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38 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
These are your new words today:, 11 Feb 2004
Dragnet, the second Fall album from 1979, is the second release of the current Fall-reissue programme that will see the great back catalogue reissued in a remastered form, with sleevenotes & a wealth of bonus tracks. This version of Dragnet comes with almost an album's worth of bonus tracks, songs that made up the second side of 1981-compilation 'Early Fall 77-79' (In My Area, Rowche Rumble, Psykick Dancehall II, Fiery Jack)- though the many alternate takes of several of these tracks will be of more academic interest to the hardcore Fall-head. Of the two albums reissued, Live at the Witch Trials is a sounder purchase, as the album proper is more upbeat and it's been expanded to a two-disc, 41-track version.Dragnet is bleaker stuff, moving towards that lo-fi claustrophobia apparent on later releases like Grotesque(After the Gramme) & Slates. Perhaps this is due to the fact Martin Bramah & Una Baines left to form The Blue Orchids (whose classic, 1980's The Greatest Hit, has recently been reissued)- the album is keyboard-based & has a different kind of tension. MES is joined by long-serving members Craig Scanlan & Steve Hanley and one-time drummer Mike Leigh- the only other member from the Witch Trials- line up being Marc'Lard'Riley, who had shifted instruments in an attempt to replace Bramah. Dragnet is minimal stuff, definitely predicting such lo-fi releases as Confusion is Sex (Sonic Youth), Dial M for...(Pussy Galore) & much of the career of Royal Trux. Recorded over just a few days, it creates a new internal world- MES's paranoia moving into darker climes with such songs as Before the Moon Falls, A Figure Walks & the M.R.James-referencing Spectre Vs. Rector (which predicted a ghost-element in Smith's lyrics, see Jawbone & The Air Rifle & Wings). The closest thing to the demented pop of the debut album is found in Choc-Stock (once covered by St Etienne) & Dice Man (Smith advising us not to read the book of the same name, "the song is much safer"). Grant Showbiz (who would be associated with several Fall albums, as well as The Smiths' Rank & Billy Bragg/Wilco's Mermaid Avenue)helps out on production & helps make such songs as Psykick Dancehall, Muzorewi's Daughter & Put Away a jangly joy like such later songs as City Hobgoblins, Cruiser's Creek & Barmy. Perhaps Dragnet was a response to the over-produced sounds of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, it sounds like Trout Mask Replica recorded in the time it took to record White Light/White Heat. Dragnet is one of the most angular albums in an angular career, & extra tracks like classic singles Fiery Jack (the first time The Fall did that rockabilly thing) & Rowche Rumble sweeten the sinister climes of the album. Perhaps not the best Fall album for someone to start on, but like many Fall albums, could easily be described as, "The best Fall album in the world ever"...
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See all 21 tracks on this disc
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