Vocalist, songwriter Mark E. Smith is The Fall. In their 36 year history they've gone through 66 band members with over a third of them lasting less than a year. Smith has said "If it's me and your granny on bongos, then it's The Fall".
To date they've released 29 albums and according to John Peel, they always sound the same, but always different. Angular, awkward and abrasive guitars lots of droning, repetition and with Smith's thick Manc voice not singing, but berating you with a stream of surreal and smart wordplay.
I AM KURIOUS, ORANJ was written as a collaboration project with a dance troop; an accompaniment to a ballet which celebrating the 300 year anniversary of the accession of William of Orange to the UK throne. As albums by The Fall go its supposed to be quite accessible and seems like a pretty good place to start for a Fall novice like me.
There's nothing that any other band would consider a 'song' in the structured sense but musically it's not un-melodic. The album was produced by Lightening Seed Ian Brodie who always had a deft way of constructing inoffensive indie pop. He does a good job of smoothing off some of The Fall's rougher edges. 'Overture' is musically closest to a pop track with Marr-esque guitars. Similarly enjoyable is the repetitive ska-lite 'Kurious Oranj'.
The most notable track though and the one that many Smith fans seem to think is one of his finest moments is the reworking of William Blake's 'Jerusalem' in which he mashes the famous words with his own deadpan views on dogs, dog walkers and Margaret Thatcher's Tory government
The now sadly deceased Stephen Wells, one of NMEs most acerbic, blunt and finest writers, described The Fall's records as "pop without perimeters. Rock without rules. Art without the wank." He's right. This is possibly the most unwanky music to accompany a ballet, ever.
KURIOUS ORANJ
OVERTURE
DOG IS LIFE / JERUSALEM
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