Reviews (page 6 of 7)
Not very good production here and overall just didn't find myself very drawn in by this one. Every song definitely felt pretty repetitive.
It's okayish. Avantgarde. I like that stuff, but this is a bit too much for me.
man idk i was not struck by any of this. a couple of the slower moments were nice but ???
Interesting, though probably won't be listening to it again. Best song: Petty (Thief) Lout 5/10
Started off sounding like I was playing Luigi’s Mansion, cool eerie rock sound. But after that I struggled, I think I’m finding I do not enjoy British punk from this time period, it all sounds the same with the same guitar tone and similar blues riff throughout each song (I like my new house’s riff but don’t enjoy the lyrics along with it).
Very much noise oriented. I know, that is the Punk ethic of that period, but there is nothing here that catches my interest. I couldn't finish this. 1.5/5
Brit Punk, you either like it or you try over and over again. Far too much on this list regardless.
didn't do anything for me
I can't get with the Fall I guess. Too bad, some of my favorite artists really dig them.
"Pitchfork ranked it as the 13th best album of the 1980s." Really?? 13th best of the 1980s??? That's actually so cap. Like the album isn't *bad* but CMON... how much were they paid to say that lmao The people at Pitchfork have probably only ever listened to 13 albums from the 1980s. Let me list 14 1980s albums. Apparently Pitchfork says this album is better than at least 1 of these: - Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses - Disintegration by The Cure - Master of Puppets by Metallica - Hysteria by Def Leppard - Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi - The Joshua Tree by U2 - Power, Corruption & Lies by New Order - Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty - Thriller by Michael Jackson - Remain in Light by Talking Heads - Closer by Joy Division - Purple Rain by Prince - Reign in Blood by Slayer - Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain - Graceland by Paul Simon - Back in Black by AC/DC - Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen - Violent Femmes by Violent Femmes - The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden - Bleach by Nirvana OOPS I... accidently... listed 20 huge albums from the 1980s cause there's so many better albums than this one!!! Ok this review is just a dis on Pitchfork at this point lol Edit Apr 15 2026: 3 --> 2. I don't find it that memorable
This is for someone, I'm sure, but not me. The music itself I find kind of boring, so you'd think the lyrics would make up for it. Not as far as I can tell. It doesn't feel like this says very much.
Foot-tappers with zero meaning, I'm not a fan
I want to like this, but everything bleeds into and over eachother in a way that makes it difficult to listen to, with lyrics being mumbled, buried, or otherwise hidden in what could be songs with interesting ideas that don't develop or flow beyond their initial creation.
Great titles but otherwise meh
I don't mind the fall, not keen on mark e smith
I think that kind of punk is a product of the time, and I can't get into it now. Musically it's not that outrageous. It can get annoying, with a message that today feels tired. Punk today would be something else.
Ok music. For being their eighth album it is not very complex. Basic and repetitive riffs with very simple lyrics. I don’t hate it but I will not remember it.
I was expecting better. Some catchy hooks but mostly just noise at times.
This album really wore out its welcome. I was unimpressed but not too bothered until I got to “Paint Work.” That’s where I hit my mumbled background talking limit. Funny, because it was immediately followed by the penultimate track, “I Am Damo Suzuki,” which turned out to be the most interesting song. But it was too late for that.
This album isn’t so much 11 songs as it is 11 riffs with a corresponding line that are repeated over and over. They are 11 good ideas that need to be expanded upon.
Every song sounds the same, both internally from start to finish and then as compared to every other one on the album. Just one long, tiring riff with some rambling over it that varies only slightly from being melancholy to angry and back.
This album was interesting. It is a very early British punk album but it sounds so watered down (for lack of a better word). I liked the guitar playing a lot, but some of the songs were painfully repetitive in both lyrics and instrumentation. I really enjoyed L.A. but I didn’t really love the album as a whole.
This album is exhausting, if you're in a bad mood this album is gonna be annoying as hell lol. Aside from that though, I can hear the inspiration and a good amount of those hooks and melodies are pretty good when they peek above the surface. I'm not going to lie - I'm most of the way through the album and can't finish it.
A bad 80s version of The Cramps
This did nothing for me. Meh.
Portions of it were mostly fine.
Mér finnst þetta vera sama lagið aftur og aftur, og það er ekkert voðalega gott. Nenni ekki öðru rennsli.
