Fall Heads Roll

Amazon.com
As Mark E. Smith's band head toward their third decade as the shambolic art-punk outfit that all arrogant art school kids must love even after they've gotten over their own arrogance, the amazing thing is not that they exist or still have a following despite Smith's notorious predilection for doing things onstage to his bandmates not even Rick James would have tried. What's amazing is how good their records still are, and the ways that a singer who looks like the specter of death crossed with Andy Capp who has such a limited range is so consistently engaging. Not as blindingly hateful as their prior two albums, Heads Roll is in fact among the group's finest post-Brix releases. As usual, the group's cover choices are Catholic, and "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" by the Move is on par with their take on "Victoria," which is to say, excellent. This album is long and listeners would do well to program out the last third or so, but thanks to modern technology this is not tough to accomplish. --Mike McGonigal

Fall Heads Roll,The Fall,Narnack Records,Indie Rock,Pop,Post-Punk,Rock,Rock/Pop

Fall Heads Roll

Average customer rating:

The Fall at their very best (and most unappreciated)
Great Group, Dumb Title, Indy Rock Noodling and Nodding Off
Has done worse can do much better
Real Real New Fall LP
Safe House Breached

Fall Heads Roll
The Fall
Manufacturer: Narnack Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Post-Punk | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004
Reformation Post TLC
The Unutterable
Interim

ASIN: B000AP2ZEE
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Tracks:

Ride Away
Blindness
What About Us
Pacifying Joint
Assume
Midnight in Aspen
Clasp Hands
I Can Hear The Grass Grow
Bo Demmick
Youwanner
Aspen Reprise
The Early Days Of Channel Fuhrer
Breaking The Rules
Trust In Me

Amazon.com

As Mark E. Smith's band head toward their third decade as the shambolic art-punk outfit that all arrogant art school kids must love even after they've gotten over their own arrogance, the amazing thing is not that they exist or still have a following despite Smith's notorious predilection for doing things onstage to his bandmates not even Rick James would have tried. What's amazing is how good their records still are, and the ways that a singer who looks like the specter of death crossed with Andy Capp who has such a limited range is so consistently engaging. Not as blindingly hateful as their prior two albums, Heads Roll is in fact among the group's finest post-Brix releases. As usual, the group's cover choices are Catholic, and "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" by the Move is on par with their take on "Victoria," which is to say, excellent. This album is long and listeners would do well to program out the last third or so, but thanks to modern technology this is not tough to accomplish. --Mike McGonigal

Album Description

The latest studio full-length from England's most prolific rock band. Fourteen tracks of intoxicating splendor promise to captivate old and new fans alike, laced-up with monumental garage-pop hooks effective enough to candy-coat a bruised liver. Pressed on 180 GM black & 180 GM marble vinyl.

Customer Reviews:

The Fall at their very best (and most unappreciated).......2006-06-12

It may not have the immediate appeal of thieir last album, but give this one time to grow on you and you won't be disappointed. I actually think it surpasses their last effort and is quickly becoming one of my favorite Fall albums of all time. It's already becoming difficult to think of one that is more consistent in quality from beginning to end (yes, I even adore track 1). Long Live the Might Fall! And please tour Australia again soon!

Great Group, Dumb Title, Indy Rock Noodling and Nodding Off.......2006-02-26

I've been a fan of this group for over 25 years. In fact, The Fall is my favorite group of all time. And I'll always say that, even in spite of the ho-hum quality of their oddly pedestrian and enervating newest effort. FHR just doesn't excite me at all. MES and the crew don't sound much excited as well. I can't even claim to have heard much of anything on here that is innovative, edgy, or thrilling in any of the tracks. Quite a kick in the pants given that The Fall very rarely fail to incite, excite, or at the very least, engage. Their Move cover doesn't add any fresh perspective to that great chestnut, "I Can Hear The Grass Grow." But that's a familiar problem with covers anyway. Far worse, the album's net effect is one where the tracks seem to coalesce into little more than a brooding background noise; a case of some tracks being merely more "alright" than others. Nothing much is really distinctive or memorable. I've heard fellow fans rave about the thing, but I'm left scratching my head in bewilderment as to exactly why. FHR reminds me of something like a Fall-"lite" comfort food: big on approximation of a distinctive Fall flavor, but with an unpleasant aftertaste of chemical hocus pocus that is simply rich in empty calories. The latest slice of strife from this venerable organization seems to be woefully short on weird and wiggy insight into life's rich pageant, and more about unfocused, foot wagging restlessness. MES appears to be moving through the work in a kind of listless somnabulistic shuffle: an aimless fugue of merely going through the motions, and with a plodding, overly smooth indy-rock sensibility; a largely uninspired cakewalk through an already well carved out ( and utterly predictable) indy-rock territory. I've not been a stranger to Fall music not impressing me initally only to have me crazed about it in subsequent listens. That was the story for much of the early 90's Fall. I've played FHR about six times in the several months I've owned it, and it all still feels like a lump of undigested pasta in my gut. I may feel kinder towards it in time, but so far being moved to only give it six plays in three months doesn't bode well for a change of heart epiphany coming upon me like a lightning bolt.
"Country On The Click/The New Real Fall Album," their previous effort, was terrific: a compendium of rich and grating surprises. this one ain't like that. I'm sorry to say. And I take absolutely no pleasure in saying it. Yes, I'm a "look Back Bore" and proud of it. MES has seemingly disparaged old friends of The Fall. He appears to want you young 'uns to focus on the contemporary Fall ouevre and forget about the past. It's understandable that he wants to remain relevent and garner new and younger audiences. But listen kid, if you're new to this band seek out the older stuff first. You'll see why they were - and are - the greatest avant post-punk band there is. No, I won't say that his best work is behind him, I won't go that far, but it is undeniably certain that the MES of the late 70's and 80's created THE ouevre that made The Fall legendary. This release shouldn't be your first taste of the group. If it is and you love it, great - but you won't have much of a clue why THe Fall came to be the gold standard for many of us older and discerning fans. Or, as the Late John Peel said in effect: The standard other groups are measured against.

