The Mighty Musical Observations Thread

[Marky Dread]

I love that the testimonials at the bottom are from older housewives.

I was going to join The Fall. I passed the audition but decided the songs were to well structured.

Mark didn't like the laces on your boots, anyway, so you weren't getting the job.

He phoned me up in person to offer me the job. I said I would call back when he understood the difference between lace ups and slip ons.

Then he called you posh southern scum and said not to be late.

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

[Dr. Medulla]

I was going to join The Fall. I passed the audition but decided the songs were to well structured.

Mark didn't like the laces on your boots, anyway, so you weren't getting the job.

He phoned me up in person to offer me the job. I said I would call back when he understood the difference between lace ups and slip ons.

Then he called you posh southern scum and said not to be late.

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

[Marky Dread]

Mark didn't like the laces on your boots, anyway, so you weren't getting the job.

He phoned me up in person to offer me the job. I said I would call back when he understood the difference between lace ups and slip ons.

Then he called you posh southern scum and said not to be late.

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

How I Wrote ‘Nervous Finger-drumming'.

[Dr. Medulla]

He phoned me up in person to offer me the job. I said I would call back when he understood the difference between lace ups and slip ons.

Then he called you posh southern scum and said not to be late.

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

How I Wrote ‘Nervous Finger-drumming'.

God but I love the Fall.

[Marky Dread]

Then he called you posh southern scum and said not to be late.

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

How I Wrote ‘Nervous Finger-drumming'.

God but I love the Fall.

What an incredible back catalogue.

[Dr. Medulla]

And it's at that point I punched him on the nose. He went away and wrote "Hit the North".

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

How I Wrote ‘Nervous Finger-drumming'.

God but I love the Fall.

What an incredible back catalogue.

Absolutely amazing how the band survived so long, turning over personnel like changing underwear and led by someone with limited conventional musical ability. Like, on paper, it shouldn't have worked for more than a couple weeks, not forty years!

[Marky Dread]

Well, thank you for your service!

(Fun fact: The drums in "Hit the North" is usually what I'll emulate when nervously finger-drumming about something.)

How I Wrote ‘Nervous Finger-drumming'.

God but I love the Fall.

What an incredible back catalogue.

Absolutely amazing how the band survived so long, turning over personnel like changing underwear and led by someone with limited conventional musical ability. Like, on paper, it shouldn't have worked for more than a couple weeks, not forty years!

Exactly. Limitless ideas from a very undervalued writer/band.

[Kory]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

[revbob]

This might be the scariest one yet.

[Dr. Medulla]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

[Marky Dread]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

Oh, you just haven't proselytized about the right album yet.

[Dr. Medulla]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

Oh, you just haven't proselytized about the right album yet.

Which album (non-compilation) would you use as an introduction to The Fall? I'm guessing something from the Brix years as that was their most accessible period.

[Kimmelweck]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

Oh, you just haven't proselytized about the right album yet.

Which album (non-compilation) would you use as an introduction to The Fall? I'm guessing something from the Brix years as that was their most accessible period.

Maybe I’m in roughly the same boat as Kory. The only Fall cd(s) I have is 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong (39 Golden Greats), which was given to me. I’ve listened to both discs, and I kinda like Rowche Rumble (3rd song, disc 1), but I get a little lost after that and kinda lose interest. I like the idea of the Fall, and I’m kinda Fall-curious, but I don’t really know where to start. Do you just need to take in the overall weirdness of the whole catalog? Doc, how did you stumble on the Fall, and what made you think hey, yeah, this is pretty great? Maybe, as you suggest, I should start with a single album, rather than the comp I have.

[Dr. Medulla]

I still can't get into them for some reason. I don't typically have any issues with sprechstimme (see: Devoto), but there's something about them I just don't find very interesting that I can't quite place.

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

Oh, you just haven't proselytized about the right album yet.

Which album (non-compilation) would you use as an introduction to The Fall? I'm guessing something from the Brix years as that was their most accessible period.

Maybe I’m in roughly the same boat as Kory. The only Fall cd(s) I have is 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong (39 Golden Greats), which was given to me. I’ve listened to both discs, and I kinda like Rowche Rumble (3rd song, disc 1), but I get a little lost after that and kinda lose interest. I like the idea of the Fall, and I’m kinda Fall-curious, but I don’t really know where to start. Do you just need to take in the overall weirdness of the whole catalog? Doc, how did you stumble on the Fall, and what made you think hey, yeah, this is pretty great? Maybe, as you suggest, I should start with a single album, rather than the comp I have.

I'm pretty sure the first Fall song I heard was "Bingo Masters Breakout," which was on a punk comp called Burning Ambitions. That didn't sell me on the group, but I was still in my "just discovered punk, gotta hear everything!" stage. I think the first proper record I bought was Bend Sinister and it was equal parts weirdo rock and pop, so I kept at it. For the longest time, it was only the Brix records that appealed—they took the edge off MES unconventional delivery—but when I found a comp of early Fall tracks, Palace of Swords Reversed, that's what fully grabbed me. It seemed like 50s rock n roll but stripped of the easy energy. "Prole Art Threat" especially stood out. It was just this mutant bizarreness and I was hooked.



edit: I'd recommend the Brix-era comp, 458489, which is the singles from their most commercially accessible period. If that works, then you can expand to weirder areas.

[Kimmelweck]

It either clicks or doesn't. When people say they don't like the Fall, I never go into that, "Oh, you just haven't heard the right album yet" or something like that. They're not a group worth proselytizing about.

Oh, you just haven't proselytized about the right album yet.

Which album (non-compilation) would you use as an introduction to The Fall? I'm guessing something from the Brix years as that was their most accessible period.

Maybe I’m in roughly the same boat as Kory. The only Fall cd(s) I have is 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong (39 Golden Greats), which was given to me. I’ve listened to both discs, and I kinda like Rowche Rumble (3rd song, disc 1), but I get a little lost after that and kinda lose interest. I like the idea of the Fall, and I’m kinda Fall-curious, but I don’t really know where to start. Do you just need to take in the overall weirdness of the whole catalog? Doc, how did you stumble on the Fall, and what made you think hey, yeah, this is pretty great? Maybe, as you suggest, I should start with a single album, rather than the comp I have.

I'm pretty sure the first Fall song I heard was "Bingo Masters Breakout," which was on a punk comp called Burning Ambitions. That didn't sell me on the group, but I was still in my "just discovered punk, gotta hear everything!" stage. I think the first proper record I bought was Bend Sinister and it was equal parts weirdo rock and pop, so I kept at it. For the longest time, it was only the Brix records that appealed—they took the edge off MES unconventional delivery—but when I found a comp of early Fall tracks, Palace of Swords Reversed, that's what fully grabbed me. It seemed like 50s rock n roll but stripped of the easy energy. "Prole Art Threat" especially stood out. It was just this mutant bizarreness and I was hooked.



edit: I'd recommend the Brix-era comp, 458489, which is the singles from their most commercially accessible period. If that works, then you can expand to weirder areas.

Thanks for that input. I really appreciate it. Mutant bizarreness is a good way to put it. I get the feeling I need to approach the Fall from that angle specifically. I’ll keep at it, and will check out 458489 and Palace of Swords Reversed and some of the Brix records. Listening to Prole Art Threat right now, the vid you posted…it’s on my comp but it never stood out until now. I’ve had it on repeat since I read your post, and I dig it. So much potential there for stuff I probably should like, but the immensity of the Fall catalog makes it a bit inaccessible to a relative newcomer. Thanks Doc.