Grotesque After the Gramme 4 Bonus Tracks

Opinions on Fall records are pretty worthless and can vary wildly among knowledgeable listeners...I've yet to hear a Fall record that wasn't interesting on some level and the criteria for judging MES & Co. are difficult to quantify so you really have to listen to any particular record and see how it strikes you. That said, this strikes me as a pretty great record that rewards multiple listens...The CD version with bonus tracks is even better.

This was a gift and the person loved it.

the early and many classic tunes ...I recommend it

Record arrived utterly warped and unplayable.

Not the best Fall album, but one certainly worth owning

The start of The Fall's incredible unique 80's run. The added singles only improve. Not necessarily an easy album, but no Fall album is, and I'm sure was quite hard to process at the time. This is when Mark E. Smith fully realized what he wanted to attempt to achieve with The Fall. From 1980's Grotesque to 1985's This Nation's Savings Grace, there is an overflowing of ideas when you add the singles and EPs, Smith was obsessed with rushing creation without restraint. In hindsight, you can see how this fits in the "indie" rock timeline, and is shockingly good essential British post punk listening. Should inspire and has inspired young non mainstream rock bands for years and into the future, even if indirectly.

The buzz among many reviewers of this album has been that The Fall were starting to get their act together, moving out of "cult" status towards wider appreciation, blah blah blah. Well in retrospect it's not as strong an album as "Live at the Witch Trials" or "Dragnet" had been. I think that one reason for that is that each of those albums were done when the band had highly imaginitive drummers in them (Karl Burns and Mike Leigh, who is quite underrated).By contrast, here the guitars play the same fragile, dissonant type of lines as on "Dragnet" but the band's sound is more straight-ahead and linear, less interesting frankly but more a straight backdrop for Smith's singing/rapping/slurring/barking. Smith, if not his band, was in top form. On "New Face in Hell" and "C-and-C Mithering" he acheives a great and wonderful inertia that I can't compare to anything else, he's really laying a new template for what an angry young man with a microphone can do in music.On those 2 tracks and on a few others, the band reaches some nice peaks behind the voice. "New Face in Hell" especially is an astonishing example of what a few young guys with instruments can acheive with imagination and perseverance - a great, astonishing groove. But there is a substantial amount of filler on this record. It's about half-great. This is mitigated by the inclusion of 4 impressive single tracks, one of which - "How I Wrote Elastic Man" - is The Fall at peak brilliance level. As well as a silly and brief "self-interview" Smith did in 1980, for completists.Is the sound quality here better than on previous issues? Yes. Castle/Sanctuary did another great job of putting out a definitive edition with maximal sound quality.

If you were alienated by the bleakness of "Dragnet," then "Grotesque" may be what you're looking for. Not to say that I don't like "Dragnet," but it's a work that is tremendously un-fun, a spite-filled, icy collection of songs that require a similar mood prior to listening. "Grotesque", however, is noticeably upbeat and fun. Of course, we're talking about Mark E. Smith here, so I'm not suggesting that this is a pop record--far from it. "Grotesque" captures one of my favorite attributes of this very great band--their manic energy. "Pay Your Rates" and the single "Totally Wired" are good examples. MES screams like he's being choked on "New Face in Hell"; and it sounds great, and I swear there's a kazoo somewhere amidst the landscape of backing instruments. "Gramme Friday" reminds me of The Cure's early recording, "Grinding Halt"; it's bouncy and I dare you to refrain from dancing.

The expanded version doesn't disappoint. The Rough Trade singles included as part of the expanded CD are neat additions, but if you like the Fall, chances are you've got these anyway/somewhere, but if you haven't and particularly if 'Grotesque - After the Gramme' is your first album by the Fall 'group', then lucky you...

Great album

arrived in good condition

Fine CD with great extra tracks.

A wonderfully typical Fall album. A personal favourite of mine. Can't argue with that.