Customer Reviews

Cerebral Caustic

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When Brix Smith returned to the live Fall line up in '94 there was excitement that this could mean a return of the classic late '80's Fall that produced so much remarkable product over a five year period. Cerebral Caustic was the first example of their new studio sound and to be frank it disappoints slightly.

The album begins strongly enough with The Joke but unfortunately second track Dont Call Me Darling shows how much Brix's time with her own band Adult Net had dented her sharpness as a writer (maybe no Mark to play off was the problem, but it wasnt rectified when they worked together again).

Until this point the Fall had regularly put out at least an album a year and a handful of great singles to accompany it. Cerebral Caustic would have benefited from a further six months planning and writing before being created. There is simply too much filler and not enough Mark. For example listening to Bonkers in Pheonix is six minutes of my life I will never get back and The rerecording of five year old B side Life Just Bounces smacks of desperation (although it is a great b side to revisit).

Of course, being a Fall album it is not all bad. That's simply not possible. the afformentioned The Joke excites like a classic Fall track should and there are other great moments like Rainmaster and One Day which can stand proudly next to the best of the bands cannon. It is an interesting artifact in parts which is worth hearing to understand the journey they took from the late '80's greatness through the darkness before emerging in 2003 with Country on the Click - the first true classic Fall album for at least 10 years.

If you are begining to investigate the Fall then Cerebral Caustic is not the place to start but if you are looking to build your catalogue of the band then there is enough here to satisfy it would make a stunning EP!

Buy with caution but buy anyway.

There is one truly magnificent Fall moment on this for me tucked away on what would have been in old money 'side b'. 'Bonkers In Pheonix' has a lovely melody, nice vocals courtesy of Brix, and then Mark E Smith comes in over the top with a whole load of machines, noise, random gibbering and turns a good track into a great one.

The rest of the album isn't quite so inspired, in fact it's one of the more straightforward releases they've put out. Lots of guitar on tracks like 'The Joke' and a good duelling duet between Mark E and Brix on 'Don't Call Me Darling'.

This is a great album but takes a few listens to start with (more than the normal for The Fall), my Fall fan friends prefering the pre-'Shiftwork' times dont rate this as much, but as a fan of later material ('Infotainment'my best)I did. The nearest equivalent to this album would be 'MiddleClassRevolt' but Cereberal does loose it at/after 'Bonkers in Pheonix' (noise- not a song like 'fireworks'was). 'The joke' is funny ('10 years in a pc camp -is a joke')along with 'Aphid', 'darling', 'satisfied' are in the same vein as 'Life just bounces'.