FAKESCH, MICHAEL Marion (Musik Aus Strom / Studio K7) cd 16.98
Swathed in stealthy Designer's Republic packaging, Michael Fakesch's "Marion" is the first solo album from half of the German electronica duo, Funkstorung. As with most Funkstorung related projects, Fakesch's sound is superficially identical to that of Autechre. Yet, upon closer investigation, "Marion" veers ever so slightly from the archetypal Autechre sound with a bleaker take on the streaming pulse of melodic "electrons" and a more spastic fracturing of the electro breakbeat.

FAKESCH, MICHAEL Marion (Musik Aus Strom / Studio K7) 2lp 19.98
Swathed in stealthy Designer's Republic packaging, Michael Fakesch's "Marion" is the first solo album from half of the German electronica duo, Funkstorung. As with most Funkstorung related projects, Fakesch's sound is superficially identical to that of Autechre. Yet, upon closer investigation, "Marion" veers ever so slightly from the archetypal Autechre sound with a bleaker take on the streaming pulse of melodic "electrons" and a more spastic fracturing of the electro breakbeat.

FAKEYOUROWNDEATH s/t (self-released) cd ep 3.00
New San Francisco band featuring ex-members of Elephone. While they're still in their infancy as a band they have recorded a debut ep, almost like a demo, just to get their music out in the world. And from the sounds of these four songs they're off to a pretty good start. Driving guitar fueled rockers that remind us a bit of folks like Interpol, The Editors and even Afghan Whigs. Will be cool to see what the future holds for them. And super cool that this ep so cheap.
MPEG Stream: "Mouth To Speak"
MPEG Stream: "Few Plus One"

FALCON Die Wontcha (Liquid Flames) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Those of you into obscure '70s heavy rock - or cult '80s metal for that matter - ought to be interested in this new album from the power trio Falcon. It's their second record, following a self titled debut in 2004. That one featured a cover of Bang's "Redman", and also a cameo vocal performance by Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, on a song dedicated to the memory of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott... and that should give you an idea of where Falcon is coming from, in terms of influences/atmosphere. Capturing the spirit of the '70s proto-metal that we dig so much here at AQ too. Bang! Pentagram! 'Lizzy! c'mon!! Some other obvious selling points in Falcon's favor has to do with who's who in the band. They've got Greg Lindstrom from '80s epic doomsters Cirith Ungol on bass and Darin McCloskey of stoner metal act Pale Divine on drums. The third, crucial part of the trio is vocalist/guitarist Perry Grayson, who used to play in a much more technical power metal band called Destiny's End but gave that up to concentrate on his true love (well, next to the weird pulp fiction of H.P. Lovecraft), full on '70s-sounding downer rock. He's one of those guys with the crazy record collection full of vintage vinyl proto-metal platters, trying to bring it all back to life a la Magnus from Witchcraft. And being a badass guitar player with heavy friends makes it look easy, with Falcon now on to their second album, this one, so let's tell y'all some more about it...
Die Wontcha - love the title, love the cover art, which we can only guess was probably lifted from an old issue of Weird Tales or something like that - features ten tracks of groovy, rockin', bellbottomed '70s heaviness worship. Nine are Falcon originals, the tenth a killer cover of "Leader" by Aussie proto-metallers Buffalo (you'll find the original on their 1972 album Dead Forever, the reissue of which is reviewed elsewhere on our site). Since Perry recently relocated from LA to Australia, it's even more appropriate they do a Buffalo song. And boy howdy does it fit in with their own material.
The disc starts off with Lindstrom's lament for Scottish Formula 1 race car driver Jimmy Clark, who died in a tragic crash back in '68. It's totally the sort of thing a band like this back in the '70s would have written... almost a modern-day folk song. Definitely very Thin Lizzyish, with Perry's slightly gruff, deep voiced vocals, melodic minor key guitar leads, and classic, loping, hummable riffage. For those more into fantasy subjects, a couple tracks later Falcon's got "The King Of Elfland's Daughter", inspired by a poem by Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany. It too has a lot of Lizzyish licks...
Everywhere, Falcon's fuzzed out guitar and fat riffs scream '70s, as do the lyrics, Perry dropping lines like "back in the days of yore/hippie to the core" and "hit the stage with heavy rockin' band/tour the world kickin' out the jams/turn the amps up loud/stun the crowd". Yep, that's rock n' roll like they used to do, and Falcon bring it. But maybe the best expression of Falcon's mission is found in the lyrics to the disc's final track, penned by Lindstrom, entitled "Show You All" - which is all about going to a big show by some currently popular so-called rock band and unavoidably thinking they could do much, much better, Perry singing: "I want to jump on stage/and show you how all to play". That's kinda cocky, but we're sure some of you will share Falcon's sentiments, folks we'd recommend this to who also enjoy such quality, ripping n' riffy bands with retro-rawk '70s influences as Witchcraft, Burning Saviours, Bible Of The Devil, Slough Feg, Danava, Drunk Horse, etc... Some tracks, like "No Future" also remind us of the mood created by Wino's old band The Obsessed.
By the way, although we never listed it before, we do have a just a few copies of Falcon's equally rad s/t album in stock as well, the one with the Bobby L. cameo. We figured since we were highlighting this, some folks might want to pick that one up too, so we got some from the band. They're a little cheaper, 'cause the copies we have of that are pro duped cd-rs, not actual cds, FYI. They still have the same cool metallic foil stamped covers of the original cd version, though. And *this* disc is indeed a real cd, not a cd-r.
MPEG Stream: "Jimmy Clark"
MPEG Stream: "Careless"

