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All Music Guide Review:
Review by Ned Raggett
That the first Fall album in a near endless stream would not only not sound very punk at all but would be a downright pleasant listen at the start (thanks to Yvonne Pawlett's electric piano on "Frightened") seems perfectly in keeping with Smith's endlessly contrary mind. His inimitable drawl/moan and general vision of the universe (idiots are everywhere and idiotic things are rampant) similarly sprawls all over the music -- there's no question who this is or whose band it is as well. That said, most of Live at the Witch Trials is co-written with Martin Bramah, whose guitar work here is noticeably much more inclined to chime and ring instead of brutally scratching away like Craig Scanlon's awesome work would soon do. Bramah's not just there to sound tuneful, though, and the killer Marc Riley/Karl Burns rhythm section both keeps up the energy and provides surprising grooves. On chugging tracks like "Two Steps Back," it's not hard to tell Smith's Krautrock fandom is coming into play. With Pawlett's keyboards providing a pretty garage kick on top of it all, the result is an all-around treat. Brilliantly scabrous tracks are everywhere, one of the most memorable being "Rebellious Jukebox," simultaneously one of the most tuneful and aggressive songs from the early lineup, Smith pouring it on along with the band as a whole. The driving funk of "Music Scene," meanwhile, redefines misanthropy (and more) with a particularly central Smith target in mind. "No Xmas for John Quays," meanwhile, almost establishes the Fall formula on its own -- Smith chanting and yelling over a quick, semi-rockabilly shamble and attack punctuated with unexpected stops and starts. Note -- the Cog Sinister CD re-release of the album, in keeping with similar perverse reissues in the Fall's back catalog, is mastered directly from vinyl, and more than once sounds it.
Mark Prindle Review:
Live At The Witch Trials - Step Forward/IRS 1979.
9 out of 10
STUDIO ALBUM #1 - Sounds like British punk except, uhhh... that tinky keyboard kinda detracts from the "kick-ass" quotient. Plus, guitarist Martin Bramah sounds more like a plinky amateur Ventures fan than a Sex Pistol wanna-be. Still, that vocalist sounds awful punky, with his high-pitched British screeching and nasal "-ah" attached to the end of every line (example - "Two steps back!" becomes "Two steps back-ah!" He's done this in pretty much every Fall song to date.). Lots of great melodies here - the closest that any rock band has come to circus music since The Doors, but with a truly kickbuttock punk drummer to boot. Great punk numbers like "Like To Blow," "Underground Medecin" (their spelling), and a re-recording of "No Xmas For John Quays" share the record with longer, slower, more story-oriented songs like "Frightened" and "Music Scene" that foreshadow the stranger, looser epics that the band would be writing in a few years. A wonderfully fun debut, but if you like your singers to actually "sing," you should maybe look elsewhere.
Best lyric is at the beginning of "Mother-Sister" -
Unidentified voice: "Ehhh... what's this song about?"
Mark Smith: "Uhh...nothin'!"
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