jackhammer

To be fair I only listened to their debut once, but Hex has appealed a lot more. I will go back to their debut from time to time though.

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Urban Hat€monger ?

Album Tracklisting: Eat Y'Self Fitter / Neighbourhood of Infinity / Garden / Hotel Blöedel / Smile / I Feel Voxish / Tempo House (Recorded live at The Haçienda, Manchester July 1983) / Hexen Definitive-Strife Knot

Re-issue Extras: The Man Whose Head Expanded / Ludd Gang (7" Single June 1983)
Kicker Conspiracy / Wings (7" Single October 1983)
Pilsner Trail (PBL recording session)
Smile / Garden / Hexen Definitive-Strife Knot / Eat Y'Self Fitter (Peel Session 23rd March 1983)
Garden (1998 Remix)
Neighbourhood Of Infinity (live in Munich April 1984) / Smile (live in New York May 1983) / Tempo House (live in New York May 1983) / Perverted By Language (live in London December 1983) / Wings (live in London March 1982) / Backdrop (live in Brighton October 1983)

Band Line Up: Mark E. Smith - Vocals , Piano , Violin / Craig Scanlon - Guitar , Vocals / Steve Hanley - Bass / Paul Hanley - Drums , Keyboards / Karl Burns - Drums , Bass / Brix Smith - Guitar & lead vocals on Hotel Blöedel , Backing vocals on Eat Y'Self Fitter

Critique: Perverted By Language is an often overlooked Fall album and generally considered to be the last album of the old style Fall. 1983 was a year of great change for The Fall. The biggest one being Mark meeting & marrying Brix Smith and her slowing integrating herself into the band. On this occasion most of the album was already finished before she joined so her input is minimal. However she does get to co -write and sing lead vocals on Hotel Blöedel , which is a shame really because at this point in time she can't sing a note. The main other change being the return to Rough Trade mainly due to Kamera Records being in financial trouble. Smith enjoyed being on Kamera and once said that leaving Kamera was the only time in his life he was ever sad to leave a record company. The patched up relationship with Rough Trade didn't last long & shortly after the albums release they left the label again over an argument about a long form video the band wanted to put out.
Although The Fall themselves were in a transitional period it doesn't really reflect this on the album with a couple of the songs regually being featuring in the live set as early as 2 years previously.
There is a difference in sound to this album. The songs are a lot longer than usual , most clock in at around 6 to 8 minutes. A lot of them tend to be driven by the bass with the guitar going along with it while Mark E Smith rants his lyrics over the top of it. This accounts for at least half the songs on the album. It almost sounds like they used up all the commercial songs to put on the singles that came out before the albums release and these songs were what was left over.
There are however songs in between to break things up a bit Eat Y'Self Fitter is a fantastic opener with it's drum heavy and stop start riff , this goes straight into Neighbourhood Of Infinity , a wonderful nonsense song with such a cool bassline driving it on. Later on in the album there's I Feel Voxish which is a decent stab at an catchy uptempo rock song which the band would go on to perfect over the next few years.
The extras on this album really bring out the best of this time period The Man Whose Head Expanded is another of The Fall's most well known singles and could be considered an autobiographical sequel to (How I wrote) Elastic Man. Kicker Conspiracy brings to life football in the early 80s with hooliganism rampant & shitty stadiums , a much truer representation of English football than New Order ever managed. That single also being shared with Wings , one of my favourite Fall songs with a wonderful video which is just Mark sitting in a pub with a pint & a fag miming the words to camera , this has nothing to do with the song whatsoever but fair play to him for making a video and getting a days boozing in at the same time. The usual live stuff is of varying quality and there's the version of Eat Y'Self Fitter which caused John Peel to faint when he heard it.

Songs You Need:

Eat Y'Self Fitter - It's about not being able to get in rock clubs and not knowing how to use a computer ... i think.

Neighbourhood Of Infinity - A song about giant moths & listening to Link Wray on Saturdays all wrapped up in an ultra cool bassline.

Smile - The very notion of MES telling anyone to smile, let alone shrieking it down your ears on a regular basis...HA.

The Man Whose Head Expanded - You think judging by the intro you're about to get a synth pop songs , then BLAM the drums & guitars kick in.

Kicker Conspiracy - Possibly the only song in the world that mentions former English FA chairman Bert Millichip. This song is all about the drums.

Wings - A wonderful nonsense song about buying a pair of time travelling wings , going back into the past & changing history then coming back and finding that your trip has changed the present.

Verdict: Rating Perverted By Language is a bit of a tricky one. Firstly because of the nature of the songs on it tend to be long & repetitive. That isn't a criticism of them , it just means you have to be in the right frame of mind to want to hear them. Secondly the addition of the two singles really boost the quality of the package as a whole. There's only really one song that I would consider bad and that's Hotel Blöedel. I think on the whole this is a good collection of Fall songs with a couple of gems but not a great one. I think i'll have to give it two separate ratings this time around.
5.5/10 (For the original album)
7/10 (For the package as a whole)

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GravitySlips

Perverted by Language rules..

BUT

I can't believe you didn't put "Garden" as one of the essential songs. That's in my top 5 Fall songs. That and "Eat Yrself Fitter" are my fav on this album, but just looking thru the tracklist and remembering...there's lots of fantastic songs on it.

