The Fall play Edinburgh at Queens Hall, Edinburgh on Sun 22 Aug. This gig is part of the Flux Festival. Tickets @GBP10 can be bought on-line via the Flux Festival website or by telephone 0870 90 70 999 or 0131 220 4349 or 0131 668 2019
They also play Reading Festival on 27 August, Leeds Festival on 28 August on the Radio 1 Evening Session Stage. Tickets (GBP 33/day) from 0541 500 044, 0171 344 0044, HMV, Ticketmaster. Other details here.
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DK: [plus anon
comments]
Subject: <fallnet> Spoken Word Rigmarole at South Bank Meltdown.
Spoken word/hollered word. Slurred word performance of ecstatic reviewable proportions. Yes, the tics and mannerisms of the MES stage persona were all in evidence for the duration. These were:
1. HUNCHED shoulder delivery.
2. SAUNTERING stroll a la Frankie.
3. CROUCHING (Peek-a-boo!) behind desk.
4. FIDDLING with tranche of papers on aforesaid desk.
5. WANDERING off stage with Microphone, whose lead thus was tautened, threatening
to upend computer monitor on table. (bemused audience titters.....)
Also in attendance: Julia on keyboards and programming.
[A bit too loud but otherwise fine. Most of it was music-less though.]
This was the visual for which Post Nearly Man clearly cried out. If ever a work required context, and the visual is surely as impactful as anything, then this was the opportunity. So, a man in a jacket (in possible homage to the curator of the evening, Mr. Nick Cave) plus a woman at a keyboard. A desk, with papers on it. Started with The Caterer, and became progressively less comprehensible. The phrasemaker scored a hit, however, with the memorable, if under-contextualised, "English Glasnost! English Glasnost!"
[He also chucked in snippets of The Crying Marshall and Shake-Off and the intro to Cruiser's Creek (sort of). In the middle of one piece he was reading, the line "slide back to bottom of ravine" from I'm Bobby leapt out, which would seem to confirm (as if it was needed) that parts of PNM must've been cut-up from other pieces. Other bits that stuck in my mind were MES complaining about the uncomfortableness of the stool (possibly a digression from his original text) and the observation that why is that whenever you meet somebody who's skint, they're never Scottish?]
Also, some stuff in possible homage to the deceased SLSutch about Jack the Ripper, although he may just as easily have been talking about smoking a kipper.
The evening's other highlights were the baseball hatted Pop Group and Maffia alumnus Mark Stewart, who screamed incomprehensibly over a white noise track for 3 minutes. Wonderful, wonderful moments!
[This was truly hilarious in its sheer over-the-top predictability.]
Although it must be noted that some of the more delicately coiffed members of the audience took this part of the performance as an opportunity to loosen their bowels and/or take refreshment both physical and emotional. And, bookending the event, some truly inspiring religious vocalising (Tallis? or possibly Byrd.......some devotional music anyway) from a distinctly black shirted vocal ensemble.
As for the rest, a motley collection of self important and smug bores, reading from their work in a manner that suggested they were really rather doing us all a favour, bestowing their insights upon us with grace and wisdom.
Premier bore was Salman Rushdie who appeared to rapturous, celebrity addicted applause. A shorter man, if not much uglier, than I'd expected. Other solipsists in attendence were Jarvis Cocker, who read descriptions of eccentrics of the type used, and I stress the word used, in his nutters stuck in their own worlds artists TV exploitation programme. This was lapped up by the smugly ironic in the audience.
A man who can only have been Ewan Bremner reading a passage from Thus Spake Zarathustra (for god's sake!!). A scot who pretended to be drunk in mode: deadpan ironic, who requested a light from a member of the audience for a cigarette *already alight*! A vastly smug scottish man who read from his novel as though it were the best thing ever to have been written ever, anywhere. And Nick Cave accompanying himself on Casiotone, in religiosity mode, sonorously and throatyily singing of motherfuckers to a mourful organ backing. It's the contrast you see. Sacred and Profane! Hey, now I get it!!
