Mark E. Smith RIP

Sadly, it's true.

Details.

Am I the only one here who looks at recent pix of Smith and wonders, "He was only 60?"

Very sad, though ... a daring, one-of-a-kind, unstoppable artist. Rest in peace-ahh.

>Am I the only one here who looks at recent pix of Smith and wonders, "He >was only 60?"

Not at all. Let's just say he made Keith Richards look GOOD in comparison.

Have to say that's he been pretty hit'n'miss the last couple of decades (despite what he said about it could just be him and "your grannie on bongos" for it to be the Fall, he apparently still needed folks like Mark Riley, Brix, etc. more than this week's pickup band to effectively translate his ideas into Musick). That said, many bans wish they could leave behind a catalogue like the Fall has.

Cause of death has been revealed: terminal cancer. Details here.

No wonder he looked so ill the past couple of years.

I had the same response about his age, Delvin. But damn, this sucks.

I just saw that a while ago at The Quietus. Definitely a prickly artist of the first stripe. Having viewed images of him regularly over the years, he looked like he was living on borrowed time for the last 15 years or so. I wish I had more Fall albums. I just bought the Mark E. Smith/Ed Blaney album a week or two ago. I only had "The Infotainment Scan" but let's put it this way… Fall albums certainly weren't clogging up the used CD bins where I troll. He might have been a difficult mess of a man, but he certainly had integrity. I need to hear more Fall stuff than the dollops that reached my ears over the last 30+ years.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

I'm with you. The only Fall album I have is an 80s singles comp of their Beggars Banquet years. A pal of mine suggested starting with This Nation's Saving Grace, The Frenz Experiment or The Wonderful and Frightening World of. Though I like Delvin's suggestion below, especially if it has "Glam Racket."

The 2-CD set 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong is a great place to start.

> I like Delvin's suggestion below, especially if it has "Glam Racket."

It does not.

My radio show seems to get tougher to compile each week, as more musicians of distinction and stature pass away. Of course, I'm still breathing and functioning, so I shouldn't complain.

Here's an audio link to my favorite song by the Fall, "Disney's Dream Debased." It's the story of a tourist who was killed in an accident on the Matterhorn on a trip to Disneyland. This was recorded at the very start where the band was trying to sound slightly more mainstream - I think it's on their first album for the large indie label Beggars Banquet - but it reminds me of a cross between the Byrds and some unclassifiable Krautrock-influenced post-punk drone. Other favorites: "The Classical," "Prole Art Threat," No Xmas For John Quays," "Totally Wired," "Lucifer Over Lancashire," "Frightened" and their cover of the Kinks' "Victoria." But they were so prolific and good in their first decade they could follow up their first 2 albums with a collection of non-album singles that was just as strong. Consumerism isn't the best way to react to the deaths of great musicians, but everyone does it. I just ordered the singles box set that Cherry Red released last year from Rough Trade's website. [www.youtube.com]

Very fond memories of playing Totally Wired at a university band competition. Saw them just the one time in a tiny Sydney disco in the '80s, around the time of Hex Enduction Hour. Influenced all the cool bands.

oh please ... no.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAY IT AINT SO!!!!

My friend sent me a cryptic text yesterday saying only "Cab It Up!". I of course immediately used this as an excuse to launch into a list of favorite Fall songs. Didnt know he died.

This sucks.

Wouldnt we all like to have a sentence like this in our obituary....?

Quote

He is perhaps best known by a younger generation for famously saying "I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers" after encountering Mumford & Sons backstage at an Irish festival a number of years ago.

I'm beginning to really HATE this decade.

I thought all TP heroes were immortal.

Hope yr giving God and Satan what for, Mark.

Hope yr grabbing Hitler by the ears and yelling at him, Who Makes The Nazis-ah.

Man I'm still so bent sideways by this that my daily functioning has taken a hit.

The Fall's late '70s-early '90s heyday is so full-to-burstin' with quality records that I've never felt the need to go farther. I haven't heard any of their albums since. Sure, individual songs on the radio, but no start-to-finish albums. Any good comps of that period, or entire albums that match with Golden Age ones? Or is it ok to just keep playing "This Nations' Saving Grace," "Bend Sinister," "Dragnet"..?



Post Edited (02-21-18 23:30)

Great stuff all the way through. It's been discussed around here somewhere. Last few not the best for non-fans. RNFLP [UK version] and Heads Roll are must-haves from this century. Since then there have been a few that are 70% great.

Look, I know Mark E. Smith wasn't American Idol material, but Doncaster is still crying.

> I know Mark E. Smith wasn't American Idol material ...

And thank God for that.

Quote

And thank God alcohol, cigarettes and dentures for that.

fixed

What can I say ... He moves in mysterious ways.