This occurred to me as I dutifully went and bought a CD copy of 'Extricate' today. Even though I wasn't particularly thrilled about it.

I made a great effort last year to complete my collection of all Studio albums on CD. Am currently working my way through the lot again to sift the good from the shit.

Managed to get all other stuff on various compilations but not every comilation of course as there is v. little point.

Q. Does Slates count as an LP????

I have been a completist with a handful of bands over the years, but now it's only with The Fall.

And sadly I'm not complete yet. But I don't lack much. I think I have all of the "proper" releases, including most of the comps and live albums, but I lack a few Receiver comps, "Live In..." series discs, Peel Sessions (can't wait for the box set!) and a few stray tracks like the Xanadu one and Rude (All the Time). Plus some singles that have different mixes of some songs (like the Free Range single). I'll get there though.

I'd say so, esp. as it just got reissued on its own with bonus tracks...

Then you should get A World Bewitched.

What were the bonus tracks??

But as an original, does 6 tracks make an LP, if so, I would have to rate it as the best.

Listening to it right now...

Bonus Tracks
(from Peel Session)
Middle Mass
Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
Hip Priest
C'n'C-Hassle Schmuck

(from single)
Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
Fantastic Life

(outtake)
Medical Acceptance Gate

Rex, (and whomever else has heard the reissue): Bonus tracks aside, is the sound quality on the Slates reissue improved enough to justify the cash, rather than sticking with the already existing /America Therein version?

Also, how to pick this up in the US, where who-knows-when it will officially appear?

By the way, as to the forum question at hand--no, I'm not a completist by a long chalk, more of a magpie scrapping together bits and pieces of whatever I can find. In other words, I don't anticipate buying Shiftwork or Seminal Live any time soon.

the slates reissue sounds great. as it is one of the greatest recordings ever, there is no reason not to have it.

am i a completist? ... only with everything.

Holy mother of god, YES! I've done a track to track comparison on headphones and this new one blows all the others out of the water (I had "Middle Mass" in 4 different places)... Of course, my copy of Slates/APOAT is the Dojo release from 1992, but I've also compared the tracks to the "remasters" on the Totally Wired compilation from 2 years ago and this is like hearing them completely new. The hiss has been for the most part removed, the bass feels fuller and cleaner (mmm, esp. on the title track), and there is detail (esp. with the guitars) that I've never noticed before.

Would you believe "Lie Dream" (one of the bonus tracks here) even sounds better than it does on 50,000 Fall Fans? I'm in awe, truly.
"Fantastic Life" (maybe my favorite track from this period) is also a bit louder and bassier, but I swear I could hear some slight pops throughout -- mastered from vinyl, maybe?

What's wrong with Shift-Work?

Somebody posted in another thread that these are due out in the US in November, but I pre-ordered mine at amazon.co.uk and got them today.

Thanks, I sense a November purchase coming on.

Rex, as to what's wrong w/Shiftwork---nothing per se, but having heard it twice or thrice, it struck me as something I'd rarely reach for in future. Which harks back to the theme of this thread, completism. I try to keep the material goods that possess me down to a bare minimum, because I move around a lot, and also out of a more general aesthetic bent toward space over matter. Music acquisition tends to avalanche on me, getting one cd insidiously evolves into getting 10 or 20, so I try to limit the impulse and acquire mainly what seem to be imperatives.

BTW, like your Sparks avatar. A rare pop band that laughs darkly over its snappy harmonies. Poll perhaps? Naah, probably not enough interest here.

yes, it DOES count as an LP

forget this mini-album or EP shit

records fall into two categories - singles or albums

the number of tracks on it are irrelevant

I began to lose interest in the band around 1999-2000, partially because I had little money for music and it seemed to take FOREVER to get around to purchasing the latest product. And those awful mid-90s compilations (eg: Fiend With a Violin, etc) really brought me down a notch. It looked like I was going to bid the Fall goodbye until I discovered this forum. Discussions on here have really re-energized me on MES & Co.

But I no longer try to keep up with every release-- the major LPs are quite adequate, I think.

