"I Prefer The Session Version..." (Part 4)
The 'Session vs Official' League
And so, we reach the final chapter...
By the end of the last instalment, the Peel versions had opened up a two-point lead. Here's a summary of the results so far:
Of the 72 tracks recorded for the first 18 sessions, six did not receive a 'proper' recording elsewhere:
- Mess Of My
- Words Of Expectation
- Kimble
- Strychnine
- Jingle Bell Rock
- Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Much to the derision of a vocal minority (you know who you are) 'C' n' C-S.Mithering' / 'C'N'C - Hassle Schmuck' was declared a draw. The following 'official' versions were winners:
- Mother-Sister!
- Rebellious Jukebox
- Put Away
- Like To Blow
- Jawbone And The Air Rifle
- Middle Mass
- Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul
- Hip Priest
- Look, Know
- Winter
- Smile
- Pat-Trip Dispenser
- 2 X 4
- Cruisers Creek
- Spoilt Victorian Child
- Gut Of The Quantifier
- The Man Whose Head Expanded
- What You Need
- Faust Banana
- Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers
- U.S. 80's-90's
- Guest Informant
- Squid Lord
- Kurious Oranj
- Chicago, Now
- The War Against Intelligence
- A Lot Of Wind
- Free Range
- Service
- Behind The Counter
- Reckoning
The Peel winners were:
- Futures And Pasts
- Industrial Estate
- No Xmas For John Quays
- The Container Drivers
- New Puritan
- New Face In Hell
- Deer Park
- Who Makes The Nazis?
- Garden
- Strife Knot
- Eat Y'self Fitter
- C.R.E.E.P.
- Couldn't Get Ahead
- L.A.
- Hot Aftershave Bop
- R.O.D.
- Athlete Cured
- Australians In Europe
- Twister
- Cab It Up
- Black Monk Theme
- Hilary
- Whizz Bang
- Idiot Joy Showland
- The Mixer
- Immortality
- Return
- Ladybird (Green Grass)
- Paranoia Man In Cheap Sh*t Room
- M5
- Hey! Student
- Glam Racket - Star
- Numb At The Lodge
Which leaves with a current score of:
PEEL 34 -32 OFFICIAL
He Pep!
Peel 22/12/95 vs The Light User Syndrome
The Light User Syndrome was recorded in difficult circumstances. The sessions were tense and hurried and even MES himself admitted that he was hitting the whisky too hard. As a result, the album was distinctly patchy, but it still contained some fantastic moments, of which 'He Pep!' is certainly one. The Fall were often at their most effective when they created successfully-balanced contrasts, for example between electronica and garage rock or between MES and Brix's vocals. 'He Pep!' ticks both of those boxes admirably.
The Peel recording, which uses 'Tunnel' (an instrumental piece later deployed as the opening section of 'Interlude/Chilinism’) as its introduction, is excellent; raw and ragged. The transition from 'Tunnel' to the main body of the song ('stop clogging my system up!) is especially pleasing. The album version, however, is even better. In particular, Smith's vocal is perfect for the track: he barks his way through the song with desperate, ill-tempered intensity.
(As an aside, someone who obviously has too much time on their hands used the backing track of the song as a soundtrack to Smith's hilarious interactions with Kevin the hapless studio engineer whilst guesting on Ginger Wildheart's 'supergroup' Mutation. It's called 'He Smurf!')
PEEL 34 -33 OFFICIAL
Oleano
Peel 22/12/95 vs The Light User Syndrome
The Peel version of this tale of nautical disaster is a little hesitant to begin with, and although it builds in intensity in its second half (not least because of Brix's startling scream) it feels rather unfocused and messy throughout. On the album, it has a taut momentum that brings the scores back to level pegging.
PEEL 34 -34 OFFICIAL
Chilinist / Interlude/Chilinism
Peel 22/12/95 vs The Light User Syndrome
A song that appeared in three different guises on the 1996 'Chiselers' single (it was the lengthiest, 'Interlude/Chilinism' that appeared on the album). Steve Hanley was not a fan: 'there’s the bones of a decent song in there, buried by Mark and a producer with too much time on their hands'; MES himself thought it 'a pain in the arse, it took eight bloody months to do ‘cos it’s got nine parts, 12 different speeds and eight different vocal arrangements'.
Whilst there are many rewarding moments to be had from investigating all three versions on the single, the Peel recording - despite the fact that Brix's vocals are a little too dominant and twee in places - is refreshingly direct and far less convoluted.
PEEL 35 -34 OFFICIAL
The City Never Sleeps
Peel 22/12/95
It’s hard to imagine what motivated the group to cover Nancy Sinatra’s dreary, saccharine piece of 60s kitsch. Smith doesn’t appear, leaving the vocal to Lucy Rimmer. Despite her best efforts, the group make no improvement on the limp original. They never recorded it again, thankfully.
D.I.Y. Meat
Peel 18/8/96 vs The Light User Syndrome
Brix's final Peel session, recorded just before the group’s infamous autumn 1996 tour, was a disjointed and underwhelming affair. The rerecording of Light User's crackling garage rock opener is thin and sketchy, and not a patch on the robust album version.
