Trollheart spends time with... The Fall!

[Trollheart]

Sorry. I didn't deliberately set out to hate it, in fact I'm doing my level best to be fair here.

But that was utter shite.

[Trollheart]

Title: The Marshall Suite
Medium: Album
Year: 1999
General opinion: Again, see no evil, speak no evil, possibly. Hear no evil? Depends.
Trollheart Falls in: I shudder a little when I read this album "builds on the techno-influenced beats of its predecessor", which is not good news for me, as I rated that album the lowest yet. Somehow I don't think this is going to be an easy ride for me. It starts off encouragingly though, with a straight-ahead rocker in "Touch Sensitive", which sounds weirdly familiar to me. Those "Ah! Oh!" backing chants - I'm sure I've heard them before. This is essentially a whole new band, with only MES and Julia Nagle remaining, new members recruited to replace those he fired after the last one. Is that going to be a good or a bad thing? Well, if they could get away from the obsession with techno, I'd say good, but the Wiki page refutes that, so I guess we'll see. This is a decent, boppy, uptempo, crowd-raising number though, and does give me hope. Will that hope soon be dashed? Maybe. We'll see. "F-Oldin' Money" seems to be an old rock cover, good punchy guitar in it and MES can be said to be singing, not bad but as I say it's a cover, and right I see now why the opener sounded familiar to me: it was used in a TV ad.  A Fall song in an ad? Has the world gone (m)ad?

I see there are no less than three covers on this, which to my mind is never good, though apparently this second track is described by Smithy as "half a cover", so maybe it's nothing like the original. I wouldn't know. After that we have the very weird "Shake-off" (years before Taylor Swift) with a kind of dark doomy synth and Mark singing in a low tone before it breaks out on mostly percussion as he rants on. It is, as I said a moment ago, weird, and the first track on the album on which all or most of the new guys have a hand in writing. Sounds like there's some sort of scratching going on there too?

It's followed by the second cover, "Bound", which keeps the tempo high and brings in a fair bit of squealy keys, sort of a new wave idea and yeah it's not bad; gets a bit frenetic and mad near the end. I don't hate this so far anyway. The third cover is next, an old punk song apparently called "This Perfect Day" (presumably not to mixed up with the chart-topping charity song of similar title). It's very dense and muddy; not sure if that's the production or what, but it seems to have everything low down in the mix. Meh.Well at least that's us done with covers, so everything else should be original Fall material, and the first of these is "(Jung Nev's) Antidotes", opening on another big boomy synth line with a rising wailing guitar riff slicing through it, and this too is very dense, sounds piled up on top of each other as MES shouts against the music. Not a fan of this now at all, have to say. "Inevitable" is much better, with a strong almost acoustic guitar and what might be the return of the kazoo? Good throaty bass line keeping it together, and I would cautiously say that so far I haven't seen much of the techno-beats referred to and which characterised (read, ruined) the last album. Fingers crossed anyway. "Anecdotes + Antidotes in B#" is a good rock track, driving everything along nicely, then "Early Life of Crying Marshall" is fifty seconds of, well, nothing really: some sounds, effects, an odd riff, just nonsense, and it leads into "The Crying Marshall" itself, the figure upon whom, it is said, the album is based and who gives it its title (though I'd hardly call this a suite). It's not a lot better, and is I fear where the fucking poxy techno raises its thrice-cursed head again, but if it's an isolated incident I can take that. There are, anyway, only three tracks left. If that's a keyboard or a talkbox or whatever, it sounds like someone shouldn't have had beans before going into the studio!

Of those last three tracks, then, "Birthday Song", the only other one on which just Smith and Julia Nagle collaborate, is basically a ballad. No other way to describe it. And quite good too, with slow handclap beats and a mournful synthesiser line, but "Mad. Men-Eng.Dog" (presumably a play on the line "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun") is quite the mess, just a jumbled heap of percussion and MES talking against another backing vocal, as such, crooning in the background, while disappointingly, the closer, "On My Own", is nothing more than a reworking of the last album's "Everybody but Myself", so not much to say about that.

