Fall Heads Roll [Digipak]

Performer: The Fall
Engineer: Alex; Billy
Producer: Mark E. Smith; Simon Archer; Tim Gracielands
Distributor: NAIL Distribution

Notes: The Fall: Mark E. Smith (vocals); Ben Pritchard (guitar); Dingo (banjo); Eleni Poulou (synthesizer); Steve Trafford (bass instrument); Spencer Birtwhistle (drums). Having exorcised enough bile for two bands on their rickety release Interim, the Fall loosen up their attitude, tighten up their delivery, and squeeze out a rocking album that relies heavily on its highlights. Fortunately, there's plenty, most hitting with the thwack of the "Sparta FC" single or the Light User Syndrome album. "Pacifying Joint" is a punchy exercise in hooks and sheen, "What About Us" is snide Mancabilly of the highest order, and "Blindness" hypnotizes and chugs its way into the Top 25 original Fall tracks ever. Flashiest of the lot has to be a soaring cover of the Move's hippy anthem "I Can Hear the Grass Grow," a raucous singalong adaptation that brings sweet reminders of the group's take on the Kinks' "Victoria." Bringing up the second line are the usual brainy meanders like "Bo Demmick" and "Youwanner," plus the hip-shaking rave-up "Clasp Hands." Less ambitious songs and quirky numbers like the country-bumpkin reggae "Ride Away" and the lazy, acoustic "Early Days of Channel F�hrer" round out the album well, but some B-side-worthy leftovers tacked onto the end keep this from being Dragnet -- or Country on the Click, for that matter. Instead of just stealing the riff, "Breaking the Rules" would do better if it actually turned into "Walk Like a Man" and the Mark E. Smith-less "Trust in Me" is a fair Placebo-meets-Comsat Angels track that's horribly out of place here. Vocalist/Fall czar Smith is writing and singing with plenty of purpose up to this point, and if you hack off the misguided finish, Fall Heads Roll proves they can still live up to their legend. ~ David Jeffries The official studio follow-up to THE REAL NEW FALL LP, 2005's FALL HEADS ROLL finds the long-running, ever-shifting UK post-punks releasing yet another fine album of jagged musical vitriol. Surly mastermind Mark E. Smith leads his troops through a largely aggressive set that includes the buzzing, synth-laden "Pacifying Joint" and, continuing the Fall's tradition of fine cover tunes, a punchy, streamlined rendition of the Move's "I Can Hear the Grass Grow." Although Smith's bizarre lyrics and distinctive, half-spoken shout are most obviously suited for rocked-out songs, the notorious singer seems as comfortable with the light, melodic "Midnight Aspen" as the relentless, rumbling "Blindness." While many of the Fall's late-1970s peers (Gang of Four and Wire among them) garnered attention with early-21st-century reunions, Smith has stuck to his brilliantly demented vision throughout the decades. FALL HEADS ROLL, while perhaps not as landmark as LIVE AT THE WITCH TRIALS or THIS NATION'S SAVING GRACE, serves as one more excellent addition to the group's extensive catalog.

Magnet (p.96) - "Smith slips in front of FALL HEADS ROLL's buzzy synthesizers and actively ardent guitars with his usual sneering bile." The Wire (p.56) - "Lean, charged, unfussy and deceptive. It's harder than it looks to make simplicity sound this satisfying." Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 - "The album's threads gather to form memorable intangibilities and accusations, whose mystery hangs together on repeated playing."

A crucial inspiration to several generations of bands, the Fall virtually defined the late-1970s UK post-punk sound. Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith's sung/spoken rants may owe more to beat poetry than rock & roll, but his sociopolitical iconoclasm and the band's angular, cutting riffs and rhythms placed them squarely at the forefront of Britain's first major post-Pistols musical movement. In the '80s, their rough, guitar-based sounded expanded with the introduction of keyboards and more sophisticated production (largely due to the arrival of Smith's wife Brix as a band member), and personnel came and went, but Smith kept his ragtag rock army soldiering on all the way into the 21st century.

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