Weird and Clash-lite. Not my favorite.
I didn't like this one any better than the other album this gave me by The Fall. The background riffs can be catchy but I don't like the way the singer barks the lyrics. Rating: 2
Meh.
not my nag. double album too.
It feels nostalgic Favorites: Barmy I don't know
I really don't have much good to say about this album. Not the worst album but certainly not the best. Musicianship is not the worst but certainly not the best. The lyrics were not the worst but certainly not the best. The vocals were (arguably) not the worst but certainly not the best. Once again I question whether or not it is yet another UK album that appears to be on the 1001 list only because of the band's geographical roots.
not my cup of tea
The only song I liked had no singing. So... 2/5
Preacher-uh Speak-uh again. Each song sounded like the record was skipping and it was playing the same thing over and over.
Every track sounds the same, and reminds me of the track from some 60's B-movie. The vocals seem so uninspired, as though he's being forced to perform as some sort of punishment. It reminds me of a teenage garage band where some pimple face pre pubescent kid learned how to play a riff at his first lesson and decided to start a band. Only less enthusiastic.
This Nation's Saving Grace is the eighth studio album by the Fall, originally released in 1985. Some pretty standard post punk that veers into the weird side. I hear some Sonic Youth in this. Maybe some Velvet Underground. They do a good job at incorporating different genres like ambient, noise, punk, etc. into their "post punk" sound. It's pretty chaotic most of the time. The production is pretty lofi too but that's probably intentional. A bit too artsy. Decent listen, but not really my thing.
Not a fan
Strange lyrics on some tracks and couldn't get into it from a musical perspective either.
Me he guardado Barmy y poco más, no me ha entusiasmado. Grupo de culto difícil de conseguir o conocer amigos que lo tuvieran lo escuché poco más que alguna que otra vez en la radio. Entiendo que marcaron época y hay que oírlos.
This sounded like they wrote a bunch of okay songs and then reverse engineered a bunch of post-punk tropes into them
Not my jam, def not a “must”
The Fall wrote put together "This Nation's Saving Grace in 1985, completely unknowing that their saving grace, Wayne Rooney, was about to be born. Wayne would be the cornerstone of the Manchester United teams that would dominate the premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson all through the 90s and into the 2000s. The country, in a time of very little, had great premier league football to hold on to. This album is a bit more like Stoke City. It captures a dreary quality and the vocals and instrumentals are strong. I think the songwriting isn't there and for a band's 8th album, I would have thought the songwriting would be better. It's like if the clash if you subtract the incredible clash hooks, or if you cleaned up the sex pistols production and toned them down. It feels like nearly all the songs on this hour long project is just a repetition of the track title several times for the chorus. It makes this thing take forever and it doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. It doesn't sound bad and I don't think I'd mind it in smaller doses but as an album to listen to through, I don't see the appeal.
This is the second album we've had by The Fall on this list and I'm not sure I understand why. It's better than the previous one (Live at the Witch Trials) largely because the whole tone is angrier and there is more distortion and aggressiveness to the tracks instead of wandering keyboard interspersed with yelling. The singing is still terrible but at least it's drowned out most of the time. Actually, you know what, this sucks. There are maybe 2 tracks on here that aren't just a single riff repeated over and over inside of a tin can with a drunk guy shouting in to a pair of headphones acting as a microphone. This is shit and I turned it off halfway through it's incredibly unnecessary 1 hour+ runtime. If there's something in the back half worth listening to I will never know.
