8 & 9 February 2013 (Days 39 & 40) – Fall[ing] Down

It was a good idea….really.  I had absolutely nothing planned at work on the Friday – no commitments, no meetings, nothing. As a result it was going to be one of those days where I would sit at my desk and read, research and write, getting up only for toilet breaks and lunch.  It was, or so I thought, the perfect opportunity to play what is easily the longest recording on the iPod. 

(112)  The Fall – The Complete Peel Sessions 1978 – 2004

This is the definitive 6 disc, 97 track compilation of all the sessions that The Fall recorded for English DJ John Peel’s radio show.  A Peel Session was highly sought after by musicians of the era and was ended only by his death.  The format was basically like a JJJ Live At The Wireless session recorded in a studio, without an audience with the act seemingly limited to either 4 tracks or a playing time limit.  The Fall, let’s face it Mark E Smith and whoever was in his band at a given moment, are one of Britain’s most singular talents and earned the admiration of Peel with a record 24 sessions.  It is an act that is difficult to describe in musical terms; post punk with extremely erudite lyrics will do in the absence of anything else.  For the Fall fanatic this is a treasure trove, a mixture of alternate (and frequently better) versions of Fall classics, obscurities, B-sides and one-offs.  Over the course of these discs you can hear the fractured music (and yes, there are tracks here that were to clearly inspire Pavement, check out Put Away and No Xmas For John Quays in particular) eventually smooth out, in much the same way Pavement smoothed out over their last couple of albums. By the last disc, admittedly a time when Smith had a stable band for a reasonable period, there is a richness and power that is undeniable.  Not that you’ll notice this too much because ultimately it is the sound of Smith’s voice, his method of delivery, his constant repetition of key lines in seemingly every track and his lyrical constructs that dominate the sound.  It is not music for everyone.  Anyone wanting a introduction to the sprawl that is the Fall catalogue should start with their 2 disc compilation 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong.  If that stimulates your appetite, go to this.

So that was the idea.  With relentless predictability, it seemed that everyone at work chose Friday to see me, ask advice or raise urgent items that required my immediate attention.  By the end of the work day I had only got past the first 23 tracks. 

No problem, I thought, I’ll catch up when I got home.  Now “M” got into the act insisting that we needed to get the house in order in case her returning sister and family accept her invitation to dinner the following night.  For the rest of the night the only time I had was when I hand washed the car and that took the total up to track 36.

There was no “quality time” on Saturday morning as we were up at a very early hour to drop off Lady at her place (sob) and then to greet her owners at the airport.  By the time we eventually returned home, I had enough time to take total up to track 48 before they took up the dinner invite.

My goodness.  Two days gone and I’ll only at the half way mark with the strong possibility of Sunday being a music free day.