I Am Kurious Oranj

I Am Kurious Oranj is the eleventh studio album by English art punk band the Fall. It was released in October 1988, through record label Beggars Banquet.

Background

I Am Kurious Oranj was written as the soundtrack for the ballet I Am Curious, Orange, produced by contemporary dance group Michael Clark & Company, and themed loosely around the 300th anniversary of William of Orange's accession to the English throne. The album combines studio recordings with tracks recorded live during the ballet performances in Edinburgh in June 1988.

The opening song "New Big Prinz" (as well as its alternate version, "Big New Priest") is lyrically based on "Hip Priest" off the group's 1982 album Hex Enduction Hour; the original track was also used in the ballet as a backing tape. "Jerusalem" is an adaptation of William Blake's hymn using Hubert Parry's original music (although Parry doesn't appear in the credits). "Last Nacht" is a remix of "Bremen Nacht" off the group's previous album, The Frenz Experiment.

One song which was written for the ballet and performed but did not make the album was "Dead Beat Descendant". It was later re-recorded and released on Seminal Live.

The album's title is derived from Swedish director Vilgot Sjöman's films I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) and I Am Curious (Blue) (1968). The title appears as I Am Kurious, Oranj on some parts of the packaging formats.

Track listing

In common with other albums released through Beggars Banquet Records by the Fall, I Am Kurious Oranj featured a different track listing across the various formats on which it was originally released. In addition to extra tracks "Guide Me Soft" and "Big New Priest", the UK CD featured several alternate/extended versions of songs (tracks 3,5,7,8,12). In 2013, Beggars remastered and reissued the album on CD as a part of 5 Albums box set; the new edition used the CD mixes reordered according to the vinyl track order, with extra tracks and alternate vinyl mixes added as bonus tracks.

Original UK CD/cassette version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"New Big Prinz"	Craig Scanlon, Marcia Schofield, Mark E. Smith, Stephen Hanley	3:25
2.	"Overture from 'I Am Curious, Orange'"	Brix Smith	2:48
3.	"Dog Is Life/Jerusalem"	William Blake, M. Smith	8:54
4.	"Kurious Oranj"	Hanley, M. Smith, Simon Wolstencroft	6:20
5.	"Wrong Place, Right Time"	M. Smith	2:52
6.	"Guide Me Soft"	M. Smith	2:15
7.	"C.D. Win Fall 2088 AD"	M. Smith, Schofield	4:41
8.	"Yes, O Yes"	B. Smith, M. Smith	3:25
9.	"Van Plague?"	B. Smith, M. Smith	4:56
10.	"Bad News Girl"	B. Smith, M. Smith	5:22
11.	"Cab It Up!"	M. Smith	4:54
12.	"Last Nacht"	M. Smith, Simon Rogers	3:56
13.	"Big New Priest"	Hanley, Scanlon, Schofield, M. Smith	3:08

Note: "Van Plague?" is mis-spelled "Van Plague" on the cassette edition.

Vinyl version (also original US CD/cassette version)

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"New Big Prinz"	3:20
2.	"Overture from 'I Am Curious Orange'"	2:48
3.	"Dog Is Life/Jerusalem"	7:20
4.	"Kurious Oranj"	6:18
5.	"Wrong Place, Right Time"	2:54

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Win Fall C.D. 2080"	2:40
2.	"Yes, O Yes"	3:34
3.	"Van Plague?"	4:54
4.	"Bad News Girl"	5:19
5.	"Cab It Up!"	4:53
6.	"Last Nacht" (excerpt; unlisted on the album's sleeve)	1:04
Total length:		45:30

Note: "New Big Prinz" is mis-spelled as "New Big Prize" on the record label.