Nevertheless, given the "warning" at the start, nowhere near as techno as I had expected, and while still not really up to the standard of the better Fall albums, I suppose you have to remember this was a band which had Fall(en) - heh! Sorry - apart and was being hastily cobbled back together by Mark and Julia, so in that sense I guess I can't be too harsh on it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Trollheart vs The Fall
Trollheart: 4
The Fall: 20
Current score: Trollheart 4 - 20 The Fall

[Trollheart]

Title: The Unutterable
Medium: Album
Year: 2000
General opinion: The Guardian described it as a "career peak" while NME gushed that this is as vital and relevant as The Fall have sounded for a considerable length of time
Trollheart Falls in: And so we break a new millennium in with The Fall, this being, believe it or not (I don't) the twenty-first of their albums I have listened to. Perhaps apt, given that it's the first of the 21st century. It's also quite long, at 15 tracks, so let's get into the meat, as we say here. Very harsh opening, like a savage dog tearing at the leg of your jeans as you unsuspectingly walk through the gate, then "Cyber Insekt" is driven very much on synth, with rattling drums pulling it along at quite a pace. Good backing vocals from Julia, or is it some Japanese bird? Certainly sounds very foreign, so to speak, and there's a mention, so maybe. I guess you'd have to say The Fall were definitely moving with the times here, creating a new sound for themselves to usher in the new millennium. Sure does sound different. "Two Librans" relies much more on the old dependable guitar, almost metal or punk at times, very powerful riffs, very in your face, and completely different to the opener. The big snarling bass line is back, which is good to see.

Back to synth then for "W.B." with a nice slow lazy guitar line complementing the keys, a much slower, more relaxed song this time, then things speed up for "Sons of Temperance" which is pretty frenetic, and quite a lot of fun really. Oh, then it sort of falls into a kind of swinging beat, with spacy keyboard runs and ringing guitar, also a kind of sitar sound. With a pounding, ringing drumbeat and grinding guitar, "Dr. Buck's Letter" has a certain tribalism about it I feel , though it's a bit too long for what's in it, then an ambulance siren starts "Hot Runes" off, giving way to a jaunty guitar line, MES coming the closest he has on this album to singing. Very catchy, this one. A shimmery synth line runs through "Way Round", another one sounding like something out of OMD perhaps, might be some feedback guitar in there too.

"Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun" is just, well, weird. Starts off with I presume the band introducing themselves, then MES talks in rhythm behind nothing more than very thin percussion, sounds like he's in a small room with metal walls. Then the percussion gets much heavier and I guess the second part of the song begins, and it's a whole lot better, very tuneful and almost laid-back in its way. This is the longest track on the album, at just over five and a half minutes, and for once, there's enough in there for it to be. Good backing vocals and even MES has a stab at singing instead of talking. Kind of. "Serum" is pretty dense, a sort of ominous riff running through it, powerful buzzy drums and a deep synth roar, while for the title track it sounds like Mark is doing some ironmongery or rolling barrels into the pub (probably the latter) and talking at the same time. "Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes" has a very lounge/cabaret feel, with jazzy piano, horns and a finger-clicking beat. Definitely either emulating or slagging off someone or something here, I think. Flutes too, for the love of Nick Cave!

Really enjoyed that, and it shows MES can sing when he wants to. Sure, it was probably a joke but I still liked it. Back to the raucous punk rock styles with "Hands Up Billy", in case anyone gets any ideas, MES in full flight here, scowling down the mike with no doubt madness in his eyes, or something, but I'm not quite sure what to make of "Midwatch 1953", with MES drawling the title very slowly over what appear to be video-game sounds with possible attendant strings? The tune speeds up then slows down, then speeds up again. "Devolute" comes probably the closest to shoe-horning in those techno beats, but it's just basically a burbling synth with confused conversation behind it, could be MES multi-tracked or echoed or something, and we close on "Das Katerer", which seems to be a confused mess of honking synth, tapping drums and birdsong, then develops into a trance-style dance beat and MES half-singing the vocal. Funny that it's the most techno-ish track here and yet I kind of like it.

