The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)

The Real New Fall LP
(Formerly Country on the Click)
Studio album by The Fall
Released 27 October 2003 (UK)
15 June 2004 (US)
Recorded December 2002 – January 2003
Studio Gracieland Studios, Rochdale
Genre Alternative rock
Length 44:25 (UK)
52:25 (US)
Label Action Records (UK)
Narnack (US)
Producer The Fall
The Fall chronology
2G+2
(2002)2G+22002		 The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
(2003)		 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong
(2004)50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong2004
Alternative cover
Cover of the US version

The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) is an album by the Fall (their 23rd). It was released on Action Records in the United Kingdom in 2003, and then on Narnack Records in the United States, with a slightly altered track listing, in 2004.

Background, recording, and release

The album was recorded at Lisa Stansfield's Gracieland Studios in Rochdale between December 2002 and January 2003 with producer Grant Showbiz.[1]

The subtitle is explained by the fact that the tracks were originally scheduled for release in April 2003 under the title Country on the Click.[2] Promotional copies were sent out and three of the new songs were previewed in the band's 23rd Peel Session, recorded on 19 February and broadcast on 13 March 2003. Smith was unhappy with the mix and decided it needed further work, stating in November 2003:

"The frustration is when people embellish what you're doing. I thought this LP was perfect round about March. But then you trust people—them who shall remain nameless—to go away and mix it and it comes back sounding like Dr. Who meets Posh Spice. You have to go back in and strip it down to what it basically was."[2]

The early mix appeared on the internet, prompting the change of name when it was finally released, to differentiate it from the mix he was unhappy with. However, the original title still appears on the CD spine.

The album features the song "Theme from Sparta F.C.", which, from 2005, was used for several years as the theme music to the Final Score section of BBC television's Saturday afternoon sports coverage. In 2006, Smith was also invited to read out the classified football results on the BBCi interactive service "Score"; this performance was in turn released by the Sonic Arts Network on their Stewart Lee-compiled album The Topography of Chance. A version of the track was released as a single in the UK on 10 July 2004, charting at 66 in the UK Singles Chart;[3] This version ("Theme from Sparta F.C. #2") also appears on the US versions of the album. Yet another version appeared on Interim.

A cover version of Lee Hazlewood's "Houston" is included on the album (as "Loop 41 'Houston").[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic85/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Expressenfavourable[7]
The Guardian[8]
Les Inrockuptiblesfavourable[9]
Mojo[5]
Pitchfork7.9/10[10]
PopMattersfavourable[11]
StylusA−[12]
The Sunday Times3/3[13]
Uncut[4]

The album was positively received, receiving an 85/100 score at Metacritic.com.[5]

Alex Linhardt, reviewing it for Pitchfork, gave it 7.9/10, calling it "as valuable an album as anything The Fall ever released in the 1990s" and stating that "Smith's lyrics are at a near career-best of insolence and nonsense."[10] AllMusic's David Jeffries gave it four stars (out of five), stating that it "gives the faithful another reason to believe".[6] Helen Pidd, for The Guardian, also gave it four stars, viewing Smith as being "on magnificently mad form".[8] Andres Lokko, for Expressen, was also positive about the album, writing that Smith "grinds and spits on everything that moves. Sometimes it's completely incomprehensible, sometimes insanely entertaining".[7] Uncut gave it a score of 5, calling it "Great by Smith’s standards. Practically genius by everybody else’s."[4] Spin gave it 91/100, calling it "an atavistic orgy of recycled riffs and lifelong obsessions".[5] Mojo gave it 9/10, viewing it as "as good as anything in this group's monstrous catalogue".[5] PopMatters gave it 8/10, calling it "their best record in a decade".[5]

Track listing

UK version

  1. "Green Eyed Loco-Man" (Mark E. Smith, Jim Watts) – 3:47
  2. "Mountain Energei" (Dave Milner, Smith) – 3:22
  3. "Theme From Sparta F.C." (Ben Pritchard, Smith, Watts) – 3:43
  4. "Contraflow" (Smith, Watts) – 4:06
  5. "Last Commands of Xyralothep Via M.E.S." (Milner, Smith) – 3:20
  6. "Open the Boxoctosis #2" (Smith, Watts) – 3:46
  7. "Janet, Johnny + James" (Pritchard, Smith) – 4:15
  8. "The Past #2" (Smith, Watts) – 2:20
  9. "Loop41 'Houston" (Lee Hazlewood) – 3:20
  10. "Mike's Love Xexagon" (Smith, Watts) – 4:59
  11. "Proteinprotection" (Milner, Pritchard, Smith, Watts) – 3:19
  12. "Recovery Kit" (Pritchard, Smith) – 3:58

US version

The American release is remastered, features an alternate cover and abbreviates the titles of several tracks, although most are identical to their UK counterparts. "Sparta 2#" and "Recovery Kit 2#" are alternate recordings, while "Mod Mock Goth" and "Portugal" were not included on the UK version of the LP but did feature on UK singles.