FALCON s/t (Liquid Flames) cd-r 9.98
1st album from these retro-proto-metal-doomin' throwbacks, featuring guest vocals on one cut by Bobby L. from Pentagram!!! NOTE: the ones we have are cd-rs, not real cds. The packaging is the same as the original cd version, but the band ran out of disc so had cd-rs made to use up the overrun of covers they had on hand...

FALCONER Among Beggars And Thieves (Metal Blade) cd 14.98

FALCONER Chapters From A Vale Forlorn (Metal Blade) cd 15.98
Falconer's self-titled debut from last year was one of the "true metal" sensations around AQ at the time (that is, for Andee and Allan anyway, and I think we're getting Windy into 'em now too). The band's folk-derived melodicism and sheer heavy metal might was an unbeatable combination. This new disc is just as good, with songs that threaten to stick in your head for weeks (you're warned, listen to the sound samples a couple of times and you'll be humming 'em tomorrow). Of course, the folkiness and subject matter of songs like "Enter The Glade", "Lament Of A Minstrel" or "We Sold Our Homesteads" may seem silly to some, but that's ok. We like 'em that way. (The Lord Weird Slough Feg is another good example.) But it's not all Medieval folk-epics. Other songs, like "Busted To The Floor", demonstrate the rockin' Rainbow/Riot side of Falconer, complete with jamming Deep Purplish keyboards. You may recall the guitarist and drummer of Falconer used to be in a Viking black metal band called Mithotyn that we also really liked. They broke up but we're happy Falconer was the result, maintaining Mithotyn's heaviness but upping the melodic content. (Mithotyn fans, note: their sought-after final album, "Gathered Round The Oaken Table", has been reissued and is now back in stock!) The guitarist's riffs are still heavy, and catchier than ever, and their totally-NOT-black-metal vocalist utterly shines. It's not so much his voice itself that gets us, but his style and ability. He's damn good, and (because of his theatrical background) he does stuff other singers wouldn't think of -- there's lots of interesting detail in his vocal arrangements and delivery. He helps make Falconer one of the best 'power metal' bands on the planet. Catchy, heavy, majestic, a bit ridiculous, what more do you want?
RealAudio clip: "The Clarion Call"
RealAudio clip: "Busted To The Floor"

FALCONER Grime Vs. Grandeur (Metal Blade) cd 15.98
No, the title isn't referring to the techno sort of Grime! This is the fourth album from the Swedish power-metal troupe, who if they DJed would certainly play tracks by Metal Church, Yngwie's Rising Force, and Judas Priest, not Dizzee Rascal. If you know who they are, by now you're either a fan of Falconer mainman Stefan Weinerhall's distinctive guitar work and '80s inspired, storm-the-castle-style of metal songsmithery, or this just isn't your sort of thing. But if you haven't heard 'em before and do think you might be interested, we'd suggest checking out one of their other albums, their self-titled debut perhaps, or follow-up Chapters From A Vale Forlorn, before this one. Fans, though, will find that Grime Vs. Grandeur's got all the usual Falconer sing-along theatrics and folky bits. Weinerhall's guitar playing -- his medieval riffs and melodies -- remains individual and recognizable, something quite unusual in a genre that's often so, uh, generic. He's to be applauded for that. The wailing vocalist -- the kind of Euro power-metal belter who can (and does) rhyme "rose" with "overdose" -- isn't so distinctive, but he gets the job done though. Overall, what we've got here is another Falconer album, and you probably know if you need one or not. Cheesy? Definitely, sure. And this could be their cheesiest. But they're still a better band than many in this genre, for some of us (Allan and Andee) quite the guilty pleasure.
MPEG Stream: "Purgatory Time"
MPEG Stream: "Child Of The Wild"

