Nowadays, angular riffs and driving punk-inspired rhythms are a dime a dozen. But back in 1981, The Fall were a cutting edge band that were pioneering a style of music influenced by punk rock but drew inspriation from a wide variety of sources. Their sound has in turn been an influence for countless artists, including John Dwyer of Osees. His label Castle Face recently announced the release of an archival live album The Fall – Live at St. Helens Technical College, ’81, which is out on February 19. Today we’re premiering the latest cut from that album, a raucous track called “Rowche Rubble.”
The Fall, led by the late Mark E. Smith, went through numerous lineup changes over the years but in 1981 they fielded what is considered their “classic lineup.” This lineup included guitarist Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon and brothers Paul Hanley and Steve Hanley. Riley found a bootleg of their 1981 show on Twitter and felt the sound quality was one of the best he’d ever heard, so he sent it over to the Osees frontman and Castle Face leader, who was so impressed with it he inquired about giving it a proper release.
Impressively, every surviving member of the band, the sound person at the show, the bootlegger who made the recording and the photographer at the show were consulted and gave their blessing on the release of this live recording. Half of the proceeds from sales will go to Centrepoint, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in Manchester, UK. The album will be released on 12″ vinyl along with 7″ single and you can preorder it here. Take a listen to The Fall carving out a path for the future of post-punk on “Rowche Rubble” below:
“This was the first time Craig and I saw down to purposefully write a song for The Fall,” said Riley. “He (and Steve) had just joined the band and I remember we were sat in the front room of my house going over riffs and stuff. I came up with a sequence that (in my mind) was akin to The Stooges ‘Tight Pants/ Shake Appeal.’ Of course it ended up nothing like it, but once we all got together in the rehearsal room it came together as a pretty ferocious beast. Particularly once MES started weaving his bitter magic and the pounding drums kicked in.”
The Fall – Live at St. Helens Technical College, ’81 track list
1. “Blob ’59”
2. “Prole Art Threat”
3. “Jawbone and the Air Rifle”
4. “Middle Mass”
5. “Rowche Rumble”
6. “An Older Lover”
7. “City Hobgoblins”
8. “Leave the Capitol”
9. “The NWRA”
10. “Gramme Friday”
11. “Fit and Working Again”
12. “Muzorewi’s Daughter”
13. “Slates, Slags, Etc”
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