Very much a better album than the previous-but-one, and better than the previous. The future would appear to be bright for The Fall in the 21st century. Except, of course, it wasn't really, as MES passed away in 2018 sadly. Still, he racked out a good lot more albums before then. I feel it's likely I may only get to hear three or four more though, as it's getting closer to Christmas Day. Do what I can though.

Rating: 7.9/10

Trollheart vs The Fall
Trollheart: 4
The Fall: 21
Current score: Trollheart 4 - 21 The Fall

[SGR]

Levitate is probably my favorite 90s Fall record - so unique, different, and boundary-breaking for the band. It came out of tumult and chaos though - and it shows. The Marshall Suite is a great record, though it's not exactly among their best. The Unutterable is a critical darling, and yet, I find it to be among their most overrated records. I think 3 or 4 tracks should've been trimmed and the record would be better off for it.

[Trollheart]

Since it seems likely I'll at best get another three, possibly four albums done before I head to my sister's for Christmas, likely returning after the new year, if there are albums you would rather I did before I finish, rather than doing the next ones in order, let me know. Otherwise I'll just keep going through the list as it is.

[SGR]

Since it seems likely I'll at best get another three, possibly four albums done before I head to my sister's for Christmas, likely returning after the new year, if there are albums you would rather I did before I finish, rather than doing the next ones in order, let me know. Otherwise I'll just keep going through the list as it is.

No need to overcomplicate things, I like seeing you cover them chronologically. 

[Trollheart]

It's not a case of complicating things: I have at best four, but probably three days left before I head. I won't be back, in all likelihood, till after NYD, and this is to run a month, so that means I'll be moving on. So if there are other albums you think I should listen to as my final ones in this project, let me know. Other than that, I'll do the next 3/4 and that will be it.

[SGR]

It's not a case of complicating things: I have at best four, but probably three days left before I head. I won't be back, in all likelihood, till after NYD, and this is to run a month, so that means I'll be moving on. So if there are other albums you think I should listen to as my final ones in this project, let me know. Other than that, I'll do the next 3/4 and that will be it.

Ah okay, I gotcha - alright, in that case, I'd offer the following four:

The Real New Fall LP: Formerly 'Country on the Click'
Fall Heads Roll
Imperial Wax Solvent
Re-mit

These are probably the 'best of what's left.'

[Trollheart]

Grand. I'll start listening to that first one now; review should be up later tonight (1830 here now). Thanks.

[Trollheart]

Title: The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
Medium: Album
Year: 2003
General opinion: Pitchfork called it "as valuable an album as anything The Fall ever released in the 1990s" and stated that "Smith's lyrics are at a near career-best of insolence and nonsense. Allmusic agreed, stating that the album "gives the faithful another reason to believe". New to the fold Expressen said MES "grinds and spits on everything that moves. Sometimes it's completely incomprehensible, sometimes insanely entertaining", Uncut said it was "Great by Smith's standards. Practically genius by everybody else's." and PopMatters declared it "their best record in a decade".
Trollheart Falls in: Apparently the album was ready to go earlier than the release date, but Mark was none too happy with the mix, and so had to do it again, hence the double title, the latter of which was to have been the original one. It says here. There's a more cohesive sound straight away as "Green-eyed Loco Man" starts us off, some fine guitar riffs and a synth backing, then it goes into some sort of echoey weird thing, not quite sure what that is, and comes back. Hmm. It seems Julia Nagle, possibly the saviour of the band after Smith had fired everyone, is gone now, and replaced by Elena Poulou, who has no input into the writing. Whether that's her choice or not I don't know. "Mountain Energei", despite its (misspelled) title, is quite lacking in energy, very laconic and lazy, nice bass line but it just sort of meanders along, while "Theme from Sparta F.C." has that kind of Tv spy show feel to it, riding along on a sharp guitar line, kicking up the tempo again, features an exuberant chanting section.

