Is 'Fiery Jack' the best Fall single ?

[matt m]

I like AC/DC and The Fall for very similar reasons.

The funny thing about bands that are celebrated for their monomania, or tunnel-vision music, is that they are actually surprisingly versatile. Can, Beefheart, punk, Suicide, Bo Diddley... there's quite a lot going on in the Fall. Dragnet doesn't sound like This Nations Saving Grace, which doesn't sound like I Am Kurious Oranj.

People say all Billy Childish's music sounds the same, ignoring the fact that his early stuff was clearly very callow 1950s retro-revivalism, whereas his stuff with the Headcoats and Buff Medways was actually a very organic synthesis of punk, 60s r&b and beatpop and the blues: one in which you could always tell not just exactly what hat he was wearing at the time, but the precise jaunt he was wearing it at. He also did a good calypso/ska album under the name Wild Billy Childish & the Blackhands.

Personally I think late-80s pop Fall is a bit weak. Doesn't have the right bilious odour. Not to say I don't enjoy it when I hear it though.

I've no idea which Fall songs were singles and which weren't.

[Willy]

@Chris P, Delighted to see someone has same taste in fave Fall singles. They are both classics! and of course great fun to sing along to...
"Ohh men-tal hos-pi-tals!" etc.

Just to add my pet favourite is the B side of Rowche Rumble called In My Area:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dezomqz3Q4

@AdamM, Can't really explain why else I like them other than the deconstructive element as a contrast/relief from contrived claptrap "pop" (same applies to Johnny- "My device is nearly ready, grab her neck and hold her steady" -Moped)
Oh, and Marks lyrics are great poetry -sometimes. (He started out as a poet then formed a band around himself)
Haven't heard much of their later catalogue. After getting Hex Enduction Hour I'd had my fill.

[Ted]

Isn't it "All mental hospitals"? Not wanting to start a shouting match, or cause anyone to flounce off...

And while we're on the subject didn't several of the original members Fall work at Prestwich, the North Manchester psychiatric hospital?

[Willy]

Hi Ted, I just checked and I'm relieved to say it is "Oh" and not "All" (Phew!)
A Fall website:
http://fall.byethost13.com/lyrics.html
Una Baines was a Student Psychiatric nurse, according to same website

[Chris P]

Kay Carrol who managed the band in the early days, & was Smith's partner, was an ex-psychiatric nurse too. And early days keyboardist Yvonne Pawlett became "Lead Art Therapist for Humber Mental Health": that's lead as rhymes with heed, not a plumbum specific type of art used for therapy.

[Willy]

Just spent ages looking up one their songs where Mark freaks out over the words: "Eat this granade.." Yes, it's Fiery Jack
Now I can't resist recalling other classics:

It's the New Leather Thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0iOEDBf-so
(with weirdly good drumming by Karl Burns)

Last Orders (Live at The Electric Circus): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDIdTC62rQs
Stepping Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veo1qVNeppU
Container Drivers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8bjJf3Q5mE