Still not really my thing
And right after I'd given KILLING JOKE 5 stars, too. Like, I was pretty hopeful, honestly, that after that point I would actually start to hear more in post-punk. Like, I don't **want** to hate it; I don't wanna hate **any music**. There just has to be **something** there that I'm just missing. Then this album waltzed in. And maybe I'm not missing anything. Maybe I just don't like post-punk. I'll give this album one thing: it doesn't have any of the apparent dub influence that's colored so many other post-punk albums. At least The Fall left that style out of this. The rest, though... I mean, it really felt like a lot of these were written in the studio. As if one of them just started playing a riff that everyone else liked and they just went off on it, expecting to be able to pull a fully-formed song out of thin air. Unsurprisingly, they don't, and these songs often sound like they're just going around in circles trying and failing to find a point. It's not even a cool moment when the riff comes back in; it's like they're just returning to the only concrete part of the song they have. The mixing's ass, too. I hardly comment on mixing, and I know this is still punk, even if it has the "post-" prefix, but I'm sorry, this is bad. And if **I'm** noticing how bad it is...! Like, goodness me, you guys couldn't have even found a bigger closet to record in? You really had to stick the drummer in another room? And, jeez, at least get a mic that can produce a sound better than "1920's radio." Oh, sure. Maybe if I had more of an appreciation for abstract art, maybe I'd understand and like this better. That's how James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem came to love this album. And I'm not gonna say every riff here is that bad. But... Jeez. It's not as abrasive as METAL BOX was, but I don't think I've disliked a post-punk album this much since METAL BOX. And at least METAL BOX did have some nice songs, as rare as they were. About the "abstract art" thing, too. I don't wanna let this get away with being a mess just because it's "artsy." That's an excuse, not a reason, like Tommy Wiseau claiming THE ROOM was always a black comedy. Like, yes, it's art; I'm not saying it's not. But all music is art, good or bad. And this is bad. Honestly, maybe the only good thing that came out of this album's apparent success was that it led to Mark E. Smith featuring on a Gorillaz song. "Sch-tick?" yeah. Not my kind of schtick. I'll pass, thank you. And maybe--unfortunately--I'll remember not to get my hopes so high about any post-punk albums my group gets in the future.
I’m at a 1.5 that I’m going to very generously bump up to a 2, despite my better judgment, because I don’t think this is quite bad enough to deserve a 1. It’s pretty damn close, though. I’ve made analogies to art in the classical sense before, and this album is art – it’s the type of art you walk up to, notice it’s just two colors painted next to each other, and you wonder how in the hell it ever made it into a damn museum. This is that type of album among the big 1,001 albums featured in the museum – whoever curated this had a damn soft spot for whatever the fuck this was. It’s just… nothingness. I feel nothing after listening to this. I don’t feel apathy, I don’t feel joy, and I don’t feel like it did anything to me. It’s not even white noise – you can focus on white noise and it can let your brain feel something. This truly gave me nothing. I could go on an existential tangent about “nothing” doesn’t really apply given that I have something to say about it, but the truth is that I just don’t feel like it was worth my time at all. Does that mean it was egregiously awful? No. It is still art – there is some merit to having it be here, but it’s not the type of art that gives me any type of feeling. If Abbey Road is the Mona Lisa, this album strikes me as, say, a Rothko. I’ve seen Mark Rothko paintings before. They’re just squares to me. I find nothing in them, much like I found nothing out of this album. Does that mean a Rothko piece is devoid of artistic merit? No – someone will find a beauty in the slightly offtone shapes, or an appreciation in the individual brush strokes. I didn’t like most of this album, but I never found myself openly angry at it. I just didn’t find beauty in the compositions, nor an appreciation for the individual instruments or vocals. It was a dull album to me. Why is it a 2 then, and not a 1? I dunno. I guess a few parts just sounded nice enough, and for better or for worse, there is some charm in the guitar riffs and percussion. I didn’t feel anything, and that’s a crime, but I recognize that someone else probably could and will. It’s just not my type of art piece. It’s a 1.5 that’ll go up to a 2, but I will likely never think about this ever again. Very strange for it to be on the list. Still better than Haute de gamme, though.
That's not my taste in musik
This Album was great. This album was great. This album was great. Especially if you like things that repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. If you like more than six different words in a song, this may not be the one for you, for you, for you, for you.
Was ok. Didn’t listed to if All. Liked the music more than the vocal
Didn’t know what to expect, never heard of them. I tried but couldn’t get into it. It felt monotonous and all blended into one after a few tracks. Might need another listen sometime. Highlights: Couldn't Get Ahead
Why do the shit albums always seem to be the longest ones?
A little bit too experimental for my taste. Lyrics were arhythmic and seemed more like word magnets on a refrigerator that would repeat. The instrumentation had some interesting elements but also quite repetitive.
Most of the songs on the this album don’t really go anywhere and are not helped by the mumbling rambling vocals. It’s punk with none of the kick
Rubbish, poo poo, caca. The legacy tab on Wikipedia mentioned how one guy heard it and realised bad music could also be published. THATS IT??? THATS WHY ITS IMPORTANT??? LIKE SHIT SOUNDING MUSIC DIDNT EXIST 20 YEARS BEFORE IT??? One of the songs towards the end was aight
Was expecting worse given the genre. Not terrible, but not good either.
