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Avg: 3.5 (63 ratings)
- Date Released: March 1, 1988
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Post-Punk
- Label: Beggars Banquet
In which Mark E. Smith takes on the JFK assassination, New York chop houses and the Kinks’ “Victoria.”
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We Say...
After three albums in consecutive years with John Leckie (who moved upwards and onwards to produce the Stone Roses' debut and Radiohead’s The Bends, among other things), the Fall went on to make their second-best album of their Beggars era without him, with keyboardist Simon Rogers stepping in as producer. Some vintage Mark E-isms here. Most revealingly, "Carry Bag Man" concerns Smith’s habit of carrying around a plastic bag full of his chosen literature while on tour. (Smith has always avidly proclaimed himself a “self-taught intellectual.”) Elsewhere, he pitches in with his own informed theory on the JFK assassination ("Oswald Defence Lawyer," definitely one for conspiracy theorists), and, on "The Steak Place," observes a New York chop house in naturalistic detail worthy of Balzac (“Cheap carpet lines the way, aluminium tack door handles”). There’s a cover version again, of the Kinks’ "Victoria" — another hit, if not too heartily endorsed by BBC’s radio’s Tommy Vance.
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They Say...
After the dark morass of Bend Sinister, the sound of 1988's Frenz Experiment comes as a bit of a shock. The arrangements are spare and broken down to the essentials, with the distorted guitars brought down low and Wolstencroft's drums high in the mix. Marcia Schofield had also joined the band to add keyboards. With most of the songs credited only to Smith himself, this could be seen as a solo album of sorts, or an indication of some rift within the group -- it certainly doesn't translate into the music. For the first time too, his vocals are loud and clear, though certainly not comprehensible; "Bremen Nacht" hints at some sort of run in with a ghost in Germany, "Athlete Cured," with its Spinal Tap-borrowed riff, tells of a "German athletic star" made ill from unusual circumstances -- the narrative turns strange, then funny until wandering off, a classic Smith tactic. Their cover of the Kinks' "Victoria" marked the Fall's first entry into the British charts, but also fit in with Smith's continuing explorations of Britain's history and how it translates into issues of class identity. The CD contains their other two singles from this time -- "Hit the North" and a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House," which the group makes their own -- plus several B-sides.
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| 01. |  |
Frenz |
3:28 |
|
| 02. | |
Carry Bag Man |
4:26 |
|
| 03. | |
Get A Hotel |
4:38 |
|
| 04. | |
Victoria |
2:46 |
|
| 05. | |
Athlete Cured |
5:51 |
|
| 06. | |
In These Times |
3:26 |
|
| 07. | |
The Steak Place |
3:56 |
|
| 08. | |
Bremen Nacht Alternative |
9:19 |
|
| 09. |
Guest Informant (Excerpt) |
0:39 |
|
|
| 10. | |
Oswald Defence Lawyer |
5:59 |
|
| 11. | |
Tuff Life Boogie |
2:44 |
|
| 12. | |
Guest Informant |
5:47 |
|
| 13. | |
Twister |
5:07 |
|
| 14. | |
There's A Ghost In My House |
2:37 |
|
| 15. | |
Hit The Northe (Part 1) |
4:00 |
|
15 Total Tracks, 64:43 Total Length
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Credits
- The Fall - Main Performer // Dian Barton - Producer // Paul Cox - Cover Photo // Steve Hanley - Bass // Simon Rogers - Producer // Marcia Schofield - Keyboards // Simon Wolstencroft - Drums // Step - Engineer // Pyke - Photography
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