Album Review: The Real New Fall L.P. (Formerly Country On The Click) by The Fall

Exactly 28 days since spitting out their last opus (Live at the Phoenix Festival), pop's most prolific grumpsters are back with more misanthropic mithering of the very best kind. Originally scheduled for release earlier this year under the title Country on the Click, but delayed, remixed and retitled after the band got in a huff about an unauthorised version appearing on the internet, promos of The Real New Fall LP come with a warning that "Anyone abusing this will have Mark E Smith to contend with and may god have mercy on your soul!" Smith is on magnificently mad form here, making about as much sense as Tom Paulin on a particularly tizzy week. Off he rants, first against the green wellies brigade on Contraflow, hardly pausing for breath before having a pop at bad conversationalists on Protein Protection.

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A new record by the Fall: cause for celebration, or just another seasonal missive from a band that will soon be entering their 30th year of operation? As most collectors and fans would tell you, there isn't exactly a dearth of Fall material on the marketplace, as the band has seemed to operate on an almost quarterly release schedule since hitting their peak in the early to mid-80s. And although Narnack has gone to the pains of emblazoning the cover of The Real New Fall LP (formerly 'Country on the Click') (more on that title later) with a sticker proudly blaring the fact that this is the first new Fall release in the United States in six years, those of us who spend ample time in record stores or browsing on the internet know this is a slight case of smoke and mirrors. True, the Fall have not released a disc on an American label since 1998, but subsequent full-lengths have found purchase on these shores, and recent years have seen a spate of reissues tumble forth from the venerable Mark E.

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