FALCONER Northwind - Limited Edition (Metal Blade) 2cd 19.98
Andee hopped off the Falconer longboat/bus here, but Allan's still along for the Viking power metal ride. With their original, best vocalist back on the mic, it's another folky Falconer opus.

FALCONER s/t (Metal Blade) cd 15.98
Mithotyn, AQ's fave "Viking" black metallers after Enslaved, are sadly gone. Their last album, the magnificent (and silly) "Gathered Round The Oaken Table" was the perfect epic Norse sing-a-long disc, merging blackened-folk-metal riffing with cleanly-sung vocal hooks for some of the funnest, heaviest Viking fantasy toonage we've yet heard. But, their record label (Invasion) went under, and we haven't even been able to stock that now unavailable album for many months now. Sad. But, not all is lost. Mithoyn is dead, but long live Falconer! Guitarist and main composer Stefan Weinerhall, together with another ex-Mithotyn man on drums, have recruited a very capable non-black metal vocalist for this new project. The result is something that they're obviously been striving towards for years: Viking-tinged '80s-style power metal, with only echoes of Weinerhall & Co.'s black metal past. The music is easily as heavy as that of their previous band, but with 100% melodic, soaring vocals (not unlike ex-Candlemass singer Messiah's lower register efforts). And the songwriting is even catchier, more "rock n' roll" -- like a combination of Mithotyn and, say, Maiden or Riot. Waaaay better than most current Euro power-metal troupes, 'cause it's actually POWERFUL. Medieval, folky passages, guitar heroics, majestic singing, righteous metal riffery: for this sort of thing nowadays, you can't go wrong with Falconer. Recommended. (And, we still have Mithotyn's 2nd album, "King Of The Distant Forest", which comes from a darker, blacker point in their career, but is equally brilliant.)
RealAudio clip: "Upon The Grave Of Guilt"
RealAudio clip: "Heresy In Disguise"

FALCONER The Sceptre of Deception (Metal Blade) cd 14.98
Falconer's third is another solid power metal album from the medieval-minded Stefan Weinerhall (ex-Mithotyn) and company. And it's really a more ambitious effort than their others, as it's a concept album based on some rather obscure (to us) history, telling a complex and detailed story of political scheming for the Swedish throne circa 1290! As always, we're big fans of Weinerhall's triumpant songwriting and distinctive heavy metal guitar tone, but just a little disappointed that Falconer now has a new singer. Actually, though, he's not too different from the original guy so I'm sure we'll get used to him.
MPEG Stream: "The Coronation"

FALKNER, JASON Bliss Descending (Wreckchord) cd ep 10.98

FALKNER, JASON Can You Still Feel? (Elektra) cd 15.98
Perfect pop material from this ex-Jellyfish member. For fans of Zumpano, Zombies, Beatles.

FALL A Past Gone Mad: The Best Of The Fall 1990 - 2000 (Artful) cd 30.00
"A Past Gone Mad" attempts to encapsulate the most confusing period of The Fall's history, marked by NME's 'reporting' on the turbulence surrounding Mark E Smith's drunken behavior, all of the sacked drummers, and self-destructing live shows. As a good portion of The Fall records from the '90s have escaped our ears, this is a solid (if painfully expensive) compendium of one of the most uncompromising personalities ever.

