The Fall are #6 on my list of all time great rock bands largely due to their work from the 1980s. To me they are the best band of the 1980s and not only because their recorded output spans the entire decade. Their eminent position is largely the result of the six albums recorded for Beggars Banquet between 1984 and 1989. It is true previous ‘80s Fall releases have their champions – e.g., Grotesque, Hex Enduction Hour, Slates - but The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall was The Fall’s first undisputed triumph, firmly establishing the band as a beckoning British institution to be reckoned with. After eight years baffling a British music industry seemingly suffering from an incurable attention deficit disorder, Mark E. Smith’s playwrighterly lyrics were given the proper setting in which to shine, largely though the efforts of a new label, a new producer and new wife Brix E. Smith - an American no less – who was also The Fall’s new lead/rhythm guitarist and an effective vocal foil to Mark in Fall Line-up #17. It should also be noted that of the 17 new tracks from 1984 (many of which get multiple, yet not repetitive, airings here), Brix has songwriting credits on 11 of them.

The Fall had just left Rough Trade over justifiably felt slights. The Smiths might have taken their name from Mark E. and Brix E. Smith - if the Manchester myth be true - but Rough Trade was more interested in consolidating success of Morrissey’s band over that of The Fall, even if The Fall was riding a crest of powerful singles that matched The Smiths’ material for quality. Signing with Beggars Banquet in 1984, however, triggered an outpouring of timeless work that rivals any band’s. It is often said of Jimi Hendrix that his music sounds as new today as it did when first released. The same can be said of the trilogy of elpees the band issued between 1984 and 1986. The Wonderful and Frightening Frightening World of ... The Fall was the first of those elpees and it now gets the fully deserved 4-disc treatment with an informative 40-page book chockfull of interview snatches, photos and reprinted reviews as well as a list of recommended reading material.

Disc 1: The Wonderful and Frightening World Of … The Fall (40:10)

This legendary album is known as a commercial breakthrough but listening to the nine tracks in proper running order for the first time in decades, I’m struck by how uncommercial this record sounds. I think us Fall fans thought it was commercial-sounding based on the two keyboard-sparkling singles that preceded it – ‘Oh! Brother’ and ‘c.r.e.e.p.’ – but as is true of most Fall elpees form this era, the singles are not to be found on the The Wonderful and Frightening World Of … The Fall.

I think we thought it commercial at the time because it was the band’s step up from low-fi to hi-fi; the first time the band had production values worthy of The Beatles. This was not surprising because it was the first time they were working with John Leckie, a producer who had worked with The Beatles, although on solo projects, most notably George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band (and Yoko Ono’s too), Paul McCartney’s ‘Hi Hi Hi’ single. Leckie had also worked with Pink Floyd, Be Bop Deluxe, Simple Minds, and on Public Image Ltd.’s debut single prior to his entanglement with The Fall.

The songs were recorded live in the studio with Leckie not letting Smith’s behavior get the better of him. Smith likes to take the piss out of everyone. He runs The Fall like Connie Mack ran the Philadelphia A’s and believes creativity breeds on tension. The proof is in the output. Gavin Friday of The Virgin Prunes appears as “a friendly visitor” on ‘Copped It’ and ‘Stephen Song’, pinning winning vocal performances that make me want to look up the Virgin Prunes’ discography. The Fall’s many line-ups is the stuff of legend (and one recommended book: Dave Simpson’s The Fallen), but the fact remains that throughout the ‘80s, Smith was not the only constant. Bassist Stephen Hanley – who photographs very strangely: sometimes he looks like an old man! – and guitarist Craig Scanlon were part of The Fall for the entire decade. Their integral role in The Fall is acknowledged in each having a song – i.e., ‘Stephen Song’ and ‘Craigness’ -named for them.

I also think what sets The Wonderful and Frightening World Of … The Fall apart from previous Fall albums is this the first time Smith showed a wistful side. Maybe it should have been called The Wonderful and Wistful World Of … The Fall. The most palpable proof of this is the album closer ‘Disney‘s Dream Debased’: a song about a woman’s death riding The Matterhorn in Disneyland, an incident that occurred on the day that Brix E. Smith took her husband to her favorite amusement park. The Fall have never sounded so touching as on this track.

Disc 2: Singles and Rough Mixes (72:32)

This collection reminds me that ‘Oh! Brother’ was released two and a half months before ‘c.r.e.e.p.’: it’s always felt the other way round to me. Interestingly – for me anyway – these recordings date from the first sessions with Leckie, when they also recorded the two opening tracks from The Wonderful and Frightening World Of … The Fall. The 12-inch version of these tracks (“O! Brother” and ‘C.R.E.E.P.’ )get an almost dub treatment. It is dub as if produced by rock and rollers and not Jamaicans and are the two tracks I implore you to seek if you have not yet heard them. They could change your life … or – at the very least – your opinion of The Fall.

