Reviews (page 2 of 8)
This albums lowkey kind of boring, there’s good stuff in here but it’s mostly a snooze fest not gonna lie.
while it stays in the more nice sounding punk music, it can be pretty repetitive because of it's lenght and not much stands out to me
This album is pretty insipid, and, actually, the sound of the songs does not favour to make them more interesting. It is more of an atmospheric kind of environment that surrounds repetitive songs, which become very tedious to listen to, as well as reiterative, with no clear direction or something else than a same idea repeated until boredom. And, I can find certain interesting aspects, but the delivery is very poor. There are no interesting melodies, nor moving rhythms, and it is not that music should become a mediocre medium to transmit aspiring poetry pretensions. It is not enjoyable at all, nor musically innovative or insightful, or even good. It is a very mediocre album, and it is what it delivers, songs that are too long for what they have to offer. I can find the appeal, what is merely nice, but the album, overall, is very disappointing.
Du rock dissonant prétentieux
Je sais pas quoi penser
J'ai plutot bien aimé
A good album, but not great. A lot of the songs especially on the first half are just 4 note bass loops, guitar noises, and British ramblings. Which is fine, because it doesn't sound bad, but it does get a little repetitive. Still a good album though, this is right between a 3 and 4. Low 4.
this was not doing it for me
Not for me
Not the vibe for today
Nö! Mist!
This will mark my first experience with the Fall on the list. As it stands, I don't really care for them. The sound of this album is best described as punk/new wave with some pop hooks. However, the vocals are very weak. He mostly just does a spoken word thing for the entire song, which is either difficult to hear or annoying. This album would be quite a bit better if the vocalist actually tried to, you know, sing rather than just speak the lyrics over the songs. A weird Can imitation on "I am Damo Suzuki" does nothing to aid this issue, instead making me want to listen to actual Can. The lyrics tend to be cynical examinations of the state of Britain and the world. So, this album has some good stuff and some bad, which puts it squarely in the middle. I'll say 3 stars on this one. This album is ranked #12 of 16 albums for 1985. Other 1985 albums rated by me: Brothers in Arms(2/16)-5 Hounds of Love(3/16)-4 Low-Life(5/16)-3 Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash(6/16)-3 Hunting High and Low(8/16)-3 Steve McQueen(10/16)-3 Picture Book(13/16)-2 Fear and Whiskey(15/16)-2
Hard pass for me
I am always surprised when something is put under "Punk" and it's incredibly boring each and every time. Completely uninspiring and could not understand the lyrics from the bad production and mumbled vocals. Would have been better without the vocals. Again, not for me.
J'ai préféré à l'autre album qu'on a eu d'eux... je crois. Quelques moments glorieux, mais je sais pas si j'accroche à 100%. D'ailleurs leur discographie m'intimide...
Je comprends les réticences de Félix pour The Fall! 5 étoiles quand même.
Music was enjoyable, didn't really like the vocals though, they were a bit annoying, both in style and tone/accent.
It's fine. Just nondescript British punk music with a lead singer lacking diction so I couldn't exactly understand what he was saying. It was also repetitive. But compared to so much of the actively bad things on this list, this album wasn't as offensive as some so it gets a neutral rating
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 is repetitive, abrasive, and oddly addictive. The songs often seem to run on stubborn riffs and Mark E. Smith’s half-spoken sneer, yet the album has far more hooks than its rough surface initially suggests. It is still unmistakably difficult music, but the tension between chaos and catchiness makes it surprisingly enjoyable. Probably the best possible introduction to The Fall.
The Fall is definitely a band that I want to get more into, but I've never really loved this album. I hope I like some of their other stuff more. I'll give this a high 3
I was liking this one more towards the beginning, but I found it was just a lot of noise and nonsense.
I really enjoyed the first Fall album. But this one just didn’t hit me as much
I can get down with the krautrock post-punk instrumentals and all that (mostly), but I just do not get Mark E Smith’s vocals or lyrics and each time I’d see a song was over like 3 minutes, it became a coin flip as to whether or not I’d be dying inside waiting for the end. It’s easy to see the influence out of it (and into it tbh) for sure, but that doesn’t make it any better on its own (and also it would probably help if I liked more of the music influenced by M.E.S.).
Surprised how much I liked this since I wasn't crazy about Live at the Witch Trials. What stands out is how fleshed out the songs are with great arrangements and a potent rhythm section. The bass player, especially, is fantastic. Each song lays into a groove and just works it. Not crazy about Mark E. Smith's "singing," and his constant usage of ending words with "uh" on the last syllable. That gets old quickly. But the band and the interesting, quirky arrangements really work on this one. Favorites are "Barmy," "Spoilt Victorian Child," and "L.A." One of the best songs is on the deluxe version, "Cruiser's Creek."
Some of this was great, some of this pissed me off, and sometimes I felt both ways at different parts of the same song. From what ive read about Mark E Smith as a person, feels like that was definitely the way he wanted it to be received, if he gave a shit at all. Velvet Underground did it better almost two decades earlier with White Light/White Heat, just sayin
My rating here may be a little too harsh, but I didn't really enjoy this album and I don't feel like it belongs on the list. At first I thought there was some creative songwriting here, but then almost every track followed the same pattern, making for very repetitive listening. The opening track was decent but I was kind of bored by the end. The sound also isn't great, like it's been crunched down and compressed a lot. Favorite track: "Mansion" if I am putting together a soundtrack for a horror movie, in all other circumstances maybe "Gut of the Quantifier"
The song structure is way to repetitive.
I enjoyed the music on this album, though the mumbled vocals were annoying.
Likte den her bedre enn det forrige The Fall-albumet æ fikk i lista, sjøl om det fortsatt ikke e helt min greie.
It's annoyingly very good.
This album was not all that. The music was good at times but the vocals really threw me off. Did not like the mix of both. It felt like there was no synergy between the both of them. Review - 4/10
I liked it but there are better post punk records.
Let it be your saving grace too
I will not listen to anymore Brit-pop bullshit 0 stars
Good record
I Am Damo Suzuki Cruiser's Creek
p530. 1985. 2 stars. Well done post punk UK indie. Very much an acquired taste, and best listened to in small doses. What could they have aspired to if Mark E Smith had a decent voice and wasn't a twat.
Ahit sandwixh
Parece grupo que toca en algun bar de mama muerte, mis tonada toda ma canción, muy aburrido
Anarcho noise pop . One of those decisive bands that inspires more bands than listeners All of the elements that define the Velvet underground but actually good.
An interesting album in the style of the Ramones or the Clash combined with Gil Scott-Heron. I really enjoyed this album and yet another one that got by me in my youth.
With all due respect to Mark E. Smith and the Fall what does this album doing in this list? Too many white, UK and Punk/Post Punk albums on this list. The Fall has been on my radar for many years but never really fell in love with it. Too many fillers, more quantity than quantity. I understand that he was very influential (Happy Mondays hello????) however I am not patient enough to dig deeper….
i really dig this
Not as grating as I expected
Not terrible, but still not something I would listen to on my own. But I did kind of like his voice and their style a bit.
