Customer Reviews

Grotesque (After the Gramme)

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If you were alienated by the bleakness of "Dragnet," then "Grotesque" may be what you're looking for. Not to say that I don't like "Dragnet," but it's a work that is tremendously un-fun, a spite-filled, icy collection of songs that require a similar mood prior to listening. "Grotesque", however, is noticeably upbeat and fun. Of course, we're talking about Mark E. Smith here, so I'm not suggesting that this is a pop record--far from it. "Grotesque" captures one of my favorite attributes of this very great band--their manic energy. "Pay Your Rates" and the single "Totally Wired" are good examples. MES screams like he's being choked on "New Face in Hell"; and it sounds great, and I swear there's a kazoo somewhere amidst the landscape of backing instruments. "Gramme Friday" reminds me of The Cure's early recording, "Grinding Halt"; it's bouncy and I dare you to refrain from dancing.

Grotesque represents the mighty Fall at their most grotesquely brilliant. Considering this band's immense and immensely impressive catalogue, it is hard to single out any particular disc, but under duress one would have to admit that this one is up there. A new face in hell, one of the Fall's best ever tunes, resides on this cd, as do a plethora of other classics: pay your rates, english scheme, container drivers ... actually, they are all great. Listen to this record, and to every other recording by this, my favourite band of all time. You will either love them or hate them, but if you love them, it will be deep and forever

First off, the sound quality on the 2004 reissue is first quality and crystal clear.
If you love The Fall, and great Mark E. Smith vocals buy this reissue.
The CD starts off with a charging rocker 'Pay Your Rates' that hits several speed shifts, and a great opener, followed by 'English Scheme', a synth-keyboard driven rock beat and M.E.S. sounding like he's having a good time rapping along. Funny, toe-tapping and great vocals. The drumming is top notch. Next comes the classic 'New Face in Hell'. What a terrific song. It's hard to keep up with all that's going on behind M.E.S. This song cooks. The kazoo (!?) bridges the melody as it rolls and rises, cresting as always through the great M.E.S. vocals. Great guitar and drums.
Trance beat follows with ''C'n'C-S Withering'. Whatever this song is about, it is hypnotic. Great stuff. 'The Container Drivers' is another Fall classic. I love this song on the highway as the truckers fly by. Cowpoke beat, a funny song and a real pressure cooker. 'Impression of J Temperance' has sinister feel to it. Still, no idea what M.E.S is rapping about. Hypnotic and a sort of menacing beat. 'In the Park' hops along, bobbing and weaving around the drums. A funky little tune. Does anyone other than M.E.S. know what some of these songs are about? 'WMC-Blob 59' starts off with the garbled static-coughed, distorted vocals and noise M.E.S. always seems to treat us to on his CD's. Mildly interesting, I guess. Blessedly short, once you know the CD, you will hit FF on this one. 'Gramme Friday' is a medium speed riff and drum driven song with some funny passages. 'The NWRA' closes the CD with a finger-snapping beat that M.E.S. raps over as the bass works it's way into the geometry happening behind him. As it pick up speed, it swings. No one plays it like the Fall. There are 5 bonus track on the reissue. All great songs and makes it even more worth your hard earned cash. 'How I Wrote Elastic Man' is very funny and a song that will stick in your head. The interview with M.E.S. at the end is interesting and entertaining. A generous CD if you are a Fall lover. Enjoy.

I've been following The Fall since Dragnet, and for me this album, plus the near perfect Hex Induction Hour is the band's greatest achievement.

'New Face In Hell' and 'Impression of J Temperance' are Fall classics.

Check out this album if you're looking for something out of the ordinary.

For some reason Hex Enduction Hour gets all the accolades but this is definitely the better record of the two. Great stuff from start to finish. A true classic.

The buzz among many reviewers of this album has been that The Fall were starting to get their act together, moving out of "cult" status towards wider appreciation, blah blah blah. Well in retrospect it's not as strong an album as "Live at the Witch Trials" or "Dragnet" had been. I think that one reason for that is that each of those albums were done when the band had highly imaginitive drummers in them (Karl Burns and Mike Leigh, who is quite underrated).

By contrast, here the guitars play the same fragile, dissonant type of lines as on "Dragnet" but the band's sound is more straight-ahead and linear, less interesting frankly but more a straight backdrop for Smith's singing/rapping/slurring/barking. Smith, if not his band, was in top form. On "New Face in Hell" and "C-and-C Mithering" he acheives a great and wonderful inertia that I can't compare to anything else, he's really laying a new template for what an angry young man with a microphone can do in music.

On those 2 tracks and on a few others, the band reaches some nice peaks behind the voice. "New Face in Hell" especially is an astonishing example of what a few young guys with instruments can acheive with imagination and perseverance - a great, astonishing groove. But there is a substantial amount of filler on this record. It's about half-great. This is mitigated by the inclusion of 4 impressive single tracks, one of which - "How I Wrote Elastic Man" - is The Fall at peak brilliance level. As well as a silly and brief "self-interview" Smith did in 1980, for completists.

Is the sound quality here better than on previous issues? Yes. Castle/Sanctuary did another great job of putting out a definitive edition with maximal sound quality.