Music Banter - View Single Post - Urbans Rough Guide To The Wild & Wonderful World Of The Fall

Urban Hat€monger ? · 08-30-2007, 02:35 PM

Sod it i'll do it now .....

Slates E.P. - Rough Trade - 27th April 1981

Original Album Tracklisting Middle Mass / An Older Lover etc / Prole Art Threat / Fit and Working Again / Slates, Slags, etc / Leave the Capitol

Re-issue Extras* Middle Mass / Lie Dream Of a Casino Soul / Hip Priest / C'n'C - Hassle Schmuck (John Peel Session - 31st March 1981)
Lie Dream Of a Casino Soul / Fantastic Life (7" Single December 1981)
Medical Acceptance Gate (Demo 1981)

*Slates has been re-issued twice.Once in 1998 co-released with A Part Of America Therein, a live mini album released only in the U.S. And again in 2004 with the bands 4th Peel session and the extras listed above. I own the 1998 version so i'm going by that one.

Band Line Up: Mark E. Smith - Vocals , Piano , Harmonica / Marc Riley - Guitar , Electric Piano / Craig Scanlon - Guitar , Piano / Steve Hanley Bass, Acoustic guitar / Paul Hanley - Drums, Percussion / Kay Carroll - Kazoo / Dave Tucker - Clarinet

Critique Originally released as a 10 inch single , this E.P. never made the charts due to having too many songs to be classed as a single ( 6 instead of the maximum allowed 4 ) & too cheap to be classed as an album (The E.P. retailed at £2 , according to BPI rules at the time an album could cost no less than £2.49). Nonetheless this is 24 minutes of The Fall in top form.
The opening track Middle Mass is a rant about the growing power of the middle classes , or a personal rant by M.E.S. about Marc Riley. When Riley approached Smith about this Smith started fumbling uncomfortably and then simply replied that the song was 'about another guy called Marc'. But the writing between this partnership was on the wall.
The only downside of the E.P. comes with the next song 'An Older Lover etc' , although it's not a bad song it never really goes anywhere & the lyrics about tiring older lovers are not up to Smith's usual standards.
Prole Art Threat is 2 minutes of jaunty garage rock which started off life as a story about working class culture and it's threat to the liberal media, commuter trains & MI5 , Not being able to get it right Smith condensed the song to it's bare bones and this stripped down rough version is the result.
Fit And Working Again is another bouncy Fall pop song thats one of my favourites , hell you can almost sing a long to this one. But the real highlight of the E.P. is the next song Slags , Slates etc. This is another song where Smith just rants at anything that just happening to be bothering him at the time , such as Ripoff bands with creaky pants and scrubbed hands and Academic male slags , Ream off names of books and bands.
It was this song that led Rough Trade record boss Geoff Travis to complain to Smith about the use of the word 'Slags'. Smith told him to 'Just sell the record you fucking hippy' and after this album was released The Fall were looking for another record label. Explaining the hostility from his own record label to the press Smith said 'The tea boy hates the fact that you slagged of Wah! , and the lady who does the cooking takes offense to the word slags'
The E.P. closes with 'Leave The Capital' a song about vampires in Victorian London, but in reality a thinly veiled attack on Smith's hatred for the city.
The extras on this E.P. include the bands 4th session for John Peel as well as the single Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul which was the song that introduced the twin drummers line up with both Paul Hanley & the returning Karl Burns on drums. The song itself was mistaken by some as an attack on the Northern Soul scene , which it wasn't. Smith explained that the song was about the closure of the Wigan Casino and his admiration for the all nighters. He also explained that a large number of Northern Soul fans made up The Fall's audience at the time because they were 'offbeat' , he also explained that Dexy's Midnight Runners were 'busting a gut to get that kind of audience , and failing'
I would tell you about the other 2 songs , but I don't have that copy of the E.P.

