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koganbotWas just reading Kat Stevens's One Week One Band on The Fall and playing for Clare "Container Drivers" from the 1980 Peel Sessions. Clare said, "This is a lot more fun than Malcolm McLaren."
Of course it is fun. ALL Fall is fun, among many other things. There's always something bouncy or at least rollicking in the sound — rollicking sarcasm, often enough, I NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE, but rollicking nonetheless. The fun is being strenuously punched back into its dough container, but that's fun too, on the days when pushback is your flavor of fun.
Two years ago Clare and I were reading murder mysteries to each other, Rex Stout and Raymond Chandler. "Raymond Chandler is a much more generous writer," Clare said. She's way right about Chandler being a generous writer, though I hadn't thought to think it. Stout's in his light and delightfully bickering world, but it's not the world so it's way underpopulated. Chandler's in our world and his fierce eye records details and details, all the stucco, the stucco upon stucco in 57 varieties, items I'd never noticed, the ragged plants, the dirt, the driveways, desiccated apartments and apartments that are too plush, punks trying to comb their blond hair back.
"The members were devoted readers," says Wikipedia, "with Smith citing H.P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler, and Malcolm Lowry among his favourite writers."
Of course it is fun. ALL Fall is fun, among many other things. There's always something bouncy or at least rollicking in the sound — rollicking sarcasm, often enough, I NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE, but rollicking nonetheless. The fun is being strenuously punched back into its dough container, but that's fun too, on the days when pushback is your flavor of fun.
Two years ago Clare and I were reading murder mysteries to each other, Rex Stout and Raymond Chandler. "Raymond Chandler is a much more generous writer," Clare said. She's way right about Chandler being a generous writer, though I hadn't thought to think it. Stout's in his light and delightfully bickering world, but it's not the world so it's way underpopulated. Chandler's in our world and his fierce eye records details and details, all the stucco, the stucco upon stucco in 57 varieties, items I'd never noticed, the ragged plants, the dirt, the driveways, desiccated apartments and apartments that are too plush, punks trying to comb their blond hair back.
"The members were devoted readers," says Wikipedia, "with Smith citing H.P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler, and Malcolm Lowry among his favourite writers."
Hey there, fuckface!
Date: 2018-01-28 01:11 pm (UTC)And yes, but they kept looking.
I have a much better sense of Chandler than of the Fall; Hex Enduction Hour seemed like a big breakthrough in 1981, the Fall's best, their listening deeper into Dylan and the Velvets and recognizing that there're soul beats in there to use and investigate. And then for reasons I haven't explored enough I pretty much stopped paying attention, despite being in a band that partially derived from the Fall. A bit of the reason was that the beat investigation never actually came, not from them. In 1979 I'd heard Spoonie Gee, and that seemed like the future. I must've wondered how much more liquid I was going to get out of the Fall's same old rock, or by hurling myself against their knotty words (or brick and mortar or whatever they are). So you'll have to get someone else to guide you through the full stalactite and stalagmite of their work. Tom's got a few suggestions.
In the meantime, the third embed above, "Various Times," has Smith before his voice settled on scathing: hurt, idealistic, angry. But not settled. And HP Baxxter of Scooter used similar vocal mannerisms to not go anywhere near scathing; also found at least one other beat.
Re: Hey there, fuckface!
Date: 2018-01-28 09:28 pm (UTC)(also gotta admit the passing thought, "...more fun than Malcolm McLaren" seems like a low bar to clear.)
Re: Hey there, fuckface!
Date: 2018-01-30 12:50 pm (UTC)--Um, it's probably not at all obvious that I'm being metaphoric here: that is, I'm not assuming that Hanley, Riley, Scanlon, Smith etc. were consciously relistening to Dylan and the Velvet Underground and going, "Oh, look, those beats in 'What Goes On' aren't that distant from 'You Can't Hurry Love' and 'I'm Ready For Love.'" Those guys are likely just coming up with whatever beats work for them. But the Fall are sounding a bit more like Martha & The Vandellas than they had sounded previously, and the Fall's models had been drawing on such stuff back in the day too.
Also don't know if Smith et al. had ever copped to the obvious similarity to/derivation from Dylan. I vaguely remember an old interview where Mark E. Smith is being nothing but scathing about Dylan, and not insightfully so. (Yes, "I vaguely remember" is not good citation or support. Sorry that I'm not better read here.)
no subject
Date: 2018-01-28 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-28 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-30 12:31 pm (UTC)