Where to start listening to The Fall?

[Mister Six]

I only know Mark E. Smith from that one Gorillaz track and his Adam & Joe Show appearance.

Where do I start with his music? Quite happy to check out the more disjointed/odd stuff as well as the tracks that are closer to the mainstream.

I'm using Spotify like some normie cunt, but it seems to have a pretty extensive selection.

[Martin Van Buren Stan]

The top tracks on Spotify are actually not bad iirc but it's best to get stuck into the albums. Try anything from and including Hex, they hadn't really found their voice before then.

[jobotic]

It's not my favourite (although it's not far off) but This Nation's Saving Grace is a good one to start with I reckon.

I know very little about post early nineties stuff though.

[Head Gardener]

Shiftwork was my entrance, then went backwards and carried on forwards to the end, as jobotic said This Nation... is a good place to start, if that doesn't hit your buttons you'll struggle with the hard stuff

[shiftwork2]

Shiftwork was my entrance, then went backwards and carried on forwards to the end

Cripes.  Nobody's favourite album, that.  In fact isn't it most people's least favourite?  Still bearing the scars of signing up to nme.com with that username in 1995.

Just start anywhere really.  The Infotainment Scan (and Behind The Counter from the same era) would be an atypical but engaging start, it was for me.  Actually I've just put it on and Ladybird at least is sounding very fine.

[studpuppet]

I'd start with the more accessible Brix-era albums (Wonderful & Frightening World Of... and This Nation's Saving Grace), and then try something from the earlier Marc Riley era (Slates or Hex) - if these don't float your boat then it's probably not worth going any further down the Fall rabbit hole, but if they do you could probably jump to anywhere else and get some enjoyment from it.

[NoSleep]

Hex Enduction Hour and Slates

[Head Gardener]

Cripes.  Nobody's favourite album, that. 

blimey compared to other albums it's almost easy listening Fall, maybe that's what hooked me in I guess, I saw them around that time too which helped cement the love

[phantom_power]

I started from the beginning and I think although it is quite ramshackle it is the most accessible. As they go on they get into the classic Fall tropes but the first few albums are just idiosyncratic post-punk

[lazyhour]

Give latter-day masterpiece "Fall Heads Roll" a try.

[Goldentony]

Slates and the Peel Sessions set, Peel Sessions is enormous like so maybe not but also do listen to that because it's the best

[imitationleather]

Give latter-day masterpiece "Fall Heads Roll" a try.

Your Future Our Clutter is a better late era album for me, Clive.

[Catalogue of ills]

The Peel Sessions CD compilation. Some definitive versions on there, and it gives an excellent potted history, enabling you to find your favourite era.

[rilk]

You're gonna get a 100 different answers to this. I'd suggest Grotesque for a good mix of shonky pop/rockabilly numbers and some of MES's best esoteric Machen-y rambles

[jobotic]

Actually Grotesque is a good shout.

[Johnny Yesno]

It's a compilation but I can recommend starting with Palace of Swords Reversed, as it was my route into the Fall's music. It includes tracks off the Slates EP that NoSleep and Goldentony mentioned upthread and more.

[the science eel]

Grotesque is fucking A and it's 'typical' and some of it is very accessible too. So...that, yes.

And these less well-known tracks are great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYKaztaEVeQ Ivanhoes Two Pence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQiUZEjGZbA Ludd Gang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ARkEkkQ2E Pumpkin Head Xscapes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_rb0LLglwo Hilary (Peel session)

[Pranet]

50000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong is a pretty good career spanning (up to that point anyway) compilation.

[jamiefairlie]

It's a compilation but I can recommend starting with Palace of Swords Reversed, as it was my route into the Fall's music. It includes tracks off the Slates EP that NoSleep and Goldentony mentioned upthread and more.

Yeah that's a great intro

[iamcoop]

I echo the vote for the Peel Sessions set.

At a push you could argue it's the only real Fall set anyone needs. (Obviously not true but it's almost career spanning and has a lot of definite versions of tracks).

