4 Nov.	Hiro Ballroom (fancy!), 363 W. 16th St., New York. A College Music Journal (CMJ) Music Marathon showcase. Tickets $22 from ticketweb
6 Nov.	Studio B, Greenpoint, Brooklyn (259 Banker Street). Tickets ($20) on the door. This isn't a CMJ event so you can't use your pass.
12 Nov.	The Warehouse Project, Old Brewery, Strangeways, Manchester. Tickets from wegottickets.com, seetickets.com, ticketline.com, or more cheaply via SASE to Alan Wise (details on the official site)

Seetickets is selling tickets for Holmfirth (near Huddersfield) on 22 March and Ticketline for the Hammersmith Palais on 1 April, so it looks like a UK tour is in the works to promote RPTLC.

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added 29 December; updated 30 December

Jeff Ross of the Portland Radio Authority station in Portland, Oregon, is playing three hours of the Fall beginning today at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (that's 5 p.m. GMT). You can listen online at http://www.praradio.org/mainpage.htm.

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added 29 December; updated 30 December

There's a review of Reformation Post TLC (4 stars) in the latest issue of Mojo, along with an interview with MES. Many thanks to ocelot for scanning it in and posting it on the forum (although it's a little hard to read, at least on my computer).

Ocelot also scanned in these 1993 promotional postcards.

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added 18 December

A Rolling Stone blog has a great clip of Scenario from last month's Hiro Ballroom show in New York.

Apparently the Narnack edition of Reformation Post TLC will include a bonus DVD of said show: good news. Bad news: Narnack's release date is scheduled for 27th March, six weeks later than the Slogan edition. There's mention of an April US tour, too.

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added 14 December

Julia Adamson (formerly Nagle) has added some terrific backstage photos from her first gig with the Fall at the Roadhouse, Manchester, 22 March 1995, to her Invisiblegirl site, along with an interview she did earlier this year for the Pseud Mag.

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added 14 December; updated 22 December

Dave Milner has joined the flocks of myspace users with his http://www.myspace.com/rollawaybed page. It has a couple of great tracks on it, with more to follow soon, I hope: two mixes of Dave's ca. 1994 song 8 Clothorn Road, which would many years later mutate into Mountain Energei.

Dave promises another track, Huddie's Crumbs, for Xmas.

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added 3 December; updated 14 December

Sanctuary has confirmed the tracklisting for the UK release of Reformation Post TLC, due out on Slogan (a Sanctuary subsidiary) on 12 February 2007. There will be CD and vinyl editions.

1. Over! Over! - Smith
2. Reformation! - Smith / Barbato
3. Fall Sound - Smith / Barbato / Presley / McCord
4. White Line Fever - Merle Haggard
5. Insult Song - Smith / Barbato / Presley / McCord
6. My Door Is Never - Smith
7. Coach and Horses - Smith / McCord
8. The Usher - Smith / Barbato / Poulou / Presley / McCord
9. The Wright Stuff - Smith / Barbato / Poulou
10. Scenario - Smith / Barbato / Presley / McCord
11. Das Boat - Smith / Barbato / Presley / McCord
12. The Bad Stuff - Smith / Barbato / Poulou / Presley / McCord
13. Systematic Abuse - Smith / Barbato / Poulou / Presley / McCord
14. Outro - Smith / Barbato / Poulou / Presley / McCord

As far as I know the US release on Narnack (details below) is still scheduled for March and has a different track list.

A friend of a friend of Zoot Horn Polo on the message board has a copy of the credits, complete with spelling mistakes:

Band Line Up:

Robert Barabato Bass Guitar
Elini Poulou Keyboards
Mark E Smith Vocals
Orpheo M Drums / Vocals
Tim Pressley Lead Guitar
Dave Spurr Bass Guitar

With Special Guests

Peter Greenway Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Gary Bennett Rhythm Guitar

Produced By Tim ‘Gracielands’ and Mark E Smith

Artwork: Mark Kenny / George Shaw / Big Head And His Wife / Becky Stewart

With Thnx 2 the Centurions of the reformation:

St. Etiel
Clayton
P. Greenway
S. Hammonds
John Fogarty
Gary Long
Wise, Alan
Venessa / Action
Grant Showbiz
Tim Barclay – James
R. Lally
Camille Scaria
James ‘DJ’ Silence
Simon Taylor
Sareena P.F.A.B.U.

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added 3 December

The Universal reissues of Extricate, Shift-Work, and Code: Selfish are pencilled in for April 2007.

