| Artist |
The Fall |
| Box Set Title: |
The Complete Peel Sessions 1978 - 2004 |
| Album Title: |
Disc 3: The Complete Peel Sessions 1978 - 2004 |
| Album Cover: |
 |
| Primary Genre |
Alternative & Punk: General Alternative |
| Format |
CD (6) |
| Released |
04/25/2005 |
| Label |
Castle Music |
| Catalog No |
CMX8X982 |
| Bar Code No |
0 21823 62042 8 |
| Packaging |
Box Set (6 Disk) |
| Tracks |
| 1.
|
Cruiser's Creek (5:51)
(Mark E Smith/Brix E Smith/Craig Scanlon) |
| 2.
|
Couldn't Get Ahead (2:34)
(Mark E Smith/Brix E Smith) |
| 3.
|
Spoilt Victorian Child (4:57)
(Simon Rogers/Mark E Smith) |
| 4.
|
Gut Of The Quantifier (4:44)
(Simon Rogers/Mark E Smith/Brix E Smith/Karl Burns) |
| 5.
|
L.A. (4:35)
(Mark E Smith/Brix E Smith) |
| 6.
|
The Man Whose Head Expanded (5:16)
(Steve Hanley/Craig Scanlon/Mark E Smith) |
| 7.
|
What You Need (5:52)
(Mark E Smith/Craig Scanlon) |
| 8.
|
Faust Banana (5:07)
(Mark E Smith/Craig Scanlon) |
| 9.
|
Hot Aftershave Bop (3:11)
(Steve Hanley/Mark E Smith) |
| 10.
|
R.O.D. (4:26)
(Craig Scanlon/Mark E Smith/Simon Rogers/Brix E Smith/Simon Wolstencroft) |
| 11.
|
Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers (6:22)
(Craig Scanlon/Steve Hanley/Mark E Smith) |
| 12.
|
US 80's-90's (4:55)
(Mark E Smith) |
| 13.
|
Athlete Cured (4:46)
(Mark E Smith) |
| 14.
|
Australians In Europe (5:42)
(Mark E Smith) |
| 15.
|
Twister (4:17)
(Mark E Smith/Brix E Smith) |
| 16.
|
Guest Informant (4:09)
(Craig Scanlon/Steve Hanley/Mark E Smith) |
|
| Date Acquired |
07/08/2005 |
| Personal Rating |
 |
| Acquired from |
Electric Fetus - Minneapolis |
Web Links |
All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:
The Fall online - Discography: singles & albums |
Notes |
foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-12-27 22:36:50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: The Fall / The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004, Disc 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR7 -0.10 dB -7.86 dB 5:51 01-Cruiser's Creek
DR6 -0.02 dB -7.49 dB 2:34 02-Couldn't Get Ahead
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.36 dB 4:57 03-Spoilt Victorian Child
DR7 -0.10 dB -7.94 dB 4:45 04-Gut of the Quantifier
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.78 dB 4:35 05-L.A.
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.32 dB 5:16 06-The Man Whose Head Expanded
DR8 -0.10 dB -9.82 dB 5:52 07-What You Need
DR8 -0.50 dB -9.31 dB 5:08 08-Faust Banana
DR7 -0.70 dB -9.11 dB 3:12 09-Hot Aftershave Bop
DR7 -0.10 dB -9.14 dB 4:27 10-R.O.D.