What is also interesting about The Fall’s three singles from 1984 is that it’s impossible to separate the A-sides form the B-sides. When Beggars Banquet released a single disc greatest hits CD in 1990 as well as a double-disc CD collecting all the B-sides of the A-side songs on the greatest hits package, it was impossible to tell which one was better. Actually it’s the B-side package, which contains many lengthier versions of the A-side “hits”.

Disc 3: BBC Radio Sessions (68:48)

Many Fall fans on the other side of the Atlantic insist the band’s best recordings have been those done for BBC radio broadcasts. Disc 3 offers up 15 performances for Americans to judge for themselves. The first four from the 12/12/83 Peel Session (broadcast 1/3/84) have long been available – most notably on the The Complete Peel Sessions 1978 – 2004 box set (one of two of the “you gotta have it” box sets issued in the aughts: the other being The Pogues’ Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say Poguemahone!!) – but the other eleven performances are hard to come by and they are a real find. Mark E. Smith’s lyrics on the BBC session recordings are definitely easier to discern.

The Peel Session suffers in comparison to the others for several reasons: it’s the earliest; the session predates Leckie’s affect on The Fall’s sound; and - though it post-dates Brix E. Smith’s addition to the band - she was still easing herself in and her influence is as not yet pervasive (in a beneficial way). By The Jensen Session (recorded 2/12/84 and broadcast 3/1/84) she fits more comfortably in. Only ‘Creep’ was recorded at both sessions but differences between them are telling. Both performances are shorter than the studio version but whereas the Peel version is faster and punkier, the Jensen version is insidious and fluid and when Brix sings you senseshe’s proven to the other band members that she’s more than just Mark’s wife. The Long Session (recorded 9/9/84 and broadcast 9/17/84) postdates the Leckie recording sessions of The Wonderful and Frightening World Of … The Fall and showcases a line-up bursting with confidence. ‘No Bulbs’ – the third single of 1984 for The Fall – had not yet been released so radio listeners would not be aware of the fun Mark was having with the words and that’s Brix doing the “friendly visitor” vocals on ‘Stephen Song’. ‘Slang King’ is more percussive on this session, and I just don’t mean the drums. Everything sounds like its getting slapped by drumsticks. This is the disc that’ll probably get the most play and it ends with three performances from a radio show called Saturday Live. These performances have more a live feel – it’s a real din with churning guitars - and sets you up nicely for Disc 4 if you play the Omnibus Edition in order.

Disc 4: Live at Pandora’s Music Box Festival (50:45)

If The Fall has an Achilles Heel, it is their live performances, which are hit or miss. Sets are forward looking in that songs played are usually recent or new material with one cover song and one or two oldies. I think Fall concerts used to be longer in the 1980s, but we can attribute the shortness of this performance to the fact it is a festival that took place on September 22, 1984 at De Doelen in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The set was eight songs long and fans must’ve enjoyed The Fall’s appearance because there is a two song encore. The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall was not yet released – that would occur on October 12th – but that does not prevent The Fall from playing five songs from it, including ‘Lay Of The Land’, the album and concert opener. It’s a strong performance with only ‘Craigness’ misplaced and capped by ‘No Bulbs’, one of the truly great of many great Fall songs and it shines here as it always does. I doubt I’ll ever play this disc again but its inclusion is warranted as it presents another angle of The Fall in 1984.

The question then - for you shopper - is should you buy this?

If you’re merely curious, then I suggest you get the 1988 single CD (reissued in 1997) that mirrors the 1984 cassette, which included A- and B-sides. If you’re a fan, the question is should you get this or wait for the February 2011 Omnibus Edition of This Nation’s Saving Grace from 1985? It is, after all, the better album. But with the A- and B-sides thrown in, The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall is a better collection. And with the disturbing rumors that the Omnibus Edition of This Nation’s Saving Grace will only be three discs due to live radio broadcasts are a-missing and outtakes not very different, my recommendation to you – shopper – is that you should not wait. Your money will be better spent on the Omnibus Edition of The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall

The Fall’s Your Future Our Clutter is not for the faint of heart, but perfectly suitable for the faint of hearing. This is a record that sounds LOUD.

And come to think of it, Your Future Our Clutter’s more about sounds than it is songs anyway. The Fall don’t really write songs any more. Haven’t for a while. They write riffs that Mark E. Smith – the world’s coolest curmudgeon –verbally surfs. Only this time round, the riffs are blinged with so many sounds that this could pass for a sound effects record.