I didn't mind the music however the singing ruined it for me
I have no idea how to comment on this. The "singing" is just annoying, the music sometimes makes some kind of sense, but then there are some weird noises in between, and that is annoying, again.
Meh
Not really my thing
Sommige nummers klonken wel oké, maar werden geruïneerd door wat noise geluiden op de achtergrond. Eén van de vele voorbeelden van rare shit uit de jaren 80. 2.2*
Nothing about this album stands out to me. No need to hear it again.
Meh
First listen Saved 4/11 Top track: L.A.
Much of it sounds like just a bunch of noise.
Mediocre is the best compliment I could muster on this record. Some cool guitar parts that made me believe this was going to be an interesting record. It did not live to that expectation. Oh well. Not for me.
I hate Mark E Smith. Album was fine
Really unremarkable
Not really my speed. British punk I think has to be a very specific flavor for me to enjoy and this just wasn’t it.
Starting with Mansion, I was thinking that it was super familiar. I felt like there were pockets throughout where I recognized songs, but it was too long and meshed together. I was definitely waiting for this one to end.
I like a lot of Punk genres. I don't think I like Post Punk.
Suurin osa kappaleista aika laiskoja ja itseään toistavia. Jotain punkin tapaista. Ei pahimmasta päästä, muttei kauhean hyvääkään. Parhaat: L.A. Gut Of The Quantifier
albums feels long especially given the garage rock hardcore horrorcore vibe of the album
I would probably enjoy this alright album with bad vocals more if I wasn’t so fed up with this list being entirely made up of alright albums with bad vocals.
A ok album
mi sembra un po' insulso, sono tutte canzoni scollegate
I had not heard of The Fall before this. I will say that it's pretty unique sounding, especially for 1985. But everything sounds so out of tune that I felt uneasy the whole time listening to it. The songs can get pretty repetitive as well. There were one or two tracks that sounded B-52's inspired, and one of those was my favorite. I don't remember the title. This is not something I will listen to again.
4/10 - What was happening in the background of Barmy. It really just sounds like someone who does not know how to play an instrument was just going ham. The first half is quite weird and the second half sounds like a british punk rock band. I liked Rollin Dany but thats about it
Alternative 1985. Sort of if B52 male vocals combined with yelling and angrier guitars. Five songs have dots, but I don’t know
Not for me
Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more UK punk type albums they keep coming out of the wood work.
L.A
Idc 2.5
If I was drunk in a ditch somewhere and I heard this blaring, it’d track. 2.0
Post-punk shouldn’t be its own genre
Fenga ikkje denna karen her
could i write poetry to this? n
80s post-punk just sounds a bit outdated today
Not a fan of this at all. It barely avoided a 1 in my opinion.
Wikipedia calls this post-punk. I don't understand the distinction. In any case, no.
11 tracks, each of which is uninteresting and terminally repetitive, put together to represent 48 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.
Would I listen to it again: no Do I like it: no
So repetitive and annoying.
One song sounded like the other. Nothing stood out. Boring.
Nothing really stood out for me on this. Sounds like some typical british punk sounds.
5/30/24 S Tier—————————5 A Tier—————————4 B Tier—————————3 Spoilt Victorian Child Rollin Dany Mansion C Tier—————————2 Cruiser’s Creek Petty Loust Paintwork Bombast I Am Damo Suzuki The Nk Roachment Yarbles Barmey Gut of the Quantifier Vixen L.A. Couldn’t Get Ahead D Tier—————————1 My New House What You Need
This Nations Saving Grace by The Fall Thursday 5/30/2024 9:35 B Tier————————— Mansion Rollin Dany C Tier————————— Petty Thief Lout Spoilt Victorian Child D Tier————————— Bombast Barmy LA Paintwork To Nk Roachment Vixen What You Need E Tier————————— Gut of The Quantifier I am Damo Suzuki Couldn’t Get Ahead My New House
Lite svårbedömd. Ena stunden helt okej, andra stunden lite sämre.
There was one tune which had a mildly appealing 15 second acoustic guitar intro, but aside from that, I couldn’t have cared less about any other song from this album.