If post-punk was a person, this album would be its angry, chain-smoking cousin who lives in a van down by the river. And I kind of love it for that. The Fall aren't here to make friends or win awards.. they're here to remind you that music can be ugly and brilliant at the same time. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Mansion - Barmy - L.A. - Paint Work
Hace rato no salía un álbum tan bueno 8/10
lekker
10*
The Fall were the greatest punk rock band of all time, and Mark E. Smith was the greatest punk vocalist – his voice just seethes with disgust and disdain, and it’s electrifying to listen to him. The band released nearly forty records and none of them are bad. Of course, none of them are technically “great” either (the group’s whole thing was being shambolic, symbolized by their intentionally ugly cover art) but if they were trying to be “great” The Fall wouldn’t be The Fall. This album probably comes the closest to nonstop greatness, but even it feels tossed together in a fantastic way. Smith was a visionary: he knew what he liked to play (Bo Diddley ripped apart in a particle accelerator), and he did it again and again and again, and you can either deal with it or fuck off, and that’s The Fall. Best track: “My New House”
Who would win? This album or a small Victorian child?
Very samy, and not all that interesting. I dont get why it's here, there are a hundred record that sound just like that on this very list.
It’s good.
Nother day, another British album to slog through . Oi Oi governer, I'm sick and tired of my destitute living situation Oi Oi innit bruv. Ok bro ran out of lyrics and just started yappin
This Nation's Saving Grace is a pretty good album and definitely better than the other Fall album that i looked at. This one is definitely an album that has quite a lot of elements to it, some good and some not so good. I will say that the music is quite a lot better than The Infotainment Scan as it is generally better produced and mixed and they don't pick as many annoying things to use in the songs although some are still there. The vocals are better too but not by a whole lot and they still sound pretty weird, and i mean every vocal part that was used. That being said though, this album still had plenty of fun rhythms and was a good album despite it's drawbacks. Best Song: Petty (Thief) Lout Worst Song: Gut Of The Quantifier
An interesting album worth further listening to this group.
Está bien
Exceedingly meh
08/07/2026 There is no real appeal to this album for me, it just didn't stick. Spotify listeners: 202.3k
Not ready for the fall
I am just so bored
spoilt victorian child pissed me tf off. I also forgot to review this after I finished it and listened to half the album again the next day. I didn't even know til I got back to spoilt victorian child. Would be 3 stars, but I am bitter!!!
nahhh niet mijn rock..
best goede punk eig ik vibe er wel mee
Listening to this album while driving on the freeway during the heatwave with my A/C being broken for some reason seems very appropriate. Great album. Even through its endless sarcasm and Mark E. Smiths' spoken word shenanigans, it just oozes with charisma, it's a very enjoyable and engaging listen. It's absolutely loaded with great hooks, as well. Favourite track: L.A.
Definite punk influence without fully leaning in to the genre. Not bad but 16 tracks seemed a a little much
I was expecting to like this more than I did. Not likely to come back to it but didn’t hate it either.
Very very British and on the 4th of July. USA USA USA!! The album was fine. 4/10 Top song Petty (Thief) Lout
Fine. I love a bit of The Fall. This album had its highlights but sadly sagged in the middle. Over long too. 3.1
6/10
It was ok, but. It for an hour.
Spooky mid 80’s punk. The album has a vibe to it that I was not expecting. Nice synths throughout, and yet never felt overdone.
NOT ANOTHER 80S POST PUNK ALBUM!!!! My ears are going to start bleeding soon. They might as well call this 801 eighties post punk, and 200 other, albums to listen to. I mean, it's not bad, but nothing special, sounded like the 30 other ones we already listened to, just maybe a little darker.
Surprisingly found the listen better than I expected. Don't have a refined ear for this genre so it sounded similar to the talking heads. Glad I listened but probably would not be my first choice to listen to again.
I had never heard of the Fall and I think I can go the rest of my life without listening to this group again.
went on for way longer than i thought it would, switched genres multiple times, overall not bad
Some really solid post-punk, really easy groove to fall into
Haven't been impressed with these guys after getting some of their other albums. This wasn't much better. Most songs just felt repetitive and meandering. More jammy I guess, but not totally unlistenable at the end of the day.
bom p caralho hein tinha uma era que eu não escutava the fall, sai feliz dessa
gosto muito da voz de alcoolatra do mark e. smith. sei explicar não, mas me dá essa sensação enfim. eh bão demais né. the fall eh gigante, eh sempre a mesma coisa mas completamente diferente. acho bem bacana. esse daqui eh um marco dos brix years, absurdo demais. não eh meu favorito deles, mas gosto mto do tom mais pop desse, sem perder a maluquice e o climinha blasé de sempre.
I had Live at the Witch Trials a while back and liked that one well enough. I'm normally a big punk fan and this album is just sort of decent. I love that it's kind of weird but it does get a little repetitive. I think I like Witch Trials better. Not much else to say about this one, really. I liked it for a listen today but probably wouldn't make a point to hear it again. 3/5
Enjoyed some parts, but poor vocals and an uninteresting album overall Standout song Paintwork
Meh
Repetitive but I think it’s by design to get you into a droning groove post punk style. Didn’t care for the vocals much.
Just doesn't have the spark to make it to the top 1001. Maybe the 10001?
More musical than other punk-style records I've heard before.
It took some time for this epic journey to unfold and reveal its many layers. From an unassuming instrumental opener, the record covers a lot of ground, building with the pulsing post-punk of “What You Need” then moving to synth-inflected new wave, through Velvet-inspired collage and on to “Rollin’ Dany” rockabilly. I began my listen with bemused apathy, but over the course of this journey the album slowly, surely, won me over.
meh
I was liking this more than Live from the Witch Trials but then it started to taper off. Can't vibe with this guy.
cool LP, will listen again
This is by far the most accessible Fall album of the three that I have heard. In fact I was toying with giving it three stars... But as I got to the end of the album, I said "NOPE!". (5.66) ★★½
The best album I have heard by The Fall, but that doesn't say much. 2.5 stars
I'm not super into the Fall, but this had some cool moments, and I can hear it's influence on other stuff I like. Highlights for me were "Barmy", "L.A.", and "Paintwork". 3.5 stars.
Probably good as far as Fall albums go but in terms of albums with actual music by proper bands who can sing and play good or write songs… nah. Another massive fumble by Robert Dimery.
Heck yeah. 2 banger punk albums in a row. Really dig this style of vocals with the music. I'll revisit this one.
So much angry 80s noise. Nonsense.
Meh. English punk that sounded from the 70s but was really from the 80s.
Plutôt intéressant mais c’est looooong vraiment trop. Les changements d’intensité sonore sont trop violents et je trouve qu’on dirait plus plein de singles mis bout à bout plutôt qu’un album
On enchaine daube sur daube c'est fou
Ass pack
Favourite Songs: Mansion Bombast L.A. I Am Damo Suzuki
Drie albums van dit clubje hebben we te verstouwen gekregen, met wat nondescripte postpunk. Lijzig, energieloos gepingel met dito onverstaanbare zangstem. Als het hen niet kon schelen, waarom mij dan wel? Kijken we naar de discografie van de heren, dan zien we dat ze in de eerste 20 jaar van hun bestaan ieder jaar met een plaat kwamen. Een dergelijk werktempo is meestal niet bevorderlijk voor de gemiddelde kwaliteit, en dat is het hier dus ook niet.