FALL Samozalracenie (Temple Of Torturous) cd 10.98

FALL OF SAIGON s/t (Dark Entries) lp 14.98
Another gem from Dark Entries, here's the reissue of the debut ep from the Southern French trio Fall Of Saigon, which featured a young Pascal Comelade, who developed into quite the avant-garde composer in the late '80s continuing strong to this day. A notable collaboration of his was in the Bel Canto Orchestra with aQ favorite Pierre Bastien; but here with Fall Of Saigon, he's working with the chanteuse Florence Berthon and guitarist Thierry Den. Their Spartan songs strut, waltz, and seductively sway along to the steady metronome pulse of a cheap drum machine with plaintive organ and electronic melodies, a smattering of judiciously plucked guitar notes, and Florence's sedate vocals. The band cites both This Heat and The Velvet Underground as influence, with the former inspiring their name; but through their sound, they've earned more than a few comparisons to Young Marble Giants with a couple of tracks that look forward to the hypnotic organ-drum workouts of Fabulous Diamonds, and they certainly deserved every one of those comparisons, as these six songs really make the most of the tiniest of sounds without ever sounding effete or unfinished. Post-punk minimalism of this nature is deceptively hard to pull off, and Fall Of Saigon do it marvelously. This is a very loud cut at 45 rpm, mastered again as with all of the Dark Entries productions by George Horn; and it gets a big thumbs up!

FALL OF THE BASTARDS Dusk Of An Ancient Age (Intolerant Messiah / Snake Eyes) cd 12.98

FALL OF THE BASTARDS Dusk Of An Ancient Age (Kreation Records) lp 14.98

FALL OF THE GREY WINGED ONE Aeons Of Dreams (Supernal) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This was an unexpected surprise. We ordered a bunch of these just on the strength of it being a new release on Supernal, the label that brought us the mighty Benighted Leams, as well as Meads Of Asphodel, Drudkh, Dark Ages, Hate Forest, we could go on. So we threw this on expecting some sort of demented damaged grim black metal, but instead discovered that this was in fact a colossal slab of hellishly heavy deathdoomdronedirge!
It takes a lot for us to get SUPER excited about another doom dirge record, it's a lot more than just tuning your guitar down and letting it go, and in fact this is not so much the sonic analogue of groups like Sunn 0))) or Noisegate or Earth, instead, FOTGWO takes the same elements and turns them into something much more fierce, much more aggressive, and somehow much heavier.
Three songs, one hour, of crumbling super distorted dronescapes, a suffocating avalanche of slow motion sound, waves of impossibly distorted guitar spread out like a viscous black sea, while huge simple pounding beats drop through the murk occasionally, like empty steel containers being dropped from a crane onto concrete. A dark sort of industrial droneworld, ominous and foreboding. The centerpiece of the record though is the 40+ minute title track, in which the crumbling crush of the opening salvo is pushed to the background, a distant din of swirl and churn, a rough sea of vicious distorted guitar and roiling low end, while in the foreground, abstract melodies are played out by soft swells of clean guitar and what sounds like chimes or bells. So strangely dark and lovely, so beautiful yet pants shittingly frightening. The track wavers between delicate ambient drone and a twisting tangle of low end guitar that sounds like the revving of a million motorcycles slowed waaaaaay down. The final track is a ravaged wasteland of industrial pummel, ominous tolling bells and creepy haunting drifts of mournful melody beneath some of the meanest grinding buzz and reverberating crunch we've ever heard.
Fall Of The Grey Winged One have definitely pushed the whole doomic dirge sound to a completely new level, existing in a dark and dangerous, skull splittingly brutal sonic world, where no others dare to tread.
Strange purple and black, 3-D geometric artwork, that barely hints at the gorgeous malevolence inside.
MPEG Stream: "Hate Me"
MPEG Stream: "Aeons Of Dreams"

FALL OF THE IDOLS The Seance (I Hate Records) cd 16.98
Another plush, ploddering platter for all you doominoids out there... it's the furthering of Fall Of The Idols from Finland, members in good standing of the "Circle Of True Doom" founded by Reverend Bizarre (R.I.P.). A sophomore set consisting of seven downer dirges, slow and slumbersome, lumberingly lethargic - and also quite lovely, if classy, classic doom is yr thing. The Seance is a fine followup to Womb Of The Earth, their previous effort on I Hate Records. As before, the cleanly-sung, sometimes sort of chantlike vocals are a large part of this band's gloomy glory, emboldened by massive, majestic marble riffage and anthemic melody. So deep it is to weep. Imagine a mix betwixt Pentagram and Katatonia, that's the sorrowfully Sabbathy spirit this seance has channelled. The relatively uptempo trudge of track three, "At The Birth Of The Human Shadow", makes it stand out as the rocker of this batch, with the other songs all even more of a smoothly slo-mo, gothic grind taken to an exhausted, exalted extreme. Well done.
MPEG Stream: "Nosophoros"
MPEG Stream: "The Conqueror Worm"