First song is for a spooky Halloween party. I’m no expert, but the production could have been a little better. Voices or instruments were drowning each other out at various points. Second song was alright, but could have been much more intriguing if anything was said besides the title and unintelligible nonsense. This vibe persists throughout the entirety of the album, leaving me feeling like this could have been a much bigger record. 2/5
A haiku: The Fall’s first practice: You guys groove awhile and I’ll “Sing” my “poetry”
not the best new wave group to me.
Forgettable post punk. Maybe I’ll revisit and see if my rating changes, but there’s not much to cling to on this record. Just too many repetitive songs, and the album drags a TON because of it.
Snooze post punk that didn’t really do anything for me and there were few tracks that will ever stick with me it’s not awful it’s just uneventful another album that has no place on this there is better post punk and this was slow and muddy meh
infectious bass lines. most of the songs get a pretty solid groove and then play that over and over. by the end of the song, you are ready for it to be over. would have been a better album if it weren’t for that.
It was fun! Punk was not really my style and nothing stood out to me.
Post-punk is just not for me. 2*
Every song sounded the same. Bombastic. This is a band you're either into or not, and I'm not.
Sounds confused…must have been a bad year for this to be one of the best
Favorite Tracks: L.A.
Didn't grab me. I like a good groove, but not just a good groove.
I hate whiny music. Yuck. Also, the songs all sound the same? Oh boy, I just realized how long this album is too. I don't understand how it is possible for a band to make an album this long with all the songs sounding the exact same.
Sounds like they don't like it either
More annoyed than impressed. But there were definitely some catchy bass lines in there.
Unremarkable.
I want to like this album. And maybe I would after another listen. I like some of the guitar grooves but the vocals threw me off in pretty much every song. I’m sure fans would say the vocal style is a feature and not a bug, but I’m just not feeling it. 2.5/5
It's great that we got Joy Division and The Fall back to back! Joy Division singlehandedly originated all the post-punk of today I love, and The Fall singlehandedly originated all the post-punk of today I hate.
This album is not this nation's saving grace.
Goths in the 1980s had it rough.
i’m a big fan of punk but this wasn’t my favorite. one or two songs were okay but that’s about it
Pas mon genre.
En hehkuttelis
I think the fall suck. Obnoxious vocals ruin what could be passable music
Hey at least it isn’t the usual grating post-punk garbage. 2.09
Not sure how this band got two albums on this list. Not sure why I got them both within a week either.
Ni siquiera lo recuerdo demasiado.
This album is weird. A little Strat Cats. A little early B52s. Sorta punk. Sorta ska. Sometimes vicals. Other times not. Didn't hate it. Don't like it.
Not my sort of thing. Bit bleak and droney
A neat mix of punk with some pop influences. Not every track worked for me with some like Couldn't Get Ahead mixing the vocals and music in a way that just missed me, but a lot more had a cool punkish beat with solid sound like Bombast, Spoilt Victorian Child, and L.A. The first 7 tracks were good, then 3 tracks that droned too much, then melody returns and I can enjoy myself, and so the pattern repeats. I wanted to like this more, but after that opening half of the album the back half just didn't bring enough to push this above average for me.
This album had some crisp sounds, however musically it was fairly uninteresting. A lot of the songs were extremely repetitive and no part of this album felt like it was adventurous, which is odd for a post-punk album.
Not my thing at all. The singer wasn't my cup of tea either. The coolest song was probably 'To Nkroachment: Yarbles' with the opening bass riff... but not a proper song really with its 1:22 runtime. I think Punk in general isn't really my genre of choice, unless it's exceptionally good or different.
Some songs feel like a punky "Joy Division" ("Barmy", "L.A"...) which was pretty cool. Other felt like unfinished demos from your local band (Vixen). Not all that great but this is not really my style of music. It was a mixed bag but the catchier songs I enjoyed, "Barmy" for example has a great riff. Experimental in a not too good of a way and honestly sounds like a mix between The Pixes, Joy Division and some experimental punk band. More lows the highs but the highs are pretty decent.
It's OK, just not more than that
I feel like it would be a lot more into this if I could actually hear what the singer was saying. For some reason it's mixed really low against the instrumentation.
Most songs seem to be the same 10 seconds repeated. The lyrics are the album's saving grace and even those are rarely interesting.
Couldn't get into it. The grooves were long and grating. Never heard of the band....which is nuts cuz they have like 30 albums. Then again, punk ain't my thing and I just listened to The Understones yesterday (which I didn't love either) so maybe its just punk fatigue, but I didn't like it. Boring.
