Excellent audience tape from Graeme which has been enhanced by the mighty Jungbluth.
I could be utterly lazy and refer you Mr Frank Jones excellent review here (from where I nicked the picture) http://twired.blogspot.com/... but that would not be in spirit of this repository...and Frank would probably tell me off .....so here goes.
So where were we? ....Oh yes... a mere four days ago 3/5ths of The Fall had caught the aeroplane back to Manchester leaving Mr and Mrs Smith bandless and with a tour to do. Some two days later the Smiths had put together a new Fall (no granny, no bongoes) which had played a remarkably good set in San Diego, given the circumstances. So how would things fair two days later in Pomona? (Coincidentally, and of no relevance whatsoever, there is a tram stop between Eccles and Central Manchester - called Pomona.).
Anyway - its starts with "Bo Demmick" - rock steady drums from Orpheo and that submarine bass from Rob. Cymbal splashes punctuate the dense wall of rhythm....pin pricks of guitar occasionally shatter the hypnotic tumble of drum, bass and synth...MES joins at about 2 minutes and sounds exceptionally clear - his diction sparkling and a sense of authority in his voice. It goes to double time at 3 minutes and Presleys adds a spray of rhythm guitar which sharp chords that resurrect the spirit of gunslingin' Bo.
"Pacifyng Joint" - memorably botched two days before - is strong. McCord has taken the "FHR" version and turned it into a hard driving garage rock number. Presley plays some excellent scouring chords. Whereas Presley had "Aspen" down pat a couple of days ago he seems to have reverted to chords in the opening segments and its only when the beat picks up he uses picking. Having said this Barbato's bass is exquisite demonstrating he can play with light and shade and is not just a noise merchant. McCord uses an excellent percussive undercurrent trick to push the beat along, and Presley plays some interesting guitar pieces to fill out the sound.
"Sparta" is simply breath-taking. Presley has the guitar riff just right and with a judicious amount of reverb is able to provide an immense wall of noise - the one down side is that the backing vox bit in the middle is lost through microphone problems. The song has been transformed into a menacing driving classic piece of Fall. There is an amazing piece at the end when Elena and Rob are doing the chant and Tim brings in the riff behind them and the whole thing is transmogrified into a spine tingling Spectoresque wall of sound.
"Mountain Energie" as in San Diego is mutated into a rolling swamp-funk of a thing. Smith re-casts the phrasing of his words over the more spacious rhythm. The song is altogether more potent in this format with an excellent juxtaposition of contrary instrumental sounds.
The car-crash of "Wrong Place, Right Time" is not repeated. Presley has the riff down and buries his guitar in a huge cavern of echo/reverb which adds an incredible dub-like sense to the music. McCord plays it straight - he needs to with Tim spraying all sorts of psychedelic noise over the tune. Completely transformed.
"What About Us?" - has excellent double bass drum trickery from McCord - the band is a behemoth - and there is an immense 90 seconds of double time drumming and noise at the end. It defies description - suffice to say the whole 8:15 is worth the price of admission alone. A short break for an encore during which one wag in the audience asks the whereabouts of Ted Milton and then asks Mark to bring him with him next time (??)- some people have very long memories!
As recommended by the regional (?) magazine says Mark as an intro to a wonderfully joyous version of "Grass Grow" - some fantastic dynamics and the effective use of guitar to bring the song out of its pop shell. Mark mumbles and then Orphy lays down the beat to "Blindness" - some etheric guitar noise - the dirtiest bass riff west of the Pecos and synth patches to die for. To say that this is the best version of "Blindness" yet would be unfair as there are so many different versions - however it is rather good. Mark plays with the words and rather appropriately talks about the "vice" prime-minister. At 3 minutes some wonderfully visceral noises start to emerge and the whole thing is transformed into wide screen technicolor blockbuster territory. At about 5:30 an intense wash of guitar noise takes over as the rhythm drops out and then returns for the last 30 seconds of an extended coda. Another encore call and then it all ends with a triumphant "Mr P".
Listen - this band is only four days old when this gig was played - its a testament to the Smiths as leaders, and the three new musicians that this is such a memorable experience.
Essential.