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Avg: 4.0 (128 ratings)
- Date Released: September 1, 1984
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Post-Punk
- Label: Beggars Banquet
The Fall turn fabulous, modern, and big.
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We Say...
On many fronts, Mark E. Smith’s fortunes perked up one day in ’82, when a young Calfornian blonde reluctantly turned up to Fall show in Chicago, at the behest of a girlfriend. Brix soon became Smith’s Transatlantic squeeze, and a few months later, his wife. For several years, guitarist Marc Riley had been the Fall’s de facto bandleader, but when he was ousted in a power struggle with Smith (he later became a hugely popular daytime co-host on the BBC’s pop channel, Radio One), Brix was drafted in to replace him. Thus photogenically enhanced, the Fall quickly landed a deal with upwardly-mobile indie Beggars Banquet, and hired in producer John Leckie, who apprenticed on solo Beatles albums and Pink Floyd’s Meddle, for this 1984 cracker. Unthinkably, the Fall sounded fabulous, modern, and big, even while hammering away at an old Stooges riff ("Elves"). Closing the album: "Disney’s Dream Debased," mesmerizing, actively beautiful, a proper pop song.
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They Say...
The Fall made the leap to a semi-major label -- Beggars Banquet -- with The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, hooking up with noted producer John Leckie to create another smart, varied album. Contemporaneous with the slightly friendlier "Oh! Brother" and "C.R.E.E.P." singles without actually including them, Wonderful and Frightening World makes few concessions to the larger market -- every potential hook seemed spiked with the band's usual rough take-it-or-leave-it stance. Mark E. Smith's audible, tape-distorting spit on the descending chord blast of "Elves" -- already spiked with enough vocal craziness as it is -- gives a sense of where the album as a whole aims. Brix Smith co-writes about half the tracks, creating a strong partnership with many highlights. It may start with a semi-low-key chant, but when "Lay of the Land" fully kicks in, it does just that, Craig Scanlon in particular pouring on the feedback at the end over the clattering din. Smith sounds as coruscating and side-splittingly hilarious as ever, depicting modern Britain with an eye for the absurdities and failures (and crucially, no empathy -- it's all about a gimlet eye projected at everyone and everything). Two further standouts appear on the second half -- "Slang King," a snarling portrayal of a cool-in-his-mind dude and his increasingly pathetic life, and the concluding "Disney's Dream Debased." Though unquestionably the most conventionally attractive tune on the album, ringing guitars and all, Smith's lyrics portray a Disneyland scenario in hell, however softly delivered. Elsewhere, Gavin Friday from the Virgin Prunes takes a bow with his own unmistakable, spindly vocals on the trebly Krautrock chug of "Copped It" and the slightly more brute rhythm of "Stephen Song." [The CD version, in an admirable move by Beggars Banquet, contains seven extra tracks to fill the disc out, including "Oh! Brother" and "C.R.E.E.P.," along with associated B-sides and the Call for Escape Route EP.]
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| 01. |  |
Lay of the Land |
5:44 |
|
| 02. | |
2 X 4 |
3:37 |
|
| 03. | |
Copped It |
4:15 |
|
| 04. | |
Elves |
4:47 |
|
| 05. | |
Oh! Brother |
4:00 |
|
| 06. | |
Draygo's Guilt |
4:29 |
|
| 07. | |
God-Box |
3:18 |
|
| 08. | |
Clear Off! |
4:40 |
|
| 09. | |
C.R.E.E.P. |
3:08 |
|
| 10. | |
Pat-Trip Dispenser |
3:59 |
|
| 11. | |
Slang King |
5:20 |
|
| 12. | |
Bug Day |
4:58 |
|
| 13. | |
Stephen Song |
3:04 |
|
| 14. | |
Craigness |
3:03 |
|
| 15. | |
Disney's Dream Debased |
5:17 |
|
| 16. | |
No Bulbs |
7:50 |
|
16 Total Tracks, 71:29 Total Length
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Credits
- The Fall - Main Performer // Gavin Friday - Vocals // Brix Smith - Guitar // Brix Smith - Guitar (Rhythm) // Brix Smith - Vocals // Karl Burns - Bass // Karl Burns - Percussion // Karl Burns - Drums // Joe Gillingham - Engineer // Paul Hanley - Drums // Paul Hanley - Keyboards // Steve Hanley - Guitar (Acoustic) // Steve Hanley - Bass // John Leckie - Producer // Craig Scanlon - Guitar // Craig Scanlon - Guitar (Rhythm) // Mark E. Smith - Vocals // Mark E. Smith - Tapes // Claus Castenskiold - Artwork // Michael Pollard - Photography
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