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"The next CBX! release will be "You Can t Keep A Good Man Down" on July 26th 1999. If any of you have seen the Experience! live then this is the groovy disco track which makes you all very happy and wanting to dance! B-sides include a fabulous live track featuring the infamous Mark E. Smith (The Fall) on stage at the Monarch with the Experience! doing a version of the Stooges (Iggy Pop) classic "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog"! As Clint is in the process of signing a new record deal "You Can t Keep A Good Man Down" will be available through Artful Records. Distributed by BMG Distribution UK, it s catalogue number is CD ARTFUL 31 (for the CD) and 7 ARTFUL 31 (for the 7"). "
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NME.COM - Mark E Smith - male model? - 15 June 1999
THE FALL COLLECTIONS
Would you buy pants from this man?
THE FALL's Mark E Smith has been approached by fashion guru Calvin Klein to model his latest outfits.
Smith is being considered along with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon to represent Calvin Klein products after the designer was recently reported as saying: "I don't think people are interested in models any more. Just a pretty face isn't enough. I want musicians and young actors who are not necessarily that well known but have their own look." Garbage's Shirley Manson and Hole's Melissa Auf der Maur have already been recruited for modelling purposes by the fashion giant. They will appear on hoardings and in magazines in August to promote Klein's autumn collection, but it has not been confirmed when Gordon and Smith will appear. A spokesman for Smith explained: "Calvin Klein's vice-president said he was really interested in Mark so we sent over a load of stuff about him. We're waiting to hear what they want to do with him. I think they want to get people who are cool and interesting rather than perfect looking." Klein approached Gaz Coombes from Supergrass three years ago to model his underwear, but the singer turned him down. Meanwhile, Mark E Smith will appear alongside Nick Cave on June 20 at this year's Meltdown Festival at London's Royal Festival Hall. Smith will be taking part in 'Sacred And Profane', a celebration of the spoken word. Mark E Smith modelling kecks; is this the sort of filth we want to throw at our pop kids?
justin: begin quote from VH1:
Manson's Underpants Calvin Klein, ever on the search for more publicity, is unveiling his new models, and they include grunge goddess Shirley Manson.
"I don't think people are interested in models any more," says the designer who reinvented the white T-shirt. "Just a pretty face isn't enough. I want musicians and young actors who are not necessarily that well known but have their own look."
The flame-haired gob from Garbage will appear in magazine and billboard advertisements in August. Others approached to model for Klein include Hole's Melissa Auf der Maur, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, and bizarrely, The Fall's Mark E Smith, who is neither well-known and looks like he spent the night in a dumpster.
end quote
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review from the most recent issue of OOR (Holland's premier serious music mag)
THE FALL - THE MARSHALL (SUITE)
Hey hey hey hey! After a few years voluntary Fall-abstinence and with the tv broadcasts of Parkpop <big annual Dutch festival> burned fresh on my retinas this new Fall CD comes like a godsend. In times of musical misantropics you can leave it to Mark E. Smith, the slick genius behind neglected masterpieces like Who Makes the Nazis?, Marquis Cha Cha and British People in Hot Weather, for a cheerful kick on music's bottom. Hey hey hey hey! The opener, Touch Sensitive, revives the glorious past of The Fall. The one and only rockafellar skanker is on duty. Skinny Mark sure has come a long way! F-Oldin Money sounds like a kind of Summertime Blues and there's a reminder for anyone who had forgotten the Saints : This Perfect Day. This concept album, dedicated to a crying marshall (sheriff?) marks the new Fall (the old one is called Ask <sic>), only keyboard player Julia Nagle is left. Still it's unmistakable the Fall : the riddims, the wall of sound and the lack of audible and understandable lyrics. Still no singing whatsoever in the usual sense too thank god, but stimulating - in mind and body - it surely is. Hey hey hey hey!
(Bert van de Kamp)
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AmC:
http://207.230.90.213/ruralsportsman/deer/jawbone/extracting.html
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From: Richard Madeley
Subject: <fallnet> NME FallCon
Tiny Wood from Ultrasound "On the tunes that made him a maaan!"
(NME Glastonbury special, a bit like their "Songs in the key of life" thingy)
Countryside Record: "Julie With" - Brian Eno & "Hard Life in the Country" (sic) - The Fall
"Julie With" is a really mellow song, describing being on a boat with a hand trailing in the water. Then on the other side of the coin you've got "Hard Life in the Country" by The Fall. They've got a line about small towns, about David Bowie lookalikes in the car park coming to get you. I know that place well. Although now it's goths, I think. They all sort of gather at dusk and wonder where to go.
