Paul Hanley compliled a playlist to go with his book Have A Bleedin Guess. Here it is, with notes.
To celebrate the release of HAVE A BLEEDIN GUESS I’ve put together a Youtube playlist to compliment it. For those of you playing along at home the songs are presented in more-or-less the order they appear in the book. Most of these are available on Spotify (and Hex Enduction Hour itself certainly is) but not all.
‘Repetition’ From the ‘Bingo Master’s Breakout’ e.p. – the only record released by the original line up of The Fall (not counting Steve Ormrod who drummed very briefly before Karl). A mission statement that lasted for forty-odd years.
‘It’s the New Thing’ The Fall’s first single, performed by the line-up that made ‘Live at the Witch Trials’. That drumming still amazes me.
‘Put Away’ (John Peel version) ‘Put Away’ (Dragnet Version). Compare and contrast (Part 1) . Either way, brilliant tune. Not so brilliant tuning on the Dragnet version.
This one’s good for a laugh – ‘Pop Stickers’ – An ultra-rare recording of the short-lived Bramah/Leigh/Pawlette/Riley/Smith line-up. They never entered a recording studio, not even for the John Peel show. Incidentally some of the words to this song (which is sometimes referred to as ‘Lets’) later turned up in ‘Chock-Stock’.
‘Cock in my Pocket‘ Iggy and The Stooges (from Metallic K.O.). Check out that count-in! – Iggy included this song in his set at The Factory the night Martin resigned from The Fall. The Fall’s version, renamed ‘Stout Man‘, appeared a mere 35 years later.
‘A Figure Walks’ from Dragnet – one of the songs that the group were performing while Martin was still on board that made the transition to the new line-up. Note the resonance on the tom and the over-loud cymbals, the latter caused by Mark ‘drifting over to the drum kit at inappropriate times’ as Grant put it. Live, Mike used to play this standing up.
‘Human Fly‘ by The Cramps, produced by Big Star’s Alex Chilton. As seen and heard at The Electric Ballroom, March 21st 1980, I’m pretty sure that would have been one of the best gigs I ever went to even if it wasn’t also my first gig with The Fall.
‘Jawbone and The Air-Rifle’ (Peel version). Recorded for the John Peel show in September 1980, some 15 months before it was recorded for Hex Enduction Hour. Coming out of the breaks didn’t get easier over time.
‘The N.W.R.A.’ from Grotesque. ‘as alien to organic wholeness as is Totale’s abominable tentacular body’ according to Mark Fisher.
‘A New Face in Hell’ Wireless enthusiast hears an illicit broadcast, nips next door, spots his friend’s body and gets arrested. Roll titles. But what happened next?
‘The Container Drivers’ Country and Northern. Could also have been described as following a 12-bar blues structure had anyone in the band been able to consistently count to twelve.
The Legendary Chaos Tape The Fall live at the Acklam Hall, 11 December 1980. Recorded on cassette, released on cassette. Laugh? I’ll tell ya…
‘Fit and Working Again‘ from Slates. Gimme Gimme U.G. Medecin.
‘C’n’C/Hassle Schmuk‘ A version of Coast to Coast’s ‘Do The Hucklebuck‘ recorded as a tribute to Arthur Askey/pisstake of Roxy Music. There can’t be many entries in that particular bit of the venn diagram. Recorded for The John Peel Show 24th March 1981.
‘Totally Wired’ Live at The Mudd Club, New York, 15th June 1981. Karl perfectly comfortable back behind the kit (except for when he drops the stick.) Unfortunately much of the recording is obscured by the sound of punters openly weeping as they realise I’m not there.
‘Deer Park’ (from A Part of America Therein) Deer Park (John Peel) Compare and contrast (Part 2). First version is just Karl, second is just me. Don’t bother picking a favourite – the Hex version makes them both redundant anyway.
‘Who Makes The Nazis (John Peel)’ featuring Mr Steve ‘Bobby’ Hanley on the Selco ‘New Beat’. ‘Who brings a fucking toy guitar to a Peel session?’
‘Winter’ (John Peel) Me on drums, though I ended up playing guitar on the album version. Mark was a bit frustrated with my version of ‘Winter’, I played it how I remembered it, which was quite loose and behind the beat. With Karl it’d become harder and more nailed on. It wasn’t the last time my failure to play like Karl caused a bit of tension.
