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Excavate! – New book about The Fall

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I saw this on my latest e-mail from Waterstones & have duly pre-ordered a copy. Just leaving it here as I know there are a lot of MES fans on here;

_This is a book about Mark. E Smith and The Fall – or more precisely, their ever-influential world. The Fall were so many things, so many worlds; if you got it (and not everyone did), they represented everything. ‘To 50,000 Fall Fans: please buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you’d kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation’s Saving Grace.’ DAVID PEACE ‘Mind blowing… brilliant.’ TIM BURGESS ‘A container sized treasure trove bursting at the hinges with strangeness and wonder . . . I strongly advise you to buy it.’ MAXINE PEAKE This is not a book about a rock band. This is not even a book about Mark E Smith. This is a book about The Fall group – or more precisely, their world. Over a prolific forty-year career, the Fall created a world that was influential, idiosyncratic and fiercely original – and defied simple categorisation. Their frontman and lyricist Mark E. Smith spun opaque tales that resisted conventional understanding; the Fall’s worldview was an education in its own right. Who wouldn’t want to be armed with a working knowledge of M. R. James, shipping-dock procedures, contemporary dance, Manchester City and Can? The group inspired and shaped the lives of those who listened to and tried to make sense of their work. Bringing together previously unseen artwork, rare ephemera and handwritten material, alongside essays by a slate of fans, EXCAVATE! is a vivid, definitive record – an illumination of the dark corners of the Fall’s wonderful and frightening world.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571358335
Number of pages: 360
Dimensions: 246 x 189 mm
Edition: Main_

https://www.waterstones.com/book/excavate/tessa-norton/bob-stanley/9780571358335

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Comments

  4. It’s by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley, and Tessa Norton, who I think might be his partner. Bob’s a great writer and ex indie kid but I’m slightly surprised to see him writing a book on The Fall, surely one of the most gnarly versions of indie there is. Usually he’s more keen on writing about much more “pop” music, and I don’t mean that as a put down either.

  5. Thanks, I’ll put in a reservation. Bob Stanley has become this wonderful curator/ historian of pop recently ( his Ace Records comps are reliably good). I think he’s always expressed admiration for The Fall even if his own music isn’t much like it.

  6. This is being given a good run for its money by the typically fantastic (life) new Uncut Ultimate Music Guide. Nine sovs isn’t cheap for a (sort of) magazine but if you buy it you’re going to read every word, which is more than most mags.

    If you will, the Ultimate Guide to the Fall Guide.

    • Recommended…and, prompted by the mag, I listened again to the Afterword podcast on The Mighty Fall…worth another listen anyway, but especially for the uncanny vocal mimicking of MES by @Dr Volume…

      [audio src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/theafterwordpodcast/thefallcast.m4a" /]

    • Yes to Moose! It’s not perfect, but I think I prefer the Uncut guide to Excavate!

      Excavate! looks lovely, and it’s great that they’ve got so many little artefacts in there, but the essays which make up the bulk of it are overwhelmingly of the arty-and-academic variety, which translates as pretentious and annoying. Also, memo to the writers: MES wasn’t in fact the only member of The Fall. I think Sian Pattenden is the only one to properly acknowledge this.

      Moose, have you been listening to the Oh! Brother podcast made by the two Hanleys? Shockingly bad audio but the content has been really good, especially the interview with Grant Showbiz.

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