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added 3 December; updated 5 December

The orange The Fall Lyrics is available again for a limited time.

David Lough:

Here is a not to be missed Christmas Offer...

For ONE crisp George Best Five Pound Note you will
recieve a crisp orange copy of The Fall Lyrics by
Mark E Smith first edition...
Post is paid for...expected delivery time around 2 -4 days
Offer open until 31st December 2006...

the address : OTT / LUFF
STAHLSTRASSE 32
40227
DUSSELDORF
GERMANY

David will also accept $15 for US delivery or 10 euros for Europe. Cash only I'm afraid.

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added 3 December; udated 5 December

Many thanks to Gabi for providing her photos of the 13 April 1984 gig at the Markthalle in Hamburg.

And many thanks to David for the photos of the 22 June 1990 gig at East's Rugby Club in Brisbane.

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added 1 December

From spin.com :

The Fall to Drop New Album

Exclusive! The English post-punk mainstays are set to release Reformation Post T.L.C. next March.

Recognized for lead singer Mark E. Smith's drawled vocal tone and vitriol-filled delivery, the Fall are finding themselves in the limelight for another reason -- a new album! SPIN.com received word today cementing the Fall's new album title, Reformation Post T.L.C., as well as track titles. Set for release in March on Narnack Records, Reformation Post T.L.C. is described by a spokesperson for the label as 12 songs of "fuzzy wuzzy psyche-garage tunes." With an album cover shot by famed photographer Bob Gruen -- who has also photographed music icons like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, among others -- it looks like the Fall are set for a triumphant return following their last release, 2005's Fall Heads Roll.

Here's the tracklisting for Reformation Post T.L.C.:

1. Over! Over!
2. Reformation
3. Fall Sound
4. White Line Fever
5. Insult Song
6. My Door Is Always Open
7. Coach and Horses
8. The Wright Stuff
9. Scenario
10. Das Bootuboat
11. Tim Song
12. Systematic Abuse

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added 24 November

Uncut magazine:

What have you always wanted to ask the one and only Mark E Smith?

We're interviewing the legendary Fall frontman for a forthcoming Audience With... feature and would love for you to be involved.

Maybe you'd like to know more about his idiosyncratic antics? Maybe you want to quiz him on being part of the post-punk scene in the UK? Maybe you just want to talk about the class divide? Maybe you want to ask him how he's still writing after making 26 albums to date?

It's up to you.

If your question is used you'll get your name alongside your question in the feature!

Please email your questions by next Wednesday (November 29) to: Michael_Bonner@ipcmedia.com

Many thanks in advance!

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added 24 November; updated 26 November

I've removed the second part of the interview Ben Pritchard did with Anthony Meirion last June, at Ben's request.

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added 21 November

Conway:

I've just had an email from Steve Hammonds at Sanctuary Records. I can now tell you the full album title: Reformation Post TLC. The CD release is currently pencilled in for the second week of February 2007. There will also be a limited release on vinyl. The final tracklisting is just being sorted out at the moment. I should have details soon.

Stuart recalled a lyric during Fall Sound at 93 Feet East: "I was left in the desert by three TLC mates."

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added 21 November

Gusgus has remixed the Ghostigital track Not Clean. You can listen to it on this page or buy a copy of the 12-inch from Pineapple Records, available on beatport.com (look for Pineapple Records after clicking Labels).

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added 17 November

Paul Hanley wrote in with some Lovers news.

"Your German subscribers might like to know there's a new Deutsch Lovers website run by our old friend Gabi: http://www.tomhingleyandthelovers.de.

There's masses of stuff about the Lovers and also loads of stuff (some of it in English) about the Fall, the Inspiral Carpets, the Creepers, John Peel, and basically anyone who's ever crossed our path. Pretty impressive stuff, I have to say."

Paul also says the Lovers are back in the studio in December working on their second album. He'll let us know when it's finished and they have a release date.

There is some great stuff on Gabi's site, e.g. this photo...

...and Samantha Fox reviewing Living Too Late for Smash Hits:

I didn't like this at all -- it's really crappy. And it's got a Duane Eddy guitar bit -- you know, what's it called? ["Peter Gunn" says the Smash Hits editor] -- ripped off. And he sounds like he's been having yodelling lessons. It seems to me that it's the fashion at the moment to like The Smiths and these sorts of groups, and to me the lyrics are really depressing. I heard one the other while [sic] I was in Kensington Market trying on some jeans and it gave me a headache. The Smiths, it was. Singing "oh my God, I can't get a job, what am I going to do?" As for this song, I listened to the first half and I had to turn it off. My mother was in the other room and she shouted "nah, I don't like that one -- get it off!"

