The Fall -‘This Nation’s Saving Grace (Beggars Banquet, 1985)
The Fall are a band I first saw in 1987 on long-forgotten ITV show The Roxy, performing ‘Hit the North.’ . It wasn’t a road to damascus type moment, but i thought they sounded pretty cool. Throughout the next twenty years I slowly fell ever more for them, eventually actually managing to see them live in late 2008. I’ve lost count of how many of their albums I have, and whenever I think I’ve got somewhere, there’a whole load more.
The Fall seem to be a band that you either get or you don’t (Matthew at Song, By Toad and the good Mrs. 17 Seconds, two people whose opinions I respect very deeply cannot stand them). And we know whose favourite group they were. But there’s something oddly addictive about The Fall, a world that drags you in; word that seemingly make no sense whatsoever, and lots of sense, often at the same time.
There are many great Fall albums I could have singled out – but I’m going with this one. A present on my 18th birthday from my friend Paul (cheers!), this just hangs together so well as an album. It’s where the poppiness that started to creep in once Brix Smith joined and they signed to Beggars Banquet (whatever Mark E. Smith might say) join together perfectly. It starts off with ‘Mansion’ – a wonderfully gothic track (the Fall were never considered a goth band per se, and yet…). Some of the tracks on here aren’t just ‘alternative dancefloor fillers’ -ha! – damn it, they’re anthems.
Thanks to this album, I started to investigate The Fall albums in ever greater detail, started to understand music that wasn’t just off the beaten track but off kilter, and the reward that that’s continued to bring. Paul told me ‘Spoilt Victorian Child’ was his favourite track on the album, and I think it’s still one of my favourite tracks to this very day. Mad situationist rockabilly, and all the better for it. To my shame I don’t think I even knew who Damo Suzuki was when I got this. Oh well, I know now…
If you want to start with a Fall album that showcases them at their very best and isn’t too inaccesible, start here. Then just keep going…and going…but you’ll always find yourselves coming back here.