Of course Fall fans could argue about this all day but the ones I'd say would be:

Grotesque (after the gramme)
This Nations Saving Grace
The Infotainment Scan
Fall Heads Roll.

4 albums that almost cover their most distinct phases. (Obviously the first record is it's own phase but I basically look as that as a different band and sound entirely and it's not really one I go back to so often).

Many will say Hex Enduction Hour is their finest moment but I personally found that a bit too dense and difficult going when I was first getting into them, it only really clicked when I became obsessed.

As others have said, This Nation's Saving Grace is probably the easiest entry point, if you don't really get on with that I think it'll be tough going.

Ultimately as cliched a statement as it is, once you're hooked their really is something worthwhile about everything they've done. The only one I barely listen to is Are You Are Missing Winner which to my ears is fucking terrible, but there's classics to be found either side of that release (enter Jockice to put me wrong).

My favourite is Grotesque, the perfect balance of menace, warped northern rockabilly, hints of pop and melody and some utterly fantastic lyrics from Smith. The sound of a band hitting a truly imperial phase.

Good luck and I hope it sticks, when you finally 'get it' you've got a serious catalogue to get to grips with. And even if it doesn't you can always come back, hearing Before The Moon Falls on the radio peaked my initial interest and it was only about 5 years later when I properly sat up, took notice and become completely obsessed.

[Johnboy]

1985 to 1997 is my short answer

[Jockice]

Round at my place is the best place to start listening to The Fall. Starting with Are You Are Missing Winner of course.

But Grotesque's my favourite too.

[extraordinary walnuts]

Cripes.  Nobody's favourite album, that.  In fact isn't it most people's least favourite?

Shift Work is good not bad! Maybe not my absolute favorite, but close.

One of the many bangers on this record: https://youtu.be/Sianb8Dqrxk

[shiftwork2]

Shift Work is good not bad!

Thanks walnuts meht.

There are a couple of good tracks on it.  Everyone likes Edinburgh Man.  The one about This Morning though...

[extraordinary walnuts]

The one about This Morning though...

"Then they had Carl Lewis on / He's got a pony tail, and he's a ve-gan"

lol what's not to love?

[the science eel]

dreadful

'Rose' too

and 'You Haven't Found It Yet' - completely inessential dishwater

[non capisco]

Your Future Our Clutter is a better late era album for me, Clive.

Agree with this, the last really great Fall album I reckon. The whole band sound so strident and engaged throughout. MES' closing whisper of "You don't deserve rock 'n' roll" could have been a perfect final career kiss off but would have been far too neat. The true spirit of The Fall was obviously what actually happened next. I dare you to begin your Fall journey with Ersatz GB, it makes Are You Are Missing Winner sound like Rumours.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

In Palace of Swords Reversed is as close to a perfect Fall playlist as you're going to get, but the runner up would be the CD version of Slates that had the Lie Dream/Fantastic Life single on it.

I hope the Palace of Swords playlists people put up on Youtube and the like have the deranged live version of Neighbourhood of Infinity with "giant moths-uh" rant at the end.

I share the affection for YFOC expressed in this thread. My left field recommendation would be to track down 458589, but the bsides disks not the asides. Pat-Trip Dispenser! Guest Informant! Sleep Debt Snatches! Mark'll Sink Us! Hot Aftershave Bop! its full of good stuff

[The Mollusk]

I still don't really get them at all but the other week I heard "Pat-Trip Dispenser" on the radio and thought FUCK ME this is amazing, finally starting to understand what everyone else sees in The Fall now.

Rest of that album is decent but if anything the experience made me even more acutely aware of how far I have to go before I can actually say I like the band.

That one song though. So fucking good.

[Martin Van Buren Stan]

I still don't really get them at all but the other week I heard "Pat-Trip Dispenser" on the radio and thought FUCK ME this is amazing, finally starting to understand what everyone else sees in The Fall now.

Rest of that album is decent but if anything the experience made me even more acutely aware of how far I have to go before I can actually say I like the band.

That one song though. So fucking good.

Did you like Stephen Song, from the same album?