Songs You Need

It's only an E.P , just get the lot of them

Verdict: As all my time as a fan of The Fall , I have never EVER seen a Fall fan say a single bad word about this E.P, and I hate to sound like a broken record but the E.P. is an absolute belter recorded when the band were on top form. I mean it comes slap bang in the middle between Grotesque & Hex Enduction Hour , easily the bands 2 best albums. The only duffer on this E.P. is 'Older Lover' but even then it's more because the record is of such high quality rather than the song itself being awful , it's just an average song surrounded by greatness.
I'm not even going to hesitate giving this.....
10/10

08-30-2007, 02:35 PM	#20 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	Sod it i'll do it now ..... Slates E.P. - Rough Trade - 27th April 1981 Original Album Tracklisting Middle Mass / An Older Lover etc / Prole Art Threat / Fit and Working Again / Slates, Slags, etc / Leave the Capitol Re-issue Extras* Middle Mass / Lie Dream Of a Casino Soul / Hip Priest / C'n'C - Hassle Schmuck (John Peel Session - 31st March 1981) Lie Dream Of a Casino Soul / Fantastic Life (7" Single December 1981) Medical Acceptance Gate (Demo 1981) Slates has been re-issued twice.Once in 1998 co-released with A Part Of America Therein, a live mini album released only in the U.S. And again in 2004 with the bands 4th Peel session and the extras listed above. I own the 1998 version so i'm going by that one. Band Line Up: Mark E. Smith - Vocals , Piano , Harmonica / Marc Riley - Guitar , Electric Piano / Craig Scanlon - Guitar , Piano / Steve Hanley Bass, Acoustic guitar / Paul Hanley - Drums, Percussion / Kay Carroll - Kazoo / Dave Tucker - Clarinet Critique* Originally released as a 10 inch single , this E.P. never made the charts due to having too many songs to be classed as a single ( 6 instead of the maximum allowed 4 ) & too cheap to be classed as an album (The E.P. retailed at £2 , according to BPI rules at the time an album could cost no less than £2.49). Nonetheless this is 24 minutes of The Fall in top form. The opening track Middle Mass is a rant about the growing power of the middle classes , or a personal rant by M.E.S. about Marc Riley. When Riley approached Smith about this Smith started fumbling uncomfortably and then simply replied that the song was 'about another guy called Marc'. But the writing between this partnership was on the wall. The only downside of the E.P. comes with the next song 'An Older Lover etc' , although it's not a bad song it never really goes anywhere & the lyrics about tiring older lovers are not up to Smith's usual standards. Prole Art Threat is 2 minutes of jaunty garage rock which started off life as a story about working class culture and it's threat to the liberal media, commuter trains & MI5 , Not being able to get it right Smith condensed the song to it's bare bones and this stripped down rough version is the result. Fit And Working Again is another bouncy Fall pop song thats one of my favourites , hell you can almost sing a long to this one. But the real highlight of the E.P. is the next song Slags , Slates etc. This is another song where Smith just rants at anything that just happening to be bothering him at the time , such as Ripoff bands with creaky pants and scrubbed hands and Academic male slags , Ream off names of books and bands. It was this song that led Rough Trade record boss Geoff Travis to complain to Smith about the use of the word 'Slags'. Smith told him to 'Just sell the record you fucking hippy' and after this album was released The Fall were looking for another record label. Explaining the hostility from his own record label to the press Smith said 'The tea boy hates the fact that you slagged of Wah! , and the lady who does the cooking takes offense to the word slags' The E.P. closes with 'Leave The Capital' a song about vampires in Victorian London, but in reality a thinly veiled attack on Smith's hatred for the city. The extras on this E.P. include the bands 4th session for John Peel as well as the single Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul which was the song that introduced the twin drummers line up with both Paul Hanley & the returning Karl Burns on drums. The song itself was mistaken by some as an attack on the Northern Soul scene , which it wasn't. Smith explained that the song was about the closure of the Wigan Casino and his admiration for the all nighters. He also explained that a large number of Northern Soul fans made up The Fall's audience at the time because they were 'offbeat' , he also explained that Dexy's Midnight Runners were 'busting a gut to get that kind of audience , and failing' I would tell you about the other 2 songs , but I don't have that copy of the E.P. Songs You Need It's only an E.P , just get the lot of them Verdict: As all my time as a fan of The Fall , I have never EVER seen a Fall fan say a single bad word about this E.P, and I hate to sound like a broken record but the E.P. is an absolute belter recorded when the band were on top form. I mean it comes slap bang in the middle between Grotesque & Hex Enduction Hour , easily the bands 2 best albums. The only duffer on this E.P. is 'Older Lover' but even then it's more because the record is of such high quality rather than the song itself being awful , it's just an average song surrounded by greatness. I'm not even going to hesitate giving this..... 10/10 __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.