Half sung lyrics that are forced along by an irresistibly rough hewn rhythm...punctuated by demented melodic barbs. Hill Country Blues or....
Little Milton, Albert, B.B....we love you but, the Bossman's here now. Scatter!
Break your ears on this.
"Then One Night/I Was Doin' My Homework/My Woman/She Calls Out Yo' Name."
Those early Fall records are rocknroll in another dimension...a better one. One where Hill Country Blues, not Delta Blues, set the rules. Where they don't have a word for Rockabilly because Rockabilly just is. Where they don't have a word for Hippie because they've never seen one...and, internets forgive me, they've never heard a Boy Band sing Twist and Shout. I love the Fall...but, those records from Grotesque to Perverted By Language are transcendent.
We haven't even bothered with the fact that you have Ezra Pound, Christopher Logue, Mary Flannery and Eliot...ranting over the whole thing.
That's how a Cracker came to be obsessed with the FALL.*
How this clown became such a hater we'll probably never know.
Get The F*** Down Y'all!
*For the record...I am a Cracker...not a Redneck. My people were among those Britons who settled South Georgia
Spot on.
ReplyDeleteExcellent...then I'm not hearing things.
DeleteExcept when Brix talks...it's like someone's trying to puncture my ear drum with the handle end of a knife.
Listen "anonymous" I warned you about marrying The Sister and I'm sorry it's come to this but I can't support these sweeping generalizations...even though can fully appreciate the extremity of your plight.
ReplyDeleteObviously you dodged a bullet on that one.
ReplyDeleteI'm having to fight the urge to post Big Pimpin by Jay Z and UGK.
I'm a woman and I'm not American... looks like my luck is in! Wow, what a catch he must be!
ReplyDeleteJust what he's looking for.
DeleteHe's come to the wrong place for a grouse...we have some Southern Belles, British Lasses and one ornery Canadian...no American women here.
So he must be here on the hunt...lucky girls.
"Those early Fall records are rocknroll in another dimension...a better one"
ReplyDeletePreach it, bro!
Fab music selection all round.
I'm neither a woman or American.
I don't know man...this cat seems so anxious to avoid American women, just not being American might keep you in the running.
DeleteI can't help but hear a hill country stomp in those records. I assume it's accidental...damaged rockabilly reworkings of Beefheart and Can I guess but, it strikes as close to the bone for me as anything.
I've heard people in documentaries grappling with the music...one fella called it superficially ugly...I never got that. Those records are a revelation.
I too have decided to boycott American women. But then I'm a 61-year old Norwegian man married to an Englishwoman and living in London, so this won't mean that I have to do any actual boycotting. I'm not sure what boycotting means here, but I intend to keep on socialising with the American women I know, but I promise not to ask them out on dates or divorce my wife in order to marry any of them. However, I like to show solidarity.
ReplyDeleteOkay I've listened to the Fall tracks. Ever heard of Hasil Adkins? "Hasil Adkins (pronounced "Hassle," not "Haysil") (April 29, 1937 -- April 25, 2005) was an Appalachian country, rock and roll, and blues musician, though he was frequently considered rockabilly and sometimes primitive jazz. He generally performed as a one-man band, playing guitar and drums at the same time and singing." I can hear the similarities/influences/naturalness you talk about - his sound is about as stripped back and basic as is humanly possibly. My favourite track is "Duncens", which sounds like it was recorded in a broom cupboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyT41Z6xwUk
Haha...excellent point and song.
DeleteLake Hasil, The Fall have all the elements of psychobilly...without the tattoos and hot rods...creeper spats.
I think some Tav Falco is in order now...maybe some Jack O Fire.
Quality Fall songs, Erik. Then again, you just can't go wrong with The Fall. Except Papal Visit, of course.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the party my man.
DeleteI didn't even give it too much thought...except for the live Smile. That's a ball outs clip.
There has been a development in this connection I'm straining to make...there is at least one crack in the wall that separates The Fall from our Hill Country.
I'm prying at it now.