The Fall - Shift-Work LP
$34.98
Label: Proper
Formed in 1976, by 1990, The Fall had been through 18 line ups, releasing 14 albums and 24 singles – The only constant was leader, vocalist Mark Edward Smith – welded to the work ethic, creating music that stunned in its obscure brilliance; railing against mediocrity, flailing against the status quo.
With Martin Bramah and keyboard player Marcia Schofield dismissed from the band, The Fall worked as a four-piece (Craig Scanlon, guitar; Steve Hanley, bass; Simon 'Funky Si' Wolstencroft on drums) for the first time in the group's career.
Shift-Work from April 1991 is another commercial Fall high-water mark; it contains "Idiot Joy Showland," Smith's rant against bandwagon-jumping Madchester bands ("The shapeless kecks flapping up a storm, look at what they are: a pack of worms."), the one-time album title track, "The War Against Intelligence," and the bucolic "Edinburgh Man," a love letter to Mark E. Smith's then-adopted home city.