<snip>
Song that makes you homesick: "The North Will Rise Again" - The Fall, etc
That reminds me of where I come from, in the North, but to remind me of where I live, it would have to be "Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill, 'cos that reminds me of my girlfriend and everything I'm doing right now.
<snip>
Ideal Glastonbury band -
I've got a fantasy band! Greg Dulli and Cerys Matthews doing twin vocals, brilliant performers and great vocalists. The guitarist has to be Rory Gallagher and the drummer is Janet Weiss from Sleater-Kinney - she keeps that bounce going. The bass player would have to be Steve Hanley of The Fall. I love the sound of a Fender Precision with the treble turned up like Jean Jacques Burnel, playing the same thing for 30 minutes.And Kenickie on Backing vocals, that magical sound they make doing close harmony.
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This week, "Telephone Thing" is available at:
http://doubleclickdesign.com/fallscreeningroom/
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stve:
afore-discussed painting "the lay of the land" adorns current issue of nz literary mag "Landfall"
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arjan:
<<<<>>>>>
HIPPRIESTS "Hate Mail" 7"
Ok, this record is fucking old, but it showed up in the post, so it must
be reviewed. Excellent no-fi, dirty, raw-as-fuck production, yet extremely
annoying vocals. Nothing especially memorable except for the production value.
Description says "ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN meets TURBONEGRO". Where this comparison
comes from is a mystery; TURBONEGRO influence is there, but that's about
it; HIPPRIESTS are not even close to being on the same level as TURBO or
EF. This , um, kinda sucks. (Incognito Records)
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Adam's TV review of C4's Diceman programme:
Suprised nobody has mentioned the FallCon of last sundays C4 program about Luke Reinhart + people that live their life by the "law of the dice".
Bollox - it were! Crap - and a waste of time. Quite interesting that Luke Reinhart isn't a real person but that was as far as it goes. Just some poncey middle class folk talking about "amusing things the dice got them to do" - things like, eating their pudding before their soup, and mounting their bicycles from the left hand side instead of the right. (Well, it wasn't quite that bad but ....)
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Bedroom walls of Fall fans, part 1:
Since it's the weekend and it's quiet, here's a photo discovered whilst trawling through my archives, featuring a Fall poster from 1983. My guess is the picture was taken on beer-race day c. Feb 1984!
http://www.btinternet.com/~d.i.w/fall_poster.jpg
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From: ATIT Productions <snoop@dircon.co.uk>
Subject: mark e smith photographs
i am contacting you from a television programme called 'Jo Whiley' - a late night music chat programme that goes out on channel four.
i am urgently trying to get hold of some decent photographs of mark e smith and have seen the photographs that you have on your web page - do you know anywhere where i can get hold of some quickly.
please give me a call on 0171 323 6922 when you get this message or please email me at the above address.
with thanks
sebastian
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Recent news....
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990613 not much
990606 NME Forum review
990526 Wire interview, more reviews...
990517 Salisbury, Sheffield, Cheltenham, Cambridge,
Southend, Luton, London reviews
990509 Leicester, Leeds, Birmingham, Brighton,
Salisbury reviews; NME fave songs bit
990426 Guardian interview, Brix interview, more
album reviews, MES' radio session
990419 more Marshall Suite reviews, NME chat, live
at Sound Republic XFM session, tbly#15 out
990411 Couple of Marshall Suite reviews, Live 77
details, 1985/1987 interviews
990330 Touch Sensitive reviews, Marshall Suite
details
990320 Shake-off lyrics, tour details
990314 MES Escape interview
990308 Ashton Tuesday reviews, Falling Through
Time part 1, Dragnet reissue
990302 Ashton Sunday and Monday reviews
990221 LP announcement, Inch reviews
990214 not much
990207 various stuff
990128 Peel Sessions CD review
990118 Uncut pieces, Marcia interview, NZ art
collection
990110 NME LA2 review, modern rock sociology
990103 Manchester Ritz reviews
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