Things go a bit wild then for "Contraflow", which certainly punks things up, flying along at breakneck speed, with the main lyric seemingly being MES grating about how much he hates the contraflow. Is that a traffic system? Think it might be. It's a pretty catchy tune, I'll say that for it. The very strange "Last Commands of Xyralothep via MES" features bouncing drumming and some sort of called exchange between MES and I presume Elena, riding along a hard guitar edge which is just this side of metal and keeps the tempo high, some fine harsh organ blending with the guitar and giving it almost a panicked feel, while "Open the Boxoctosis #2" keeps the guitar riffs going, punching along and with a nice humming bass line. MES is quite low-key on the vocal here, "Janet,  Johnny + James" slides along on a repetitive guitar motif, and he won't thank me for it but it brings to mind Lloyd Cole and the Commotions to me. Sorry Mark. Quite like this one.

A powerful keyboard run opens "The Past #2" with a screaming, warbly guitar accompanying it and MES at his most snarly on the vocal, some great stabs of organ from Elena punctuating the track. The only cover on the album, "Loop 41 (Houston)" doesn't do anything for me at all. Actually, I changed my mind: it's a cool lazy little blues track, not bad. Things get back to more or less normal with "Mike's Love Xexagon", a powerful rock guitar (though not 101) driving the tune in a sort of almost industrial manner, good backing vocals from the band, then a thick busy bass line drives "Proteinprotection" while Mark rants on about, well, something. Love the pounding guitar riff in this. Speaking of guitar, it's loud feedback that kicks off the closer, "Recovery Kit" also benefiting from some very new wave style synth and a bouncing bass line, probably the closest this album comes to techno, but I like it.

Rating: 7.8/10

Trollheart vs The Fall
Trollheart: 4
The Fall: 22
Current score: Trollheart 4 - 22 The Fall

[Trollheart]

Title: Fall Heads Roll
Medium: Album
Year: 2005
General opinion: Positive again. Pitchfork called it "a grab-bag of a Fall album with brilliant highs and scattered lows". PopMatters said "Fall Heads Roll resounds with the same kind of incongruous charm that ingratiated newcomers with The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall or The Unutterable". While The New Zealand Herald (um, what?) saw it as "back to their raw, punchy and rocky best". Allmusic were more cautious, describing it as "a rocking album that relies heavily on its highlights" and the venerable old BBC said of Mark that  "Sometimes he's as sharp as a needle, sometimes he's incomprehensible."
Trollheart Falls in: Seems to be the longest gap between Fall albums so far, four years. Is that a good or a bad thing? Another long one, anyway, with 14 tracks, so we had better get to it. Hmm. For the first time, when I look for a playlist I get only one, and it's four tracks short. So I'll have to try to source the others separately. Okay I cannot find "Ride Away", the opening track, so the next one I can get is "Pacifying Joint" (which I assume has nothing to do with carpentry being relaxing) and drives along nicely on a thick guitar riff, sort of a triple punch in the chords. Ah, you know if you know the song. Good backing vocals from Elena here. "What About Us" has that punchy, driving rock, almost metal guitar and flies along at a good pace, almost a song you could headbang to, and in fact I'd go so far as to say one of the best Fall songs I've heard. "Midnight in Aspen" is much more laid-back in comparison, slow to mid-paced with a lovely little chingling guitar riff that wouldn't be out of place on for instance an album by Big Big Train maybe. Very nice. The closest The Fall have come, I would think, to doing a "normal" rock/pop song. Really excellent. Very impressed. Some talking with reverb to open "Assume" (another track I had to look for separately, thanks a fucking bunch!) with a guitar riff that sounds like a siren, "Aspen (Reprise)" is, well, a reprise of the previous song. Not that I don't love it, but if I'm honest I can't see the need for it.

