| Reviews |
All Music Guide Review:
Review by Ted Mills
A mixture of lackluster performances and songs filled with vigor and fury, Middle Class Revolt is a puzzling proposition from the Fall. After two opening tracks that seem ready to convince worried fans that Smith couldn't care less ("15 Ways" and "Reckoning") there follows the poppish "Behind the Counter" and their devilish cover of Henry Cow's "War," with Smith making up half the lyrics. Other highlights include the furious "Hey! Student" (a rewrite of a 1977 tune, "Hey! Fascist"), and yet another Monks cover: "Shut Up!" All find Smith in fine form, impassioned and deeply sarcastic. The band experiments with some techno, some tape manipulation, and sparse rock arrangements, though the vocals on this disc are the most layered of any Fall release. There's also some local (Manchester, that is) social criticism going on in tracks, such as "M5#1" and "City Dweller," which takes on the aborted attempt to hold the Olympic games in Smith's city (the nerve!). [The 2006 Expanded Edition adds a bonus disc featuring a Peel Session from late 2004, plenty of single and remix versions, a couple otherwise unavailable B-sides, plus a rare Christmas song from the Fall, "Happy Holiday."]
Mark Prindle Review:
Middle Class Revolt (aka The Vapourisation Of Reality) - Matador 1994.
8 out of 10
STUDIO ALBUM #16 - The most pleasing set of melodies they'd done in ages (and they'd done some really pleasing melodies quite recently, so I'm actually SAYING something here). Still doing the easy-listening pop thing, but no ballads this time - and the keyboards seem to be around mainly to layer piles of racket on top of the shimmering guitar - if guitars do in fact shimmer. This is definitely their best since The Frenz Experiment, and possibly even since This Nation's Saving Grace! In faq, this is my special girlfriend's favorite Fall album altogether, and generally, she's got pretty good taste, except for this Rancid thing. The Stereolab-esque "15 Ways" even made it onto MTV a few times! "The Reckoning" and "You're Not Up To Much" are similar, but use their patented REPETITION method to concoct slightly darker (or at least more cynical) soundscapes.
Man, I dig the word "soundscapes." A fella named Bob Boster introduced me to the word. Good man, that Bob Boster. If you see him, shake his hand. But don't offer him an umbrella!! Cuz he don't use 'em!!!
As the album continues, "M5#1" and "Surmount All Obstacles" bury their melodies almost completely under computer noise (but ooo! what melodies they are!). Then the title track sounds like The Cars back when they were good, which wasn't that long ago. And there are other songs too, but why ruminate? "Hey! Student" is really punky (in a clean, non-threatening, Green Day-kinda way) and there are three fairly unnecessary covers, but I've always been one to bitch about covers. I like NEW songs, dammit! I don't wanna hear some band do some old band's crappy songs!!! New! Move forward!! Fortunately, I've never heard the originals of these three covers, so they still interest me. On a related note, if you wanna hear The Fall totally butcher The Beatles's "A Day In The Life," look for the Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father compilation. Mark does his best to turn it into a Fall song (adding "-ah" to the end of every line, changing "grabbed my hat" to "grabbed my stash," shouting "FALL!" right before the classic piano chord at the end), but...uh...he fails miserably. Let's move on.
Oh! Incidentally, I interviewed Mark Smith shortly after the release of this album (big important journalist that I am), and I got him to admit that Black Sabbath was one of his favorite bands when he was about 14! So if he ever gets a little too pretentious for you, just remember: At one point, he was a dumbass headbanging little British Beavis. Oh, the little ironies life presents. Like Blues Traveller. The hell is that shit?
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