On March 16th, 1979, Manchester’s The Fall released their first album Live at the Witch Trials. By this point, The Fall only had two singles under their belts but in between them, the entire line-up changed, save for shouter, lyricist and occasional singer Mark E. Smith. Now, over 30 years later, The Fall have released their 28th studio album. In those past years, Smith has gone through some 43+ members, numerous record labels, and yet, has still held true to his vision of what The Fall should be in the Year “___”.
Where 2008’s Imperial Wax Solvent was a great album, it took some time to grow on you. The one before, 2007’s Reformation Post-T.L.C., was one that delivered immediately, but was criticized for material that consisted of two chords repeated for 6 minutes and also for being a recording with an almost entirely new band that he only worked with for a month or so. On Your Future Our Clutter, Smith and his band (all of which were surprisingly on the already mentioned Imperial Wax Solvent), deliver from the beginning rhythm of the first track, “O.F.Y.C. Showcase”. It starts with a garbled spoken introduction and then the drums come in, and one by one, the instruments trickle in until before you know it, the whole band unleashes and wrecks havoc with 2 chords. 2 chords?? Really? Well, that was The Fall, who on their first single had a song called “Repetition” (sample lyric: “The three “R’s”, repetition, repetition, repetition”) that would essentially set them up for years and years to come.
“Bury Pts 1 & 3” starts off with the song sounding like it was being played on the floor above you while practicing in Jordan Hall – kind of muffled, and all that’s really discernable is just the beat and the bass. This then changes 2 minutes in, and then we have the song at a normal fidelity that just smokes. “Mexico Wax Solvent” feels like the vaguely electronic songs Smith has been working into Fall albums since the early 90s. The next track, “Cowboy George” is a high point – a little two chord ditty with a slightly Morricone flair to it, that at random points has a sample of a song by Daft Punk in the middle for no apparent reason. But the sound is something new for The Fall that will hopefully be exploited later.
The next two tracks everyone has heard as they were on last year’s Slippy Floor EP. “Hot Cake” is your usual stomper that might’ve only been included just to bolster the length of the album, but it’s enjoyable enough, and like you’re too cool to have an extra Fall song? Of course you aren’t. “Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor” is a far superior to its previous incarnation. For one, the introduction goes on about another 60 seconds and the Smith line of “We’re gonna get married” now sounds chilling as opposed to childish. As the bass comes in snarling like the one junkyard dog you never wanted to aggrevate, the rest of the band falls in and the entire time, it sounds like the band could be collapsing – imagine being on a poorly built bridge on a windy day. Luckily, they kept all of the little tape snippets in the end, which people might appreciate. I do at least.
“Chino” seems to be the weirdest but possibly the most exciting track on here. It’s dark, like something you’d hear on Bend Sinister. Smith keeps asking in the lyrics “When do I quit?” The guitar menacing and vicious – it wouldn’t sound out of place if Duane Denison was playing this riff. Once again, this is something new from The Fall. “Funnel of Love” is a cover that provides a stark contrast to the song preceding it. I’d say it’s one of the better Fall covers of the past decade, not on par with “Victoria”, but it beats “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”. The last song brings us to another new side of The Fall. “Weather Report 2” starts off sounding like this decade’s “Bill is Dead” – Smith being reflective, and a little snide, but the music is almost cute until about 2.30 into it. At that point everything drops out except a synth line, some heavily manipulated rhythm and Smith repeating the same lyrics as earlier. This time, it doesn’t sound nostalgic – it sounds like a man completely bitter repeating “you gave me the best years of my life…nobody has ever called me “sir” in my entire life”. It ends with Smith barely whispering “you don’t deserve rock and roll”.
And that’s how one of The Fall’s finest and most consistent efforts of the 2000s ends. Maybe it has something to do with the band staying the same, maybe it’s because Smith is coming up with better material, maybe there’s a third reason I’m unsure of. Regardless, the music is great and his lyrical material is something that is more personal that is something that will please The Fall fan.
OVERALL RATING – Kaboom!
KEY TRACKS – “Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor”, “Cowboy George”, “Chino”.
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