Has done worse can do much better.......2006-02-06

Another Fall record...I do not know...It is actually not so bad. The problem is that despite the incredible musical diversity ME Smith has displayed over the years it does allways sound the same, with some exceptions. It is still very solid and there are as allways a few pearls included that will make any fan happy. But in a sense it is a very very commercial approach in the sense that it appeals to a very very well established fan-base.

Real Real New Fall LP.......2006-01-19

The Fall will never, ever die. Only the Rolling Stones have persisted longer, and they still have more than one original member in their line-up. The Fall are also an anomaly. The only constant member of the band is the Mark E. Smith, who only handles lead vocals, which he doesn't sing so much as bark through an indecipherable Mancunian accent. Still, somehow, the band's sound doesn't vary greatly from record to record. The essential Fall song formula: find a killer riff, repeat ad nauseam, Smith shouts some oblique political commentary, maybe a (soon to be ex) wife on keyboards adds some backing vocals. Sounds like it would get old, but somehow it never does. Heads Roll differs slightly, in that it has some quieter moments which evoke the slower songs of latter day Sonic Youth. Pretty, even. Still, it contains some rockin' tunes, Blindness being my personal favorite, with a fuzzy bass line that repeats itself for seven minutes, but still leaves you wanting more. Heads Roll was criticized for not being as good as last years Real New Fall LP, and while it's not as consistently good, I think it gets better each time you listen.

Safe House Breached.......2005-12-02

Like some insane jakey escaped from a James Kelman novel MES mumbles his way in near incoherence thru this latest recording. Once again the Smith verbiage is "thrown like a carcass into the whirring propeller" that is the music of the Fall, and once again dark magic is the result. Smith's rant has been reduced to a mumble as he apparently converges with his own mythology. Unlike a Keith Richards, Smith would never stoop to minstrilize himself with drunken affectation, but the drink has always been there. It was certainly there back in 1983 when my interview with him for a Philly zine quickly morphed into a 3 hour afternoon drinking session at a local Irish pub.
He was brilliant then and he remains brilliant now. Over 3 decades, no band to have emerged from the original 77 punk scene can come close to rivaling the Fall in terms of the shear quantity of good music produced. The new band are incredibly hot, more obviously so here than on "Click". Like Captain Beefheart with his voice ravaged by MS on his final recording "Ice Cream for Crow", Smith is so far ahead of his contemporaries that he will be more interesting than them until the moment he keels over and can't even manage a mumble any more. The worst song The Fall ever recorded is of more substance than the best song that a "Franz Ferdinand" could ever imagine.

Average customer rating:

Fall Heads Roll
The Fall
Manufacturer: Slogan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Post-Punk | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000A39FL2
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Tracks:

Ride Away
Pacifying Joint
What About Us?
Midnight Aspen
Assume
Midnight Aspen (Reprise)
Blindness
I Can Hear the Grass Grow
Bo Demmick
Youwanner
Clasp Hands
Early Days of Channel F
Breaking the Rules
Trust in Me

Album Description

UK Punk legends The Fall are set to embark on an extensive UK tour during October as they promote the upcoming album Fall Heads Roll. The band, fronted by the incomparable Mark E. Smith, have enjoyed a career spanning almost 30 years and their new album finds them at their very best, with Smith sneering over tracks laden with garage rock guitar and pummelling rhythm sections. 14 tracks in total including 'Ride Away', 'Pacifying Joint', 'What About Us', 'Midnight Aspen', 'Assume', 'Midnight Aspen Reprise', 'Blindness' and more. Slogan. 2005.