Andy

A Sparks poll would be cool. But Rex has to start it. :)

(My vote's for 'Angst In My Pants' ... so it better be a choice!)

I'll save us the time of setting up a poll for the 4 of us who actually give a rat's ass: almost all votes will go to Kimono My House, due to the heavy 40-something British population here who have a nostalgic connection to it, with maybe a couple of stray votes going to Propaganda. I'm sure the rest of their output is simply "music for pussies."
:devil:

I don't necessarily want to have every compiltion album. But I do want every officially recorded version of every song, including dubs, alternative versions, etc. I think I'm more or less there, apart from some promos, which may or may not be different. I've got the non-Peel radio sessions and quite a few live gigs, though not as many as some folk. I'm still after early versions of Chisellers and that Race Hatred!

Including 'Angst' and 'Whomp That Sucker' ?

Sir, your flagrant ignorance of Sparksology prohibits you from starting such a poll! B)

:confused: :confused:
No ignorance here. I know more than I have a right to know. I'm already on my 2nd CD copy each of Angst and Whomp. I have crap late 80s 12" singles like "Fingertips" and "So Important." I even have the disco 12" they produced in 1979 called "Dancing Is Dangerous" by some chick named Noelle. I was just making suppositions about what other people think... go back and read it again.

You're on your 2nd CD copies of Angst and Whomp? God bless you. :)

I had interpreted your comment to mean that you thought everything after Propaganda was shite.

To quote Alex DeLarge, appy-polly-logies.

Hey! I don't know diddly shit about Sparks! ;)

I thought it was Tom Selleck :wub:

One and the same?



Nah.

GB, it really helps if you started listening to them when you were 12.

:)

I didn't. :(

Fey bourgeois satirical lyrics shrieked in affected falsetto by coy male model to dancey backbeat of tinkling toy piano....hmm, a bit different from the Fall, I guess.

I was pleasantly shocked to find that their 2002 release Lil Beethoven is one of their best, and that 30+ years into their eccentric existence they still matter.

Yes, I bought Indiscreet at 13, and couldn't stop listening. Unlike other things I listened to at 13 and have since terminated, I've had a resurgent affection for Sparks, though I just assume everyone else finds/will find them repugnant.

The Sparks, like The Fall, are an acquired taste.

Anyone catch them on SNL back around the time of 'Angst in My Pants' ? Seeing their live rendition of 'Mickey Mouse' changed my life. For the better or the worse, I'm still not sure.

I'm a completist with the "official" stuff.. not bothered about Receiver comps or official bootlegs unless indispensable.. I'd like to get copies of the best gigs I've been to..
Live '77 is indispensable though..

Oh and please someone tell me where I can get World Bewitched.. it's vanished from London record shops...

Got it new from a seller called disks-uk-com on amazon marketplace a couple of weeks ago..still seems to have a few copys left.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/det...4057086-2538841

Thank you sir!!!

You'll enjoy it...not all of it, granted...but it's a great smörgesbord (don't correct my spelling, I know it's wrong) of MES/Falldom.

>>almost all votes will go to Kimono My House

Well I would vote for that one because I saw them on tour (Liverpool Empire, fact fans) around that time. I actually have a soft spot for 'Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing'.

Just spent $55 on four early Fall singles on vinyl .... will continue to seek out vinyl versions of all LPs + singles I like

Saw picture disk vinyl version of "Hit the North" but won't buy it cos I hate that song its really annoying ....

Not looking fwd to filling in some holes like AYAMW cos from what I can tell there are some really shit Fall LPs lately .....

Dammit, not again!!!!

AYAMW is great.

I do finally have pretty much all the studio stuff, inc. singles, etc. I do NOT have World Bewitched yet and do plan to get that. I have a couple Receiver comps and a host of live stuff, the Middles' book and some boots but I don't see how I can try to get ahold of or track down many of their live shows in trading circulation. I just can't see how. I don't even have Interim yet...and then there are the damned DVDs...PBL/Bis/Live at Leeds is up there on my list...