A thread for brief Fall-related snippets in the press.

From Peter Hammill feature in latest Wire (issue 277):

Another admirer, Mark E Smith of The Fall, even suggested they record together. "I last saw Mark in the Netherlands some years ago, at the Crossing Borders festival," recalls Hammill. "Several beers were consumed over a couple of days but not a lot of sense was made. None of this is to say that anything blinding could ever have come out of any collaboration. I think we acknowledge each other as different sides of the same coin – resistant to orthodoxy, I suppose. We're in touch in principle, which, frankly, is about as good as it gets for either of us."

From Adrian Sherwood feature in Wire 276:

There are one or two curious items on his CV. He has a production credit on "Middle Mass", on The Fall's Slates, Slags, Etc EP, of which he says today that while he was looking to weird the thing out, Mark E Smith was having none of it. Certainly, you'd never have guessed he had any involvement in the track at all, although he did appreciate Smith's dry, or 'anti-production' approach to production, which, when appropriate, he's added to his own armoury.

[Cansei Der Ser Sexy] "sound like an unlikely, brilliantly wrong fusion of Tom Tom Club, dance culture and the Fall."

The Guardian, July 21, 2006.

Choosing his favourite music, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem chooses Totally Wired as 'the record that most suggests fighting to me' in Uncut magazine, May 2007 (issue 120). His 10 choices are here.

:blink: :wacko: :unsure:

On page 15 of the new issue of Mojo (#163) Eddie Shaw of the Monks says 'If I've got one hero it's Mark E. Smith from The Fall! For all the wrong reasons. He's totally fucking crazy but I love him for what he does! The greatest guy in the world...'

Anyone got scans of the Von Südenfed interview in the latest Wire / the MES interview in Spin?

i sent scans to stefan for the newspage but he was asked by a wire person not to post them until the mag had been on the shop shelves for awhile

In "Invisible Jukebox" in the April issue of WIRE, The Dead C comment on "Hard Life In Country" from Fall In A Hole and offer up some great anecdotes about the mania surrounding the Fall on their 1982 NZ tour.

yes, I'll post them in a week or two.

:thumbsup:

Record Collector-May
Whats this about Mark Edward Bear? MES comes across a little girl distresed about losing her teddy so he tells her he's on tour with a rock gruppe. MEBear continues to write t othe girl evn though she is now 28. Awwww.


Current PlanB has review of Fall gig and Tromatic REflkxions-dunno what is wrote though-anyone?

Issue 336 of Record Collector had a Fall competition to win the re-issues of Code:Selfish, Extricate and Shift - Work. Came home from work tonight to find a parcel containing the 3 discs courtesy of R.C. :D

Large picture of MES accompanying review of the Perverted by Language book in today's Metro (free newspaper with curious combination of reasonably clued-in arts coverage and pernicious right wing political agenda dished out to public transport users in the UK). Didn't get one, no scanner anyway.

In the new issue of Uncut magazine (#125, October 2007), there's an interesting interview/Q&A feature with Julian Cope.

Someone called Philip Harrison from Leeds asks 'Were you once Mark E Smith's drug dealer?' to which Cope replies: 'Well, on the first Fall album there's a track called "Two Steps Back", with the lyric "Julian says/how was the gear/they don't sell things to you over here". People assume this is about me, because Mark and I were quite good friends at the time. He's only six monhs older than me and we used to write to each other a lot – Mark's letters were always highly illustrated. The thing was, although Mark and I talked a lot about drugs in a purely theoretical sense, I was actually very straight-edge at the time. So I never sold him anything. I'm sorry if that's disappointing.'

My interpretation of those lyrics is that they seem to indicate Julian (Cope's) interest in MES's drug acquisitions, but doesn't suggest he supplied them.

Review of the Box Set in the latest issue of Record Collector - 4 stars.

In Uncut's end-of-year round-up, the Von Sudenfed album is rated #46 in the '50 best albums' list. No listing for Reformation Post TLC, although it is described here as being 'creditable and oddly psychedelic'.

Number one, in case you're wondering, is Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem.

Psychedelia is always odd. Thats why its so great.

In Mojo's 'Best Thing I've Heard All Year' Mark's vote goes to The Best Kept Secret by the Ultramagnetic MC's:

It's a bit odd hearing Smith use the term 'pussy'. It is also fucking hilarious.

From this month's Mojo:

one phrase says it all:

"there's a different band from last time."

"metallicness" :huh:

Loop Kling Klang

The Sanctuary news is certainly a drag.


The good news- GRANT SHOWBIZ

Five minute audio clip of The Dead C talking about The Fall ("they were like Mark E Smith and a rugby league team") here: http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/on_tape/

There is a little piece about the new album in the latest (February) issue of Mojo.

Ends with the quote '..but we've got to get a new deal since Sanctuary got bought out.'

Mojo, February 2008, p.84: The 'disc-box' extra CD that goes with Radiohead's In Rainbows album is described (by Mark Paytress) as 'the best mini-album since, oh... probably The Fall's Slates back in 1981.'

•

From The Guardian's online blog list of '1000 albums not to listen to before you die!' (see here):

I Am Kurious Oranj, The Fall
"How do you choose one Fall album over another?" asked one of the compilers of the Guardian list. I was faced with the same conundrum when trying to decide which one I hate the most, since they all sound so horribly similar. The answer I realised, of course, is I loath theme all equally. I just chose I am Kurious Oranj much as Mark E Smith writes his lyrics, entirely at random.

This is probably a daft suggestion (esp given the fact Pavement were signed to them) but after the Von Sudenfed album appeared on Domino Records is there any chance the band might sign to them?

Also, in a soidebar to the Radiohead article, the bonus disc of In Rainbows is described as the best mini-album since Slates.

From May 2008 Uncut

Thanks for the scan. Any chance you could scan the relevant bit of the John Cooper Clarke Q&A too?

I havent heard 'Mother-john' yet, is that what their like? Motorhead?
(great article)

From 'An Audience With... John Cooper Clarke',
Uncut May 2008

Excellent. Thanks ocelot! :)

Favorite bit: "Squirrels mean nothing to me."

(This reminds me of that interview in Mojo maybe a year ago (I don't think it was ever scanned in here) where he says that a bunch of squirrels got into his basement and they pissed all over a lot of memorabilia he had stored down there, but then he added "they ruined photos of my first wedding, so that was a plus.")

I have no idea what "That's nous for you" means. Anyone?? :huh:

And he once again manages to say nothing complimentary about the current group.

Thanks ocelot.

Anyone recall the 'boat' gig?

Nous = common sense. Rhymes with mouse.

A blast from the past:

"nous" is know-how, savvy.

nice one.
thanks for that :applaud:

A bit tenuous, but nice all the same:


The Guardian, 5/4/08