A thick synth and punching slow drums bring in "Blindness" with a snarling, harsh guitar riff cutting into the tune and almost industrial rock style percussion pulling the melody along. Very dense and almost claustrophobic in its way, it has a sort of hypnotic, repeating motif somewhat like a drone to some extent, also gives me the idea of some sort of eastern or Indian instrument being used. Very good again, and it's followed by another of those damned covers, this being The Move's "I Can Hear the Grass Grow". The Fall must be a band who put the most covers on their albums; almost every one of them has at least one, and some have two or three. Could do without them. Much better is "Bo Demmick", which is again dense and layered, mesmerising and appears possibly to be that most rare of animals, a Fall instrumental. Ah, no, it's not: Mark just took a long time to come in with the vocal. This song pretty much lives or dies on its exuberant bass line, lovely.

"Youwanner" gets us back to uptempo, in your face rock and punk, hammering along nicely. One thing I do notice about these songs is that none of them are, for want of another word, "weird", none of them flag and they all follow a very basic melody, which is not always true of Fall songs. "Clasp Hands" is just a really fun uptempo song with a peppy guitar riff driving it and superb bass line ending it, slowing down to nothing. The last three tracks aren't on my playlist, so I have to go looking for them. "Early Days of Channel Fuhrer" has a nice swinging almost folk beat to it, the guitar sounding like it might be acoustic, though it may not. Very relaxed. There hasn't been anything on this album I haven't liked, so far, and we have only two tracks left to go, assuming I can get them both. "Breaking the Rules" sounds like something Springsteen might have recorded (minus MES's vocal of course) and is uptempo and breezy, while the closer (yes I got them all in the end, bar the first one) "Trust in Me" has a great rocky guitar which sort of builds up and is the perfect closer.

Really quite surprised. Usually there's at least one song I don't like or have a problem with. Cover versions apart, that's not the case here. I'd have to double down on what I said earlier: best Fall album I've listened to yet!

Rating: 9.6/10

Trollheart vs The Fall
Trollheart: 4
The Fall: 23
Current score: Trollheart 4 - 23 The Fall

[Trollheart]

Title: Imperial Wax Solvent
Medium: Album
Year: 2008
General opinion: No quotes, but I'm told it was well-received.
Trollheart Falls in: This, then, will be the last Fall album I sample. Though there are still six days left in the month (and the year) I head out to my sister's house tomorrow for the rest of the Christmas, and don't expect to be back till New Year's Day, so that will be the end of my adventures in the wonderful and frightening world of some band whose name escapes me. The previous album I listened to turned out to be the one I have so far rated the highest; hopefully this will not be a comedown. It gets going anyway on "Alton Towers", presumably referencing the theme park with the big scary rollercoasters, and it's a slow, almost free-form jazz tune that has a very wandering feel about it, not what I would have expected really, but then, who knows what to expect with these guys? The spooky keyboard synth sound fits in well with the theme, but it's about the only thing that does, and those fucking horns are doing my head in. No; don't like this one at all. With a wolf howl we launch into the much more upbeat and punky "Wolf Kidult Man" (I assume "kidult" is a portmanteau of kid and adult?) which drives along nicely on sharp guitar and is much better. I love the riff running through this, though I have to say my eyes widen, and so possibly do my bowels as I note the runtime of the next track!

"50 Year Old Man" stretches for a Falltastic eleven minutes, which is far and away the longest of their tracks I have ever endured, I mean, listened to. It opens pretty energetically anyway, which helps, that thick busy bass line in command, but is it going to be a case of a very repetitive song just being dragged out for no reason? Well, perhaps not. About 4 minutes in it changes completely to a country jamboree complete with banjo, which is actually really nice, some kazoo or maybe harmonica and a fair bit of laughter before it picks up again on electric guitar and (sigh) goes back to the old refrain that has been running through it up to now. The ninth minute sees the rhythm section take it as the bass and drums kind of solo, then it changes slightly to a more brash, upfront kind of rhythm on the guitar, but no, overall I'd have to say this is a bloated monster that does not need to be this long, and I don't know why it is.