Luister naar nummers als Couldn't get ahead. En het label post-punk is wel bevestigd. Dat zit hem hoofdzakelijk in de zang. Verder heeft het album eigenlijk één signatuur. Het heel pakkende doorlopende lijntje. Exemplarisch is het eerste nummer. Zo'n nummer heeft daarbuiten vrij weinig. Maar luistert toch wel fijn.
Dit is verreweg het leukste album van the Fall. De ietwat kale muziek past gewoon goed bij de karige 80s. De zeurderige zanger vindt zichzelf nog steeds helemaal het mannetje, dat blijft wel irritant. De muziek houdt een beetje het midden tussen Sonic Youth, Blur, the Clash en af en toe zelfs wat rock n roll of rockabilly. Voor een punkplaat is het aan de lange kant, maar ik kom het allemaal wel door. Een momentje dacht ik aan een 4. Laten we niet te gek doen. Een 3 is al ruim voldoende voor deze arrogante, ongeïnteresseerde kwasten.
Reminiscent of slightly later Half Man Half Biscuit, although without the comedy value that HMHB brings. Decent enough. Never listened to the band before, despite very much enjoying the general style of music. I'll put it down to not knowing anyone who was in to their stuff at the time – no one to tape something for me. I'd listen again, although it's not right up the top of the pile.
The one saving grace when it comes to bad punk music is that the songs are at least short. Here however, it was as if they decided like ok, let's still make the music incredibly shitty, but let's also make every single song long as hell too.
Mansion - 3.5/5 Bombast - 4/5 Barmy - 4.5/5 What You Need - 4/5 Spoilt Victorian Child - 4/5 L.A. - 4/5 Gut of the Quantifier - 4/5 My New House - 4/5 Paint Work - 4/5 I Am Damo Suzuki - 3.5/5 To Nkroachment: Yarbles - 4/5 I am slowly realizing that I might be a sucker for post-punk. This has unpolished and somewhat experiment sound, which definitely helps this by playing into the punk aesthetic. Very groovy, though a bit repetitive at times. Overall: 4/5 Favorites: Barmy
Production is better and the sound has expanded since the other album I've heard by The Fall. But it's still a bit rubbish. Not rubbish enough to get 2 stars because there are some cool riffs and ideas. If there were half as many songs and each was half as long, this might deserve half a star more.
I feel like I've gotten less than my fair share of the real difficult albums so far. I am not sure that The Fall are really that deeply difficult, but my previous exposure has been mixed at best. It's largely Mark E Smith's vocal delivery, less a singer and more a snarky ranter in the local gutter. There's some fun music here, and even attempting to be catchy (Spoilt Victorian Child is weirdly addictive despite feeling like it's twice as long as it is). This is inherently not my bag, but I appreciate it being something different. There's a term, Rock in Opposition, that I've seen describe a lot of avant garde rock, rock with jazzy elements, messy psych and zeuhl… but this feels much more “in opposition” to something. It's music that exists to be a thorn in a side, not snotty, nor overtly political, not intensely unlistenable, though Smith revels in a little of all of that. It's just that every musical fiber of this feels like it's spiting something or someone. Good for it. Lightly 3*.
some nice tunes and I see where they influenced all of the 90s punk like Rancid. A bit too long for punk.
Solid, bit chaotic and repetitive.
Gear: Moondrop Variations Artwork: 🐎☁️🏭 Production (Remastered 2011): 🔪🚮💩 Music: 😒🎸🍻 Rating: 👑👑/5
A good album by another punk band but nothing special or out of the ordinary. Just good music but not a must in any list
As others have said, this is music best enjoyed in a smoky bar after a pint or three, especially if you're a violent prick
On of the best "on the edge of mainstream."
What is the distinction of punk & post punk? I see how this sounds like post punk but also feels like it clears way for a lot of shit that I like now? Either way I rly dig the mixture of classic rock ideas and punkier lyrics. Highlights: I Am Damo Suzuki, My New House
#378/1001. I suppose the Fall want to piss everyone off, as I am doing here by giving it a 5.
Meh. Bitch asked to change
Is it possible that this is worse than the last album from The Fall that this list presented to me? I think it is. While this album might be great for playing on repeat to a person with the codes to disarm the nuclear device so they'll break and give you those codes, I don't think it's good for much else. It's repetitive, and just plain shitty. 0/5 stars.
Fine to keep on but not something I would listen to actively. Even they really interesting instrumentals where blended out by some not-so-pleasant singing.
There's a few tracks and moments that I enjoyed and found quite engaging, and there's a bit of atmosphere. I also appreciate the fact that they're doing something a bit different and are committed to it. But... so much of this is just really samey and repetitive and kind of awkward. It feels kind of low-effort at times as well. It's not one of their better ones. 2.5 rounded down.
Not really my type of music. It feels like an unpolished Arctic monkeys album. Which is probably fair considering the album's genre and release date. I can't help escape the feeling that it's not very appetising in the 2020s however. If you like(d) this kind of music back when, this album was probably a 4. Today, considering my own tastes, it's a 2.
People who like The Fall really like The Fall. I'm only dipping into Smith's world here, and on first impression I can see where they're coming from, but I'm not there yet.
Sort of a weak 3 but there were a few songs I enjoyed peppered in there. All the others were not for me.
Bit long but not bad
I had heard about The Fall - they were adored by someone whose taste in music I trust, but I had always assumed he loved them just because he discovered them when he was a teenager. Listening to this album, I don't know if that was the only reason he loved them but holy shit I can tell that if I had discovered this as a teenager I would have gone wild over it. Hell, the British accent alone would have made me swoon. I still really like it. This is fantastic. I can't believe I've never heard "Paintwork" before.
Didn’t like it at all. Seemed to me a mashup of trying to duplicate various musical genres; in my opinion just didn’t work.
Musically very engaging and intricate. Vocally, not so much which is what's keeping this from a higher score. Favorite track: Barmy
This is very fun. Not all super memorable, but parts are really good. I like this.
heh, it's alright I guess
6.5/10 Best songs: Bombast, L.A., Vixen, I Am Damo Suzuki, Rollin' Dani Some really interesting tracks interspersed among a bunch of frankly repetitive and dull ones. This is clearly somewhere in the punk/new wave spectrum - made during that indefinable period in the late 70s/early 80s where the two genres were just sorting themselves out. Worth listening to, but I feel like there are stronger albums from this period that accomplish the same things this one does a little better.
Like every Fall song, great musicians while Mark E Smith talks complete bollox
Gillade inte detta speciellt mycket. Ganska tråkigt och lite samma? Jag tänker kanske inte att det är dåligt, bara inte min grej. För mig är detta lättglömt.
Sweet old school, dark goth from 80s
Original and honest, dragy low trot
I was not previously familiar with the artist or album. It's a pretty far out there rock, I guess post-punk. It's dissonant and strange. I can appreciate some of this, but overall it's not particularly pleasant and I would not listen again.
