Extricate
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| Extricate | ||
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| Studio album by The Fall | ||
| Released | February 1990 | |
| Recorded | 1989-90 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 54:32 | |
| Label | Phonogram | |
| Producer(s) | Coldcut, Craig Leon, Mark E. Smith, Adrian Maxwell Sherwood | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Fall chronology | ||
| Seminal Live (1989) |
Extricate (1990) |
Shift-Work (1991) |
Extricate is a 1990 album by the post punk band the Fall. It was made immediately after bandleader Mark E. Smith divorced Brix Smith. Many have assumed that the lyrics are bitter indictments of her, although because of the typical cryptic nature of Fall lyrics that is impossible to determine. Brix's departure influenced more then just the subject matter of the album, it also helped define the sound of this album: her background vocals and post-punk guitar, which had become mainstays of The Fall, are noticeably absent in this release. In one of the more unusual events in the group's career, she was replaced by founder member Martin Bramah, who had previously left the group in 1979 to form his own group Blue Orchids.
Lead-off single "Telephone Thing" could have been seen as a nod to the Manchester scene of the time as the sound is quite similar to the dance-influenced music that was being released by The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses in 1989. However, its origins were in Smith's previous collaboration with Coldcut on their track "I'm In Deep", which, in turn, led to Coldcut producing the track and "Black Monk Theme Part II". Elsewhere the renewed presence of Bramah, appearing on his first Fall album since Live at the Witch Trials, is keenly felt; he adds a distinctly raw, even rockabilly sound to some of the songs. However, the album's best known track was one of the least typical of the group's catalogue; "Bill Is Dead", a slow-paced tender love song, topped John Peel's Festive Fifty that year, the only occasion in the DJ's lifetime when his favourite band would do so.
The critical reception to Extricate was mixed, as most Fall albums are, but with generally more positive reviews than negative ones. Regardless of personal taste, it is generally agreed, despite some weaker songs, that this album was a major stylistic change for The Fall, which would in turn lead to newer and better things. During the Australian leg of the tour accompanying the album, both Martin Bramah and Marcia Schofield were sacked from the group, leaving The Fall as a stripped-down quartet for the first time in their career.
The album is due to be re-released in expanded and re-mastered form by Universal in April 2007.
[edit] Track listing
- "Sing! Harpy" (Beddington, Smith) – 5:24 (note - M. Beddington is a pseudonym used by Martin Bramah)
- "I'm Frank" (Scanlon, Smith) – 3:21
- "Bill Is Dead (Scanlon, Smith) – 4:32
- "Black Monk Theme, Part I (Monks) – 4:35
- "Popcorn, Double Feature (English, Weiss) – 3:43
- "Arms Control Poseur (Scanlon, Smith, Wolstencroft) – 4:44
- "Black Monk Theme Part II (Monks) – 2:01
- "Telephone Thing (Black, More, Smith) – 4:12
- "Hilary" (Smith) – 2:30
- "Chicago, Now!" (Smith) – 5:59
- "The Littlest Rebel" (Hanley, Scanlon, Smith, Wolstencroft) – 3:36
- "British People in Hot Weather" (Hanley, Scanlon, Smith, Wolstencroft) – 3:07
- "And Therein..." (Bramah, Smith) – 2:53
- "Extricate" (Hanley, Scanlon, Sherwood, Smith) – 3:46
The vinyl edition omitted tracks 6, 7, 12 and 14. However all except 14 were used as b-sides on the single releases of either "Telephone Thing " or "Popcorn Double Feature".
[edit] Personnel
- The Fall:
- Mark E. Smith – vocals
- Martin Bramah – guitar, backing vocals
- Craig Scanlon – guitar
- Steve Hanley - bass guitar
- Marcia Schofield – percussion, keyboards
- Simon Wolstencroft – drums
- Kenny Brady – fiddle
- Charlotte Bill - flute, oboe
- Mike Edwards (of Jesus Jones) - guitar on "Popcorn Double Feature"
- Craig Leon - backing vocals, organ
- Cassell Webb (wife of Craig Leon; credited as "Castle") - backing vocals, organ