  1. "Green Eyed" – 3:46
  2. "Mountain" – 3:22
  3. "Sparta 2#" – 3:49
  4. "Contraflow" – 4:05
  5. "Xralothep" – 3:20
  6. "Janet vs. Johnny" – 4:15
  7. "Boxoctosis" – 3:45
  8. "The Past" – 2:19
  9. "Mod Mock Goth" (Smith, Elenor Poulou) – 4:12
  10. "Protein Protection" – 3:17
  11. "Mike's Love Hexagon" – 4:59
  12. "41.Loop / Houston" – 3:28
  13. "Portugal" (Smith, Simon Archer, Milner, Poulou, Pritchard) – 3:37
  14. "Recovery Kit 2#" (Pritchard, Smith, S. Beswick [uncredited], Rob Lally [uncredited]) – 4:03

Country on the Click (unreleased original version)

  1. "Theme From Sparta F.C." – 3:48
  2. "Proteinprotection" – 3:19
  3. "Mountain Energei" – 3:29
  4. "Contraflow" – 4:41
  5. "Green Eyed Loco-Man" – 3:57
  6. "Last Commands of Xyralothep Via M.E.S." – 3:20
  7. "Boxoctosis" – 3:40
  8. "Ho(e)uston" – 3:20
  9. "The Past" – 2:20
  10. "Recovery Kit" – 4:10
  11. "Mike's Love Xexagon" – 5:15
  12. "Susan Vs Youthclub" (Milner, Smith) – 3.40

Personnel

  • The Fall:
    • Mark E. Smith – lead vocals
    • Ben Pritchard – lead guitar, backing vocals
    • Jim Watts – bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, computer, backing vocals
    • Dave Milner – drums, backing vocals; lead vocals on "Portugal"
    • Elena Poulou – keyboards, backing vocals
    • Simon "Ding" Archer – bass guitar on "Green Eyed Loco Man", "Sparta 2#", "Mad Mock Goth" and "Portugal"; backing vocals on "Portugal"
  • S. Beswick – keyboards on "Recovery Kit"
  • Ed Blaney – backing vocals

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Mark E. & Middles, Mick (2010) The Fall, Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-1847724168
  2. 1 2 Hutchins, Al (2003) "The Thinking Person's Dour Rock Iconoclast; Mark E. Smith Has Been Frustrated at How Long It Has Taken to Produce the Fall's New Album, but, as He Tells Al Hutchins, It's Been Worth the Wait", Birmingham Post, 27 November 2003. Retrieved 25 February 2018  – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  3. ↑ "THEME FROM SPARTA FC". Official Charts. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Fall – The Real New Fall LP (Formerly ‘Country On The Click’)", Uncut, 1 February 2004. Retrieved 25 February 2018
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Real New Fall L.P. (Formerly Country On The Click) by The Fall". Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  6. 1 2 Jeffries, David "[The Real New Fall LP at AllMusic]". Retrieved 25 February 2018
  7. 1 2 Lokko, Andres (2003) "The Fall: "The Real New Fall LP / formerly Country on the Click"", Expressen, 24 November 2003. Retrieved 25 February 2018
  8. 1 2 Pidd, Helen (23 October 2003). "The Fall: The Real New Fall LP". Retrieved 19 September 2016 – via The Guardian.
  9. ↑ Triquet, Simon (2003) "Country on the click", Les Inrockuptibles, 30 November 2003. Retrieved 25 February 2018
  10. 1 2 Linhardt, Alex (2004) "The Fall The Real New Fall L.P. (Formerly 'Country on the Click')", Pitchfork, 21 January 2004. Retrieved 25 February 2018
  11. ↑ "Music Reviews, Features, Essays, News, Columns, Blogs, MP3s and Videos - PopMatters". Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  12. ↑ 14 Apr. 2004 Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ Lee, Stewart (9 November 2003). "The Times & The Sunday Times". Retrieved 19 September 2016.
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