Dragnet (album)

Dragnet
Studio album by The Fall
Released	26 October 1979
Recorded	2–4 August 1979 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, England
Genre	Post-punk, art punk
Length	45:42
Label	Step-Forward
Producer	The Fall, Grant Showbiz
The Fall chronology
Live at the Witch Trials (1979) Dragnet (1979) Totale's Turns (It's Now or Never) (1980)

Dragnet is the second studio album by English art punk band The Fall. It was released on 26 October 1979, through record label Step-Forward.

Background

The album was recorded on 2–4 August 1979, less than eight months after its predecessor, Live at the Witch Trials, establishing at an early stage two key patterns of the group's work, that of high productivity and that of a regular turnover of group members – only Mark E. Smith and Marc Riley remained from the debut album, and Riley had changed his role from bass guitar to guitar. Dragnet is most notable for the arrivals of both guitarist Craig Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley. Both were just 19 when they joined the group and would form The Fall's musical backbone until the mid 90s. This is the only studio album recorded with drummer Mike Leigh.^[1]

The album is somewhat self-referential lyrically, with several songs referencing the music industry; at least two tracks, "Printhead" and "Your Heart Out", quoted or paraphrased reviews of the band's live shows. "Printhead" even verifies this fact within its own lyric. It also had a muddy, inchoate production – Riley has claimed this was a deliberate contrast to the sharp, clean sound of Live at the Witch Trials.^[1] It would be their final album for Miles Copeland III's Step-Forward label, with the group signing to Rough Trade Records in early 1980.

"Dice Man" takes its title from the novel The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart.

Track listing

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Drowned in Sound	very favourable[3]
Piero Scaruffi	6.5/10[4]

Reviews for Dragnet have been generally favourable. Trouser Press opined that Dragnet is "not one of the Fall's best efforts, but contains at least two classic numbers".^[5]

Reissues

The most recent edition of the album (remastered for the first time from the original master tapes) issued via Castle Music in January 2004 added not just the B-sides from the two singles on either side of the album but also some previously unheard alternate takes and breakdowns from the session for the "Rowche Rumble" single.

Personnel

The Fall

• Mike Leigh – drums, co-production
• Marc Riley – guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, co-production
• Craig Scanlon – guitar, electric piano, kazoo, tape, co-production
• Mark E. Smith – vocals, electric piano, kazoo, tape, co-production
• Steve Hanley – bass guitar, vocals, co-production

Additional personnel

• Mrs. Horace Sullivan – backing vocals

Technical

• Grant Showbiz – co-production
• John Brierly – engineering

References

External links

• Dragnet at Discogs (list of releases)