- Audio CD (6 Jun 1997)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Original recording reissued, Import
- Label: Voiceprint
- ASIN: B000003RTV
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 216,883 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Frightened |
| 2. Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow |
| 3. Rebellious Jukebox |
| 4. No Xmas For John Quays |
| 5. Mother-Sister! |
| 6. Industrial Estate |
| 7. Underground Medecin |
| 8. Two Steps Back |
| 9. Live At The Witch Trials |
| 10. Future Pasts |
| 11. Music Scene |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This reissue of The Fall's debut album Live at the Witch Trials, kickstarts a vast reissue programme- every Fall album being reissued in a remastered form with bonus-tracks and sleeve-notes at the rate of two a month. So, a treat for Fall-heads and an excuse to buy the definitive CD-version and finally replace the hallowed albums & tapes I still play to this day. This version of Live at the Witch Trials is even more tempting, now expanded to 41-tracks over 2-discs, taking in rarities and alternate takes of tracks of the era.
The original 11-track album remains the joy it was the first time I heard it, from the opening Frightened, to classics such as Rubellious Jukebox, No Xmas for John Quays, Industrial Estate (found on Rough Trade's Post Punk compilation) & Two Steps Back (that has a lyric that refers to Julian Cope!). This is one of the four great albums that Martin Bramah has played on (the others are The Greatest Hit, Extricate & Shiftwork)- the sound here is dominated by Baines keyboard & Bramah's tight direction- with frequent member Karl Burns on drums and Marc'Lard'Riley on bass. One of the classic Fall-line-ups. Nothing much sounds like The Fall & Live at the Witch Trials sounds like nothing else- it even predicts Riley's work with The Shirehorses with the closing Music Scene, as it drifts into a wonderful repetition close to comic (but it meant it!), as a voice from the control room tells them that time's up! It easily stands against such great albums of the era as First Issue/Public Image, Chairs Missing, Cut, Y, & Real Life: this being the greatest era in British music that I can think of...
The bonus tracks are vast and wonderful- a few that made up the first side of compilation Early Fall- including the manic Psycho Mafia & debut single Bingo Master's Breakout (worth buying for that alone!). There are alternate versions of songs from Witch Trials and others found as bonus cuts (It's the New Thing, Various Times, BMB) & songs like Dresden Dolls and Mess of My , that I haven't come across before.
This reissue comes with a great sound & attention to detail & reminds you just how great The Fall not only are, but always were. Hail M.E.S. & co, even if the former does resemble Gollum from Lord of the Rings...
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'm 18, so I'm far too young to truely appreciate The Fall for what they meant to the 'music scene' when they first arrived. Before buying this album, I'd heard *of* The Fall, but heard nothing *by* The Fall. The 'myth' of this band really interested me, so I bought a biography of the band, a great book written by Mick Middles. What drew me in initially about the band was that they are actually very local to me, Mark E Smith growing up only 20 or so miles from me in Prestwich, playing lots of obscure towns in my home county Lancashire, and actually recording an album in my home town of Rochdale. And once I began to understand the concept of The Fall and the very unique perspective of MES, I was itching to finally hear something.
The music is leftfield punk rock, a cross between Public Image and the Velvet Underground and Nico album. MES has written some great lyrics here, and enunciates them in a frightening, sharp delivery. Choice cuts on the album are 'Frightened', 'Industrial Estate', 'Repetition', 'Rebellious Jukebox', and 'Two Steps Back'. The second disc of John Peel sessions and live recordings is suprisingly good too, with some versions of songs beating their studio counterparts, as well as a few choice moments of performance banter from MES.
I think getting the debut as my first foray into The Fall was better than picking up, say, their most recent or celebrated album. It's because I want to make the progression that every true Fall fan seems to have done over the band's existence, checking up on a friend that's "always different, always the same". I recommend that other listeners taking their first steps into The Fall should start here.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
As the first of the Fall's 27 studio albums, this is worth checking out for its curio value alone; especially as it is the only one to feature key founder member Martin Bramah on guitar. Unlike the rest of the Fall's output, their debut does actually sound like a collective effort (as opposed to MES & band) in much the same musical vein as early ATV or Subway Sect. Standouts are 'Rebellious Jukebox' and 'Industrial Estate', but the real treats are in the bonus tracks that triple the length of the original album. All the associated singles are here, plus the two tracks from 'Live At The Electric Circus', two Peel Sessions and an audience recording of an entire concert from Liverpool. Newcomers would be better off with one of the Fall's 80's classics, but for regulars this is an essential item.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
where to start with the fall
If you're a late starter to the fall,and think about it you could be a grandparent and have been born after this albums original release,this is logically the place to enter the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by mark
Lyrical brilliance
Ah yes, the Fall - in their own words "the Northern white crap that talks back". A classic album with, as has been noted, a defiantly/deceptively loose/ramshackle delivery. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D
HEY! Live at the witch trials..err HEY!
Mark E. Smith err giving it all on this one err Painted suits err and topped up dragon!..nor relieving aah! souped up tempo!
Classic recording for their debut! Read more
Classic recording for their debut! Read more
Published on 15 May 2010 by Mr. Anthony Cox
cantankerous brilliance
This is such a damn good album. There are very few albums that have a totally new way of making drums sound. Smashing Pumpkins did it on 'Gish' and the Fall did it on their debut. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2010 by spatchka (no need)
Not live, no witches
what a let down, there I was, all those years ago expecting a live album from Salem.
It was not to be. Read more
It was not to be. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2009 by Divvey Fallfan esq.
An excellent beginning!
If you do not know the Fall, then you haven't lived! This album is testament to their utter punkish-independent-arty and original brilliance. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2009 by Mr. J. Cottrell
A bit dated...
Despite being practically THE most innovative band on the Manchester and post-punk scene, this debut on reflection still has many adhereants to the punk template. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2006 by Joseph Henderson
In the beginning was the Fall
I love this album, not because it is the Falls best , but knowing where is was all going to end. The playfulness, the imagination on this record so outstrips their piers. Read more
Published on 11 July 2004 by Dive 4 Dave
Essential Album
This was a hugely important album, defining a whole genre of punk and post-punk music, and setting the tone for the next 30+ years of Fall music. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2003 by J. Mann
First (and best?)
The Fall's debut album, recorded in two days, sees them in an angry fashion which was to become their trademark. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2002 by "superdoon"
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