Middling audience tape. The drums are a bit loud. Quite a bit of whittering from some poltroons next to the taper.
Go on stage in the nations capital with an untried drummer, a keyboardist/guitarist and your chum the ballet dancer - can Mark E Smith pull this off? Of course he can. Infinately better than the following night at the same venue this is the Fall at their most raw and probably most intense. Raw, primitive and effortless. Genius at work - stand back and gawp in amazement.
Not the best recording in the world but you get the message fairly soon in with an excellent version of "Scareball" and a baleful reading of "Hip Priest" - how the drummer could get the beat right tonight and then completely miss it the following evening it beyond me. Mark carries this - the drums and keys are there to support.
Excellent version of "Masquerade" - not sure how Julie manages to coax so much sound - obviously quite a bit of MIDI being used here to drive the sounds - karaoke Fall perchance? Machines drive "Eve" as well - which is speedy and has a nice Hammond organ patch sound. At this point someone starts reading out the set-list to the vicinity of taper and there is a bit of chatter - about "the eyes" (?).....
Narration from M.Clarke opens "Ol' gang" - generally inaudible unfortunately - as it sounds good and poetic - and ruined by ongoing audience gibbering from around the taper .... Mark comes in at about 3 minutes and covers the song proper as MC continues the narrative. Excellent and unique.
Tense and initially feedbacky "Calender" - very sparse but in that quite engaging - drums are a touch too heavy for the song. Levitate - hmm? - guitar sounds out of tune - laboured and a little constipated....picks up in the chorus but suffers in the verses. Excellent stripped down version of "Powderkeg" - often a little untogether but generally within the spirit of the song. Crowd noise dominates the beginning of "Everybody" which reminds one of the album - MIDI driven and a little sparse but still relevant.
I assume MES is playing some keys on "Touch Sensitive" which is a wonderous sloppy mess - you get a sense of the core of the song here without the overproduced version on "Marshall" - slight variations to the "I know" bits and the words - it stops suddenly.
"Jungle Rock" is mad - strange - odd. I guess Mr Smith is playing the guitar given the noise emanating. Simply put the song resolved into drums and vocals within some keys and atonal guitar noises.Some strange noises and then the riff from "Free Range" and then the song itself all technoed up....no vocals.
More narration from M.Clarke (I assume) and then a most peculiar and transformed thing with the audience merrily chatting away - god knows what this is - the gigography has it down as "Industrial Estate" - bears little resemblance to it.
It concludes with "Jap Kid".
A one-off, better than the show the following evening, but still the band at its most sparse and yet somehow most interesting.
Go on stage in the nations capital with an untried drummer, a keyboardist/guitarist and your chum the ballet dancer - can Mark E Smith pull this off? Of course he can. Infinately better than the following night at the same venue this is the Fall at their most raw and probably most intense. Raw, primitive and effortless. Genius at work - stand back and gawp in amazement.
Not the best recording in the world but you get the message fairly soon in with an excellent version of "Scareball" and a baleful reading of "Hip Priest" - how the drummer could get the beat right tonight and then completely miss it the following evening it beyond me. Mark carries this - the drums and keys are there to support.
Excellent version of "Masquerade" - not sure how Julie manages to coax so much sound - obviously quite a bit of MIDI being used here to drive the sounds - karaoke Fall perchance? Machines drive "Eve" as well - which is speedy and has a nice Hammond organ patch sound. At this point someone starts reading out the set-list to the vicinity of taper and there is a bit of chatter - about "the eyes" (?).....
Narration from M.Clarke opens "Ol' gang" - generally inaudible unfortunately - as it sounds good and poetic - and ruined by ongoing audience gibbering from around the taper .... Mark comes in at about 3 minutes and covers the song proper as MC continues the narrative. Excellent and unique.
Tense and initially feedbacky "Calender" - very sparse but in that quite engaging - drums are a touch too heavy for the song. Levitate - hmm? - guitar sounds out of tune - laboured and a little constipated....picks up in the chorus but suffers in the verses. Excellent stripped down version of "Powderkeg" - often a little untogether but generally within the spirit of the song. Crowd noise dominates the beginning of "Everybody" which reminds one of the album - MIDI driven and a little sparse but still relevant.
I assume MES is playing some keys on "Touch Sensitive" which is a wonderous sloppy mess - you get a sense of the core of the song here without the overproduced version on "Marshall" - slight variations to the "I know" bits and the words - it stops suddenly.
"Jungle Rock" is mad - strange - odd. I guess Mr Smith is playing the guitar given the noise emanating. Simply put the song resolved into drums and vocals within some keys and atonal guitar noises.Some strange noises and then the riff from "Free Range" and then the song itself all technoed up....no vocals.
More narration from M.Clarke (I assume) and then a most peculiar and transformed thing with the audience merrily chatting away - god knows what this is - the gigography has it down as "Industrial Estate" - bears little resemblance to it.
It concludes with "Jap Kid".
A one-off, better than the show the following evening, but still the band at its most sparse and yet somehow most interesting.