‘Hip Priest‘ The first song committed to tape for Hex, at Hljóðriti studio , Reykjavík, on 10th September 1981. Unlike some Fall songs, it wasn’t recorded until it was ready. As later heard in The Silence of the Lambs.
‘Iceland’. Written, composed, arranged and recorded in a couple of hours. And, as it happens, only ever played in Iceland. A song whose music almost exactly captured the tangible atmosphere of a lyric we’d never heard before we started playing.
‘Lie-Dream of a Casino Soul’ This is the pre-amble youthful ramble of Big Priest.
‘Fantastic Life’ – the first time the full two-drummer line up was heard on record, and the track that convinced everyone that an album with two drummers would work.
‘The Classical’ Parental advisory – contains offensive language. ‘The only anthem in there.’
‘And This Day’. No respite! ‘The thing that finishes off the LP and often finishes off a lot of audiences’ according to M.E.S. The live version released on Hip Priests & Kamerads isn’t for the fainthearted, believe me.
‘Dead Joe‘ The Birthday Party. As heard at the Hammersmith Palais on the night the above version of ‘And This Day’ was recorded. Welcome to the car smash.
'Fortress/Deer Park‘ – in which The Fall set about pouring ‘buckets of ordure over every single green shoot of joyfulness or hope’ according to BBC editor Liz Forgan. You can’t say that about many groups, can you? ‘Who is the King Shag Corpse?’
‘Mere Pseud. Mag. Ed.‘ – Vaguely indebted to ‘ Babsitters ‘ by The Stupid Babies, who later became Adamski. It was re-recorded in 2004 for the Interim album, unusually.
‘Jaw-Bone & The Air-Rifle‘ – Iambic pentameter, alliteration, internal rhyme, an unreliable narrator and a nod to ‘Run Rabbit Run‘. What more could you want from a song?
‘Who Makes the Nazis?‘ – Bad bias telly-v that’s overly concerned with Benny’s cobweb eyes, obviously. Also contains a less-than generous reference to Big Star’s 13. NB – By this time Steve has abandoned the Selco Newbeat for the more familiar territory of the Fender P.
‘Just Step S’Ways‘ Everyone loved that riff. You can tell, because everyone except me and Karl sings/plays it. BTW this is an important aspect of Big Priest. His hypnotic induction process. His commercial last chance.
‘ I’m Into CB’ ‘Impossibly annoying…one of the worst things I had ever heard.’ – Stewart Lee.
‘Look Know‘. Do you know what you look like before you go out? These boys obviously do not. Not one of its authors’ favourites. ‘I never imagined it to be like this.’ – Stephen Hanley. NB I have no idea when the intro to ‘Fortress’ got stitched to ‘Look Know’, but it doesn’t fit.
‘Winter (Hostel Maxi)‘ ‘Entrances uncovered, street signs you never saw’. What a brilliant lyric.
‘Winter 2‘ – midway through the rhythm section slips its moorings and lurches drunkenly away from the rest of the band till it’s impossible to work out who’s playing along with who.
‘Joker Hysterical Face‘ 2 drummers, Marc on guitar, and an excoriating lyric. Very Hex then.
‘Solicitor in Studio‘ That last track to feature all 6 of the musicians who played on Hex Enduction Hour. Featuring Mr. Karl Burns on second bass. As seen, fleetingly, on Granada Reports.
‘Marquis Cha Cha‘ no Craig, no Marc, no rehearsal, no second take. Brilliant pressing of the reset button or completely half-baked. You decide. The live version that later appeared on Fall in a Hole was much more robust.
‘Our Singer‘ by Pavement. ‘Related’ to ‘Hip Priest’ according to Steven Malkmus. Yeah, no kidding mate.
‘Best Sunday Dress‘ by Hole. As much Hex Enduction Hour as Stevie Nicks, according to Courtney Love. Much like the rest of Celebrity Skin, it sounds nowt like either of ’em.
‘Backdrop‘ The Fall, live in Auckland New Zealand, 21st August 1982. The song was never officially released. I had no desire to end this playlist with Hole, so I went with In a Hole instead.