I appreciate the intentions but it doesn't deliver. Little moments demonstrate that none of them are as technically naive as they lead on. So, the cacophony comes across as orchestrated and pretentious; precisely the tendencies that punk (and rock and roll) were reactions against. And while Mark Smith is clearly committed to avant exploration, the backing tracks are, for the most part, pretty bland rock and roll cliches (with atonal guitar blasts). Most damning, I never sense a musical point of view. He sounds like he wants desperately to be "artistic," but has nothing of substance that he wants to communicate. If it's true that creativity is making mistakes and art is knowing which to keep then this is inartistic creativity (a conclusion strongly reinforced by the volume of his output; there might be a decent 35 minute album buried among the stuff that doesn't work, but it's all thrown at us, seemingly without reflection). All that said, listening to this is more enriching than listening to anything that's ever been performed by a computer.
Lowkey angular.
Rating:★★★
La verdad, con lo fan que soy del género del Punk, debo admitir que no conocía a The Fall. Está demás decir que quedé fascinado con "This Nation's Saving Grace". Con claras influencias de The Stooges, Sex Pistols e incluso The Cure (por sus tintes de post-punk), Mark E. Smith y compañía logran pintar un caos irónico que te conduce a un trance hipnótico y crudo. El sentido de urgencia de las composiciones es exquisito, siguiendo al pie de la letra el etos del Punk; subversión que incomoda pero que a la vez contagia. Completamente recomendable, no solo por su efectividad, si no también por su fisicalidad; no hay canción que no me haya hecho querer bailar. Estos son los LPs que da gusto escuchar de esta lista. No solo porque es una entrada interesante, si no porque también se nota la influencia que este trabajo en la escena alternativa pre-grunge estadounidense- Claremente Sonic Youth escuchó a The Fall, al igual que Pixies y otros. Pistas destacadas Mansion Bombast Barmy What You Need Spoilt Victorian Child L.A. Gut of the Quantifier My New House Paintwork I Am Damo Suzuki
I am not familiar with this band, so this was a great discovery. I am not really into punk music, but the tracks are catchy and have a nice groove. Favorite tracks : Mansion, Spoilt Victorian Child
Музыка иной раз прикольная, но часто зацикленная, словно рэпперские сэмплы. Вокал же - ничего хорошего
The Fall are hugely influential, deeply respected, and beloved by a dedicated minority—including some Gen Xers—but they were never a broadly popular Gen X band. They remain a fringe, cult institution, not a generational favorite. The Fall were easy to miss and impossible to fully grasp — even in the 1980s — unless you happened to fall directly into their strange gravitational field. I guess I'm in good company. Tons of 80s kids didn’t discover them until the 90s, 2000s, or even later. The Fall were never a mainstream band; they were a cult phenomenon, orbiting punk, post‑punk, indie, and something entirely their own. They had limited radio play. As a CFNY listener can't recall hearing them and they just were not chart-friendly. Mark E. Smith’s vocals were more “angry prophet in a pub” than “Top 40.” Also, the band was a revolving door. Hard to market a group that changed members like socks. The Fall were too weird for punk, too punk for indie, too indie for mainstream. They were also a huge in certain British circles but barely promoted in the US. Mark E. Smith’s brilliant, abrasive, uncompromising personality was not exactly MTV material. Child of the 80s here. I think I know the name The Fall but totally missed them. The Fall weren’t a band you found in the 80s — they were a band you stumbled into, usually because a friend, older sibling, or weird record-store clerk shoved them at you. Without that social vector, they stayed hidden in plain sight.
Could never get into The Fall but this does have some moments
Nothing really jumping out at me. Pretty boring honestly. Makes me remember the times waiting for K-TON at the gym always stalling.
Just okay
Nice, made a change.
Interesting. Some songs I liked better than others. The band's style is cool, but I didn't find any song that blew my mind.
Interesting punk-esque alt new wave music. So much better than Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, etc.!
Oh. It's Mark E. Smith again.
2.5/5
The best of the 3 albums I've so far heard from this band, but I really didn't like the first two. This one's passable, at least on first listen.
I liked this a lot more than the last album we got from these guys. Cruiser's Creek and Paintwork are standouts. All around solid record. Weird. Quirky. Rock n roll. 4
Never heard of these guys. Call me whatever, but I didn’t care for it.
This album is calamitous and angry, smothered in grungy gauze, throttle and grit. At times it’s both perfectly incensed and unlistenable.
Nope
On my first album by The Fall I got here, I wrote something to the effect of "Mark E Smith is one of the most difficult men to ever pick up a guitar, putting him in the company of the most difficult men to ever live", and I still pretty much entirely agree with this. I do still believe that he was kind of a genius though. He was both sort of a great songwriter, and someone who had the ability to surround himself with great songwriters. The Fall is kind of a band of paradoxes. Everyone contributes, sort of, but Mark E Smith *is* the fall. At the same time, it's the collision of something simultaneously working class and art damaged. But it's also predicated on what seems to be Mark E Smith's unqualified, possibly boundless contempt for the world, and the entities which inhabit it (with notable exception of the band Can, one of the only things which we have confirmed Mark E Smith likes, even respects). And I generally think that great art requires a little bit of humility and the ability to take criticism, or accept feedback. But The Fall's playbook was more "let Mark E Smith do whatever he wants, at any time, for any reason, and you'll get approximately 10 fascinating, irreplaceable pieces of art, and like 20 duds". This formula results in a band that is *utterly* unique. I can listen to this and kind of explain what's going on without even getting *close* to what actually make The Fall great. Which is a testament to the fact that The Fall have conjured one of the most truly baffling X-Factors in the history of recorded music. Some secret thing, which manages to make this one of the best albums of all time, is happening here at all times, and I have no fucking idea what it is. The best I can do is that there's some kind of tension, between a band that seems to know what they are doing, and a guy who doesn't, but I can't nail it down any further. This Nation's Saving Grace manages to be one of the band's best albums, just out of virtue of making every idea work. It's an album that feels like the moment before a band falls apart, stretched to ~45 minutes. The Fall never crumble, but they constantly feel like they are crumbling, and the result is exhilarating.
Disco monótono, pero buen sonido.
već sam bio preslušao jedan njihov album i tada sam napisao nešto u stilu "muzika dobra, glas sputava". moglo bi se donekle reći da mi je i dojam ovog albuma sličan, premda mi glas nije toliko smetao (no nije me dakako nimalo impresionirao), a ni glazba mi nije bila ništa posebno. prva stvar, instrumental, jako dobra i nakon toga polako pada u vode iz koje tu i tamo izranja na momente. objektivne zamjerke mogu se uputiti samom zvuku (produkciji? studiju?) jer zvuči kao da je snimano na krumpiru. da ne volim post-punk, vjerojatno bi mi album bio zakurac. ovako mi je prosječno dobar, ali ništa posebno. dakle trojčičica
Meh. I know, seminal record blah blah.
Love this album! Makes me think of driving through new Mexico
I don't feel like I "get" the fall. I think this album might contain some of my favourite individual songs that I can think of from them - some stuff with a cool punky atmosphere but also some post rock kind of reel or maybe even fela kuti style. There are also a few tracks that kind of annoyed me. I find the voice a bit abrasive in some context. Sometimes it just feels a bit too rough and punky
not for me...into more pop punk. Not sure if the rating is for me or for the public.
It was OK. Better than expected.
Much better than the last Fall album I reviewed. Still not my favorite because of the singer. Rating: 2/10 Favorite Song: vixen
Every song was super repetitive. Enjoyable enough, but nothing super notable Favorite Songs: What You Need, Spoilt Victorian Child
Für schlechte Zeiten im Leben
Didn't really stick with me. It was fine, but some of the tracks dragged on (much like the album as a whole). Rounding down cause I don't need to hear this again. One of the higher rated 2s. 2.5/5.
