Post-punk legends The Fall play The Masque, Liverpool, on the 22nd November.
There aren’t very many bands that have been together longer than The Fall and, with a few exceptions, it’s difficult to think of any who, like The Fall, have released brand new material every year. Formed at the height of the punk rock movement in Manchester in 1976, The Fall has released around 50 singles, 25 studio albums and perhaps 50 live and compilation albums.
Famously the band has gone through numerous personnel changes over the years (there have been over 30 different line-ups so far) but always present is the enigmatic Mark E. Smith – musical genius, obnoxious drunk, Salford’s finest poet, journalist’s worst nightmare, working class hero. Dubbed ‘The Grumpiest Man in Pop’, by the NME, Mark E. Smith has been carving his jaundiced signature on the music scene for the past twenty plus years. Rarely tempted to celebrate the lighter side of life, Smith uses humour and horror to illuminate vile hypocrisies and injustices.
“The Fall’s latest album “Imperial Wax Solvent” received widespread critical acclaim:
“Throw in an evocative, anthemically chanted lyrical snapshot, some cryptic tales and a blues rock cover and almost every successful Fall trick familiar from the last two decades is also deployed. All of which amounts to a vital late period masterpiece.” – The Wire
“Imperial Wax Solvent is another remarkable batch of brilliantly deranged tales no whiskey-breathed war veteran across the bar could trump.” – Drowned In Sound
“Some 50-odd musicians and several hundred songs down the line, the Fall's (we think) 27th album is one of their most adventurous and finest.” – The Guardian
“A superb new Fall album.” – Uncut
Tickets available from link