#237: The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials (1979)

Emily: Live at the Witch Trials is an early post-punk album. To me, it was so early that it still sounded like punk. The lead singer sounds a lot like the lead singer of the Dead Kennedys (perhaps it's the accent), so the whole time I listened I kept comparing the two. The Fall has a bit more range than the Dead Kennedys, branching out into the fuzzy rock sounds of post-punk, and their lyrics aren't as harsh. However, I have to give this one to the Dead Kennedys, whose explosive punk sounds capture the anarchist spirit of punk rock perfectly. The Fall don't come close to achieving that punk attitude, probably because they arrived on the scene a few years later when it was transitioning towards post-punk and other sounds. I'm curious to see where they go on later albums, as they get further removed from the punk scene and become more and more prolific. Guess I'll find out in a few hundred albums or so.
Favorite Tracks: Mother Sister!; Industrial Estate; No Xmas for John Quays

Zack: Wikipedia felt comfortable describing The Fall as a band with little populist success but an impressive cult following, so I feel comfortable saying it too. Wikipedia also felt comfortable noting that the band has seen high amounts of turnover at pretty much every instrument and that The Fall's incredibly prolific catalog features some wildly different styles. I gathered as much when I started listening to this album, considering I’d read just a few days prior about how they were a major influence in the Madchester scene, much like Happy Mondays. This worries me, sine we usually like to switch it up between albums instead of lingering in one particular genre or era. But, lo and behold, this album sounded nothing like Happy Mondays, but instead much like all of those typical post punk albums we’ve heard and I tend to have difficulty distinguishing. Admittedly, this one was a bit difference, since it didn’t appear to be too far post the punk. There was still a lot of aggressive energy palpable. But it certainly was no Madchester or even alternative album. Perhaps the other The Fall albums on the list (three albums, three separate decades) will gear more that way. But Live at the Witch Trials certainly wasn’t, but would be a great listen for any Talking Heads, Joy Division, or The The fans out there.

Favorite Tracks: Frightened; Two Steps Back; Underground Medecin