Alright, time to reevaluate the Fall. I got this band's debut album, Live at the Witch Trials, over a year ago and didn't really care for it that much. I definitely wasn't excited to listen to anything more from this band, but I wasn't dreading it either. I especially wasn't dreading This Nation's Saving Grace since I've heard that that's one of their best albums. So, do I love the Fall now? No. I still don't love this, but I get the appeal and I can see why one would call this album a must-listen. There are some genuinely strong parts to this album. The music is probably the best part. The sound that these guys have on this album is a fairly standard post-punk affair, but it's pretty cool. I feel like this album's material is more catchy than that other album's material, which I barely remember. There are some cool songs on here. I though "L.A." and "Paintwork" were pretty good. There's clearly some musical talent here. However, there are still elements that I don't care for. I'm still not huge on Mark E. Smith's voice. It's fine. I don't hate his voice. He's far from the worst post-punk vocalist out there, but I don't get much out of his voice either. The same goes for the writing. It's not bad at all, but I wish there was a bit more meat on the bones. This Nation's Saving Grace is definitely a solid album, but it's also not one that I'm super impressed by. I get why people love this as much as they do, but I just don't think I'm a huge fan of the Fall, and I don't think that third album will change my mind. High 3/5.
I own this one and have listened to it multiple times but still feel like I need to listen more closely.
Not my genre but not horrible
Lived through the 80s and was never into the Fall. Listening now….still happy that I skipped it. This isn’t the musings of a post punk poet to me…..still sounds like a crap pub band tbh. 1
Not really my thing, I appreciate the melody and punk guitar work, but it doesn’t really click for me. I’ll say two stars.
Not bad, just quite mediocre. 3/5
3.5
Their most accessible?
zoned out vabshe idk
Was okay, had some entertaining tracks. Worth a gander
Heard Before? Nope. Although I've heard at least a dozen other Fall albums. Notes: - The Fall is too much. too many albums, too many songs, too many words, too many notes, too much repetition, too much Mark E Smith, too many musicians playing with too few ideas. - but that's the whole modus operandi. it's like hating cats for scratching your furniture. all this is just part of the deal. - hard to know what to do with an essential band that has never released an essential album. Verdict: Is this better or worse than any other Fall album? I neither know nor care. I just put it on and let it take over, another visit to a singular world. Listen Again? Well, there's always more Fall, so why repeat? Maybe if I make it through the whole discography I'll come back to this.
It's like halfway between accessible and experimental. I get both Public Image Ltd. and Pixies vibes from this band because of the singer's vocal rambling and atmospheric production. The record does start well with a nice instrumental track. An aside, but is this what post-punk is? Taking the simple, DIY principles of punk and adding a more experimental edge to it (i.e. making songs longer or incorporating instrumental sections)?
Kinda terrible
They are obviously a “post”-something because wth was that: instrumentals erratic, production abysmal, lyrics inaudible, vocals non-existent… there was not much to like tbh. Occasionally a fun riff I guess, that’s about it.
Definitely the best Fall album I've heard so far, great bass sections and has a sort if classic punk feeling yet still has the expiremental stuff you would hope for in post-punk, like every song here is good in its own right
I really liked the upbeat energy throughout this album. British punk that I actually found more than tolerable for once, yay!
Le iba a dar 2 estrellas, pero a medida que pasaba el disco, me gustaba cada vez menos.
Eh, fine pub music.
I'll search for detailed information about this album to provide you with a comprehensive review. # This Nation's Saving Grace — In-Depth Review **The Fall | 1985 | Beggars Banquet | Produced by John Leckie** --- ## Overview *This Nation's Saving Grace* is widely regarded as the definitive Fall album — the moment where Mark E. Smith's chaotic vision found its most cohesive and musically ambitious expression. Released in 1985, it captures the band at a creative peak, blending post-punk ferocity with art-rock experimentation, pop sensibility, and Smith's inimitable lyrical venom. The BBC described the remastered version as still sounding "dense, punchy, lean and surly" , while critics have called it the band's *Off The Wall* — a statement of peak confidence and range . --- ## Lyrics Mark E. Smith's lyrics on *This Nation's Saving Grace* are a masterclass in sarcasm, surrealism, and social observation. His delivery — a drunken, muttering bark — is as much an instrument as the guitars . **Key lyrical themes and tracks:** - **Social satire and class:** "Spoilt Victorian Child" skewers privilege with references to pop-up books, aqueducts, poxes, and the Cottingley Fairies — lyrics Smith had held since 1979, waiting for suitably "daft English music" . "Bombast" delivers wrath upon "bastard idiots" including a pointed dig at Lloyd Cole . - **Domestic life and place:** "My New House" is literally about Smith and Brix's newly purchased Salford home ("I bought it off the Baptists"), blending mundane detail with unsettling undertone . "L.A." channels Smith's hatred for Los Angeles into what he described as "more haunted than any old place" . - **Literary and cultural references:** "To Nkroachment: Yarbles" borrows "yarbles" (Nadsat for testicles) from *A Clockwork Orange* . "What You Need" takes its title and the line "slippery shoes for your horrible feet" from an episode of *The Twilight Zone* . - **Tribute and influence:** "I Am Damo Suzuki" is a direct homage to the Can vocalist, with lyrics evoking his stage presence and singing style . Smith's lyrics are soaked in "sarcasm" and "dry humour" — a caustic, mocking tone that would later influence Britpop's cynicism, though delivered here in far less digestible form . --- ## Music & Songwriting The album's musical strength lies in the **creative push-pull between multiple songwriters**, each pulling in different directions : | Musician | Contribution | Style | |----------|-----------|-------| | **Brix Smith** | Guitar, vocals | Pop leanings, surf rock, electro-goth ("L.A."), horror/sci-fi riffing ("Mansion") | | **Steve Hanley** | Bass | Lateral post-punk, dominant bass lines ("Bombast") | | **Craig Scanlon** | Guitar | Art-rock intentions, circular riffs ("What You Need") | | **Simon Rogers** | Keyboards, guitar, bass, sequencing | Classical training, sequencing, "herky-jerky" 6/4 compositions ("Spoilt Victorian Child") | | **Karl Burns** | Drums | Metronomic precision, heavy drumming ("I Am Damo Suzuki") | **Standout musical moments:** - **"Mansion"** — An instrumental built around Brix's horror-film guitar riff, influenced by The Deviants' "Billy the Monster" . Often used to open live sets. - **"Paintwork"** — A patchwork pop tune constructed from tape-machine clicks, TV background noise, fidelity shifts, and studio conversation fragments. Smith deliberately recorded over the master tape with dictaphone snippets, making "tape an instrument that is a key part of the ensemble" — a technique compared to Brion Gysin and William Burroughs' cut-ups . - **"I Am Damo Suzuki"** — A hypnotic, six-minute Krautrock workout heavily indebted to Can's "Oh Yeah," with Brix's descending chords and Burns' relentless drumming . Described as a "hypnotic art-rock anthem" . - **"Spoilt Victorian Child"** — Rogers' attempt at a straightforward rock song emerged as a jerky, stuttering 6/4 