DR8 -0.10 dB -10.66 dB 6:23 11-Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.52 dB 4:56 12-US 80's-90's
DR7 -0.10 dB -7.99 dB 4:46 13-Athlete Cured
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.50 dB 5:43 14-Australians in Europe
DR7 -0.10 dB -8.80 dB 4:17 15-Twister
DR8 -0.10 dB -10.00 dB 4:09 16-Guest Informant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR7
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 923 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
|
|
| Reviews |
All Music Guide Review:
Review by David Jeffries
Work was well underway on The Complete Peel Sessions when the legendary John Peel passed away, so there's some comfort in the thought that the Fall's greatest cheerleader probably got to see and hear some kind of prototype of this incredible box set. He often referred to the band as "the mighty Fall": this box set is the evidence. Collecting all 24 sessions that the edgy, unclassifiable group did for Peel's radio program, this six-CD set is overwhelming and probably too much to digest for newcomers. Listeners who have already absorbed the excellent overview 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong, picked up an album or two, and are up for a challenge should put this set near the top of their list because these sessions usually ran four songs long, forcing the often-wandering and sprawling Fall to cut to the chase if they wanted to make an impact. Despite Mark E. Smith's flippant attitude toward practically everything, the 24 sessions here all display a need to make that impact with an urgency and drive that's woefully absent from all but the band's best albums. Highlights are too numerous to list, and this puts the set next to 50,000 Fall Fans and This Nation's Saving Grace in the Fall "Hall of Fame." Adding to the box set's desirability -- and making it much easier to digest in small bites -- is the distinct, separative feeling these short sessions have. The late-1983 session finds the formerly angular, cerebral, and unapproachably snide band in love with its new sound -- one that's rocky, incredibly catchy, approachably snide, and heavily influenced by Smith's then-wife Brix. June 1996 is standoffish, icy, and cold, perhaps a result of the caustic chemistry between Smith and Brix, who had divorced by then. Brix is just one of the many musicians thrust in and flung out of the band, but if there's one Smith quip this set validates, it's "if it's me and your granny on bongos, it's a Fall gig." Peel put it another way, "always different, always the same," referring to the way Smith could take any group of musicians, any genre of pop, and wring the Fall out of it. Aggressive British punk is where it all begins, but to varying degrees, rockabilly, drum'n'bass, big beat, and garage rock all figure into the picture with Smith's snarling vocals and his drunken literature-nerd style of writing being the fascinating glue holding it all together. After listening to the whole collection, his revolving door for bandmembers makes more sense than ever, as lineup after lineup burst out of the gate with vigor, reached their zenith, sounded a bit comfortable, then had the carpet yanked out from underneath them. The reckless 1998 sets are the most destructive, and while they were rather unsettling and miserable for fans at the time of their airing, they're put in context here, demanding reassessment. Smith's "destroy and rebuild" strategy offers a more visceral and hungry Fall every four years or so, meaning The Complete Peel Sessions is a compelling roller coaster ride of a story from beginning to end. These raw performances often surpass their officially released counterparts and the sound is amazingly crisp. Some oddball covers and Christmas tunes provide the needed levity, and knowing that the last session Peel heard was top-notch Fall adds an unexpected bittersweet spin to the set. It's hard not to get caught up in the exciting mix of massiveness and sentimentality that surrounds the release, but the collection does stop short of becoming the be all and end all for two reasons: first, not every important or great Fall song got its day on Peel Sessions, and second, the gap from 1998 until 2003 here is hard to ignore since it was the time of an especially turbulent rebirth and the great Unutterable album. Of course, this is a cut-and-dried, stick to the rules, chronological collection, and the reason it's compelling at all has little to do with the compilers and everything to do with the original parties involved. The Fall balanced the unpredictable with the purposeful in a way few bands have ever managed to pull off, while Peel championed them, stuck with them, stayed out of their way, and as a gift to us all, documented them.
Mark Prindle Review:
The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 - Castle 2005
8 out of 10
Hullo and welcome to Mark Prindle's Book Of Lists! Today we take a "list-tastic" look at the box set we've all been waiting for since 2004, The Fall's Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004. this 6-disc, 97-track Featuring every single goshdarned BBC session that the Fall ever recorded for famed late DJ Mr. John Peel, said box features:
LIST ONE - FEATURES OF THE BOX SET by Mark Prindle
- 24 Peel sessions
- 30 different band members
- 98 different songs (though two are programmed as one, just to fuck ya)
- 1 booklet discussing each session
- 1 cardboard box suitable for framing
Though I'm not certain the opinion of David "Have A Marijuana" Peel, his namesake and possible father John "Peel Sessions" Peel loved The Fall, and even though he and Mark Smith only actually met a few times, Mark certainly appreciated all the attention and airplay. Enough background though - let's move on to a LIST! Spanning the band's entire career (to date), the set features material from every single Fall album except:
LIST TWO - KEY ALBUMS NOT REPRESENTED BY THE BOX SET by Mark Prindle
Room To Live
The Unutterable
Are You Are Missing Winner
Early Years 77-79
And WOW! I mean CHRIST! WHAT A BUNCH OF GREAT SONGS!!!! Although many Fall songs appear on multiple compilations in various states of disrepair, if one counts only the first appearance of each song on a Fall LP, the box set features alternate versions of this many songs from these many albums:
LIST THREE - THIS MANY SONGS FROM THESE MANY ALBUMS by Mark Prindle
6 Witch Trials
1 Dragnet
3 Grotesque
1 Slates
6 Hex Enduction
4 Perverted
2 Wonderful & Frightening
1 The Fall EP
5 Nation's Saving
4 Bend Sinister
1 Frenz
3 Kurious
2 Seminalive
3 Extricate
4 Shiftwork
3 Code: Selfish
4 Infotainment
4 Middle Class
1 Cerebral
5 Light User
3 Levitate
5 Marshall Suite
3 Real New Fall
3 Interim
1 Totale's Turns
2 Hip Priest And Kamerads
1 Palace Of Swords Reversed
1 A-Sides
5 B-Sides
2 Kimble
1 Masquerade Pt. II EP
1 Popcorn Double Feature EP
1 Backdrop
There are also a few rarities to be enjoyed, including:
LIST FOUR - RARITIES by Mark Prindle
- A couple of rotten, rancid Christmas songs
- A cover of The Move's terrific "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" (did anybody notice that The Fall quote that song in the intro to "Hilary"? I sure didn't!)
