Room to Live

Room to Live
Studio album by The Fall
Released September 27, 1982
Recorded Cargo Studios, Rochdale Summer 1982
Genre Post-punk
Length 36:46
Label Kamera
Producer Kay O'Sullivan John Brierley, Mark E. Smith
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The Fall chronology
A Part of America Therein, 1981
(1982)		 Room to Live
(1982)		 Fall In a Hole
(1983)

Room to Live, subtitled Undilutable Slang Truth!, is the sixth studio album by The Fall. First released September 27, 1982, it was recorded as a quick follow-up to Hex Enduction Hour which had been released in March. It was to be Marc Riley's last album with the group.

The group had originally entered the studio to record a single but Mark E. Smith prevailed upon the group to record more songs, all of which were new to the band and had not previously been rehearsed or performed live. In accordance with this experimental approach, members were deliberately excluded from certain tracks[1]. Smith also stated of the songs that "some of them are just me and Karl (Burns, drummer/multi-instrumentalist) double-tracked" (as quoted in Daryl Easlea's sleevenote to the 2005 reissue). Whilst these remarks resulted in considerable conjecture amongst fans, the exact line-ups for each track have never been properly confirmed, with the only additional information coming from Riley, who, in 2008, confirmed via his BBC6 radio show that he did not appear on all tracks[2]. Despite this exclusionary policy, there was still room for guests, one of whom, Ludus' Arthur Kadmon (credited as "Cadman"), has a claim for having the shortest tenure as a Fall member - he was introduced to the group by Smith, recorded approximately 16 seconds of guitar on "Hard Life In Country" and was dismissed (as per Easlea).

The album was completed prior to the group's tour of Australia and New Zealand in July and August 1982 and thus songs from the record feature heavily on the live album Fall In a Hole.

Contents

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Joker Hysterical Face" (Mark E. Smith, Steve Hanley, Marc Riley) – 4:51
  2. "Marquis Cha-Cha" (Smith, Karl Burns) – 4:34
  3. "Hard Life in Country" (Smith, Arthur Cadman) – 6:16
  4. "Room to Live" (Smith, Craig Scanlon) – 4:16

Side two

  1. "Detective Instinct" (Smith, Hanley, Burns) – 5:45
  2. "Solicitor in Studio" (Smith, Burns, Scanlon) – 5:24
  3. "Papal Visit" (Smith) – 5:40

The German pressing of the album added their 1981 single "Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul" and its b-side, "Fantastic Life" to the end of side 2. This inclusion was repeated on the first UK CD edition of the album issued via Cog Sinister in 1998 (mastered from a particularly noisy German vinyl copy) but removed on the 2005 remaster (from the original master tape) since the two tracks had since been included on the Slates reissue. Other contemporaneous bonus material was added in its place.

  1. "Joker Hysterical Face" (live in Bury April 1982)
  2. "Medley: Town Called Crappy" (Smith/Burns/Scanlon)/"Solicitor In Studio" (live in London March 1982)
  3. "Hard Life in Country" (live in Wellington, New Zealand, August 1982)
  4. "Detective Instinct" (live in Manchester December 1982)
  5. "Room to Live" (live in Rotterdam February 1983)
  6. "Words of Expectation" (Hanley/Hanley/Smith/Burns/Scanlon - live in Toronto April 1983)

Personnel

External links

The Fall
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Former members
Collaborators
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