A quirky collection of originals as they were before the Fall got their hands on them.
There are so many things to love about the Fall, but perhaps one of their less-celebrated selling points is frontman Mark E Smith’s knack for unearthing excellent contenders for a good cover version, even if some of the original artists might not have always seen it that way.
The Fall remain one of those bands with the most uncoverable songs imaginable (although saxophonist Terry Edwards did make a decent fist of bouncy instrumental versions of songs like Container Drivers some years back), but Smith and his ever-shifting line-ups have proved surprisingly adept at branding other people’s songs with their own distinctive mark, laying claim to everything from Sister Sledge’s Lost in Music to Pete Seeger’s I Come and Stand at Every Door.
As would be expected, given Smith’s scattershot and often deliberately abrasive attitude to everything from showmanship to band make-up, the originals collection Before the Fall: 24 Prelapsarian Cuts! is a bit of a glorious mess. For the majority of the tracks, appearing on the same record makes little sense except for the caveat that every one has been covered by the Fall on record, live or in session at some point in their three-decade-plus career.
Naturally, there are the big-hitters, including the Kinks’ Victoria and R Dean Taylor’s There’s a Ghost in My House, two tracks that served the band well and in turn received relatively sympathetic and faithful renditions.
There are also several original sources, like Hank Mizell’s Jungle Rock, Nervous Norvus’s Transfusion and Bob McFadden & Dor’s The Mummy, that can only ever, even lovingly, be described as novelty tunes – a distinction it could be suggested Smith has never seen fit to make.
Elsewhere, the selection lurches between rockabilly (including Wanda Jackson’s timeless Funnel of Love) and rocksteady (Lee Perry’s unhinged Kimble and Joe Gibbs’s People Grudgeful), with plenty of psych-nugget classics (the Other Half’s Mr Pharmacist, the Sonics’ Strychnine, etc) and yet more oddness-encompassing trucking songs, Captain Beefheart and even dubious pop like I’m Going to Spain, from the inappropriately monikered Steve Bent.
Released with Smith’s blessing and eye-bulging artwork from the evergreen Savage Pencil, Before the Fall is a worthy addition to any fan or serious music head’s collection. And, like Dave Simpson’s book on departed Fall members, The Fallen, it may prove helpful to those who have yet to succumb to, or even comprehend, Smith’s brusque and unique charms.
BEFORE THE FALL: 24 PRELAPSARIAN CUTS!, Various Artists (Ace/Border).