THE FALL: REGS

You know, I was about to go into a post full of The Fall's most martial/marshalled moments, the real heavy darkness, you know? But WTF, it's Friday, why would I want to harsh your mellow? I WANT TO MELLOW YOUR HARSH

MES got turned on to dub reggae by John Peel in the early '70s (check that interview out, MES is on some other shit), and it's easy to see the dub influence on The Fall - monochromatic, endless beats with some dude saying incomprehensible stuff over top of them every now and then, plus weird vocal treatments and random tape effects, check, check, check, check. You could call it a formula, if you like. MES has never been afraid of covers - nay, as we will explore in a later post, he often uses them as vehicles for his most personal, reflective content - and he pays tribute to Lee Perry with a pair -

THE FALL - KIMBLE, great track from a '93 Peel sesh, which I understand is now available as part of this big fucking 6-disc boxed set of all The Fall's Peel Sessions. Lyrics here. Some amazing vocalizations, cool tape stuff *, great dub-style sound, and really kind of heartfelt lyrics delivered with real pathos - "you never knew / I was around / that's why you tried / to climb on my back / you step on my toes / ("ow!") / pretend you never knew," &c.

THE FALL - WHY ARE PEOPLE GRUDGEFUL (a lyric that also crops up in "Kimble," too), from 1994's brilliantly-named and pretty excellent album The Infotainment Scan. Lyrics here. This one's a bit more unorthodox in the arrangement, it's got this moronic bounce to it, not so dubby at all. Great hook tho, answering the title question: "all over the world / difference, difference". Good breakdown, but gets a little tiresome by the end maybe, I don't know.

Of course, MES had already ventured into the realm of reggaesongwriting himself for the title track to his, uh, 1988 ballet collabo with avant-dance guy Michael Clark (cool interview with him talking about MES in the early '80s here) -

THE FALL - KURIOUS ORANJ, from I Am Kurious Oranj. Lyrics here. The song, and the ballet, are about "the foibles and little-known psyche of William of Orange," according to the program (transcribed at the end of this page).

they rode over peasants like you, they rode over peasants like you
and their horses loved them too, and their horses loved them too
they were curious Orange, they were curious Orange
they built the world as we know it, all the systems you traverse
rode slipshod over all dumbshits
they were curious orange

This is no novelty reggae track, is what I'm saying. I need to get my hands on a video of this ballet, the music is pretty great, lots of revamped Fall classics as well as some new tracks (like this one), and apparently the visuals involved a lot of hamburgers.

Soooo, enjoy those, and have a mellowed mellow weekend, amigos - we're getting gothy and gloomy next week, I hear there's gonna be (MORE) rain.