The Fall - Iceland (1982) | Route

 Not intentionally dwelling on the negative but been meaning to address this for a while largely because Route obviously love The Fall. I don’t get it? Over their history some 66 members and always fronted by the same man the tragic alcoholic Mark E Smith the mannered slurring ‘poet’ front man. I met many drunken intellectuals at art school who thought it big and clever to drink more than anyone else and considered it superior to say and mean nothing over those trying to say something deeper and more meaningful but hey . . . . the mannered singing style largely influenced by drink [who can spin three syllables to the word WIRED!?] and his magic adoration clear amongst The Fall fans you only have to see the comments on YouTube on something like Totally Wired. I mean Maxine Peak’s a fan and starred in the Women of The Fall for the blokey band par excellence but here is ‘ICELAND' improvised on the spur of the moment whilst recording there. I just don’t get it and it always sounded awful to these ears . . . . . 

Route

The Fall - Totally Wired (New York 1981)

The Fall In Iceland

Paul Hanley recalls The Fall’s trip to Iceland in September 1981, where they spent the day in a recording studio built into a cave. They recorded three songs, including two which were included on the album Hex Enduction Hour: ‘Hip Priest’ and ‘Iceland’. Paul is talking to Ben Cottam for a BBC Radio 3 documentary, ‘Cave Life For Beginners’.

For Paul’s full account of the trip to Iceland and the making of the album, read his book Have A Bleedin Guess: The Story of Hex Enduction Hour. Details here: http://www.route-online.com/all-books...

MARK E. SMITH

The Fall singer dies at 60

Never really a fan of the Fall and only have one album ( 'Live at The Witch Trials' ) 
Captain Beefheart has been alluded to in the eulogies pouring forth and I don't see or hear it frankly. The fact that the Mancunian post punk couldn't sing and had in retrospect what was an affected mannerism in over speaking the lyrics, so called, and voice that grated on this listener and poet a la Don Van Vliet he certainly was not but hey, other than that we respect a fellow Northern curmudgeon which seems to be his greatest personal trait or characteristic and for that I am sorry he is gone

 A Beefheart Facebook page said this:

Mark E. Smith, lead singer of the Fall, died yesterday aged 60. He saw himself primarily as a writer who wanted to combine interesting lyrics with primal rock 'n roll. Others dubbed the Fall punk, post punk, art punk, new wave etc. I have loved his work for the last 33 years of my life, since I was 16 years old, and it means as much to me as the work of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Both artists were introduced to my world by the broadcaster John Peel who loved them both equally. Words can't really convey what Mark E. Smith meant to me but i am grateful I discovered his genius.                             Mark Edward Smith born 5th March 1957 - died 24th January 2018 - Rest In Peace

In retrospect a drunk who finds themselves so amusing and 'post punk' arrogant wit largely is an idiot so ubiquitous that you could not throw a stick in any pub throughout the UK in the Seventies without hitting legions of them but Smith is something different I think despite his acknowledged curmudgeonliness (how do you justify the over 66 members who have passed through the institution of The Fall?!"Hey if it is me and your Granny on the bongos, it's The Fall" - Smith ) those who could put up with or even tolerate the bloody minded vocalist doubtless will acknowledge his place in the contemporary music pantheon. His death at an early age (and younger than yours) truly goes some way towards acknowledging his importance. We knew it was coming. All the signs were there despite his alcohol dependancy or abuse whatever your slant and we know that he wasn't Dylan Thomas, Don Van Vliet or anyone else come to that, he was Mark E. Smith.

in his prime . . . . . . 


Donnie Sutherland and 'Sounds' in Australia

Deer Park

(1)

I took a walk down West 11 (2)
I had to wade through 500 European punks (3)
In an off-license I rubbed up with some oiks (4)
Who threw some change on the Asian counter
And asked polite if that covered two lagers
A hospital discharge asked me where he could crash

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type artist ranch
This is where C Wilson wrote Ritual in the Dark (5)
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

Spare a thought for the sleeping promo dept. (6)
They haven't had an idea in two years
Dollars and deutchmarks keep the company on its feet
Say have you ever have a chance to meet
Fat Captain Beefheart imitators with zits? (7)
Who is the King Shag Corpse? (8)

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type minstrel ranch
This is where C Wilson wrote Ritual in the Dark
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

The young blackies get screwed up the worst
They've gone over to the Hampstead house suss
In the English system they implicitly trust
See the A&R civil servants
They get a sex thrill out of a sixteenth of Moroccan
They get a sex thrill out of a sixteenth of Moroccan

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type artist ranch
This is where C Wilson wrote Ritual in the Dark
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

Yes, dear chap, it hasn't changed that much
It's still a subculture art-dealer jerk-off
Yes, dear chap, it hasn't changed that much
It's still a subculture art-dealer jerk-off

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type minstrel ranch
This is where C Wilson wrote Ritual in the Dark
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type minstrel ranch
This is where loads of punks congregate in the dark
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

Have you been to the English Deer Park?
It's a large type minstrel ranch
This is where C Wilson wrote Ritual in the Dark
Have you been to the English Deer Park?

Hey tourist it wasn't quite like what you thought
Hey Manchester group what wasn't what you thought
Hey Scottish group that wasn't quite like what you thought
Hey Manchester group that wasn't what you thought
Hey Scottish group that wasn't quite like what you thought
Quite like what you thought

Hey Midlands, scooped yer, how d'you ever get the job?
Hey Manchester group from it wasn't quite like what you thought
Quite like what you thought
Guess what
Guess guess guess...
Guess what

Notes 

1. In medieval times deer parks were establshed by kings (and, later, other titled persons) in order to facilitate hunting and the enjoyment of nature by the nobility. Almost all the deer in Britain were at one time contained in such parks, so eating venison was considered a symbol of status (very little venison was sold, so the only people who could get it were the nobles). Norman Mailer, whom Mark E. Smith has expressed an appreciation for on at least one occasion, wrote a novel called The Deer Park (1955) about a resort town called Desert D'Or ("golden desert," a fictionalized Palm Springs) in which the upper classes behave quite badly, much like in medieval deer parks. The title, however, is thought to be a reference not to a medieval deer park but to the Parc-aux-Cerfs ("stag park") of Louis XV of France (1710-1774), a more modern version of the deer park in which the king kept a mansion where he installed various women with whom he had sexual liaisons. In a profile in the NME that came out a year or so before Hex Enduction Hour, MES listed both The Deer Park and Ritual in the Dark (see note 4) as novels he liked. The song is introduced by "Fortress" on Hex, but in live performance they were treated as separate entities, seldom being played in successsion.  

Smith once wryly called The Fall “music for those who don’t want it”