The ultimate train album really. It reads like a 40 minute version of the song "The train" (from their first album) intercepted and intercut continuously with sounds from trains, trainstations + voices. After a while the whole concoction gets to having a mezmerising slightly hypnotizing effect on one as a listener. Guitars, voices and sounds drift in and out of the soundscape of the piece as a whole. As the journey through sounds continue one looses track of time and space and start to feel trapped on an absurd trainride with Mr. Mark E Smith and Ed Blaney. Snippets of conversations, singing and read texts causes the mind to snap back to focus from time to time as the recurring guitar motif continues to blur the edges of reality. If one listens intently it gets to be a gentle journey disguised as a mindfuck, but it also works well as a backdrop of sound or in headphones while out on a journey of some sort.

I think this album works really well. It makes for a fascinating listen more rewarding with each spin. I have yet to try to listen to this album while riding an actual train but I can imagine that it would make an ideal soundtrack to any trainride. In any way, the album is a fascinating trainride in and of itself.

I would imagine this kind of album could serve as fuel for detractors who would like to suggest that Mark E Smith has "lost it". But for me personally this album only adds another little piece to the puzzle of one of the greatest artist legacys ever. Maybe not the most significant piece but a piece I wouldn´t want to do without nonetheless.

Great review. :applaud: :applaud:

Thanks. :beer:

Yes, thanks a lot, DD!

Sounds great from your review, very encouraging.

Does the release of this explain/excuse the delay in the new Fall LP?

I'll clear the way on my "train music" shelf.

But seriously: I am curious to hear this. Sounds very "Ambient"

Thanks for the review. I am not a driver, therefore a train user, so this sounds like it should be on my Christmas list...still, that's a bit of along wait innit?

...and those 'detractors' would be right.

What a complete crock of crap.

just got it, the artwork is good but it is not credited on sleeve, i thought i read on here that is was pascal

Hmmm just listened to it once, the reuse of some of the lines like " idiot groups with no shape or form" or " nylon leaves are fallin" , cmon...i thought he had endless notes/ lyrics in those carrier bags?

Sounds sort of 'inspired' by The KLF?

I thought it was supposed to work the other way round?

I wonder how much input MES had or is B$$$$y pulling a fast one?

Second listen......correct with complete crock of crap!

I don't think it is by Pascal Le Gras, to be honest. I'm not certain, though...

So - crock of shit via Blaney or masterpiece of ambient Smithery - wots the verdict ????

I've already told you :rolleyes:

Voiceprint's 'top seller" for the month of September! :applaud:

...followed closely by Showaddywaddy's 'Live in Germany'.

I can't be the only one who wishes Smith would concentrate on the Fall for a change.

For once, I agree.

Though to be fair, MES has apparently had problems studio wise, and with engineers (see 'Cluttered' thread), so things do seem to be moving on the LP front.

But I too am sick of all this Smith & Blaney cobblers - from the clips I've heard, it's bloody awful.

it's so bloody awful it isn't bad actually

No, you're not.

And you're a good man, doing a good job here, redressing the balance.

Naturally what you expect on a forum dedicated to the Fall is a lot of gushing fanboy blather, but sometimes it's frustratingly, depressingly, absurdly OTT.

Wabash Cannonball & Fireball Mail are train songs...don't know if 40 minutes of supposed train noices tempts me...We need you Jimmie Rodgers, in England!

Thank you, sincerely.

I would like to hear Ben Dewberry's Final Run.

If it supplants Johnny Cash's "Ride This Train" in the annals of great train-related concept albums, I'll climb into a dark cave with pills and wait to meet my maker.

Do you even know any other train-inspired concept albums, to call this one the "ultimate" one?

Steve Reich's "Different Trains"? Johnny Cash's "Ride This Train"? C'mon... Why did Smith & Blaney make the 'ultimate' one? Is it because it's the only train-themed album thus far to re-recycle lyrics from "Idiot Joy Showland"?

I rather suspect neither M.E.S. or Blaney were really trying much at all on this release, and have no interest in investigating it further than this thread, unless I trip over a free copy of it on the sidewalk & am paid by a curious onlooker to review it.

There are, however, train-inspired concept albums that bear repeated listening & even have the added bonus of real effort being made on the part of those who created them, rather than recycled fragments cut into pre-existing material; spliced with bonus field recordings & guitar noise for good measure to make it an authentic "new release"

I used to spend my money on anything M.E.S. put his name to, but I Have Been Duped.

Lucky he didn't put it out under The Fall moniker. Really, nobody likes it? I haven't got it here so have no idea yet.