composition that Brix initially struggled to master . --- ## Production **John Leckie** (who would later produce The Stone Roses, Radiohead's *The Bends*, and Muse's *Origin of Symmetry*) brought a level of polish and craft that elevated The Fall without sanitizing them. **Production highlights:** - **Pristine yet punchy:** The album is "pristinely produced" while retaining its quirks — "dense, punchy, lean and surly" . - **Sequencing mastery:** Leckie's "understated mastery" is evident in the space-between-songs sequencing, particularly the shift from side one's intensity to side two's acoustic-driven middle section . - **Smith's interference:** Leckie reportedly scrapped several days of work to remove keyboards from the mix at Smith's insistence — a telling detail about Smith's notorious dominance . - **The "Paintwork" experiment:** Leckie facilitated (or at least allowed) Smith's most radical production intervention — the deliberate corruption of the master tape with home recordings, creating a song "inconceivable without" the tape as instrument . The result is a "steely monochrome with psych-rock streaks of gleaming mercury" — industrial yet graceful, like "intricate ironwork" . --- ## Themes 1. **British identity and class:** From the Victorian satire of "Spoilt Victorian Child" to the domestic mundanity of "My New House," Smith interrogates Englishness with bitter humor. 2. **Anti-glamour:** "L.A." rejects the glossy American dream, presenting the city as haunted and hostile to beer-drinkers . 3. **Artistic process and destruction:** "Paintwork" is meta-commentary on creation itself — the "thumbprints on the paintwork," the deliberate sabotage of polished product . 4. **Musical lineage and tribute:** "I Am Damo Suzuki" explicitly honors Krautrock heritage, while the Gene Vincent cover "Rollin' Dany" (on expanded editions) reacts against the mid-80s charts' "terrible" soul covers . 5. **The everyday surreal:** Smith finds the bizarre in the banal — a new house, a TV documentary about carbon formation, studio chatter. --- ## Influence *This Nation's Saving Grace* cast a long shadow: - **Britpop inheritance:** The album's cynicism and sarcasm were inherited by Britpop, though "delivered in a more digestible manner" . The same caustic wit that fuels "Bombast" can be heard in Blur and Pulp. - **Pavement and indie rock:** The "Ubu-style industrial feel" and cog-like meshing of instruments — "everything meshes, cog-like" — was "definitely" listened to by Pavement . - **Radiohead, Stone Roses, Muse:** Leckie's production here informed his later work with these bands, suggesting a through-line from The Fall's experimentalism to 90s British rock's sonic ambition . - **Post-punk canon:** Alongside *Psychocandy* (also 1985), it stands as one of the few rock albums from that year still discussed with reverence, using "noise and unorthodox recording techniques to obfuscate and confuse" . - **Brix Smith's legacy:** The album cemented Brix's reputation as a fine musician and creative force, not merely "the mock TV nemesis of Gok Wan" . --- ## Pros | Strength | Detail | |----------|--------| | **Peak cohesion** | Despite stylistic shifts and "half-a-dozen different directions," it remains the band's "most cohesive album" | | **Musical range** | From surf rock to Krautrock tribute to electro-goth to acoustic balladry — all unmistakably The Fall | | **Production balance** | John Leckie achieves polish without sacrificing edge | | **Lyrical wit** | Smith at his most caustically funny and chillingly bleak, often within the same line | | **Innovative techniques** | "Paintwork" remains a radical statement on what a rock song can be | | **Brix's contributions** | Her pop sensibility and guitar work broaden the band's appeal without diluting their identity | | **Influence and longevity** | Continues to be discussed and referenced decades later | --- ## Cons | Weakness | Detail | |----------|--------| | **Accessibility divide** | Smith's "delirious vocal delivery" ensures The Fall "would always be too divisive to become as universally popular as a band like Joy Division" | | **"Vixen"** | Brix's melodic surf track (cassette bonus) is "rather slight" | | **Requires investment** | The album's density and Smith's delivery demand repeated listens — not an easy entry point | | **Context-dependent** | Some tracks ("L.A.") benefit from knowing the backstory (Smith's hatred of Los Angeles) | | **The Fall's curse** | The band never again reached this height; quality dipped with *The Frenz Experiment* as Mark and Brix's relationship broke down | --- ## Verdict *This Nation's Saving Grace* is The Fall's masterpiece — the rare album where chaos and craft, sarcasm and sincerity, experimentation and accessibility achieve perfect equilibrium. It is "strangely" cohesive precisely because of its contradictions: Brix's pop instincts pulling against Smith's Luddite tendencies, Rogers' classical training colliding with Burns' primal drumming, Leckie's pristine production containing Smith's deliberate sabotage. As one critic noted: "Take one element or track away, and the whole thing would unravel" . That fragility is also its strength. Thirty-plus years later, it still sounds "dense, punchy, lean and surly" — a testament to a band that, for one perfect moment, channeled all their contradictions into something singular and enduring . **Essential for:** Fans of post-punk, art-rock, experimental pop, British music history, and anyone who believes rock music should be as intelligent as it is abrasive.
probably the most listener-friendly entry from the fall on this list, there's some cool stuff on here that sounds like a sort of demented new wave band. unfortunately that good stuff is outweighed by a lot of stuff that i still find pretty hard to listen to. off kilter vocals, some instrument perfomances that may make you cringe. the album also sort of overstays its welcome. if it was trimmed a little bit, it might have been a star up for me.
No se, me pasa que tampoco logro entender bien que genero es. Siento que es estilo de La Grange pero más under. Igual no me disgusta. Pero no me parece nada wow. 6/10
The first bar is so good they repeat it for the whole duration of the song. This formula is so good they repeat it 11 times
NOISE IN MY BUILDING
I really hated this. My favorite was the first song because that guy wasn’t singing
I felt like I was going to enjoy this in the first few tracks and then it just started to really drag. Songs too long, and album too long, became a bit drab.
A little less accessible than the last Fall album on the list. Influential, but, enjoyable? Eh maybe. Mid 2s.
1/5. I wish I was in a mediocre British punk band in the late 80s so I'd have a guaranteed spot on this list for some reason. An album with all the musical rhythm of thudding down the stairs at the pub.
marky smith lol
Listenable.
didn’t blow me away but songs were ok
Not bad - wasn't too long, wasn't overly annoying. Post Punk is not something I'd turn to all the time, but if these songs came up on shuffle I wouldn't fuss about it. Definitely need to hear more of The Fall but I've enjoyed this one.
I had never really had The Fall on my radar before and I am glad it made it to the 1001 generator -- I liked this album mostly, a few misses -- but overall I was very pleasantly surprised!
I bought this album 20 years and I don't think I ever listened to it. That was a real mistake. Judging by the other reviews on here this isn't for everyone, but I can't imagine not enjoying it. Brilliant album.
I didn't have a lot of time to listen to today's album, and that's fine because this is the one I drew. What I did hear, I did not like, so nothing was lost. The songs sounded like warm up exercises, were instantly forgettable (aside from the ones that were plainly annoying), and the production was terrible. Moving on.
Album good, Vixen great.
