Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Notebooks out plagiarists-ah, 10 Mar 2000
By A Customer
Many have tried to imitate the mighty Fall (indeed, Pavement have made a whole career out of it) but no-one, except maybe the Pixies, has managed to make rock 'n' roll sound so primal, so exciting and so damned unhinged. Mark E Smith may be a dishevelled 40-something, but he remains this nation's last no sell-out punk rocker - this new compilation manages to sound fresher than its predecessor, 458489 A-sides, and not many bands manage to sound more vital in their 40s than in their youth.Anyone who thinks that the likes of Travis or Blur are "alternative" should get their ears around "High Tension Line" or last year's superb "F-oldin' Money". Too angular for modern tastes unfortunately, but for those of us who care less about fashion and more about original, heartfelt music which assumes some intelligence on the part of its audience, this compilation is 100% essential.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Feast Of Fun, 28 Jun 2008
When writing about The Fall and creative inspiration runs dry there is a tendency to start counting like an accountant or auditor: the amount of Peel Sessions played, the total of albums released and, of course, the quantity of members and line-ups. This number-crunching is the consequence of the band's Stakhanovite work ethic. However, you find with such diligence that whether you are working down the salt mines of Siberia or are on stage in Doncaster that, just occasionally, quality levels will waver. That can be seen in the abundant supply of compilations available; some brilliant (458489 A Sides, Palace Of Swords Reversed and The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004), some execrable (Rebellious Jukebox, Northern Attitude). Well-designed, carefully constructed - A Past Gone Mad - falls firmly into the former category.
Perhaps the reason A Past Gone Mad successfully surmises the turbulent decade of this erratic, occasionally brilliant band resides in the fact that it has been compiled and annotated by writer and comedian Stewart Lee - a long term champion of the band - rather than a cynical, uncaring record company hack looking to cash in on the back of The Fall's brand name. Lee's comprehensive knowledge of their extensive back catalogue enables him to make clever, counter-intuitive choices. For instance, he takes the spoken-word `The CD You Have In Your Hand' from Mark E. Smith's critically panned solo album and chooses the surreal `Bonkers in Phoenix' from the much chastised `Cerebral Caustic' album. The insightful, observant liner notes show that he enjoyed pulling together a sterling collection from an uneven body of work: "Being asked to help put together this album has been a joy."
Obviously, as with any compilation of this sort there is a tendency to ask `Why is Y here, when X is far better? Why is C not in front of B?' Unfortunately, I am not above such needling. I would like to have seen the manic garage rock cover `I'm A Mummy' [from 1997's underrated Levitate] and the angry `Idiot Joy Showland' [from 1991's awesome Shiftwork] included here. However, the presence of the coruscating `Hey Student', the tender `Bill Is Dead' and the audacious attempt at drum and bass `Ten Houses Of Eve' and many others render this a fine compilation with plenty of evidence to show why The Fall are one of the most imaginative and idiosyncratic groups to have emerged out of this septic isle in the last few decades.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Hey hey hey hey...., 2 May 2007
A nicely designed album put out on the Artful label, comprising tracks taken from a decade of Fall albums - the earliest is "Bill is Dead" from Extricate (1990) and running through a selection from Shiftwork, Code Selfish, The Infotainment Scan, Middle Class Revolt, Cerebral Caustic, Post Nearly Man, Levitate and the Marshall Suite. It's generally a decent effort, and useful since some of these albums are tricky to get hold of nowadays(Marshall Suite for instance), although this might soon change thanks to the programme of re-issues that is underway. The tracks aren't ordered chronologically so there's no sense of how the sound changed through the 1990's, though isn't really a problem since so much of the Fall's output during this period was incredibly varied. Highlights include the 'hit' Touch Sensitive (now stolen for a car advert, of all things), Hey Student! and High Tension Line, yet all the tracks offer something a bit different, showcasing M.E.S at his most acerbic, with that droll sense of humour also shining through on occasion. A good reminder of just how unique (and undeniably great) The Fall were (are), in even this, perhaps their most troubled time - particularly in the early part of the decade, the albums tended to be overshadowed by the line-up changes, onstage fights and the infamous NY arrest. Overall, well worth getting, not just for the music but also for the attractive sleeve notes, which includes a short piece by comedian Stewart Lee.
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