There are few things worse in life than being told by someone that you just had to be there when there was absolutely no chance of that ever happening. Phones now capture lots of moments to calm our acute FOMO, but back in the day people had to rely on more analogue ways of remembering a good time.
One of those things you had to be at, at least once, was a gig by The Fall, a coven of varying potency led by it’s warlock-in-chief, the irascible Mark E. Smith. Few bands had such a chaotic and hence incredibly watchable nature, even infamously breaking up mid-show in New York in 1998. Smith departed for whatever his next world is in 2018, but (Some of) his former band mates are now righting the historical wrongs of a back catalogue littered with poor quality ephemera.
Together original members Paul Hanley, Steve Hanley, Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon have formed their own label – and calling on the services of music’s most obsessive fan base have co-compiled with them a live official bootleg version of Grotesque.
Still ignoring everything around them, this was a record which rattled with acidic take downs and confrontational peth. This version is hardly one for audiophiles, but The Container Drivers, CnC Stop Mithering, and rubberised opener Pay Your Rates would sound brilliant played through a judge’s wig. As showcased here by English Scheme and proven later they could do pop, but the interminable closer The NWRA is Smith and your granny on bongos at their provocative, hubristic best. You had to be there – and now you can.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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