FALL OF THE IDOLS Womb Of The Earth (I Hate Records) cd 16.98
Here's another heavy one from a label that all doom-heads should pay attention to, Sweden's oh-so-positive I Hate Records, who recently brought us the latest from Burning Saviours and Gates Of Slumber, among others. Finland's wonderfully gloomy Fall Of The Idols play slow and lumbering, classic doom with tons of feeling. This debut album of theirs is a downer trip all right, supremely mournful, sunken into depression, like old Candlemass on Quaaludes. It's melancholic and miserable, and somehow melodically peaceful too. The plodding, repetitive guitar riffs and martial drumming (punctuating stretches of spacey quietude), along with the molasses-thick production, help produce this band's hypnotic aura of doom, but what's most crucial are the wretchedly, wrenchingly emotive vocals. The singer reminds us of Pentagram's Bobby Liebling just a bit, but deeper, dronier, and more chant-like, singing of such things as "when heart dies and soul is torn" and "drifting through the blizzard, wondering how lonely you've become"... In addition, the occasional use of acoustic guitars and uptempo attacks of metallic chug, vary the album nicely. But overall, with this one, you're simply doomed, doomed, doomed. For fans of fellow Finns Reverend Bizarre, and also early Cathedral, early Trouble, and maybe even CoC's Blind... A class act.
MPEG Stream: "Sown Are The Seeds Of Doom "
MPEG Stream: "Atonement For The One"

FALL OF TROY, THE Manipulator (Equal Vision) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Cut Down All The Trees And Name The Streets After Them"
MPEG Stream: "The Dark Trail"
MPEG Stream: "Quarter Past"

FALL OUT BOY Folie A Deux (Island) cd 15.98

FALL OUT BOY From Under The Cork Tree (Island) cd 15.98
This crazy gushing review was written LONG before these guys became so ubiquitious, and were still to a certain degree, slightly outside the mainstream, just sayin'...
The one thing we sometimes really miss after having worked in record stores for years, is that momentary thrill of walking into a store and discovering some band you love has a new record! Hardly ever happens anymore. It's our job to know what's coming out and when, so most of the time we know weeks or months before any record comes out. However, I (Andee) recently had that experience with this very record. That little adrenaline thrill that we were missing so much! If you're an avid reader of the AQ list you may have noticed my massive and gushing review of the last Fallout Boy record, and it's constant presence on my top 10 lists, since the last Fallout Boy record, Take This To Your Grave, holds the distinction of being my most listened to record for the last two years. Seriously, we're talking EVERY DAY. No matter what I was obsessing about that week, some black metal record, or some weird drone thing, I'd always go back to FB at some point. So you can imagine how geeked I was to discover they had a new record. The other surprising thing about this record, is that it debuted at number 9 on the Billboard chart. Holy crap! I can't remember the last time one of my favorite new records was on the Billboard chart AT ALL, let alone in the top 10! But hell, as we've said many times before, we definitely can't complain when songs and bands we like start infiltrating the mainstream. That said, this IS a pretty mainstream sounding record. Big indie emo metallic power pop. But the thing is it's great! Heavy and catchy and immediately memorable, but weird enough that it doesn't get old, even after listening to it multiple times every day, like I've been doing for the last two weeks! Even Jason, who works right across from me and who doesn't necessarily like this kind of stuff, has been forced to hear this record every day as well, and decided he dug it almost immediately. Which is definitely saying something. The first FB record was power-pop-punk in metal clothing. Huge chugging guitars wrapped around perfect pop hooks. Hardcore kids into metal but with hearts of pop and top notch songwriting, fun and funny and complex and practically perfect. This new one tones back the metal guitars just a bit, but makes up for it with much more varied songwriting and even catchier songs. Yep. I didn't think it was possible, but the songs on From Under The Cork Tree are indeed even better and catchier than the songs on Take This To Your Grave, which, had you asked me a few months ago I would have declared, in the voice of Ralph Wiggum, to be UN-POSSIBLE! Totally kick ass, melodically complicated heavy power pop, with complex parts, amazing hooks, weird lyrics and funny song titles ("Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued", "Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends", "I Slept With Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"). It's always hard for me to describe a record I like this much. I just want to shake people and yell "Buy this record! Don't ask why! These songs are stuck in my head constantly! It's so good! I don't know why exactly, but I have to listen to this ALL the time! You will LOVE this record!" So, that's it I guess. Consider yourself shook!
MPEG Stream: "Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued"
MPEG Stream: "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"
MPEG Stream: "Of All The Gin Joints In All The World"

