Code: Selfish

Code: Selfish
Studio album by The Fall
Released	23 March 1992
Genre	Post-punk
Length	54:18
Label	Phonogram
Producer	Craig Leon, Simon Rogers, Mark E. Smith
The Fall chronology
Shift-Work (1991) Code: Selfish (1992) The Infotainment Scan (1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
NME	(9/10)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(7.5/10)[3]
Select	[4]

Code: Selfish is a 1992 LP by British rock band The Fall which entered the chart at number 21. It is characterised by its harsher sound, in relation to the previous year's Shift-Work, and draws influence from techno music.^[5] This was probably due to the addition of techno fan Dave Bush to the line-up. Despite this, the album also has some notably mellow moments with "Time Enough At Last" (named after an episode of The Twilight Zone) and "Gentlemen's Agreement" being at odds with the overall sound of the album. Largely recorded in a converted church in Glasgow, Code: Selfish features the group's only self-penned Top 40 single "Free Range". The album would prove to be their last for the Phonogram label as the group were dropped following the release of the Ed's Babe EP later in 1992. Simon Ford reports in his Fall biography Hip Priest that Phonogram had to compensate the band for the early termination of their five-album deal and that these funds were used to record what became The Infotainment Scan.

The album was re-released by Voiceprint in 2002, under licence from Phonogram and also appeared in a 2CD set coupled with an edition of Shift-Work on the same label in 2003. This edition added "Ed's Babe" and "Free Ranger" to the tracklisting. It was reissued again in expanded and re-mastered form by Universal in May 2007.

According to keyboard player Dave Bush, the song "Immortality" was partly inspired by Milan Kundera's 1990 novel of the same name.

Track listing

1. "The Birmingham School of Business School" (Mark E. Smith, Dave Bush) – 6:45
2. "Free Range" (Smith, Simon Wolstencroft) – 3:58
3. "Return" (Smith, Steve Hanley) – 4:04
4. "Time Enough at Last" (Smith, Craig Scanlon) – 3:48
5. "Everything Hurtz" (Smith, Hanley) – 4:07
6. "Immortality" (Smith, Scanlon) – 4:30
7. "Two-Face!" (Smith, Scanlon) – 6:01
8. "Just Waiting" (Hank Williams) – 4:38
9. "So Called Dangerous" (Smith, Bush, Hanley) – 3:46
10. "Gentlemen's Agreement" (Smith, Scanlon) – 4:33
11. "Married, 2 Kids" (Smith, Hanley, Scanlon) – 2:45
12. "Crew Filth" (Smith, Wolstencroft) – 5:20

2007 remaster

• Disc One

as per original edition

• Disc Two

1. "Free Range" (single version)
2. "Return" (slightly alternate version found on "Free Range" single)
3. "Dangerous" (a slightly alternate version of "So-Called Dangerous", also from the "Free Range" single)
4. "Everything Hurtz" (slightly alternate version found on "Free Range" single)
5. "Ed's Babe" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)
6. "Pumpkin Head Xscapes" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)
7. "The Knight, The Devil And Death" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)
8. "Free Ranger" (a remix of "Free Range", from the "Ed's Babe" EP)
9. "Noel's Chemical Effluence" (outtake, previously released on The Twenty-Seven Points)
10. "The Legend Of Xanadu"
11. "Free Range" (John Peel session version, recorded January 1992)
12. "Kimble" (John Peel session version, recorded January 1992, released as a single later the same year)
13. "Immortality" (John Peel session version, recorded January 1992)
14. "Return" (John Peel session version, recorded January 1992)

Personnel

• The Fall:
  • Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
  • Craig Scanlon – lead and rhythm guitars
  • Steve Hanley – bass guitar
  • Simon Wolstencroft – drums, keyboards
  • Dave Bush – keyboards, machines
• Additional personnel:
  • Craig Leon - keyboards
  • Simon Rogers - keyboards
  • Cassell Webb - backing vocals

Notes and references

1. ↑ Allmusic review
2. ↑ NME review
3. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
4. ↑ Select review
5. ↑ Fadele, Dele (14 Mar. 1992). "Tales from the Cryptographic Ocean". NME.

External links

• Lyrics