Most of the remaining tracks are, to be fair, quite short, other than one, and "I've Been Duped" runs for barely three minutes, but for my money is a far better song than the previous behemoth. Also features Elena on vocals, which is something new, though honestly I can't say she's a revelation, and it might be better if she was kept away from the mike after this. She just doesn't have any personality on vocals, and I don't know why they (presumably MES) decided to give her a shot. Anyway, that other track that's long is a cover - yes, another one, and another by The Groundhogs. It's almost a relief to hear Mark drawling the vocal after Elena's effort , but I really don't see the point of fucking covering every sixties song they can lay their hands on. Still, that's The Fall for you I guess. Pass.

Written solo by Elena, it's no real surprise that "Taurig" is a) an instrumental (one of the few Fall ones) and b) constructed almost entirely around a keyboard and synth melody. Not bad, but meh, nothing special. On then to "Can Can Summer" (subtitle, ever happen in Ireland?) which is okay, clever and upbeat with a pretty infectious rhythm and some fine keys, while "Tommy Shooter" initially sounds like some kid playing a toy keyboard, then grinds up with a metal-style guitar, "Latch Key Kid" has some interesting brassy keys and trips along nicely, but overall I'm finding this something of a disappointment compared to the last album. Still waiting to be impressed.

A lot of punk energy in "Is This New?" but sadly, it's not, and I've heard this sort of thing before and it doesn't do anything for me. The stop/start guitar is mildly interesting, but The Fall can do a lot better than this, surely? "Senior Twilight Stock Replacer" is pretty generic at this stage, and the album then ends on the interestingly-titled (especially for Christmas) "Exploding Chimney", which fails to live up to my expectations, as does this album, sadly.

Rating: 6.5/10

Trollheart vs The Fall
Trollheart: 4
The Fall: 24
Current score: Trollheart 4 - 24 The Fall

[Trollheart]

Trollheart's final word:

Whether I mixed them up with another band or just misremembered the little I had heard from The Fall, this is not the band I had expected. I had the idea in my mind that they did a lot of experimental noisy stuff, feedback and tape recordings and birdsong and that sort of thing, and while there is some of that on some of the albums, mostly it's kind of basic in one way: MES's method of singing, to use the word in its widest interpretation, is without question unique and very different, but behind all that is a relatively listenable post-punk band, and I'm sure if I delved into the lyrics, had I time, I would discover that Smith was quite a genius.

But I must move on, so I'll just say that while this project in no way made me a fan of the band, and while I sincerely doubt there are any of their albums I would listen to for pleasure, it did give me a better understanding of their music - in, admittedly, the limited time I had to appreciate that - and I would not be quite so dismissive of them in future. There won't be a place in Trollheart's Music Library under F for The Fall, by any means, but i can now point to a few tracks, even the odd album that I can say, yeah, I listened to that and you know what? It wasn't so bad.

Best I can do. Not a fan, but I no longer hate them. Did I consider it a struggle, the last month? At times, yes. This does also have to take into account the fact that I was doing so much else, including my mammoth Christmas thread, but even so, had it been just listening to one album a day and nothing else I still think it would have worn on me, and there was no time at which I could have said I was looking forward to the next album, but I think it's fair to say I got not to quite dread them as I had thought I would.

The final score tells the story more succinctly than I ever could: Trollheart 4, The Fall 24.

[SGR]

Trolls, thanks so much for doing this! I appreciate your effort and I had a lot of fun reading your thoughts on each record on your journey! 

The beautiful thing about The Fall is how different everyone hears/appreciates their records. Fall Heads Roll for example appeared to be your favorite Fall record, but it probably wouldn't even crack my top 10.

You're a trooper Trolls, hats off to you!

[Trollheart]

Not at all. I always like to try to push myself out of the old comfort zone, and I was glad I got to finish it (in so far as I could, given the Christmas and all) and can now appreciate the band a lot more. Will I feel the same after listening to 14 Korn albums? Head there to find out!