let myself be dragged along, and in a little while we came to a big castle, and the Thing went in. I couldn't even tell where we were, as the Thing dashed through so many rooms and scraped me round the corners so that lots of cobwebs were brushed onto me.
All of a sudden I was stranded in a corner, and when I looked I saw there was a big tuft of hair in my hand--I'd pulled it out of the Thing. So I laid the hair down and stayed put. Like a shot all the doors around me closed, and I'd no idea where the Thing had got to.
Suddenly a manikin stood before me and said, 'Good evening.' Said I, 'Good evening to you.' 'Why have you come here?' Said I, 'Just for fun.' Then said the little man, 'Just see what you've done! -- You've taken away our master's strength.' 'I! Well, when he simply wouldn't stop, I pulled a bit of his tail.'
'Dear me, something dreadful's going to happen! There the Thing's lying, fighting for dear life, and he'll perish any moment!'
'A lot I care! All I want is to clear out of this place!'
Then the little man went on, 'I am king of sixteen dwarves. What will you give me if I make them guide you safely out of here? They've all had good schooling and are wise in many things.'
Then I said, 'My mother has a cow and I have a goat: one of the two you shall have.'
So eight dwarves came with me. Reaching the front door, we saw a big dog, but the dwarves made a stick out of frogs' teeth, hit the dog with it, and it fell back. We went on our way for a while, til we came to a big lake. The dwarves coiled a rope of maidenhair and gossamer and with it they drew me across. On and on we trudged through the thick wood; and they knew exactly where the Thing had dragged me along before.
Following the same path they got me back to my mother's door. I told my mother where I had been, and she gave me the goat. I set the dwarves out in a row, the biggest taking the first place and the smallest coming last, like so many organ-pipes! Then I gave the goat a shove to make it run over to them--and my whole life long I haven't seen it again!
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Recent news....
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980802 Spoken word LP press release, Northern Attitude
key & sleevenotes, Edwyn Collins, TBLY #12 details
980727 FallNet address change
980719 Spoken word LP and band details (from NME),
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980713 MES & Elvis, several lyric/literary
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980706 Some Grotesque/PBL details, Twilight Zone
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980620 MES communication, MES font, Falling Through
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980504 Dingwalls and Reading reviews; Guardian,
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diary
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980414 Wire Levitate review
980410 More Philly reviews, Black Cat DC, NY Brownies
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reports
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details
980308 Peel session details; US tour dates
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out
980222 NME interview
980215 Destroy punk covers exhibition, Masquerade single details
980207 Brats award transcript
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details
980125 Shanley i/view
980118 Time Out interview w/pics, Melody Maker
review, Oh Brother press release, Oxford review
980111 Dutch Opscene interview
980104 Melody Maker interview
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971211 Portsmouth, London, Cambridge, Norwich,
Bristol reviews
971203 Oxford, Stoke, Leeds, Liverpool reviews;
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