2013 CD (5 Albums box set)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"New Big Prinz"	3:26
2.	"Overture from 'I Am Curious, Orange'"	2:48
3.	"Dog Is Life/Jerusalem"	8:54
4.	"Kurious Oranj"	6:19
5.	"Wrong Place, Right Time"	2:52
6.	"C.D. Win Fall 2088 AD"	4:43
7.	"Yes, Oh Yes"	3:24
8.	"Van Plague?"	4:54
9.	"Bad News Girl"	5:20
10.	"Cab It Up"	4:55
11.	"Last Nacht" (excerpt)	1:05

Bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Dog Is Life / Jerusalem" (vinyl mix)	7:24
13.	"Wrong Place, Right Time" (vinyl mix)	2:45
14.	"Guide Me Soft"	2:17
15.	"Win Fall C.D. 2080" (vinyl version)	2:44
16.	"Yes, O Yes" (vinyl mix)	3:23
17.	"Last Nacht"	3:56
18.	"Big New Priest"	3:08

Release

The release of I Am Kurious Oranj came at the end of a relatively successful year for the group, which had also seen the release of an "accessible" album, The Frenz Experiment, and a handful of singles in the UK singles chart.

A live version of this album recorded during at one of the Edinburgh Festival performances of the ballet was belatedly issued in 2000, under the title I Am As Pure As Oranj.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Robert Christgau	A–^[2]
NME	8/10^[3]
The Village Voice	favourable^[4]

I Am Kurious Oranj was critically well-received at the time. NME wrote "[The Fall have] retained the power to surprise, to provoke and occasionally outrage that only the Smiths could pretend to possess in the '80s."^[3]

A later review of the album by AllMusic, however, is more indifferent, opining, "As a cohesive Fall album it fails [...] I Am Kurious Oranj would have been more interesting to see than hear."^[1]

Personnel

The Fall

Mark E. Smith – lead vocals, production
Craig Scanlon – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Brix Smith – electric guitar, vocals, percussion
Stephen Hanley – bass guitar
Simon Wolstencroft – drums
Marcia Schofield – keyboards, percussion

Technical

Ian Broudie – production
Cenzo Townshend – engineering
C.J. (Chris Jones) – engineering
Dian Barton – engineering
Stu (Stuart Hawkes) – mastering
Kevin Cummins – sleeve photography (band photos)
Richard Haughton – sleeve photography (stage photos)

References

1 2 Mills, Ted. "I Am Kurious Oranj – The Fall : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. AllRovi. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: The Fall". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
1 2 Brown, Len (1988). "Outspanding". NME. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
↑ Eddy, Chuck (17 January 1989). "End of the Line". The Village Voice. Retrieved 20 April 2013.

External links

I Am Kurious Oranj at Discogs (list of releases)

The Fall

Mark E. Smith

Studio albums	Live at the Witch Trials Dragnet Grotesque (After the Gramme) Hex Enduction Hour Room to Live Perverted by Language The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... This Nation's Saving Grace Bend Sinister The Frenz Experiment I Am Kurious Oranj Extricate Shift-Work Code: Selfish The Infotainment Scan Middle Class Revolt Cerebral Caustic The Light User Syndrome Levitate The Marshall Suite The Unutterable Are You Are Missing Winner The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) Fall Heads Roll Reformation Post TLC Imperial Wax Solvent Your Future Our Clutter Ersatz GB Re-Mit Sub-Lingual Tablet

EPs	Bingo-Master's Break-Out! Slates The Remainderer Wise Ol' Man

Live albums	Live 1977 Liverpool 78 Totale's Turns Live in London 1980 A Part of America Therein, 1981 Fall in a Hole Seminal Live The Twenty-Seven Points Touch Sensitive... Bootleg Box Set 2G+2 Last Night at The Palais

Compilation albums	50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004

Other albums	Interim

Former members	Una Baines Martin Bramah Karl Burns Tony Friel Paul Hanley Steve Hanley Julia Nagle Marc Riley Simon Rogers Craig Scanlon Brix Smith Simon Wolstencroft

Collaborators	Ian Broudie Michael Clark Coldcut Steve Evets Gavin Friday John Leckie Craig Leon Richard Mazda Mouse on Mars Ross Orton Grant Showbiz Adrian Sherwood Mayo Thompson Geoff Travis

Related articles	Discography John Peel The Adult Net Blue Orchids Factory Star Darker My Love Von Südenfed

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