You’ll hear sleigh bells, R2-D2 blips and bleeps, gurgling, and croaking frogs. And that’s just on the first two tracks. Most of these sound are courtesy of keyboardist Eleni Poulou (Smith’s wife) and guitarist Peter “PP” Greenway. It’s the role of drummer Keiron Melling and bassist Dave “The Eagle” Spurr to drive the riffs: seven of nine that work. Only ‘Cowboy George’ - despite its galloping rhythm - and a Crampish rendition of Wanda Jackson’s ‘Funnel of Love’ fail to transcend filler status. (Interesting tidbit from Wikipedia: “Jackson revisted the song on her 2003 album Heart Trouble with Poison Ivy and Lux Interior of The Cramps on guitar and backing vocals.” So maybe the Crampish quality is not an accident. Maybe it’s an off handed tribute to Lux interior who died last year; after all both The Cramps and The Fall have recorded ‘Strychnine’.)

Recommended tracks are ‘Weather Report 2’ where the bass is intentionally thunderous; ‘Chino’ where the guitar is dagger sharp; and ‘Mexico Wax Solvent’ where the keyboard sends out signals that remind you of that mid-90s Fall classic ‘Telephone Thing’; purposely so because the chords are similar if not identical. In fact The Fall has recorded so many songs since 1976 that you could say every song here has an antecedent in their songbook.

For example, the opening track ‘O.F.Y.C Showcase’ echoes recent Fall fare such as ‘Fall Sound’ and ‘Systematic Abuse’ and ‘Blindness’ and yet it doesn’t. It’s just another in a long line of stomping rockers that The Fall excel at. And that only The Fall – no matter the line-up – are capable of playing. And speaking of line-ups, it’s worth noting that this is the same lineup as on 2008’s Imperial Wax Solvent. The same line-up on consecutive albums? Smith must be slipping. He’s fired so many musicians that 2005’s Fall Heads Roll poked fun at his reputation for being as figuratively murderous as Alice’s Queen of Hearts.

Still it’s refreshing to have a recording artist like Smith who completely disregards what record company executives, music critics, even listeners think of Fall recordings. He’s firmly committed to recording what interests him. That’s what I mean by this record not being for the faint of heart. Part one of ‘Bury Pts. 1 + 3’ is so dense that it’s not even lo-fi, it’s no-fi. But if you hang with it, part three’s a real ear opener. And so are the rest of the sounds and riffs on Your Future Our Clutter.

With The Fall’s 28th studio lp delayed until January 2010 (the drolly entitled Our Future – Your Clutter), let’s take the time to appraise the band’s sole 2009 release: Last Night At The Palais: a live CD/DVD memento of The Fall closing London’s Hammersmith Palais after 88 legendary years.

It was an odd choice. Everybody who knows The Fall knows The Fall is Mark E. Smith, his current wife, and whoever he deems worthy of being up on stage or in a recording studio with him at a given moment. What I’m trying to say is that with the innumerable Fall line-ups he’s led since 1976, Mark E. Smith is as anti-nostalgic as a band leader can get.

So no one should be surprised that The Fall’s set on April 1, 2007 was in no way tailored for the occasion. Playing then-recent material, a few covers (The Mother of Invention’s Hungry Freaks, Daddy and George Jones’ White Lightning), and one oldie (Right Time, Wrong Place), this was a standard set for The Fall tour of Spring 2007.

The concert begins thunderously (there are two bassists in this incarnation of The Fall) with Senior Twilight Stock Replacer: standard, repetitive Fall fare with band members chanting the title over and over until Mark E. Smith steps forward, declaring The Fall’s presence as is his wont at the beginning of Fall concerts. The song ends and Smith climbs astride Pacifying Joint and the next four numbers keep building upon one another until Smith’s riding a riffing locomotive, culminating in the aforementioned Hungry Freaks, Daddy (reminding us what a potent lyricist Frank Zappa was before his own fall: but that’s the subject of another column).

For all of you not in the know, Smith is well-known for his inability to carry a tune, but what he lacks in tune, he more than makes up for in tone. Smith’s specialty lies in his ability to vocally surf The Fall’s music with repetitive lyrics that morph as he skewers his usual targets: politicians, emerging trends, and other rockers. This is potent stuff in a live setting and Smith’s not known as a rocker’s rocker for nothing. You can hear here why he’s thrived for 35+ years.

The set loses steam for four songs before righting itself with the Blindness, eight minutes of glorious insight that sets up an exquisite, if short, encore leading off with a London lout chiding Smith for not showing the Palais proper respect. The Fall answers with two doubled-up bass notes ringing out ominously like some alarm you can’t shut off. It’s Reformation, Smith’s critique of his former contemporaries like Gang of Four and The Buzzcocks reforming for new money and old glory. It’s the best number of the night and as it nears the four minute mark sounds like it can go on forever and the Hammersmith Palais never be demolished. But stage divers invade. Bouncers intrude. And The Fall abruptly cut off the proceedings with Smith snidely thanking the bouncers for “… allowing us into your security area. We’re off to civilization. G’night mate.”

This is a combustible CD and one of the better live documents of The Fall out there. (And believe me, there are many.) Give it 8 Hellbombs, 9 if you’re a "fuckface", as Fall fans affectionately refer to one another.