I sincerely like it - the only bit I don't like are the recycled lyrics - seems lazy, & they also appear irrelevant to the story unfolding.

But, that aside, it's fun. Lightweight, maybe, but fun. I do think it should have been released as a bonus disc to the LP - I don't mind giving MES my £9, or whatever it cost, but I don't quite think it stands up as an entity on its own, it's a companion to the S&B LP. I guess I was right in originally in saying it's a modern day dictaphone "Blue Room".

However, this was not released under the name The Fall for a reason: it clearly isn't a Fall LP. If you don't like the sound of it, steer well clear, then you won't have to moan; if you haven't actually heard it, moaning is a bit rich, eh? :blink:

The original poster/reviewer in this thread seemed to like it quite a lot.

Said it was the "ultimate train album" & seemed hypnotised by the sheer staggering brilliance of it all.

I'm just personally tired of paying full import prices for half-efforts & recycled sketches that later end up re-recycled back onto other albums anyway...

I could even be wrong, but I'm not whipping out my credit-card and going further into music-debt to find out.

True, where 9 pounds is perhaps next-to-nothing in the UK & much well-deserved by M.E.S. -- by the time it travels overseas to Canada & gets converted to our inferior currency, it's enough money to be a concern for investigating something you suspect is well-dodgy & a one-time listen at best.

And, yes, no right to moan not having heard this one, but when I read positive reviews here (as I have in the past) I am always greatly tempted to dole out for said thing...

...I am just trying to get an idea of what's going on other than that it's the "ultimate train album"

I know there are people here who would listen to a 78 minute version of The Boat & think it's the best thing anyone on earth has ever done. (Edit... Sorry... "Das Boat" -- and also, that it's the ultimate soundtrack for water-based travel.)

Maybe I don't have to actually shell out the money up-front to spark a debate that it actually might be a bit shit & get more context.

That's an idea:

I love 'Das Boot'. Do those who like The Boat also enjoy The Train?

Yes, I adore "Das Boot"! I thought it was the best thing on RPTLC! So, you may have something there. And I also take your point, Joker, maybe I'll try to write a proper response to the record when I have time. but I'll say 2 things here

1) It may be slightly lofi, and a bit jovial in the execution, but its' not half-arsed, I reckon effort has gone into it, & it's come out just the way S&B wanted. You may still feel, like me, that conceptually it doesn't exactly stand up on its own - it's like a a very long remix project - but that doesn't make it bad, just makes it feel slightly unmoored. As I said, a dbl disc set with the original LP would have been more satisfying.

2) There's a real "proper song mafia" on this board. We see it all the time on the Cup section. If you're one of those people who think "this isn't really even a song" when you hear certain tracks, keep your money in your pocket and wait for the next gig instead. If you're like me, and occasionally get fed up with block choards, blues changes, double time choruses and Mr Pharmacist, then you'll be well away.

1. I would say that me being hypnotised by the sheer staggering brilliance of it all is a bit of an exaggeration. However, I still stand by every word of my review. I find the album a very rewarding listen and I have listened to it several times during the last couple of weeks. I find it has a greater replay-value than the first Smith/Blaney effort because that was such an uneven affair.

2. I know the albums you´re referring to very well. Especially the "Different trains" album, which I´ve listened to quite a bit. I still prefer the absurdity of the MES/Blaney trainride over both Cash´s and Reich´s. And I really can´t think of any other train themed albums which I personally would consider more ultimate than "The Train Part Three".

3.+4. I also enjoy "Das Boat" very much. I really love it when MES goes out on absurd tangents like that. I definitively think people who like "Das Boat" would like "The Train Part Three" as well. And making a 78-minute version of "Das Boat" does sound like the ultimate soundtrack to U-Boat based travels.

And that's exactly what it is. :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Listening to it right now. Bloody masterpiece is what it is. Hep-uh!

:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
Yes, that helps. Now I can't wait for The Train to cross the Atlantic.

Some of the people on the train:

A Big Brother Celebrity
A UK Cabinet Minister
A British Rock Journalist

Steve Reich's "Different Trains" : another train-related masterpiece.

On my third listen of TTP3 now...magnificent! :)

Yes, a pile of shite, someone shoot the breaker

'shoot straight ya bastards' (breaker morant of course).

You really have to like the tune The Train I suppose, because you'll hear it quite a bit. Listened to half of it, and it's cack really. Oh well.

The Train

mm & ccc:

ever heard "oh really?" by I, Ludicrous?

:zzzz: