The Fall in the Sun!, 3rd in box set of the year

The Sun has put the Fall 3rd in their box set of the year.

Who has released a better box set than the Fall this year I hear you cry.

Number 2 is The Eurythmics and number one is of course Chris Rea

It was all looking so good , and then they have to spoil it with the 1 and 2

What was at 4 and 5? I dread to think.

I quite like the idea that, based on this information and because her middle of the road mum has already got everything by The Eurythmics and Chris Rea, little darling daughter Suzie goes to her local record shop and buys her mum The Peel Set for Xmas.

Chris Rea ? I feel sick....

Thanks for the heads up. colinham - have added to Fall News along with altfish's scary, but eminently feasible, suggestion

I just received my copy of the box set yesterday. I am loving it. Taking as the basis of the next comment Mr Smith's line in an early session "everybody wants to love big firms" (or something), I got the set for only 18.99 of your english pounds from HMV on line. At just over 3 quid a disc and a free booklet, not bad value at all. Now must look up the cost of Chris Rea box set...

Beware - Talk Talk is cheap...

Interestingly, Chris Rea is an anagram of Rich Arse

2005. The year of The Fall v Frank Skinner v The Sun.

2006. MES stars in 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here (Yer Fuk)'!!

2007. MES stars as the Child Catcher, in the west end production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

2008. Sir Mark Edward Smith. (Services to music and Holstien Pils.)

Time for a Peel sessions ad in the Sun? "Voted the Sun's #3 box set of 2005"? Worrying thing is, it could work.

The Metro in Glasgow did a box sessions round-up last week as well, and I'm pretty sure they rated the Peel Sessions set the best. The other two they covered were by Abba and the Eurythmics, if I remember right.

And the only two songs I can think of by him are 'Road To Hell' and 'Drivin' Home For Christmas'. Maybe he could amalgamate the two, or else just do a medley.

How many Fall Fans are also Sun Readers?

If I'd known that I would've left the Peel sessions and gone for Chris Rea instead... and it's too late to add it ot my Xmas list.

This isn't the first time The Fall have appeared in The Sun (or maybe it was The Mirror, but it was definitely one of the two). Said tabloid rated the ten most important musical moments on TV, and The Fall (their appearance on that Tony Wilson show ('78?)) came in at number 8, IIRC. I think I still have the clipping somewhere.

If you can find it that would be cool - someone else has sent in the infamous Striker cartoon from 1986 featuring a guest appearance by Grotesque - added to Fall News

I'll get looking!

That's so weird. I guess Peter Nash wrote that, any idea if he was a Fall fan or friend of the band?

Hhmm...Eurythmics ?? Annie Lennox !
Reminds me when I used to fancy girls with short hair !

I don't mind if somebody would give me that Eurythmics set for X'mas !!

Thank God fo rthat, if the Sun thouht the Fall were the best this year, then my world would begin to make slightly less sense.
A feeling of comfort and order remains.

I have to admit mine's suffered from this.

No scan?

Well, here's the text of the article:

Sun, Dec 16 2005

"The Blues Brothers"
by Simon Cosyns

"1 CHRIS REA Blue Guitars

CHRIS REA has been on his own road to hell...and back.

The multi-million album selling singer/guitarist was so ill with cancer at the turn of the Millennium that doctors gave him only a 50-50 chance of surviving.

He beat the odds. But the brush with death focused his mind on the things he loves -music and painting.

Known for his easy, almost cheesy soft rock, he returned with a couple of acclaimed blues-based albums, illustrated by his own cover art.

They marked the start of a journey that led to one of the most extraordinary projects in contemporary music.

And here it is. Blue Guitars, 130 new Rea songs over 11 CDs, presented in a beautiful book of his paintings. A true labour of love.

Each CD is themed to represent the global impact of the blues, exploring how it became the backbone of many genres. For instance, we get country blues, gospel soul blues, Memphis blues, 60s/70s blues, Celtic blues, Latin blues and so on.

Chris explains: "Blue Guitars is something I have loved to create.

"It has been 18 months, seven days a week, 12 hours a day in the making and I enjoyed every second of it. The research, the recording, the writing has inspired me and I hope the enjoyment and fun I have had comes across. Although inspired by the blues, this is not a series of albums that is meant to educate.

"This is a collection of songs that, even if you've never thought of the blues as being close to your heart, you can still enjoy because the roots of Motown right through to metal have roots somewhere in the blues."

Each disc is a testament to Chris's exemplary guitar playing and that distinctive, weathered voice. And yet the music isn't everything.

Clearly for Rea, his painting is of equal importance.

The book features depictions of his beloved guitars, each one reflecting the various musical settings he has chosen for the CDs.

There's also a captivating DVD of his Dancing Down The Stony Road album.

The good news is that Chris is not making Blue Guitars prohibitively expensive.

Mostly it sells for £39.99 but you can get it for £29.99 on Amazon.

This set has given a fine artist a new lease of life. A stunning achievement. CS

THE next best 10 boxsets are:

EURYTHMICS -Boxed (8 CD complete recordings)

THE FALL -The Complete Peel Sessions (6 CDs)

THE BAND -A Musical History (5 CDs + 1 DVD)

RAY CHARLES -Pure Genius (Complete Atlantic Recordings 1952-1960, 7 CDs + 1 DVD)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -Born To Run (30th Anniversary Edition, 2 DVDs + 1 CD)

ABBA: The Complete Studio Recordings (9 CDs + 2 DVDs)

STRANGELY STRANGE AND ODDLY NORMAL (An Island Anthology 1967-1972, 3 CDs)

BILLY JOEL -My Lives (4 CDs + 1 DVD)

ROD STEWART -The Great American Songbook Collection (4 CDs + 1 DVD)

JOHNNY CASH -The Legend (4 CDs)"

I think I'd rather have come in at 9 or 10.

I'm not that fussed with Chris Rea, and over-exposure during the Blues explosion of the 80's has meant that I can quite cheerfully go through life without ever hearing another blues record. However, this does sound like a worthwhile album if you are into that sort of thing, and full credit to him if he has done it in the aftermath of cancer.

Pleased to see the Fall beat such over-hyped luminaries as Rod Stewart, Abba, and Bruce Springsteen. The Fall must be the only band on that list that no-one has ever heard of, and it came in at number 3. I'd say that it was quite an acheivement, but it is obviously the best box set there by miles, so the impressive position was deserved.