This isn't the album I wanted to present today. The appropriate CD would be Fall's "I Am Kurious Oranj", which I don't have. Well, at least this compilation contains that record's "Big New Prinz", a song that I lately found out refers to the Dutch Prince Willem van Oranje-Nassau. All of the "Kurious Oranj" album, as well as the accompanying ballet by a modern dance troupe, was initially commissioned by the Dutch Government as part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of his ascension to the throne of England, together with his wife (and cousin) Mary Stuart. Although he was King of England, Scotland and Ireland and elected Stadthouder for a number of Dutch provinces, he never reigned in The Netherlands, as there wasn't a monarchy here yet. There is of course now, so today on April 27, the whole country is infected with orange fever as it celebrates the birthday of King Willem Alexander, a relative of the "Prinz" The Fall sang about. The 3-day celebrations include open concerts and DJ-sets, a huge flea market where everyone sells their old stuff and buys his neighbor's junk and, of course, beer drinking of epic proportions. Buildings are adorned with orange flags (the colour of the House of Oranje) and everyone is required to wear an orange item of clothing. I just came back from the supermarket where they were selling orange-colored cheeses, sweets, potatoes and an incredible amount of food in the same color - not to mention orange oranges, but I'm used to those. Yep, these Dutchies love their Oranjes. Something few Greeks like me would understand, since our (former) royal family was almost universally hated and finally definitively deposed in 1974. Even more puzzlingly: why the hell would someone sane choose Mark E. Smith to commemorate Willem? Mark is a permanently bitter, ugly, obnoxious and aggressive character - which is perfect for an old punk, but not to perform for royalty. I can't help but wonder what passed through Queen Beatrix's mind while she and the rest of the dignitaries watched The Fall accompanying that freaky modern ballet. I'm guessing it was something along the lines of "too bad I'm not allowed to behead anyone for this". Anyway, despite their leader's anti-social attitude and limited musical vocabulary, one has to hand it to them: The Fall may do only one thing, but they do it incredibly well: They've filled more than 30 albums with their repetitive rhythms, abrasive guitar/bass riffs, aggressive shouted vocals and cryptic lyrics. They're always (variations of) the same, yet never boring and rarely off the mark. This compilation collects tracks from their more "commercial" period, when Smith's wife Brix on second guitar helped them tone down the experimentalism and play some more structured pop/rock. It contains a lot of almost hits, but (here's the catch) not in their original versions. Instead, the songs here are culled from three collections of demos, live songs and outtakes: "Sinister Waltz", "Oswald Defence Lawyer" and "Fiend With a Violin". As such, this collection is generally snubbed by music critics and I would also suggest to the newcomer to get their "A-Sides" compilation instead. On the other hand, you could get any of their dozens of albums and The Fall experience will be there. Plus, many alternative versions of their "hits" work just as well as the originals: "Couldn't Get Ahead", "Blood Outta Stone", "I Feel Voxish", "What You Need", "L.A", "2 x 4" and "Bombast" belong to this category. Some, like "Telephone Thing", "Gut Of The Quantifier" and "The Man Whose Head Expanded" pale in comparison to their studio versions. Smith shows his knowledge of 60's psychedelia by covering unsung heroes like Idle Race ("Birthday") and The Monks ("Black Monk Theme"). "Arid Al's Dreams" is an original composition that draws inspiration from 60's psych and 70's krautrock and "Edinburgh Man" a rare un-ironic melodic song with a 60's Kinks feel. The Kinks' "Victoria" (another paean to a long-gone royal) gets a rousing live rendition and Kurious Oranj's "Big New Prinz" is stretched to 7,5 minutes, while "Bad News Girl" from the same record also makes an appearance. To summarize, I can think of a few reasons you would buy this CD: 1)You are one of those "50.000 fans" The Fall boast of having, you have everything else and are convinced that anything with The Fall's name on it is worth having. 2)You saw it contained a number of well-known titles and thought it was a Best-Of compilation. You may justifiably feel a little bit cheated, as it doesn't say anywhere that these are all alternative versions. On the bright side, it still is a good listen and, when you're finally converted to the Fall cult and buy the original versions, you won't have any duplicates. 3)It was really cheap and you bought it out of curiosity: can't argue with that! Enjoy that specimen, we'll be posting more Fall in the future...
**** for Edinburgh Man, Couldn't Get Ahead, Blood Outta Stone, I Feel Voxish, L.A., Victoria, 2 x 4, Guest Informant, Big New Prinz
*** for Arid Al's Dreams, Birthday, Wings, What You Need, Bombast (Live Version), Married Two Kids, Hostile, Petty Thief Lout, You Haven't Found It Yet, Gentlemen's Agreement, A Lot Of Wind, Just Waiting, Get A Hotel, Carry Bag Man, Bombast (Alternative Version), Oxymoron
** for The Knight The Devil And Death, Telephone Thing, Black Monk Theme, Gut Of The Quantifier, The Man Whose Head Expanded, Oswald Defence Lawyer, Bad News Girl
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