The Fall Year By Year in Pictures #1 (1977-1982)

 Over the last three years, I have churned out a lot of words about The Fall. The original Fi5 blog came in at around 110,000 words; You Must Get The All was almost twice as long; then there's been various playlist posts, I Prefer The Peel Session..., That's Not The Fall, etc. (If you haven't seen it already, I've put together a 'main page' to pull all these links together.)

Recently, I've taken a slightly less text-heavy avenue on Twitter and a couple of the Facebook Fall groups, compiling some montages of interesting pictures of the group in a chronological fashion. They've proved to be quite popular, so I thought it might be nice to collect them together.

A couple of things before I start.

• I'm no graphic designer, and I don't possess any fancy photo-editing software; all of these montages were assembled using nothing more sophisticated than MS Paint. Consequently, don't expect any slick or aesthetically subtle designs! The old-school amateurish approach seems somewhat appropriate though.
• I credited the photographer whenever I'm aware of their identity. If you (or someone you know) took a picture that's uncredited, then let me know and I'll address it. If one of your photos is here and you don't wish it to be, then tell me and I'll happily remove it.

1977

The two pictures in the top half are from The Ranch on Dale Street in Manchester, 18 August 1977. The Fall's ninth gig, it took place on the same night as their eighth. They had been booked to play at St. Georges' Community Centre on Livesey Street, but the audience turned out to be rather too young and the group weren't what the promoter was expecting. The performance was terminated after about three songs, and - according to Kevin Cummins, who took the photos - 'after a quick phone call, the gear was loaded into the van and they went to The Ranch club on Dale Street to 'finish' the gig'.

The bottom two photos are from The Squat Club, Devas Street, Manchester, 7 October 1977 - The Fall's 15th (probably) performance. They were taken by Bernie Wilcox, who acted as promotor for the Rock Against Racism benefit a couple of months later that was captured on Live 1977. This was also a RAR gig; this review described The Fall as 'a bit sub-Stranglers'.

1978

The top left photo (by Alastair Wright) captures Karl Burns at Rafter's, Manchester, 3 March (more pictures of the gig here). The source of the picture of MES with Ian McCulloch (top right) is unknown. McCulloch and Julian Cope were loyal followers of the group at the time; Kay Carroll described the pair as ‘really good friends… [they] would just start helping us with the gear without me even asking…’

The bottom right picture is from the 8 September gig at The Marquee, published in the NME. The bottom left photo was taken in late 1978 at TJ Davidsons rehearsal warehouse on Little Peter Street, possibly in the same room featured in the video for 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'.

1979

Clockwise from top left:

• Taken by Paul Slattery (in March) - features the short-lived Smith-Leigh-Bramah-Pawlett-Riley lineup
• Newport Stowaway Club, 4 April (photo by Helen Saxby)
• Porterhouse Club, Retford, 16 November (photo from the NME review)
• From an NME article, 'Rise of The Fall', 27 October

1980

Clockwise from top left:

• NME article, 'All Fall Down', 5 January
• Punk magazine New York Rocker, February
• Cork, 18 October (photo by Ciaran O Tuama) - there's a blurry scan of a review here
• Sounds article, 'Totale Turnaround', 21 June
• Glasgow Technical College, 15 March (photo by Martin McClenaghan)
• Sounds article, 'Totale Turnaround', 21 June
• NME article, 19 July
• Glasgow Technical College, 15 March (photo by Martin McClenaghan)

1981

• The top left picture is taken from a Melody Maker review of The Fall's 19 October gig at North London Polytechnic (supported by Virgin Prunes). Steve Sutherland described the performance as 'deliberately planned unprofessionalism'.
• The middle two of the top row, as well as the pictures of Paul Hanley and Dave Tucker on the bottom row, are from Glasgow Plaza on 23 February. The gig was beset with sound problems, and saw MES regularly berate Grant Showbiz about the sound on stage. All four photos by Martin McClenaghan.
• Top right was taken on 17 June at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.
• The central picture is from a review (source unknown) of the 4 July gig at Al's Bar, Los Angeles.
• The centre right photo was taken in Bonn, West Germany in May.
• The picture of MES on the bottom row (between Paul Hanley and Dave Tucker) is taken from an NME interview (10 January) with Andy Gill entitled The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Smith. 
• The bottom right photo was taken at the penultimate gig of the 1981 US tour at I-Beam, San Francisco on 13 July. The figure on the right is Jello Biafra.

1982

• The top left picture featured in Flexipop magazine in March. In a feature where artists reviewed each other’s albums, Mark Storace of Swiss metal band Krokus called Hex Enduction Hour 'mindless', and thought it sounded like it was 'being played by zombies'. Smith's review of Krokus' One Vice At A Time was rather complimentary in comparison: 'UK hairies could learn much from this l.p.'
• Top centre is from Melbourne, 30 July, taken by Brett Colquhoun. Brett also captured MES in a pub near the venue.
• Top right is a screenshot of the Australian TV interview that took place the day after Smith and Riley's infamous altercation at Sydney's Mansell Rooms.
• The bottom left photo accompanied Richard Cook's review of Hex Enduction Hour in the NME.
• The other pictures on the bottom row were taken by Ian Ellis at the group's performance at York University on 29 April (there are several more photos here).

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