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458489 A Sides

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The Fall

 
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458489 A Sides

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Avg: 4.5 (39 ratings)

A singles compilation celebrating the group’s time on Beggars Banquet.

  • We Say...

    By 1989, Mark E. Smith and Brix had separated, and one of the great partnerships on the British alternative scene was over. Around the same time, Mark, whose boredom threshold with working situations is plainly pretty low, severed ties with Beggars Banquet, who forlornly released this compilation of singles — most of which, according to indie convention, had not even been included on the Fall's five exceptional albums for the label. What Brix brought to the group was a classic ’60s pop sensibility, which sugars her co-writes, like "C.R.E.E.P.," "No Bulbs," the thunderous "Cruiser’s Creek" and "Hit The North," the latter a savagely bitter comment on the uneven distribution of wealth in Thatcher’s Britain, but also jolly and danceable. The Fall had never quite matched the sales of alternative heavyweights like New Order, the Cure and the Smiths, but were every bit as important and influential during that era of cultdom.

  • They Say...

    Bypassing their edgy, early singles and concentrating on their artier, more eclectic work of the mid- and late '80s, 458489 A-Sides encapsulates nearly all of the Fall's many attributes. All of the singles on A-Sides are culled from the era when Brix Smith was in the band, arguably the band's most cohesive and rewarding years. Drawing from their strongest albums -- The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, This Nation's Saving Grace, Bend Sinister, The Frenz Experiment -- A-Sides offers an excellent introduction to the Fall. It is both a useful retrospective and a kind of road map, pointing out the differences between albums. For neophytes and the uninitiated, there is no better sampler, and for longtime fans, the collection reiterates what a fine singles band the Fall were in their heyday.

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