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added 15 November; updated 18 November

The Fall Forum crash of 2006

15 November - a message from Conway:

Invision's Server 1, on which our forum resides, suffered a major hard drive failure today [15 November] which resulted in the forum being offline for much of the day. Invision is busy restoring the drive, but unfortunately much of the data has been lost. Invision is trying to recreate missing data from backups and it is hoped that this will be achieved shortly. In the meantime, I'm taking the forum offline. I'm very sorry about this and fingers crossed everything will be restored and we'll be up and running again in the next day or two...

17 November: Invision says they should be able to recover all the forum data, which is great news. Unfortunately they can't say how long it will take to restore the board...

18 November: We're still waiting for Invision to restore the data for the old forum. In the Interim Conway has set up a temporary forum at the same URL: http://invisionfree.com/forums/thefall/index.php?

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added 15 November

MES font designer Paul Wilson:

Received my copy of the latest release from the Sonic Arts Network yesterday. It's a compilation of tracks curated by Stewart Lee, called 'The Topography of Chance'. And tucked in at number 16 of 17 tracks is the recording of MES reading the football scores from Match of the Day last year (19 November).

The track's titled "Football Results" and credited to Mark E. Smith.

Stewart Lee's commentary:

Mark E. Smith, of The Fall, has such a distinctive voice it has been suggested that he could read the telephone directory and make it sound dramatic. Here, courtesy of BBC Sport, he reads the Football Results.

The booklet that comes with the cd has a double-page spread for each track, all featuring maps. For this track, there's a map of Salford with a few features highlighted (Peel Park, for instance).

Some good stuff on the rest of the cd too.

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added 15 November

Pitchfork and the NME have bits about the Fall re new album, the Renegade and PBL books, Mitsubishi, etc. They say the title of the new album (due out early next year) is Reformation. According to Sanctuary a couple of weeks ago that's not the complete title, but MES might have changed his mind and shortened it (which would be a shame; I liked the full title).

Also Rock 'n' Roll Photographer Bob Gruen has taken a band photo for the album cover. I'd guess that photo would be the line up who played New York earlier this month?

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added 13 November

12 November 2006 - Old (Boddingtons) Brewery, Strangeways, Manchester:

Thanks to Altfish for the setlist

My Door / Bo Demmick / Pacifying Joint / Theme from Sparta FC / Mountain Energei / Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Fall Sound / What About Us / I Can Hear the Grass Grow / Reformation // Blindness

Personnel: MES, Pete Greenway, Dave Spurr, Eleni Poulou, Orpheo McCord, Keiron Melling. First two-drummer lineup in quite a while. Reviews on the message board.

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added 8 November

Perverted By Language: Fiction Inspired By The Fall, first mentioned on these pages over a year ago, has been given a publication date of 28 June 2007 according to Amazon UK. Contributors include Niall Griffiths, Matthew David Scott, Jeff VanderMeer, Mick Jackson, Carlton Mellick III, Nick Johnstone, John Williams, Nick Stone, Michel Faber, Nicholas Royle, Steve Aylett, Stav Sherez, Peter Wild, Nicholas Blincoe, Clare Dudman, Kevin MacNeil, Andrew Holmes, Helen Walsh, Stewart Lee, Richard Evans, Matt Thorne, Matt Beaumont & Rebbecca Ray. Robyn Hitchcock was mentioned in the book's announcement last year but is no longer involved.

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added 7 November

Mitsubishi is using Blindness to sell their Outlander SUV on US tv. Many thanks to Robert for posting the ad on youtube.

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added 7 November

6 November 2006 - Studio B, Brooklyn, NY:

My Door / Pacifying Joint / Theme from Sparta FC / Fall Sound / Mountain Energei / Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Scenario / What About Us / I Can Hear the Grass Grow / Reformation // Blindness

Setlist to be confirmed. Reviews on the message board.

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added 5 November

4 November 2006 - Hiro Ballroom, Maritime Hotel, New York City:

Lineup: Mark, Tim, Rob, Dave, Eleni, Orpheo.

My Door / Scenario / Pacifying Joint / Theme from Sparta FC / Hungry Freaks, Daddy / Mountain Energei / I Can Hear the Grass Grow

Set was to continue after Mountain with Reformation / What About Us / I Can Hear the Grass Grow / Fall Sound / Blindness but MES cut it short, apparently due to one of the bass amp's malfunctioning. Lots of photos here.

