Last Night at the Palais: Deluxe Edition

Let's be clear I think the Dudes were the best line up, a great drummer, a bass player wih groove and Tim Pressley, a man who plays like he's on the edge of brilliance and chaos. Pressley is awesome, listen to the nerve shredding riff of My Door Is Never, flat on the album but here sensational. Its like he's wrangling an electric eel and feeding it down your ears. I saw him with them in Nov 2011 filling in for Pete and he's astounding, he ripped the p*ss out of Cowboy George.The new guys are OK but theyre here to support the Dudes.There are lots of highlights on this album, Sparta is given a rollicking run through.Best of all though is Blindness, mayeb the greatest Fall recording ever.DABBA DUM - DABBA DUM - DABBA DUM - DABBA DUM - DABBA DUM - DABBA DUM- DUM DUM DUM DUMPEEEP - PA - PEEEEP - PEEEEEEPThis is a towering edifice of noise, like a monument rising into the night sky lik a Tokyo Skyscraper. A heathen temple of worship. This is The Fall at its shamanic best. This is nearly siezure inducing. You can hear the walls shake as the bass flattens you. 9 minutes of dark artistry.And Mark is on his game, not just tired and going through th emotions, the thought of throwing a spanner into the backslapping Palais party has broguht out the best in him. Plus, Elena's looking HOT!!!

A solid and gripping document of The Fall's shambolic final turn at the Hammersmith Palais. The band is tight, the material is largely new and the emphasis is on the throbbbing, sloganeering - and less experimenatal - end of the Fall spectrum - so whilst there's nothing quite as glorious as Dead Beat Descendent from Seminal Live, there's also - thankfully - no Mollusc in Tyrol.The mix is the biggest let down: The overriding sensation at the actual gig was the relentless thump of the twin bass guitars and drums. The rhythm section is poorly served on the CD, however, with the drums in particular sounding trebly and weedy.The DVD is electrifying though: Whether it's the passion and focus of a band whipped into shape by fear and scorn (at one point, bandleader Mark E Smith turns menacingly on hirsute bassist Rob Barbato and sneers 'Get rid of the beard or I'll get rid of you'), the catchiness of much of the set (after one incidental listen, our small kids can't stop chanting 'Senior Twilight Stock Replacer') or the watchable unpredictability of Mark E Smith, it is a fascinating document that bears repeated viewing.Highlights include the nervous glances exchanged by the band when MES misses most of the first song, the incongruous grinning of drummer Orpheo McCord throughout (is he allowed to enjoy being in The Fall?!), Eleni Poulou's fizzing, popping, squelching keyboard touches and ice cool Rosa Klebb delivery of The Wright Stuff and the righteous indignation of a linen suit wearing, bottle blonde poseur who takes to the stage to protest that the venue hasn't been given its due respect - plus the laughably late and OTT security response - plodding around the stage in Hi-vis jackets throughout curtailed encore Reformation. MES even manages a witty aside to underscore his disdain: "Thank you for allowing us into your security area" before pulling the plug on a thrilling hour of slur-singing menace and iconoclasm.

Wanting to purchase this and not sure if its worth investing in? Believe me this is one of the finest Fall live albums. There are so many shoddy and poor quality releases that have seen the light of day over the last 10 years. Some are so poor you wonder why MES ever let them be released. Poor quality, tracks missing, wrong track listings and zero sleeve notes. Well this release is head and shoulders above any live album to date. Superb quality, the complete concert, excellent sleeve notes and photos, totally storming performance and MES with one of best Fall line ups for many a year. Bonus is a DVD of the entire performance that is professionally filmed and with superb sound as well. This really is a great package and worth every penny!

... waren die beißenden Abschiedsworte Mark E. Smiths, als er nach einer knappen Stunde Performance das Hammersmith Palais in London (Tage vor Abriss der Konzerthalle) verließ. So sentimental der Anlass wohl für einige Konzertbesucher war, so pragmatisch war er für Smith, konnte er doch "Post-TLC Reformation!" vorstellen, das 2007 erschienene Studioalbum von New-Wave Legende "The Fall". Das beste seit "Country on the Click" von 2003, wie ich finde. Musiker aus Manchester zum Vergießen auch nur einer einzigen Träne um eine Londoner Konzerthalle einzuladen, ist ein gewagtes Unterfangen.Ein Live-Album von The Fall zu kaufen wiederum ist ein gewagtes Unterfangen für Fans. Ging das in der Vergangenheit doch oft genug schief. Mieser Sound und fade Songauswahl waren keine Seltenheit, sei es "Seminal Live", "The 27 Points" oder "Live at the Knitting Factory" unter vielen anderen. Aber diese Scheibe hier, dessen Songauswahl auch nicht gerade ein Greatest Hits-Feuerwerk ist, überzeugt schon nach den ersten Takten. Toller Sound, viel Energie, guter Mix und (offenbar) keine Dubs. Ein straffes Konzert. Auch wenn Smith hier kaum einen Satz geradeaus sprechen (geschweige denn singen) konnte. Ich hatte gehört, er hätte das Trinken dran gegeben... ?Das 7 köpfige Lineup (2 Bässe!) verleiht den Songs Akzente, die man bei The Fall seit Brix Weggang nicht mehr auf der Bühne gehört hat. Die Gitarren sind pointiert und dynamisch. Hier und da ertönen echte Rock-N-Roll-Licks. Die Songs treiben. "White Lighning" klingt entschlossener denn je, "Reformation" ist ausdrucksstärker als auf dem Album, "Bindness" wird vom groovigen Lückenfüller zum Soundgewitter. Die DVD kommentiert das ganze ohne Schnörkel und hebt sich damit von den meisten Konzert-DVDs ab, auf denen die Songs durch Backstage-Interviews zerschnitten sind. The Fall eben. Schlussendlich fragt man sich, ob die CD/DVD auch ohne den Anlass (Palais) erschienen wäre.Kurzum: Vom Sound aber auch von der Performance eine ganz starke Scheibe. Vielleicht das beste Live-Album der Band. 5 Punkte obwohl einige gute Alben unberücksichtigt waren: Wenn schon keine Juwelen aus den 80ern (bis auf "Right Time"), wo ist das Material aus "Shift-Work", "Infotainment Scan", "Code Selfish" oder mehr von "Country On The Click"? Die Antwort haben wir bereits gegeben: Es war eine Promo-Tour für "Reformation".

Mark E.Smith in Höchstform. Für die Menschen, die The Fall noch nie live erleben durften ein absolutes Muss. TLC Reformation zählt sowieso zu den besseren Alben und die Liveumsetzung ist einfach gelungen.