Not impressed. There are some great tunes on this album, but then some sound just like a bunch of noise. It may be due to the recording quality. I did not enjoy the flagship song, but other tracks grew on me. Expected Marc rating: 3
Not a huge fan of this album.
I’ve been generates another album by The Fall previously. Looking back at that review, I thought it was rubbish. I can’t say that fills me with hope for today’s album, but I’m certainly wiling to give it a go. If anything, I want it to prove me wrong. I don’t want to listen to rubbish. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Spoilt Victorian Child I write this review the day after listening. I know that yesterday I thought this album was fine and nothing amazing but certainly not awful. However, it seems that it had such little impact on me that I only recall the song mentioned above. Spoilt Victorian child was nice, dirty, angsty punk but beyond that I don’t really know what to say. I can’t say I hated this album. I simply didn’t really notice it, even when listening.
One of the longest hours of my life. Wanting an album to end is not a sign you're enjoying it. It has a couple of better tracks but none were especially memorable to me. Just a useful reminder of why I've tried to get into The Fall before and never managed it.
it was playing and i kept forgetting it was on. not very engaging to me
I liked a few songs but overall I’m just not a fan of punk. This just didn’t do it for me.
Auch Krach
This was not my favorite.
This feels like one of those albums that people like just because it's a bit edgy. Didn't really click with me.
Repetitive bass heavy post punk
Shit sucks!
I think I previously gave a The Fall album a favourable rating because it “wasn’t too bad for a post punk album”. I just don’t like post punk and can’t be arsed to give another 45mins of my life to it today.
I hated this album, but it's not the very worst.
Great instrumentals, but the vocals subtract most of the goodwill I had towards this album.
Like a punkier B52s I guess? My issue with it is it's really hard to differentiate one song from another - it all kind of mooshes together. I went from track 12 to 16 in what seemed like no time flat, have no idea where one song stopped and the next began. I could have done without hearing this in my life.
Blegh.
not for me
A couple of enjoyable moments but its too long and sounds quite improvised. I found a review of this album that read "better than the other ones" with 1 star. the person abandoned the list after 8 albums lol.
Lyttede kun lidt, det var ikke mig.
Eh
Generic punk. It's fine, but like a nice piece of fish on a menu at a steakhouse, I'm probably not gonna order it.
repetitive and didn't grab my interest
sch-tick
The blog described this album as "a pulsing, glittering mass of sound" which I found quite apt. It did feel like a glitzy automaton belching coal smoke and ambling down some old country street. Messy and cobbled together. It felt like every song was one half of an idea that was repeated and stretched out from the 5 seconds it could reasonably occupy into a 3-5 minute song.
It might seem strange for a punk album to be monotonous but it's something the genre can fall prey to. The swaggering sneer throughout this record blends together as much as the straight-ahead rhythm work of guitar, bass and drums. Sonically, some ideas that echo the dark electronics of Joy Division and the jangly rock of the honky tonk side of the Stones do creep in, but they never save the album form feeling like it's dragging on.
Heel kut kan ik dit niet noemen, maar toch wel echt te saai voor een fatsoenlijke score.
Dit is toch gewoon kut, of ligt dat nou aan mij? Irritante arty-farty interessantdoenerij.
Stem kan ik waarderen. Rest minder.
Starts with a cool ominous note, then quickly gets repetitive. I don’t really like the guitar sound, vocals, and overall production on this. The bass is the best part.
Punk, didn't seem special
kind of redundant songs, chanty lyrics.
listened through this, but nothing really stood out as exceptional to me, 2.3/5
Not awesome
coagulates into something akin to music. Like nasty B-52s. I think it would be good for tap dancing.
A bit dismal for my liking and all trying to sound like Lou Reed while being a bit punky.
Usually punk albums are short and sweet; this one is not
Sounds progressive for 1985. Nothing really stands-out to me.
2/5. Definitely a confusing album. Not something that I would pull off the shelf to listen to. Every time it seemed like it was getting good it just went off the rails again.
Despite some really excellent post-punk tones here, this demonstrates just how much I really don't like art rock as a music style. The almost drunken lyrics, the kind of crazy off the wallness of it all. There's some solid tracks, but I just couldn't get into this album.