Good
En 1985, The fall, un groupe de punk à ce que j'ai pu comprendre, a sortit l'album : '' This Nation’s Saving Grace ''. Je que j'en ai penser ? J'mattendais pas à du punk ! Les instruments ressort très bien à travers des morceaux. C'est pas très intense non plus, ça s'écoute quand même bien. Mais j'dirais que les amateurs hardcore de punk aimerais plus que moi. J'ai pas détester non plus, loin de la. Ça ma plonger dans l'année 85 avec autre chose de ce qu'on entend de ces années la normalement. C'est l'fun d'aller ailleurs dans ces années la. Une belle découverte en générale.
Muy buenas!!! Al parecer me gusta el punk ?
First time listening to a The Fall album in full. Enjoyed the post-punk anarchic energy. Reminded me of Pixies, if you transplanted them from Boston to Manchester and replaced the throat singing with drunk in the pub rambling. Overly long though.
The Fall. Genius.
Bad. Production is so poor, vocals unintelligible for the most part. Some good instrumentation makes this album listenable, I didn't hate it but certainly didn't like the majority of this record.
This was okay.
Average 80's post punk. 2.5 stars
amazing
Es geht, aber bestimmt nicht Weltklasse.
I'm going to be generous due to the age of this album. It might have been very fresh and influential when released. When listening now I find it similar to many other bands of that decade and afterwards. I suspect lovers of indie music rate it highly.
I’d describe this album as noisy and punk-driven, with some electronic inflections. On paper, it’s the kind of thing that would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn’t really do much for me. Still, an enjoyable listen overall.
Totally loving this, it has an unpolished and experimental sound as well as some Britpop sensibilities. Kind of reminds me of Blonde Redhead
Didn't _dislike_ this, but didn't enjoy it. There weren't a lot of memorable points for me, I had a lukewarm reception to all the songs. Also didn't finish the album either time - it was too long :/ 5/10 Fav Track: Barmy Saved a Song? ----- ✅ Saved Album? ------ ❌ Will Listen Again? --- ❌
In my opinion if you've heard one The Fall album you've heard almost all of them. I think this is mostly due to Mark E. Smith's voice and way of 'talk singing'. This is good example of The Fall and it's not that bad of an album. I think there are better examples of 'post-punk' but if you're a fan of Mark E Smith and The Fall you will have already heard this album.
Ah - I immediately clocked yet another clear influence onJames Murphy and LCD Soundsystem. Especially, again, in the lead singer’s style (here, it’s Mark Smith.) I appreciate the Fall’s weirdness and post-punkiness. I don’t think I’ll necessarily be reaching for this one again, though.
A lot more atonal noise.
Sarcastic post-punk filled with character, energy, and an ominous atmosphere. This is probably my third time hearing this album and it sounds better each time. I'm definitely warming up to their sound! 7/10
I can see how they were important and influential but I wouldn’t necessarily listen to this again
And more of the Brit-centric playlist that doesn't dive deep enough into the really good stuff that was US and world renowned... This is downright awful. It's incredibly hard to believe this was released in 1985, it lacks all mid-80's flair or coolness. It's just messy, repetitive music with nonsensical vocals that are super repetitive. The only half-decent song was "L.A." which was a repetitive instrumental but had a big fat groove to fall into and guitars to actually carry a melody. I researched why this would ever be included on the T1001 and learned there are 3 albums by The Fall on there. What a joke and such a biased list that I've lost all respect for... Live at the Witch Trials (1979), This Nation's Saving Grace (1985), The Infotainment Scan (1993) - all of which suck. This is really shitty, it sounds like they recorded their warm up session and released it for all to (not) enjoy. Feels as though someones crazy grampa got ahold of the microphone or something. I didn't have fun. 2 stars
It just sucks.
This album didn’t really do much for me. Not bad, but not spectacular.
Another example of a mostly mediocre British group that is far too over-represented on the list of 1001 albums I must hear before I die (though apparently at least one listener thought they were UNDER-represented and added a FOURTH album by them!). I would certainly not argue against needing to hear one album by them, and this would probably be it. But in what insane (almost certainly very dull) universe does it make sense that I should listen to three (or four!) albums from these guys while pretending that Warren Zevon (ZERO albums on the list!) never existed?
I don't really like the Fall, and sometimes I find Mark E Smith insufferable. But I really liked this record: pummelling, edgy, askew, catchy, ramshackle, kick ass guitars. Sure, there are several I would skip, but good stuff
L.A. is a good song. Aside from that, I was underwhelmed. What even is post-punk? In this case, it seems to connote off-kilter, minor rock songs.
Henceforth any time I begin to take the reviews here too seriously I’ll remember that the consensus of this website is that this album is almost half a star lower than Eliminator by ZZ Top.
I thought I would've liked the Fall. Odd post punk, mostly the project of one trenchcoated Mark E. Smith. When I got the book many years ago, I saw the Fall a few times in there, and I'd heard the name in passing. And I like strange music. So I gave it a listen a different times over the years. I never latched on to it. This is one of their most accessible albums. And I hear that, all while still retaining their character. It's respectable...and I still don't care much for it. The best I can give this one is a 3. I'm not annoyed by it, but I'm not seeking out any more Fall albums to listen to.
Love! Immediately adding to my playlist. Another band I’ll be diving into - thanks for the intro.
It's like a 5-star demo tape. There are great concepts in here, but none of them feel fleshed out to their maximum potential. Also the mixing is atrocious, it's impossible to hear what the singer is saying in some parts.
How had I never heard this before? This is exactly what I would have adored when I was in my late teens - early twenties Oh well I can at least adore this now so there's that
don't really like this 2 stars
Slitsomt
Nog wel nice postpunk
wel nog nice, veel tzelfde wel 3.5
2,5 - cva ma vf ook ni cva
Ugh. Another fall album. Bleh.
The Fall is one of those bands that I should really like. I am a big fan of punk and post punk but I've never been able to really get into The Fall still a solid album
Solid post-punk fra et stødig band som jeg knapt har sjekket ut. Deadpan vokaler med jangly gitarer. Fengende pop-sensibiliteter. Hva er det ikke å like? Skal få fem stjerner etter første lytt, med forbehold om at det kan endre seg. Top 3: Spoilt Victorian Child, Barmy, L.A.
I remember hearing Hex Enduction Hour at some point when I was younger and thinking that The Fall might be a band I'd like to get into more. I'm not sure what happened between now and then. This didn't do much for me. I think that once you hear the Mark E Smith vocal in one song that is it for the rest of them. I think The Fall are worth knowing about in some capacity. I don't know if this particular album is the one I would put on the list.
standard british post-punk. highlights: - What you need - nice baseline - Could’nt get ahead
It feels like every other album I’ve gotten lately on this list is an 80s British post punk band I never heard of. Let’s check this out. It’s just very punk to me. Not necessarily my preferred sound. But this is fine. There’s nothing remarkable or distinctive here. Sounds like somewhat generic later punk to me. Enjoyed Barmy. Can’t understand what he’s saying and there’s a muddled quality to his voice on some songs that isn’t pleasant. Albums seems to vary between fun punk and boring nonsense. Hard to judge something that has some highlights and could’ve been more refined. But guess that’s punk and that’s part of the point. Don’t hate this but the fact that it’s an hour long, with wild swings from good to not great makes this a 2. Could’ve seen a tight 35 minute album that could be a solid 3 here if it cut some of its excess. But this isn’t it. Some fun punk songs though.
