A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.
Session #9 was broadcast on this day, 7 October 1985, having been recorded on 29 September 1985.
As if to compensate for the previous year’s dry spell, The Fall returned to Maida Vale just four months after their last session. The best sessions were on the verge of something big; this one. on the eve of the release of ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’ is another classic, with Smith’s introduction suggesting “Lloyd Cole’s brain and face is made out of cow-pat – we all know that and herewith is an instrumental track”. ‘L.A.’ , Brix’s signature tune, if you will, is served clean and crisp. The Fall’s occasional visits to old material in sessions is also a joy. ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’, just two years old, felt like a rare trawl into the archive. After a vibrant ‘What You Need’, we have that special moment that only the Peel sessions could offer – work in progress. Here we have a try-out of the following year’s ‘DKTR Faustus’, then only catalogued as ‘Faust Banana’. One of Mark and Brix’s greatest joint moments, here it is much better than the muddy rendition on ‘Bend Sinister.’
DARYL EASLEA, 2005
mp3: The Fall – L.A. (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – The Man Whose Head Expanded (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – What You Need (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Faust Banana (Peel Session)
Produced by Dale Griffin, engineered by Mike Engles
Mark E Smith – vocals; Brix Smith – guitar, vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Simon Rogers – guitar, keyboards; Karl Burns – drums;
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 