The Fall
"Totally Wired- The Rough Trade Singles Anthology"
(Castle)

The Fall have gone through many changes in their 25 year career. With 30 something albums and twice as many line-up changes about the only thing you can count on from them is change. And if you want to be bitter you could complain that the Fall aren't really consistent. Of course, that would be completely untrue. Regardless of the sound from album to album, the Fall have a melodic vocalist/lyricist Mark E. Smith at their disposal. Mark E. Smith is truly one of rock's most distinctive singers. His amelodic voice has always been the band's primary feature while his lyrics are like a loaded weapon. Talk-shouting over whatever noise the rest of the band makes, Mark is alternately acerbic, sardonic, paranoid, pretentious and hilarious. And despite having influenced almost every band you ever listened to, you either totally love the Fall or you freaking hate 'em. And if you've never (gasp!) heard them, then you should buy this new anthology right now! Totally Wired covers the two and a half year period (roughly 1980-83) when the Fall were signed to the legendary indie label Rough Trade. Though a majority of this stuff isn't what you'd consider accessible music, it is truly one of the Fall's best periods. The sheer number of bona fide post-punk masterpieces on this 2 CD set is mind-boggling. Mark rants about football ("Kicker Conspiracy"), London ("Leave the Capitol") and even the Fall's lack of commercial success ("Hip Priest") while the scratchy, dissonant guitars of Craig Scanlon & Marc Riley provide a necessary counterpoint. And few things are as cool as the Fall's nods to the creator of Plastic Man ("How I Wrote Elastic Man") and paranoid schizophrenic science fiction writer Philip K. Dick ("Wings"). Most importantly, Totally Wired features a large number of classic singles like "The Man Whose Head Expanded" which have been out of print for years. Although, a career spanning retrospective would be cool if not impossible, this is the next best thing.

-Jason