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I Am Kurious Oranj

by

The Fall

 
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I Am Kurious Oranj
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Avg: 4.0 (43 ratings)

Mark E. Smith’s collaboration with Michael Clarke, a modern ballet starlet from London.

  • We Say...

    Review by Andrew Perry

    Parallel to bold, exquisitely brushed-up albums, Mark E. Smith had secretly been working intermittently on a collaboration with Michael Clarke, a modern ballet starlet from London. You couldn’t think of anything less Fall-like, at least based on their image, although that very fact doubtless attracted Smith greatly. The I Am Kurious Oranj ballet co-production ran for two weeks at London’s Sadler's Wells theatre in autumn 1988, with the Fall performing mostly new or revised material on stage, whilst Clarke and his crew — infamously wearing costumes which left their buttocks exposed — skipped and leapt around them. The accompanying album’s highlight: a thumping overhaul of "Hip Priest" (retitled "Big New Prinz"). While Brix seemed in her element onstage, sat atop a massive hamburger, all was not well behind the scenes: she and Mark were splitting up, a problem not helped by Mark penning the dismissive "Bad Scene Girl" about her.

  • They Say...

    Review by Ted Mills, All Music Guide

    The last thing most Fall fans expected the group to do in 1988 was provide music for a ballet, but in fact this is what they did. Of course, it helped that the Michael Clark company of dancers were some of the most avant-garde at the time in Britain and were inspired originally by the Fall's "Hey! Luciani" single. The concept, very loosely, centers around William and Mary of Orange, and finds Smith arranging William Blake's "Jerusalem" for the band, adding his own lyrics ("It was the fault of the government," providing ironic contrast to the self-sufficiency espoused in Blake). As a cohesive Fall album it fails: The strongest tracks are those that have little to do with the ballet (and are available elsewhere). "New Big Prinz" updates their own "Hip Priest" into one of their heaviest tracks, full of threat and wonder. "Cab It Up!" features all forward momentum and jingling keyboards. For the first time tracks felt like filler, and indeed they were. The CD booklet contains photographs from the performance full of giant pop-art hamburgers and cans of baked beans, suggesting I Am Kurios Oranj would have been more interesting to see than hear.

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