FALL OUT BOY Infinity On High (Island) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Thriller"
MPEG Stream: "The Take Over, The Break's Over"
MPEG Stream: "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"

FALL, THE 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats (Beggars Banquet) 2cd 14.98
Yeah, it's another Fall compilation, and let's get the bitching out of the way first. Probably about half of that Totally Wired compilation of The Fall's Rough Trade days is also found on 50,000 Fall Fans. Everybody is going to find something about this compilation (or The Fall in general) to complain about... but complaining *is* the art of The Fall. With The Fall, you get plenty of sarcasm, misanthropy, bile, animosity, and seething cynicism delivered without any inhibition thanks to a drunken buzz that ringleader Mark E. Smith has kept going for a good part of three decades. Nevertheless, this double disc set is as close as you can get to a "greatest hits" album from The Fall. It is a compendium of The Fall's more listenable facets, with a good number of the ramshackled post-punk crashes from the early Rough Trade albums through the self-indulgent bombast of the Beggars Banquet days in the mid-'80s through their recent work which occasionally flirts with the glories of their past work. If you don't own any Fall albums, this is the perfect place to start!
MPEG Stream: "C.R.E.E.P."
MPEG Stream: "Telephone Thing"

FALL, THE Are You Are Missing Winner (Cog Sinister) cd 21.00
Mark E. Smith sounds like a drunken Howard Cosell, as he continues down the sad path of self-parody. Unlike last year's exceptional "The Unutterable", this record confirms that, unless you're helplessly obsessed, you'll never need to buy a new Fall record.
RealAudio clip: "Kick the Can"
RealAudio clip: "The Acute"

FALL, THE Backdrop (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
Collection of rarities, rehearsals, live recordings and 7"s from The Fall's extensive archives. Some never before released stuff on this. Tracks here span from 1977 to 1989.

FALL, THE Dragnet (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
Reissue of this classic 1979 Fall album. Their second LP.

FALL, THE Fall Heads Roll (Narnack) cd 14.98
Finally, the new Fall album! Here reviewed by David Katznelson, AQ pal, Birdman head honcho, and full-on Fall fan.
There is a definite Chicken and Egg thing going on here with this new digital slab of brilliance: who came first, The Fall or The Country Teasers? The Fall did, obviously (for those who got that wrong, go to the back of the class), while the Teasers have based an entire career on their shoulders. But the first track on Fall Heads Roll has a slow slow fucked up country bent engaging past Fall nuggets like Repetition with an added cough syrup quality that is very Teasers-esque. The rest of the album twists into a pure guitar-driven riff-tiffic sonic assault. Included in the set is a great high-anxiety cover of The Move's "I Can Hear The Grass Grow". And then there's the question of where the hell does Mark E still get the energy to kick out these jams? Surely, the drugs cannot have the same affect they did 30 years agoÉWHERE IS HIS DORIAN GRAY PAINTING HANGING, waiting to be stabbed to shreds?
Regardless of the answers, Heads Will Roll is one of the strongest Fall records to date, adding to a killer legacy that includes Dragnet, In A Hole, Live At The Witch Trials and of course the recently released The Complete Peel Sessions [reviewed by Dave elsewhere on this list]!
MPEG Stream: "Ride Away"
MPEG Stream: "I Can Hear The Grass Grow"

FALL, THE Fall In A Hole + (Cog Sinister) 2cd 14.98
"Fall In A Hole" is the live album recorded by a young Chris Knox during the band's 1982 New Zealand tour. That means this is vintage Fall, raw and amazing! Includes classic songs such as "Marquis Cha Cha," "The Man Whose Head Expanded" and "Prole Art Threat." The vinyl of this has long been hard to find-- originally 1,500 copies pressed on double vinyl, "Fall in a Hole" never got distributed in the UK because Mark E. "the Fall is me and your grandma on bongos" Smith freaked out that a picture of guitarist Marc Riley (who was booted out of the band right after the tour) was on the cover, leading to a claim that the album was an unauthorized bootleg. The cd version adds a few extra tracks. Warning: the original 4-track reel-to-reel recording definitely sounded, uh, live, and this cd is taken from a vinyl copy as opposed to the original tapes, which spells less-than-ideal fidelity. Still worth having for the snotty, brainy, punk as hell energy documented.