Michael:

Powerpoint review of the show:

- Hiro has a Japanese theme, and the best part is that they have sake!
- Venue was part of the CMJ show, many music wonks and industry types in the audience
- The german video guy was there again, but did a much shorter set
- Highlights of artsy video: a young michael jackson and sinead o'connor
- The Fall had TWO bass players this show
- The band was much tighter than the last NYC show in Brooklyn
- Best song of set: Mountain Energy
- They played a Captain Beefheart song *
- The set was very short (about 45 minutes)
- No encore...

* Scenario has often had lyrics from Veteran's Day Poppy - ed.

Reviews on the message board.

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added 4 November; updated 5 November

The Monks recorded a live session for Mark Lamarr's show before the Berlin gig a couple of weeks ago, and it was aired on BBC Radio 2 tonight. It's already up on the Beeb's Listen Again feature:

- chat / Monk Time / chat / Shut Up / chat (starts at 27min:20sec)
- chat / Drunken Maria / chat / Blast Off / chat (starts at 1h:21m:10s)

Speaking of the Berlin gig, here's a photo of MES and new Monks organist Mike Fornatale backstage. Many thanks to Mike for the photo.

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added 4 November

The Fall play tonight at the Hiro Ballroom in the Maritime Hotel, New York City. Here's a blurb from yesterday's New York Times:

THE FALL (Tomorrow) Nearly 30 years ago, this British band laid out with jagged guitars and the tuneless slur of its leader, Mark E. Smith, a reductionist “three R’s” of pop: “Repetition, repetition, repetition.” Umpteen albums later, the Fall is a cornerstone of post-punk, and Mr. Smith still finds ways to make repetition sound new. A CMJ Music Marathon show, with Yikes, Iran, and Women and Children. At 6 p.m., Hiro Ballroom, 363 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 260-4700, bowerypresents.com; $22. (Sisario)

And from yesterday's New York Post:

TOMORROW: Playlist isn't sure what the appeal is to see the Fall during CMJ, but if Mark E. Smith is your brilliant cup of tea, the productive artist and his band are performing at Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel (366 W 17th St.; [212] 727-0212).

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added 3 November

MES on Bob Dylan in the current issue of Uncut:

"I think he rocked in the mid-'60s and that was about it. I just find his lyrics extremely annoying. It's like 'the moon in June', it's a rhyming dictionary. It means nothing to me. I'm allergic to it.

"How would I compare my writing style to his? Hopefully not at all. I used to like a lot of New York prose, and Dylan adapted it into a phoney working-class thing that I don't think is really him. I liked Ginsberg, Burroughs, Delmore Schwartz. They were taking a lot more chances. I think the fact that so many buskers like playing Dylan's songs says his songs are a bit cheap. He did eight-minute songs, which was new at the time. But I remember when 'Hurricane' came out you'd go round people's houses and they'd play the whole fucking thing. lt's about 20 minutes long. I'd rather listen to avant-garde German music for that long, or Beethoven.

"I also had the unpleasant experience of playing just before him, at Glastonbury. There were 15,000 Dylan fans there and about 500 Fall fans. I was so depressed, I walked off and fell asleep the minute he started playing. Vic Reeves came up and said 'Come on, Mark, you're missing Dylan.' I told him to go away. I don't think he's spoken to me since.

"For John Cooper Clarke's generation, Dylan was all about, 'And they shouted traitor to him in Manchester...' But for me, those older rock stars were the enemy. And that music still has too much influence. Even new members of The Fall play Bob Dylan on their fucking iPod. I find it so depressing. And now he's No 1 in America again. That says a lot, doesn't it? We play with a lot of American groups at festivals, and you can see his influence. They go down one channel. It's all about women, and it's all about politics. And it goes nowhere. But these groups are so grateful to play with him. It's because he gives off a very serious, humourless New York sort of mentality. You have to be like that in America, if you want to be taken as a serious lyricist. But I can't stand that sort of reverence. In my group, they keep fucking staring at me. And I'm always, 'Look front..,' I don't like to see that sort of attitude in a musician."

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added 3 November

Sanctuary says the next Fall album will be released in late January or early February 2007. That would make 2006 the first year since 1977 without any original Fall material released. Only the one cover song -- Higgle-dy Piggle-dy -- was recorded and released this year.

Fall News archive