- A horrifyingly generic Bangles-like fuzz-pop woman-sung atrocity called "The City Never Sleeps"
- A surprisingly 'spot-on' cover of Captain Beefheart's "Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones"
- Good old "Mess Of My," which has been available for years on that really old Peel Sessions EP but not anywhere else.
Although I still feel that the single-disc Peel Sessions CD is the greatest possible introduction to The Fall that a potential new fan could ask for, this box set is an absolute must-own for anybody who is already a fan. Many of the tracks were recorded before they were finalized for studio album recording, so it's neat to hear how they sounded in earlier incarnations (often with earlier band line-ups as well!). Some of these gems include:
LIST FIVE - SONGS THAT SOUND DIFFERENT by Mark Prindle
- "Industrial Estate" with a much clearer and more difficult guitar line
- An electric guitar version of "New Puritan"
- "C'N'C S. Mithering" deteriorating into a parody of some British song called "Do The Hucklebuck"
- "Who Makes The Nazis" with the bass harmonics performed on an out-of-tune toy guitar or ukulele or something
- "Garden" with an exciting third note in the guitar riff!
- "Hilary" with a power-packed fourth note in the bass line!
- An early version of "Butterflies 4 Brains" entitled "Whizz Bang"
- "The War Against Intelligence" featuring those odd electronic tones from I Am Kurious Oranj
- "A Lot Of Wind" with a slightly different - though still rollicking - bass line
- "Behind The Counter" wherein the guitarist keeps bending his guitar neck for riotous bendy hilarity
- "Glam Racket-Star" with Brix censoring her shit poem to intone "You say that you're a star, but I don't give a UHH!"
- A quiet confused version of "Oleano" that features an entirely different mood than the LP version, as well as a hilarious top-of-throat SCREEEEEEEAM from Brix halfway through for no reason
However, nobody said that The Amateurish Fall are perfect, and they do a fine job of fubking up quite a few great tunes as well, including:
LIST SIX - SONGS THAT SOUND DIFFERENT IN A BAD WAY by Mark Prindle
- "Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul" is so out of tune, the producer should have shot himself as penance. Who the hell is playing the horn - a sea urchin?
- A version of "Hip Priest" WITHOUT THE MELODY. Sure, I love the drumbeat too, but nine minutes of tuneless assfuckery is a bit much to bear. Not that I'm calling you a bear.
- A messy, overlong, ineffective run-through of the previously screamadelic sirenable "Deer Park"
- "Deadbeat Descendant" with overloud dumbass sissy keyboards
- "M5" ruined by failure-riffic whoosly keyboard tone
- "Hey! Student" turned to shit by guitarist repeatedly hitting an open note and making the bass line seem less catchy
- "Chilinist" reduced from three chords to a much more manageable two; Brix singing in dumb sped-up voice
- A version of "Masquerade" that never gets cooking; Mark sounds as bored as I, Mark, am!
- "Antidotes" entirely free of melody of any sort
So you see, lists are a wonderful thing from which we all can learn to get along with each other more safely and providedly. Have a good evening, and be sure to:
LIST SEVEN - THINGS TO DO by Mark Prindle
- Put out the cat (in front of a car)
- Wash the dishes
- Dash the wishes (of your children)
- Close the toilet before urinating
- Take a shower. If you're a baby, take a baby shower.
- Set the alarm clock
- Clock the alarm set (fuckin' alarm set, with their big fancy alarms)
- Tune in tomorrow for more of Mark Prindle's Book Of Lists, brought to you by Mark Prindle of Mark Prindle's Book Of Lists by Mark Prindle (Featuring Mark Prindle of Mark Prindle's Book Of Lists with Mark Prindle) starring Mark Prindle
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| Cover 1 |
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| Cover 2 |
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| Cover 3 |
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| Cover 4 |
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| Cover 5 |
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| Cover 6 |
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