FALL, THE Grotesque (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
"Grotesque" is the 1980 album by the legendary Manchester art-punk band The Fall, who have always been and will always be fronted by Mark E. Smith. Of course, the snarling half-sung / half-cracked vocals of Mr. Smith are central to "Grotesque," swimming drunkenly in acerbic cynicism and alcoholic bitterness about the ugly state of affairs of English society. Behind Smith, the rest of the band (Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, and the Hanley brothers) matches the intense vitriol of their vocalist's rantings, with a ramshackle collision of thuggish basslines, scratchy rockabilly guitars, and primitive yet effective percussive grooviness. Though coming out of the Fall's raw, shambolic earlier years, "Grotesque" contains a slight glimmer of the pop accessibility later realized in the Brix Smith years, which might endear this album even to those who are convinced that "This Nation's Saving Grace" and not, say, "Dragnet" is Mark E. & company's pinnacle acheivement.
RealAudio clip: "Pay Your Rates"
RealAudio clip: "New Face In Hell"
RealAudio clip: "The N.W.R.A."

FALL, THE Imperial Wax Solvent (Sanctuary) cd 12.98

FALL, THE It's the New Thing! (Castle / Sanctuary) cd 14.98

FALL, THE Live 1977 (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
Previously unreleased live set dating way back to 1977. No info on where it was recorded, but probably made somewhere near their home town of Manchester.

FALL, THE Live At The Knitting Factory - L.A. - 14 November 2001 (Hip Priest) cd 13.98

FALL, THE Liverpool 78 (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
As the title implies, this is a recording of The Fall made in Liverpool in 1978. That was easy. 12 tracks of a very oddly recorded set. Not exactly just lo-fi, because you can distinctly hear Mark E Smith's moaning on each track. And the bass is fairly loud just under him, but the guitars sound like their down the hall, just outside the bathroom door. And the drums? Well, sometimes you can hear them, sometimes you can't... At all. Pretty darn punk rock and historical.
RealAudio clip: "Two Steps Back"

FALL, THE Marshall Suite (Artful) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

FALL, THE Marshall Suite (Artful) lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

FALL, THE Reformation Post T.L.C. (Narnack) cd 14.98
We're sitting on the fence about this one. Fretting about which is worse -- the cd's album cover photo (which features Mr. Smith's latest crop of gawky teen bandmates... ok, that's sort of an exaggeration) or the music contained within! With his admirably (and maddeningly) willful, prolific music career closing in on three decades, does Mark E. Smith get some slack cut with regards to the follow-up to his great 2005 album Fall Heads Roll? That would follow the line of thinking that everyone's bound to have an occasional stinker in a body of work that immense.
Or on the other hand, does he finally get cut off because anyone with his esteemed track record and tough-love'd yet still rabid fans should have better judgment than to release an album this indigestible. Sure The Fall's musical confrontations are seldom a pretty sight, but... this is gawdawful... at least on sober ears. Maybe after we've dulled our senses with a few pints we'll see things differently. Either way, we're sure Mark E. Smith could care less 'bout what we think. File under 'for masochistically diehard fans only'.
MPEG Stream: "Fall Sound"
MPEG Stream: "Insult Song"

FALL, THE Reykjavik [Austusbaejarbio] (Cog Sinister) cd 15.98
This live recording, made in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1983, was voted the best "unofficial" live Fall recording by the Fall's fan club members. Now it's here for you, made official by Cog Sinister and remastered to boot.

FALL, THE The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 (Sanctuary) 6cd 67.00

FALL, THE The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 (Castle / Sanctuary) 6cd 67.00
Besides the Sun City Girls, Guided by Voices (in the nineties) and Elton John (in the early seventies) few artists have been as prolific as The Fall. Legendary radio man/music enthusiast/art supporter John Peel once mused that the only thing he feared about death, was that he would miss the newest Fall release. Point blank: HE LOVED THE FALL. And since his BBC weekly radio show always featured a live recording by a band of his choice, he showed his love by featuring The Fall more than any other band EVER. For over 25 years he had The Fall on his show more than the Undertones, more than T-Rex (and everything Marc Bolan), more than any other band. And what's so interesting about The Fall, is that there are so many different versions of the band within that quarter century, shifts in lineup, sound, outlook, but always remaining obviously and distinctly The Fall: the early years, the Brix years, the post Brix "disco" years, the return to form yearsÉ and yet, with every era, Peel was able to capture a rawness and immediacy that, in a way, defined the band better than any of their recordings. Thus, this relatively inexpensive six CD set with 47 page booklet is a true treasure. Not all the hits are re-recorded here, but each and every version of the band is represented and the sessions scream off of each cd with a freshness that will certainly and permanently convert any non-Fall enthusiast and cause any and all Fall enthusiasts to stay indoors listening for the next month or two. Beware...some of the versions of your favorite Fall songs are blissfully extended and completely twisted and there just may be some songs you have not heard elsewhere. This box set is a must-have item (right up there with the Stooges' Funhouse Box).

