Singles Live Vol.1: ‘78 - ‘81

Description

Rediscover the live and offbeat energy of The Fall, with their charismatic singer Mark E. Smith, and their post-punk sound infused with nauseating rockabilly, dark garage rock, and new wave sounds, featuring tracks recorded between 1978 and 1981. “I saw madness in my locale,” sings Mr. Smith on the fourth track of this album. This sentence largely encapsulates The Fall’s appeal for me: they looked at the North, the place where I was raised, and saw something alien and inexplicable. Not “Gritty Northern Realism,” but rather “Snotty Northern Sur-realism.” A welcome alternative to all the Hovis ads, brass bands, “Ee by gum,” and “Last of the Summer Wine” typically heard when the North is mentioned in the media. According to The Fall, people in the North of England also had dreams, sometimes saw “monsters glowing on the roof” of the local disco, and had to contend daily with the hobgoblins of the town. This was great news. Incredibly good news for an 18-year-old fresh out of school, on social security, trying to make it in a band, which was quite difficult because the rest of the band had been forced by their parents to go to university. Moreover, the North was (pardon my French) completely screwed in 1981: its industries had been shut down by the Thatcher government, leaving the entire population in a state of severe shock. We needed to believe in something new. A band to believe in. Another quote that inspired me at the time was “We are Northern White Crap that talks back” (you can hear it in the intro to “Psykick Dance Hall” on this album). Because that’s what I aspired to do: I was trying to find a voice. I was trying to figure out who I could be. It’s hard work. The Fall always helped me in such situations: The first mention of Pulp in the local press, while I was still at school, compared us to “a cross between ABBA and The Fall” (the best review ever!), which was encouraging, to say the least. Then, I went to see them with my sister at the Leadmill, which led to an argument between us about whether what we had just witnessed was “really” music or not. Never mind that question—what about all the others? Are you allowed to be that repetitive? Do all instruments have to be in tune? Is the singer allowed to hang his jacket on the mic stand if he gets too hot? Yes, no, yes. The Fall offers possibilities. They showed possible escape routes. They said, “Anyone can do it, as long as you do it your way.” This meant you had to establish your own rules and find your own song subjects from the rubble.