Customer Reviews

The Frenz Experiment

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let's be honest, you simply can't beat The Fall, for their consistent originality and innovativeness. This essential album from 1988 is no exception. Opening with the haunting FRENZ and the punky, driving CARRY BAG MAN with dominant bassline, this CD takes you through their 1988 LP release(as titled) and also the flip sides of VICTORIA, one of their minor UK chart hits. The other, more well-known ones, their cover of THERE's A GHOST IN MY HOUSE(R. Dean Taylor's Motown release hit) and also the infectiously poppy HIT THE NORTH also feature. But it's the lesser-known, more experimental tracks that deserve a note. ATHLETE CURED, well you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a cross between The Surfaris' WIPEOUT and Spinal Tap's TONIGHT I'M GONNA ROCK YOU - honestly, they stole the guitar riff from here! AN interesting mix complete with a narrative ranta about an athletic star on drugs, methinks! IN THESE TIMES is dark, brooding and poppy, THE STEAK PLACE sees the band experiment with a folky style, OSWALD DEFENCE LAWYER, in spite of it being the weakest track on the CD is a curious tale of the trial of Lee HArvey Oswald. BREMEN NACHT sounds like music from a Mission Impossible chase scene only louder with a repetitive guitar line and sampled horns - Mark E. Smith throws in some German for good measure and rants about a bad gig he played in Bremen, Germany('On minding, my usual timing, on minding, casual setlist') - sometimes you're hard put to hear what he rants - is is 'violence inthe city' or 'barnacles in the sea'? Oh, what the hell. This Fall release delivers the goods and is a breath of fresh air even by today's musical standards. Their cover of The Kinks' VICTORIA does the original justice too. Overall, a must listen!

Let's make this simple-- Mark E. Smith tells the truth. He tells it to himself, and he delivers it to you. Frenz Experiment succeeds in deliving Smith's sardonic swagger direct from his Burroughs-damaged concience to your content-starving lobes. Whether he has issues with a couple's public display (Get A Hotel), his coterie of friends (see title), or the poor bellhop that got on his bad side, there is little doubt that Smith can make anything seem the stuff of sinister paranoia. There is of course one thing you should understand: Mark E. Smith does not sing, he rants, so if you expect his crooning to do justice to Ray Davies's Victoria, you have another think coming.... Oh, buy this record. It will change your life.

I bought this after hearing "Victoria" which was played on Music Choice's new wave or retroactive station, Music Choice being a music service that comes with the more expensive digital TV service which costs too much for what you get!

This is ok music and sounds like late1970s English punk crossed with some of the polished sound new wave music had during the 1980s. I like "Ghost in My House" the best. I don't have satellite radio so listening to the car radio is unbearable these days. This is the kind of music that the grungers were probably listening to before the grungers ruined both rock and alternative.

...whereas cd has weedier alternative take of this track

This is quite a good Fall album. In These Times and Frenz sound serious and disciplined, almost gothic. Some songs are repetitive and must be skipped after one minute, like Oswald Defense Lawyer. But overall this is a high-rated Fall album that will be liked by old fans or new ones who heard Victoria as the hit single. Hit the North features horns and is a new sound for the band, a sound that is begging for more of the same.

The Fall have many albums. Out of the 30+ I own, this one is in the TOP THREE!!! Hear that, you negative reviewers out there at Amazon? How dare you undercut this incredible, indelible elpee! Get your heads out of your collective groinal sockets and rock out to 'Bremen Nacht'! This so-called 'repititous' tune simply isn't long enough for me to climb down off of the ceiling every time I play it. I consider this record to be the pinnacle of the 'Brix' era, with the band at their most inspired and energetic (Sorry, "Wonderful & Frightening World" fans). They also sound like they're having a ball, as opposed to the more somber tone of many earlier outings. From beginning to end, a magical album, so much so, that it's hard for me to single out individual tracks. Just put it in a carry-out bag, man, get it home, and enjoy one of the greatest 'alternative' rant n' roll records of all time!

The Fall don't lack for reviews, do they?

I always liked "Oswald Defense Lawyer."

I believe "Athlete Cured" is about sibling rivalry with an arch totalitarian Iron Curtain twist. The East German star athlete is suffering from some mysterious malady until it is discovered that his brother "Gert" is idling his car below the athlete's window for hours on end. Gert is exiled to a labor camp "and never seen again." Hence, the cure.

I've always wondered what "Carry Bag Man" is about. No complaints though.

For me, "The Steak Place" is a great send-up of banal mid-size American towns and brutish American gluttony. I have to assume that it looks pretty bizarre to a Brit, even one from Manchester.

I don't know what "Guest Informant" is about, but it's great.

"Hit the North" is one of the Fall's great disco numbers.

For me, "Bremen Nacht Alternative" is just endless and boring.

"Frenz Experiment" was the second album I ever bought by the Fall, back when it was new in 1987. I now have a big shelf full of them, even including the weak late work (because there's always SOMETHING there, even if it's self-parody).

...whereas cd has weedier alternative take of this track

That's what I thought of this when it came out, when I was a big Fall fan. And I still think it's pretty stupid. I like the fragmented bass-driven drone of the title track, and "Carry Bag Man" has enough energy to be tolerable. But most of this - come on. Let's get serious. This is uninspired, too static musically to be of interest, and just plain goofy. It signaled a real down turn for the band.