The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...

The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...
Studio album by The Fall
Released 8 October 1984
Genre Post-punk
Length 40:09
Label Beggars Banquet
Producer John Leckie
The Fall chronology

Perverted by Language
(1983)		 The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...
(1984)		 This Nation's Saving Grace
(1985)

The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... is the 7th album by The Fall, released in October 1984. It was the band's first album with the relatively large Beggars Banquet label, and was produced by John Leckie. Paul Hanley left the band immediately after the accompanying UK tour, ending the group's distinctive "twin drummers" period.[1] Three older songs were returned to during these sessions. "Oh! Brother" and "Copped It" dated back to the group's earliest incarnation and "Draygo's Guilt" was being performed live in 1981. The album's cover artwork (like that of its predecessor Perverted by Language) was painted by Danish-born artist Claus Castenskiold.[2]

On its original release, it was available in two formats – on vinyl, and as an extended cassette entitled Escape Route from aie Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall which added all the material from the three singles the group issued in 1984. The Wonderful and Frightening World was released as a 4-CD "Omnibus Edition" by Beggars Banquet in October 2010.

Production

The album was produced by John Leckie.[3]

Three older, previously abandoned songs were returned to during these sessions. "Oh! Brother" and "Copped It" dated back to the group's earliest incarnation (they can be heard on Live 1977 issued by Voiceprint Records in 2000) and "Draygo's Guilt" was being performed live in 1981 (it can be heard on the Live in Leeds section of the Perverted by Language Bis DVD, issued by Cherry Red in 2003).

Reception

Ned Raggett in a retrospective Allmusic review feels that the album is not aimed at the commercial market, describing Mark E. Smith's vocals in "Elves" as "audible, tape-distorting spit", Craig Scanlon's guitar work in "Lay of the Land" as "feedback ... over the clattering din", and Smith's lyrics in places as "coruscating and side-splittingly hilarious" and "portray[ing] a Disneyland scenario in hell"; overall his view is that it is a "smart, varied album".[3]

Ryan Schreiber in a Pitchfork Media review described it as one the highlights of The Fall's career full of "artsy and other-worldly" songs ranging from "bouncy and insane ... Sex Pistols- meets- Plastic Bertrand new-waviness" to "refreshing pop rock".[4]

The album reached 62 in the UK charts on September 1984.[5]

Track listing

Side One ("Frightening" side)
  1. "Lay of the Land"
  2. "2 × 4"
  3. "Copped It"
  4. "Elves"
Side Two ("Wonderful" side)
  1. "Slang King"
  2. "Bug Day"
  3. "Stephen Song"
  4. "Craigness"
  5. "Disney's Dream Debased"
Cassette
  1. "Lay of the Land" (Mark E. Smith, Brix Smith) – 5:45
  2. "2 × 4" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 3:38
  3. "Copped It" (M. Smith, Karl Burns) – 4:15
  4. "Elves" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:47
  5. "Oh! Brother" (M. Smith, Burns, Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon) – 4:01
    • from the "Oh! Brother" single, June 1984
  6. "Draygo's Guilt" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 4:29
    • from the Call for Escape Route EP, 12 October 1984
  7. "God Box" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 3:18
    • from the "Oh! Brother" single, June 1984
  8. "Clear Off!" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 4:40
    • from the Call for Escape Route EP, 12 October 1984
  9. "C.R.E.E.P." (M. Smith, Paul Hanley, S. Hanley, Scanlon. B. Smith) – 4:42
    • from the 12" edition of the "c.r.e.e.p" single, 24 August 1984
  10. "Pat-Trip Dispenser" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:00
    • from the "c.r.e.e.p" single, 24 August 1984
  11. "Slang King" (M. Smith, P. Hanley, B. Smith) – 5:21
  12. "Bug Day" (M. Smith, Burns, P. Hanley, S. Hanley, Scanlon, B. Smith) – 4:58
  13. "Stephen Song" (M. Smith, P. Hanley, S. Hanley) – 3:05
  14. "Craigness" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 3:03
  15. "Disney's Dream Debased" (M. Smith, S. Hanley, B. Smith) – 5:17
    16.
  16. "No Bulbs" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 7:51
    • from the Call for Escape Route EP, 12 October 1984
Original US Version (PVC/Beggars Banquet)
Side One
  1. "Lay of the Land"
  2. "2 × 4"
  3. "Copped It"
  4. "Elves"
  5. "C.R.E.E.P."
    • from B-side of the 12" edition of the "c.r.e.e.p" single, 24 August 1984
Side Two
  1. "No Bulbs 3"
    • from the 7" bonus included with the Call for Escape Route EP, 12 October 1984
  2. "Slang King"
  3. "Bug Day"
  4. "Stephen Song"
  5. "Craigness"
    6.
  6. "Disney's Dream Debased"
CD edition (1988)

The album was belatedly issued on CD in 1988. The track listing duplicated the content and running order of the cassette edition almost exactly, substituting the extended "C.R.E.E.P." for the 7" version, although it added a brief spoken introduction by Brix Smith unheard elsewhere. (The running time for this version of "C.R.E.E.P." is 3:08; all other running times listed above for the cassette apply to the CD version.) The CD was not, however, given the cassette's extended title.

4CD Omnibus Edition (2010)
Disc 1
  • as per original UK LP
Disc 2 (Singles and rough mixes)
  1. Oh! Brother
  2. God-Box
  3. O! Brother
  4. c.r.e.e.p.
  5. Pat – Trip Dispenser
  6. C.R.E.E.P.
  7. New Fiend (2 By 4)
  8. No Bulbs 3 (Unedited Version)
  9. Slang King 2
  10. Draygo's Guilt
  11. Clear Off!
  12. No Bulbs
  13. Lay of the Land (Rough Mix)
  14. Pat – Trip Dispenser (Rough Mix)
  15. New Fiend (Rough Mix)
  16. Slang King (Edits Version 1)
Disc 3 (BBC sessions)
  1. Creep (Peel session)
  2. Pat – Trip Dispenser (Peel session)
  3. 2 By 4 (Peel session)
  4. Words of Expectation (Peel session)
  5. God Box (Jensen session)
  6. Lay of the Land (Jensen session)
  7. Oh Brother (Jensen session)
  8. Creep (Jensen session)
  9. No Bulbs (Long session)
  10. Draygo's Guilt (Long session)
  11. Stephen Song (Long session)
  12. Slang King (Long session)
  13. Copped It (Saturday Live)
  14. Elves (Saturday Live)
  15. Fortress / Marquis Cha Cha (Saturday Live)
Disc 4 (Live at Pandora's Music Box Festival)
  1. Lay of the Land
  2. Craigness
  3. 2 By 4
  4. Draygo's Guilt
  5. No Bulbs
  6. Kicker Conspiracy
  7. Stephen Song
  8. Copped It
  9. Pat – Trip Dispenser
    10.
  10. Middle Mass

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "The Fall gigography: 1984". The Fall Online. visi.com. 29 October 2008. Accessed 16 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Amy Britton (17 November 2011). Revolution Rock: The Albums Which Defined Two Ages. AuthorHouse. p. 71. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ned Raggett (2012). "The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall – The Fall: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards: AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 18 June 2012. Brix Smith
  4. ↑ Ryan Schreiber. com/record-reviews/f/fall/wonderful-and-frightening. shtml "The Fall: The Wonderful and<BR>Frightening World of...: Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  5. ↑ Dave Simpson (18 September 2008). The Fallen: Searching for the Missing Members of The Fall. Canongate Books. p. 147. Retrieved 18 June 2012.

External links