Customer Reviews

Seminal Live (Reis)

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

 

 

This is an album so hated by the Fall that one bandmember called it a "contractual abortion obligation." Why is it hated? I don't know. It is sloppy in production and the overall feel is that they needed to fill it up with live takes to make it last 60 minutes. But you know what? Who cares? Fall fans love this underproduced noise. It's classic post-punk and all the live songs are among the best from the studio albums. The 5 studio tracks are good too, with the exception of one Mollusc in Tyrol sounding like the band forgot to edit in the guitar work, leaving just synthesizer noises and a spoken word babbling.

Now we all know that music critics are a bunch of impotent wankers. And anybody that complains about the recording quality of a punk band just doesn't get it. Seminal is raunchy live Fall. Just like they allways sounded live. This is one of my top three favorite Fall albums. Witch Trials and Early Fall are put together better, but this is still some great music. If you want perfection, go buy a Rush album and take a nap!

Released in 1989 to fulfill the Fall's contract before moving on, "Seminal Live" appears to be the forgotten gem in their extensive catalog. While most of the band's early releases have seen deluxe reissues and critical adoration, this album has received neither. Half live, half studio, and entirely engaging, "Seminal Live" may well be the best introduction to the Fall imaginable. Just don't pay attention to the naysayers: this is one excellent cd.

Shortly after I got turned on to The Fall and my inevitable search for more Fall began I found "Seminal Live" in the "miscellaneous/liquidation cassettes" box in a small town record store. I have fond memories of driving home in the middle of the night blasting this for the farmers and their cows down winding country roads in central NY. I have had a lot of fun listening to this record.
"Pinball Machine" is, without qualification, my favorite mock Country and Western song ever created. Some great tape weirdness and absurd monologues. Great tunes from other records I was exposed to later. A good representation of the crafty anti-pop they were making in the 80's.
No review I could write would adequately describe the nuances that make this band what they are to listeners- irresistable to some, ludicrous to most, misunderstandable to all, and unremarkable to few. Their music is simultaneously the opposite of genuine and a paragon of artistic authenticity; every song can come across as ersatz "insert artist/genre here", but the mode, voice, delivery and actual substance of every one of those same songs is acid sharp and has a dope-like minimalist appeal to me.
High on my nostalgia scale, and certainly better than a kick in the pants.

I picked this up w/ a couple of singles yesterday [...Elastic Man & ...head Expanded if you must know]. Generally sounds great excpet Mollusc in tyrol freaked me out a bit, imagine Lee Ranaldo's more out-there noise fests being rearranged by DJ Urinal Cake & to quote Flo & Eddie "spewed upom w/ cream corn" & you're neraly there. After the 1st song on side 2 the crowd is chanting out for Victoria & after 1 more song they get it & it's a good version. The introduction to Cruiser's Creek is a pisstake of Malcolm McLaren. Yes I bought the lp because it was cheaper althought the cd had 4 more songs. Dead Beat Descendant sounds good & so does Squid Law, that's about as much analysis I can make after only a listen & a half.

The live tracks are abysmal. The band was not exactly hot stuff after Karl Burns had left, and they give sloppy and lifeless performances of what had been some good songs. The exception is "Curious Orange" which sounded better live than in studio.

But the studio material is pretty classic in my opinion. Especially the "Pinball Machine" cover. So it turns out this must be heard by Fall fans.

I like em both, so f--k you, earthboy

I bought this when it first came out. Never have I been so appalled in my life. Close to the worst Fall album if you disregard most of the more recent material. 'Extricate' may have made up for this toxic detritus, but barely. 'Contractual abortion obligation' is right. All the good songs are on other records. All the 'new' material isn't worth it unless you're a completist.

If you're a Fall fan who can't live without Brix, try 'I Am Kurious Oranj,' 'This Nation's Saving Grace,' or 'Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall'.

There are only two questions you need to ask someone to find out if they're a 'real' Fall fan:

1) Do you like "Seminal Live"?

2) Do you lke "This Nation's Saving Grace"?

(the correct answers are 'yes' and 'no' respectively by the way)