Kevorkian Logic

I always enjoyed Perverted by Language, especially the song The Man Whose Head Expanded and Wings, in fact i'll go listen to the cd now. Excellent review! I'm excited to hear your review of Bend Sinister

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"it is only through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect that a certain type of perfection can be attained"

Urban Hat€monger ?

I was listening to Bend Sinister a few days ago, I never really paid that much attention to it before. It wasn't until I heard it again I realised just how many songs there are on it that I do like.

I did nearly put it in it's always been one of those borderline songs to me. Sometimes I like it , other times it just irritates me.

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Urban Hat€monger ?

Perverted By Language Videos


Kicker Conspiracy


The Man Who's Head Expanded


Wings

Someone took down the video to Eat Y'self fitter

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cardboard adolescent

me too!

Urban Hat€monger ?

If anyone is in any doubt of the enormity of my task in hand................

Singles (46)

Bingo Masters Break Out EP
It's The New Thing
Rowche Rumble
Fiery Jack
How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'
Totally Wired
Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul
Look , Know
The Man Who's Head Expanded
Kicker Conspiracy / Wings (Double A Side)
Marquis Cha Cha
Oh! Brother
C.R.E.E.P
Call For Escape Route EP
Couldn't Get Ahead / Rollin Dany (Double A Side)
Cruisers Creek
Living Too Late
Mr Pharmacist
Hey! Luciani
Ghost In My House
Peel Sessions EP
Hit The North
Victoria
Bremen Nacht Run Out
Jerusalem/New Big Prinz
Cab It Up
Telephone Thing
Popcorn Double Feature
White Lightning / The Dredger EP
High Tension Line
Free Range
Ed's Babe
Why Are People Grudgeful
Behind The Counter
15 Ways
The Chiselers
Masquerade
Touch Sensitive
F-'Oldin' Money
Rude (All The Time)
The Fall vs 2003
(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas
Theme From Sparta FC #2
Rude All The Time EP
I Can Hear The Grass Grow
Reformation (The Single)

Studio Albums (26)

Live At The Witch Trials
Dragnet
Grotesque (After The Gramme)
Slates
Hex Enduction Hour
Room To Live
Perverted By Language
The Wonderful & Frightening World Of The Fall
This Nations Saving Grace
Bend Sinister
The Frenz Experiment
I Am Kurious Oranj
Extricate
Shift Work
Code Selfish
The Infotainment Scan
Middle Class Revolt
Cerebral Caustic
The Light User Syndrome
Levitate
The Unutterable
Are You The Missing Winner
The Marshall Suite
The Real New Fall Album (Formerly Country On The Click)
Fall Heads Roll
Reformation Post TLC

Live Albums (33)

Totale's Turn
Live In London 1980
A Part Of America Therein 1981
Fall In A Hole
Seminal Live
BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert
The Twenty Seven Points
In The City
15 Ways To Leave Your Man Live
Live To Air In Melbourne 1982
Live Various Years
Nottingham 1992
Live 1977
I Am As Pure As Oranj
Live In Cambridge 1988
Austurbaejarbio Reykjavik, Iceland 1983
Liverpool 78
Live In Zagreb 1990
2G+2
Touch Sensitive... Bootleg Box Set
The Idiot Joy Show
Live At The Phoenix Festival 95/96
Interim
Live At Deeply Vale
Live From The Vaults - Oldham 1978
Live From The Vaults - Retford 1979
Live From The Vaults - Los Angeles 1979
Live From The Vaults - Glasgow 1981
Live From The Vaults - Alter Banhof, Hof 1981
Live At The Knitting Factory - New York 2004
Live At The Garage - London 2002
Live At The Knitting Factory - L.A. 2001
Live At The ATP Festival 2002

Compilation Albums (39)

Early Years 77-79
Hip Priest And Kamerads
Nord-West Gas
Palace Of Swords Reversed
Box One
Box Two
458489 A Sides
458489 B Sides
The Collection
Sinister Waltz
Fiend With A Violin
Oswald Defence Lawyer
The Other Side Of...
Archive Series
The Less You Look, The More You Find
Oxymoron
Cheetham Hill
Smile... It's The Best Of
Northern Attitude
The Peel Sessions
A Past Gone Mad
Psykick Dance Hall
Backdrop
A World Bewitched
Totally Wired - The Rough Trade Anthology
The Rough Trade Singles Box Set
High Tension Line
Listening In
Early Singles
It's The New Thing! The Step Forward Years
Time Enough At Last
Words Of Expectation - BBC Sessions
The Rough Trade Singles Collection
The War Against Intelligence
Rebellious Jukebox
50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong
The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004
Permanent Years (Paranoia Man...)
The Fall Box Set 1976-2007

Mark E Smith Solo Albums (2)

The Post Nearly Man
Pander! Panda! Panzer!

And 24 Peel Sessions

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Kevorkian Logic

jesus christ man. Kudos for trying to take it on at all.

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"it is only through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect that a certain type of perfection can be attained"

Urban Hat€monger ?

If I stick to official stuff that should knock it down to about 35/40 albums.

I think I owned about 52 of those albums last time I counted

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