PEEL 35 -35 OFFICIAL
Spinetrak
Peel 18/8/96 vs The Light User Syndrome
The Peel 'Spinetrak' has much more oomph about it than 'D.I.Y. Meat'. There's a pleasingly raw energy about it, and some nicely intertwined guitar work, in particular the twangy arpeggio over the chorus. Brix's panting is uncomfortably prominent at times, however, and the more balanced album version just about gets the nod.
PEEL 35 -36 OFFICIAL
Spencer / Spencer Must Die
Peel 18/8/96 vs Levitate
One of the most clear-cut wins so far. The version that appeared on Levitate in 1997 was a beautifully bizarre psychedelic shuffle; at this point, 'Spencer' was little more than a half-formed idea with a comically flatulent synth.
PEEL 35 -37 OFFICIAL
Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones
Peel 18/8/96
The group's cover of a Beefheart track from 1968's Strictly Personal has a certain unhinged charm, but overall is rather a self-indulgent mess. They never recorded it again or played it live.
Calendar
Peel 3/3/98 vs Masquerade single
Session #21, recorded a month before the Brownies meltdown, was a disappointingly sloppy set. 'Calendar', which first appeared on one of the multitude of versions of the 'Masquerade' single, was a collaboration with Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) that came about following the famous incident when Smith mistook Gough for a taxi driver and left his dentures in his car. That version, a combination of Gough's intricate, precise guitar line juxtaposed with the indolent smear of Smith’s voice, is simply lovely. The Peel recording is decent enough, but lacks the subtlety of the earlier version.
PEEL 35 -38 OFFICIAL
Touch Sensitive
Peel 18/8/96 vs The Marshall Suite
The Peel version is lethargic and under-rehearsed; an easy win for the album.
PEEL 35 -39 OFFICIAL
Masquerade
Peel 18/8/96 vs Levitate
A piece of danceable indie-techno-pop, ‘Masquerade’ is a decent enough tune, although perhaps not quite good enough to justify the plethora of remixes. The Peel recording meanders on for far too long, and has a clumsy edit at 2:27.
PEEL 35 -40 OFFICIAL
Jungle Rock
Peel 18/8/96 vs Levitate
A cover of Hank Mizell's 50s rockabilly/novelty tune (that, for no easily explained reason, became a surprise UK top ten hit in 1976). The Levitate version teeters between strangely compelling and just plain silly, but it's still preferable to the Peel recording, which is stretched unnecessarily to six and a half minutes and features a shrill, piercing synth that makes it a bit of a trial to get through.
PEEL 35 -41 OFFICIAL
Bound (Soul One)
Peel 4/11/98 vs The Marshall Suite
The next session was recorded on 18 October 1998, only six months after the sudden departure of Tommy Crooks, Karl Burns and Steve Hanley. In the meantime, the group had played three gigs as a three-piece (MES and Nagle plus an understandably terrified looking Kate Themen), plus a couple more with Karen Leatham on bass and Tom Head replacing Themen. They arrived at Maida Vale for session #22 with new guitarist Neville Wilding, who had yet to play on stage with the group. Given these circumstances, it was always likely that the session was going to be a bit rough and ready; in fact, it was a turgid, shambolic mess - the nadir of the group's Maida Vale recordings.
'Bound Soul One' starts things off inauspiciously, the group sounding like they're playing in separate rooms unable to hear each other. Leatham's ‘Aladdin Sane’-style free-jazz piano is, err... interesting. The album version, 'Bound' (musically, it's based on an obscure 70s Northern Soul instrumental) is not the most exciting thing on The Marshall Suite, but at least everyone appears to be playing the same song.
PEEL 35 -42 OFFICIAL
Antidotes / (Jung Nev's) Antidotes
Peel 4/11/98 vs The Marshall Suite
The (very) rough, undeveloped idea that is the Peel 'Antidotes' morphed into two songs on Marshall, 'Anecdotes+Antidotes in B#' and '(Jung Nev's) Antidotes' (although it sounds much closer to the latter). The 'Nev' version is a cracker, a bombastic, sweeping wave of noise, featuring multiple layers of heavy feedback, reverb and distortion. The Peel recording verges on the unlistenable, Head toiling away at his John Bonham impersonation whilst MES at points seems to be actually trying to ingest the microphone. Had it been on Spotify, it might well have made my '10 worst' Monday Playlist.
PEEL 35 -43 OFFICIAL
Shake-Off
Peel 4/11/98 vs The Marshall Suite
The remaining two session #22 tracks are at least a little better, thankfully. The Peel recording of 'Shake-Off' is very much a work in progress (it wouldn't make its live debut for another couple of months), and whilst there's the germ of a great idea there, it's underdeveloped and pales in comparison to the majestic album take.
PEEL 35 -44 OFFICIAL
This Perfect Day
Peel 4/11/98 vs The Marshall Suite
The group's cover of The Saints' 1977 single was the only track from the session that had been played live, albeit only twice. Not surprisingly, it sounds distinctly under-rehearsed, although at least it has a bit of zip to it. However, the album version is once again superior, even if it falls a little flat in comparison to the excellent original.
