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    #76
    My first experience of MES was on BBC2's Football Night over the May Bank Holiday in 1994. Seb Patrick did a great blog about it here:

    http://www.branchofscience.com/2014/03/goal-tv/

    Mark appeared in The Ball Is Round, which I once read someone say was the closest thing to WSC ever seen on TV. He was filmed in Manchester Town Hall calling football a form of art, before a clip of George Best against Chelsea was soundtracked by Hip Priest.

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      #77
      Fall fans HMHB play their first gig of the year next Thu in Wolverhampton. Wonder if there'll be a cover in tribute?

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        #78
        I've started listening to The Fall again. And I've had it confirmed. The best The Fall songs were dominated by the bass. It was Steve Hanley who did it. All right, without Mark E. Smith, there would have been no Hanley, at least in my world. But without Hanley, there wouldn't have been the best The Fall songs.
        Last edited by treibeis; 09-02-2018, 12:27.

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          #79
          I watched some footage of the band's 1998 onstage implosion in New York the other day and Hanley still sounds fantastic, even as everything disintegrates around him.

          If Brix and The Extricated come round your way, treibeis, they're worth seeing.

          Sounds like the wake was lively. A shame, in that it plays up to the view of MES as comic Northern drunk, rather than supreme artist.

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            #80
            Nah. Whatever your view of MES, it's not going to be changed in any way by a bunch of drunks trying to interpret/manufacture 'what he would have wanted'.

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              #81
              It's nothing in the big scheme of things, of course, just a bit lame.

              If you're after embarrassingly self conscious bad behaviour there's more than enough Fat White Family features over on The Quietus to serve that market.

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                #82
                I have no idea what that means, but you're generally sound so I'll stand behind you and nod supportively.

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                  #83
                  Your trust and support is appreciated. Now, if you could just sign these papers...

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                    #84
                    Did MES have any special arrangements for his funeral, like the music to be played? Did he have a will?

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                      #85
                      Can you imagine being the person who has to sort out the (admittedly small) royalty cheques for any/all band members who got co-writing credit over the years?

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                        #86
                        Originally posted by WOM View Post
                        Nah. Whatever your view of MES, it's not going to be changed in any way by a bunch of drunks trying to interpret/manufacture 'what he would have wanted'.
                        In the German-language reports, they were going on about "what he would have wanted". Err, who would want bottles chucked about at their funeral?

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                          #87
                          Originally posted by WOM View Post
                          Can you imagine being the person who has to sort out the (admittedly small) royalty cheques for any/all band members who got co-writing credit over the years?
                          I'd give it all to Stephen Hanley.

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                            #88
                            Originally posted by WOM View Post
                            Can you imagine being the person who has to sort out the (admittedly small) royalty cheques for any/all band members who got co-writing credit over the years?
                            Should use Blockchain.

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                              #89
                              Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                              In the German-language reports, they were going on about "what he would have wanted". Err, who would want bottles chucked about at their funeral?
                              Well, I presume it was reported thus because MES was known for being a little 'testy' himself at times (on-stage punching/chucking stuff, etc). It's still b/s, however.

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                                #90
                                Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                                I'd give it all to Stephen Hanley.
                                What if Paul Hanley turns up at the hut and starts with the old, "I've got a brother, right, lovely man, played in The Fall group for donkey's years, now looking for a miniature golf business just like yours. Might I enquire what your turnover is, etc..."

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                                  #91
                                  Is that Steve Hanley book worth a read? All the “proper” reviews I clicked on seem to have been written by folk who knew less than zero about The Fall.

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                                    #92
                                    Originally posted by Benjm View Post
                                    What if Paul Hanley turns up at the hut and starts with the old, "I've got a brother, right, lovely man, played in The Fall group for donkey's years, now looking for a miniature golf business just like yours. Might I enquire what your turnover is, etc..."
                                    I'd let him have it. (Hanley The Elder, that is) He'd fuck it up - I like to think that I'm as good a crazy-golf gangster in a foreign country as he is a bassist - but no matter.

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                                      #93
                                      Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                                      Is that Steve Hanley book worth a read? All the “proper” reviews I clicked on seem to have been written by folk who knew less than zero about The Fall.
                                      Yeah, it's great. At first you wonder where the editor is cos there's loads of mundane detail, but after a while you get to see the point and the whole thing is fascinating for any Fall fan. Loads of little bits giving insight into how they wrote songs. A clear eyed attitude towards MES. Lots of funny stuff - MES pretending he didn't like The Clash but secretly listening to them rather tickled me. Read it.

                                      Oh, and treibeis is right about Hanley S. I'm listening to 'Tempo House' before I go out.
                                      Last edited by delicatemoth; 09-02-2018, 19:35.

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                                        #94
                                        I'd stay in just to listen to "Tempo House".

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                                          #95
                                          A statement on The Fall website states that Mark Smith was terminally ill with cancer.

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                                            #96
                                            And more

                                            https://www.instagram.com/p/BfHChwFDN_D/

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                                              #97
                                              Poor bugger. It's no fucking way to go, that's for sure. Peace at last.

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                                                #98
                                                Fans in Britain or with BBC iplayer can watch that 2005 doc- interviews with MES and band members incl Una Baines, Steve Hanley, Lard & Elena

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                                                  #99
                                                  There was a while in my late thirties I thought The Fall a bit of juvenilia like Burroughs or fucking Anton Wilson and contemplated clearing out umpteen cds. Thank fuck I didn’t, I was soon playing them again. I’m a lifer like it or not. I don’t know if it was here or on the tweets where I read someone say your reaction to The Fall at any point in your life says more about you at that point than it does about The Fall group. But it’s right.

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                                                    Finally got round to listening to Gideon Coe's 6music show (24th Jan) again (iPlayer) after hearing it live on the night. On reflection, and I hadn't considered it a contender before, but the session version of R.O.D may well be the finest Fall track in existence. (1 hour 46 minutes in)

                                                    At least, it feels like it as I play it for the sixth-straight time.

                                                    Edit (half an hour later): Of course, I realise I am wrong as soon as that fucking devastating bass line of Blindness kicks in.
                                                    Last edited by KGR; 15-02-2018, 16:26.

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