"Spoil victorian child" it's good. Not in my chord, but a good album
Not my thing
It's not offensive but it's also sounds like they recorded it within a wooden barrel. Not good.
Not bad. ★★★
3/24/26. Another controversial post-punk record for me, couldn't really get into it. Didn't hate it, but felt it repetitive and rambling. Couldn't really grasp the lyrics either, but that's a me problem!
I had listened to The Fall before, but that was years ago, and I wasn't ready then. Revisiting their work for the 1001albumsgenerator, has made me realized I kinda dig The Fall. This Nation's Saving Grace is an easier proposition for me than Live At The Witch Trials. Mark E. Smith's spoken or shouted vocals and sometimes jarring or angular instrumentation are still present, but this is the most balanced version of their sound I've heard so far. It's still off-putting and weird in the ways The Fall intend, but the songwriting is more focused than previous efforts and the production is better as well. I love the the variety of songs and the lo-fi sound. There aren't really any songs that sound like filler. This was a pretty solid listen from front to back.
Given The Fall have some 30-odd albums it's a challenge to pick three albums from that sprawling discography that people can agree on, but This Nation's Saving Grace seems a pretty good summary of mid-period Fall. Marking the point where Brix enters and they got more melodic and even dabbled with having some genuine Top 40 hits. I knew about half the tracks on here and the way they lock into a groove here suggests this was probably when they were at their peak as a live band. I saw them a couple of times but a good 15 or 20 years later by which time Mark seemed to have no interest in playing the greatest hits and would largely just play the new album and some obscurities and that is why he was a brilliant, cumudgeonly bastard.
Pretty catchy but it just didn’t really grab me. Probably needs a relisten.
This is okay as far as punk goes. At least a person can pick out a melody. Still, pretty hard to listen to.
It's a 3.5
The best post punk album I’ve ever heard. It’s a low bar.
I really don't know what to make of this album and the band The Fall itself for that matter. There are great lines and riffs on this albums, but other part sound a bit too annoying. But it's certainly something one can dig into again and again.
That was pretty epic. Listen to it twice. Will listen to it again.
I don't get it, and have no problem saying that 2*
It's ironic how samey a music genre defined by anti-establishment, independent experimentalism gets.
Just ok for me, might need another listen
Wasn't expecting to enjoy this, as UK post-punk is not my scene, but there are a few great songs on this album. Feels a bit like if the Velvet Underground were a bunch of drunks from Manchester. 3⭐️
people on this website do not seem to like punk or electronic, both of which are some of my favorite genres. i really enjoyed this album and will keep listening to it.
Review - never given this band the time of day, in part because they've got so many albums I didn't know where to start, so this really helped. This is a good post punk album. A fun gothic vibe to a lot of the songs. You either get along with his voice or you don't, but it didn't bother me. Wouldn't go far as saying I like it, but it doesn't bother me. Think this is probably where the LCD Soundsystem guy got the idea to really enunciate the last letter of every line from. Rating - 7.5/10 Need to hear? YES
In order to enjoy this, you need to like Mark E Smith and his schtick. I do not. His voice is poor, i do not find his lyrics witty and he just sounds like a prick. Take him away and you have a basic pub indie band. This is like getting a cab to the airport with a cabbie on coke who thinks he is hilarious but isnt and 65 minutes felt like 2 days.
When I create things I do whatever I want. I never hold back or placate an instinct. Is this a good thing? I also disparage and rarely share what I produce. It’s a question of trust by the artist to an extent, plus a willingness by the listener to accept what may rub them backwards as a part of the experience. I am willing.
As a fan of obnoxious/annoying music, I enjoy The Fall. Some great tracks here, but too long and too many clankers to score high as an album.
best fall so far
Some children shouldn't be encouraged to follow their dreams.
Punk is so... so...
Waarom kende ik dit album nog niet?! Helemaal in mijn straatje.
Hell yea I love dit soort shit. "Klinkt als The Fall" is een van mijn favoriete dingen om te kunnen zeggen over een nieuw bandje (een ander favorietje is "Klinkt als Pavement", en die hebben dan weer toegegeven dat ze de helft van The Fall hebben afgekeken)
This is probably my least favourite The Fall period, when they were briefly fashionable, had a few hits, and were approaching accessible. Glady they headed back into happy obscurity by the end of the 80s, so a short-lived era. The stand out is probably LA, which is just fantastic from start to finish. This is still an easy five star album. There are maybe a dozen other five star The Fall albums I would put ahead of this one, but so it goes.
This was mind numbing
I quite like Tge Fall, but this is all a bit samey for me.
Pretty pointless.
kinda cool
Было и было
Started out okay enough, but by the halfway point of Vixen/Couldn't Get Ahead/Gut of the Quantifier mark, I just found myself annoyed by both vocalists and praying for it to be over.
Boring
It's kinda whatever
Very annoying.
music is love
Urgh.
Not great. Mostly talking over noise.
Good, but not great.
I like the atmosphere this album creates, and the bass at times is great - sometimes a bit groovy with a few songs towards the start. But his vocals suck. I can see what he's going for, but even then, it's just shit. The songs are too repetitive also. Not the album though, as each song is different from the one before and after it. But each individual songs goes on for too long. It's on the harsher side of a two, because there is definitely something here. If it was shorter I might give it a 3.
I’ve never been a fan of Mark E Smith’s voice. Re listening to this album has only cemented my view.
Maybe I'm just too comfortable for this disturbing set of clever but drab arty punk tunes. Too much British gray doom, not enough pure fun. Faves: Mansion, Spoilt Victorian Child, Rollin' Danny, Cruiser's Creek
There’s some good energy on here! Some clunkers too unfortunately. I didn’t like the opening track so I was worried, but ended up being a bit of a bop.
Didn’t care for this. Because crunchy noise by the end
It's clear that American reviewers, on the whole, struggle with UK post-punk if the comments on here are anything to go by. However, having twice voted in Trump, there's no viability in their opinion left to slag off the mumbling rants of Mark E Smith. I have a few albums by The Fall on my shelves, but not this, so on the purchase list it goes. Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ ★★★★☆ (7/10) Total reviewed : 243 Already owned : 56 Purchased : 12 To buy list : 4 Nope : 172
If this album was a cup of tea, it would most definitely not belong to me.
I can understand why people may not like the vocals, and some songs to go on to long, but musically this is some top tier post punk.
This was forgettable. Sorry.
Hard hitting and menacing guitars that bring about alot of anxiety and unease
First album by these guys and definitely not the last!
Post punk and I are not friends, so I'm pleasantly surprised I didn't hate this. I didn't like it that much either, but there were some tracks I did enjoy. "Spoilt Victorian Child" will be stuck in my head for weeks, and I can't say I'm mad about it. I also found myself liking "Mansion" and "Petty (Thief) Lout." This album is definitely too long and a little too same-y at times, but it's good enough. Considering how influential The Fall are, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this isn't terrible.
Suitably edgy and revolutionary in terms of tone. A joy to listen to while drunk. Feels like I’m breaking the rules.
Rating: 8/10 Awful vocals that somehow work and amazing instrumentally.
It's wild to me that this band has three albums on this list and the National has one. And there are so many great artists that have none. Like, why?