PEEL 35 -45 OFFICIAL
Theme From Sparta FC
Peel 13/03/03 vs The Real New Fall LP (Formerly 'Country on the Click')
Before session #23, the longest gap between Fall sessions had been 22 months (#2 to #3); however, there was a whopping four and a quarter years gap between #22 and #23 (nobody, including Peel himself, ever seemed sure why). As a result, Adam Helal, who joined the group only a couple of months after the previous session, became the longest-serving Fall member to never visit Maida Vale.
After the horror show that was session #22, the Pritchard/Watts/Milner/Eleni line-up pulled out a proper return to form. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the fizzing blast through 'Sparta' which knocks the spots off the (still very good, but comparatively flimsy) album take.
PEEL 36 -45 OFFICIAL
Contraflow
Peel 13/03/03 vs The Real New Fall LP (Formerly 'Country on the Click')
The Peel recording of 'Contraflow' is impressively tight and focused, especially given how new it was at the time (it wouldn't receive its live debut for another three months). There's not a huge amount to choose between it and the album version, but Dave Milner's more prominent backing vocals give the Peel recording an interesting and effective extra layer.
PEEL 37 -45 OFFICIAL
Green-Eyed Loco Man
Peel 13/03/03 vs The Real New Fall LP (Formerly 'Country on the Click')
The session version is introduced by the group's jaunty cover of 'Grooving With Mr Bloe', a 1970 UK number two for one-hit wonders Wind. As for 'Loco Man' itself, there's not much to choose between the two again. Whilst Ben Pritchard's guitar on the Peel recording has an pleasingly distorted fuzz to it, the electronica deployed on the album version gives it a bit more variety and inventiveness.
PEEL 37 -46 OFFICIAL
Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
Peel 13/03/03 vs Hex Enduction Hour
One of the group's rare revisits of an old track; 'Pseud’ was 21 years old and had returned to the setlist six months earlier after a five-year absence (it would appear in the setlist as late as 2005). The Peel recording is spirited and raucous, but still falls short of the original’s jolting angularity.
PEEL 37 -47 OFFICIAL
Clasp Hands
Peel 12/08/04 vs Fall Heads Roll
Recorded three weeks before Peel's death, footage of the final session can be seen in the excellent 2005 BBC documentary, The Wonderful & Frightening World of Mark E. Smith. The album version of 'Clasp Hands' is crisp and concise, but the way that the Peel recording shifts between frantic rockabilly and sludgy 'Elves'-ish interludes just about gets it the nod.
PEEL 38 -47 OFFICIAL
Blindness
Peel 12/08/04 vs Fall Heads Roll
If ever a song regularly got the 'Peel session is superior' treatment, then it's 'Blindness'. My usual take is to say that all of the versions are well worth owning and to direct people to my 12-minute mix that welds session and album recordings together. However, it's undeniable that even if you love the album version (which I do), the Peel recording is the superior one. (That said, I'd argue that the Palais version is the best of all.)
PEEL 39 -47 OFFICIAL
What About Us?
Peel 12/08/04 vs Fall Heads Roll
Although the Peel recording has a pleasantly understated introduction, it feels a little plodding in comparison to the album version.
PEEL 39 -48 OFFICIAL
Wrong Place, Right Time - I Can Hear The Grass Grow
Peel 12/08/04 vs I Am Kurious Oranj / Fall Heads Roll
The original 'Wrong Place, Right Time' (which MES claimed to be one of his 'best songs') had a pounding garage punk directness; 'Grass' was a solid and energetically fun cover, arguably amongst the group's most successful. Although there's not much to connect the two songs, their pairing on this Peel session works remarkably well. In particular, there's an uncharacteristically smooth and effective segue between the two.
PEEL 40 -48 OFFICIAL
Job Search
Peel 31/08/04
Recorded as part of the final session, but not broadcast until 19 days later, it was pressed as a one-off acetate (the other side was Half Man Half Biscuit's cover of the Roy Orbison song 'Legend In My Time') and presented to John Peel for his 65th birthday. It's a warped, lo-fi ramble that's a wholly appropriate conclusion to the group’s contributions to Peel’s show. The video below is taken from Peel's 31 August show and contains his rather touching introduction to the song.
Despite the flaws and the unevenness, the Peel Sessions Box Set is a remarkable collection. What it does – incredibly well – is capture the undulating, random, inconsistent and complex narrative of the group’s history. Listening to it from start to finish is a rewarding, frustrating, baffling, inspiring and thought-provoking journey through a unique story.
I hope you've enjoyed this journey through the sessions as much as I have, even if you have - inevitably - disagreed with me on more than one occasion.
If you haven't seen it already, please look out for my 'Fall Monday Playlists' (the most recent, 'Horror Stories', is here). Also my WordPress blogs (written before it became a rubbish platform), The Fall in Fives and You Must Get Them All.
And finally, as ever, many thanks for all the likes, retweets, shares and comments - it's always greatly appreciated.
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