I can never think about "Band of Gypsys" without thinking of "King Suckerman" and Rasheed and Marcus fighting about it being in Rock or Soul. Which is probably the sort of thing that kept a Music thread open for a year without my making a meaningful contribution to it, actually.

Oh come on, joe, I thought for sure I'd get you talking about Mitch Mitchell with that bait.

I hate to shred whatever iota of indie cred I have left, but I never have been all that into The Fall.

Is there one of their albums I should listen to in order to "get it?"

Is there one of their albums I should listen to in order to "get it?"

I like This Nation's Saving Grace. "Cruiser's Creek" is a toe-tapper..uh, and it's added on the reissue.

I thought for sure I'd get you talking about Mitch Mitchell with that bait.

I'd take Mitch Mitchell over Buddy Miles if for no other reason than he didn't want to grab the mic from Hendrix. Ditto for taking Billy Cox instead of Noel Redding.

I'm a huge Hendrix fan, but I'm far from indiscriminate. It's great to have the live stuff because he was capable of mindblowing stuff on stage, but I prefer his studio work. Part of his genius was his craftsmanship. I love his attention to detail (e.g., the multiple guitar lines in "Nightbird Flying") and his use of the studio as part of his overall design, not just a quiet place to record something. Which is of a piece with his approach to the guitar: it's all about sound for him. The studio was a) another instrument extending his sonic options, b) a place for experimentation, especially for blending sounds to get new ones, and c) a place to take all that and shape it into what he was hearing in his head. That was practically Hendrix's mantra, "I can hear these sounds in my head; I just need to figure out how to make them." His ambitions were grand, and good as he was live, the studio gave him a better chance of getting those sounds out of his head and into the world. Would that he had lived and the Gil Evans collaboration taken place! Forget Mitch Mitchell, I want to hear him with Tony Williams. Would it have worked? Maybe, maybe not, but I'd love to hear it in part because I know that whatever I imagine it would sound like I would be wrong.

Is there one of their albums I should listen to in order to "get it?"

Just listen to their song "Totally Wired" on repeat. It don't get any better.

Heh. Here's a contender for The Shins Will Save Your Life status. The AMG review of the Totally Wired compilation:

Arguably the essential period of the Fall was the tenure the legendary Manchester group spent signed to Rough Trade, during which time they produced their most arresting and original work in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest recorded anthologies in the history of British post-punk rock. Essential Records had the genius to compile this low-priced, two-disc set surveying the seminal 1980-1983 period; it serves as an excellent starting point for newcomers to the group and an essential upgrade for the owners of the group's thrashed LPs and singles. While the Fall continued through two more decades, producing an enormous amount of material, they never topped the vital era that produced these recordings. Every track still sounds as uncompromising as the day it was released, and close to 30 years later, this collection is a startling reminder that alongside the recorded works of Sonic Youth, it's hard to imagine a world without the Fall. In that, it's safe to say that this is the holy grail collection of one of the most vital and influential groups of the '80s. - Skip Jansen

I'm not disagreeing, necessarily, but...

Download the Fall track "The Classical" from their 2nd-greatest album Hex Enduction Hour, too. As great as "Totally Wired" is (and it's fucking awesome), for me, "The Classical" is Why The Fall Is Astonishingly Good. More backstory: according to potentially apocryphal legend, Motown Records wanted to get in on the ground floor of this punk thing going on in the early 80s, so they expressed some interest in The Fall. Mark E. sent them a copy of "The Classical," which had just been recorded but had yet to be released. Apparently (for the obvious reason if you listen to the song), they made it about 8 seconds in.

I hear that the 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong compilation is pretty good, too.

Joe: got box. Will write more after 2 pm meeting.

OK, I'm starting to understand The Fall, based on the two recommendations. I guess I just haven't been up that branch off the punk tree, even though I apparently have (thanks to their followers).

If someone could arrange for Lyle Lovett to sing to me constantly, that'd be great. North Dakota at least once every couple of hours.