FALL, THE The Real New Fall LP, formerly Country On the Click (Narnack) cd 14.98
Well, The Real New Fall LP may still be the most recent recording as of the summer of 2004, although all of the recordings date back to 2003 when this record came out briefly on the British label Action Records. Narnack definitely scored pretty big in signing The Fall to their roster of fiesty art-punk bands such as The Coachwhips, Erase Errata, XBXRX, and Intelligence. Given that the Action release got marginal distribution at best, The Real New Fall LP still qualifies as the real new Fall record... until of course, Mark E. Smith sacks everybody in the band, goes on another two week bender, and finds another group of bright-eyed fanboys to abuse into recording another record. As the recent output from The Fall has been a bit of yawn, The Real New Fall LP is a very welcome return to what The Fall should be: a scaldingly great art-rock band that happens to back the one and only Mark E. Smith. Here, Mack truck guitar riffs battle with overblown organs, low-slung basslines, and jaunty rhythms while Mark E. Smith mumbles about his recent failed attempts at touring the US, his fucked up love affairs, and anything else that pisses him off. Easily the best Fall album in over a decade!
MPEG Stream: "Green Eyed Locoman "
MPEG Stream: "Sparta 2"

FALL, THE The Real New Fall LP, formerly Country On the Click (Narnack) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Well, The Real New Fall LP may still be the most recent recording as of the summer of 2004, although all of the recordings date back to 2003 when this record came out briefly on the British label Action Records. Narnack definitely scored pretty big in signing The Fall to their roster of fiesty art-punk bands such as The Coachwhips, Erase Errata, XBXRX, and Intelligence. Given that the Action release got marginal distribution at best, The Real New Fall LP still qualifies as the real new Fall record... until of course, Mark E. Smith sacks everybody in the band, goes on another two week bender, and finds another group of bright-eyed fanboys to abuse into recording another record. As the recent output from The Fall has been a bit of yawn, The Real New Fall LP is a very welcome return to what The Fall should be: a scaldingly great art-rock band that happens to back the one and only Mark E. Smith. Here, mack truck guitar riffs battle with overblown organs, low-slung basslines, and jaunty rhythms while Mark E. Smith mumbles about his recent failed attempts at touring the US, his fucked up love affairs, and anything else that pisses him off. Easily the best Fall album in over a decade!
MPEG Stream: "Green Eyed Locoman "
MPEG Stream: "Sparta 2"

FALL, THE The Wonderful And Frightening (Beggar's Banquet) 4cd box 27.00

FALL, THE The Wonderful And Frightening (Beggar's Banquet) 4cd box 30.00

FALL, THE The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall (Beggars Banquet) lp 14.98

FALL, THE This Nation's Saving Grace (Beggars Banquet) lp 14.98

FALL, THE Totally Wired (Earmark) 3lp 32.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A gorgeous triple lp reissue in a nice thick sleeve and on 180 gram virgin vinyl! As we said previously about the double cd version of this that is also currently available, this is an ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL collection of cerebral low-brow art punk masterpieces. These tracks are culled from the tumultuous Rough Trade years (1980-83), when every record The Fall put out was a work of total genius. "Totally Wired" has almost every track from the "Palace of Swords Reversed" lp, which compiled their early singles, but includes album tracks from "Grotesque" and "Perverted By Language" as well. This era was the high point of Mark E. Smith's merciless skewering of the english language and English culture, perfectly backed by brilliantly ramshackle pop deconstructions. Single riff mastery, early keyboard dickery, anti-imperialist ranting, time travelling tales, primitively demented but danceable bass lines-- all part of The Fall's impeccable post-punk package. "Totally Wired" is by no means a comprehensive look at The Fall's massive recorded outlook, or even at their early years ("Dragnet" and "Live at the Witch Trials" are two great records from before they were on Rough Trade), but damn if it doesn't have a giant chunk of their very best songs. Mark E. may still drag himself around making mediocre records, but let that not muddy the legacy of The Fall. This stuff is just too fucking amazing!
RealAudio clip: "Rowche Rumble"
RealAudio clip: "Pay Your Rates"