This sounds like it'll be grungy right from the start. Hopefully it doesn't stay that way. I like Barmy. Paintwork was fine relative to the rest of the album. I'm really looking for some highs here. Rollin' Dany was good too. This album doesn't feel like it has a message or anything. Tirelessly repetitive and boring. Punk is bad. 1.5 stars? Rounded up because it isn't blatant garbage like some other albums we have encountered.
The opening song sounds like a Doom 98 song. The rest is kind of an unorganized nonsense of music and singing. Paintwork is a nice halftime song that has a pretty nice hooking beat and low talking. Probably the only song I liked on this album. Not my jaunt
I didn't really listen but I'm not sure if I was too intersted
I would’ve liked their bad playing and singing more if I’d known them when I was young and angry.
There are bits I quite like and then bits that really put me off.
This is the third album of The Fall on this list. It started off alright. However, this was not sustainable and it became eccentric and not good. The covers were weird or at least I could tell they were using the music from other bands. I didn't skip any songs so that's a plus.
ok
Heard before: no Listening to an 80s Fall record is like being slowly submerged in a vat of oil. It takes a minute to adjust, everything is a little hazy, and you feel a little more flammable when you are out. Maybe I'm a softie, but I admire The Fall (and this record) much more than I like it, even with the great, punky energy. It's hilarious that it's considered one of their most accessible records when my favorite song has Mark E. screaming about sticking the capitalist pig-uh in the gut with a dirty knife-uh. Top tracks: Gut Of The Qualifier, Spoiled Victorian Child, L.A.
Damn this album had 16 songs and they still managed to go 0-16 on good music. It's mediocre at best but the whole thing felt aimless and boring. 4/10.
It's probably not a good sign that I've spent most of this album thinking "is it over yet?" and checking how much of it there is left. I get that these guys are influential. But I can't help but think that they might be the giants that people who have seen further were standing on the shoulders of.
It's fine, but nothing outstanding.
I prefer autumn. 4/10
Punk
Tässä ei ihan riitä asiaa tunnin albumiksi. Vähän tehty tekemisem vuoksi -viba minusta. Saisi tiivistää. Gootihkommat pätkät toisarvoisempia, rokkibiisit toimivia.
Music was OK. Lyrics were junk.
Meh
Une heure de perdue, rien de nouveau sous le soleil
juste marre
It’s an album, alright. An alright album. 4/10
Don't really know anything about The Fall, to be honest, except the old meme that it was basically a different line-up for every single record they ever released (with Mark E. Smith a constant, of course). It's alright so far, pretty much what I was expecting for a post-punk band of the time. It's just been dude talking over songs for ages now, starting to drag. These songs haven't got enough substance to be 2 minutes long, let alone >5 minutes. So yeah, it's alright, the instrumentation is good, but it's just a dude talking over songs for an hour, hardly mega inspiring stuff. 2 / 5 stars.
Hm ok this was a very bad start, decided to persevere, didn't love this but it did somehow grow on me... The Fall is NOT my scene. I don't find it that impressive or fun to listen to it kind of stresses me out but actually the track LA I quite liked the vocalisations and the vibe of the song and a couple of other songs after that I liked a bit more too. Maybe I need to research more of the back story to be a bit more sold on what their music is doing for the world.
This album needed gracefully removed from this list.
Didn't find this that great. Granted I'm not English or over 50.
Okay, now I've officially had it with the '80s '90s British groups. This is just basic and repetitive.
Lost my interest, couldn’t get into it.
Some interesting moments but overall not great
Pure punk sound. Talking Heads did it best. This is second rate. 2 stars.
Barmy is a banger, the rest are meh
Was sort of enjoying it but it just got annoying. It sounds like where the Stones may have gone if they didn't care about what they sounded like.
Repetitive punk rock
I never got The Fall, so I thought "here's an opportunity to give them a proper go, listen to whole album, one that is regarded as their best and most accessible. Maybe Mark E. Smith's voice isn't the most annoying bleating you ever heard once you get used to it. Maybe this is not just one of those bands that John Peel fell in love with and played so much that they became a beloved British institution through sheer familiarity, regardless of being complete rubbish. Maybe this is a band so bad that they're good." Nope. Just nope.
I'm not sure what it is about this album, but I found it very dull. There were occasional parts that I liked, but most of the time it felt like there was nothing happening. It's the album equivalent of eating plain oatmeal much of the time. The sound quality on the album is also a bit poor, though that may result from the copy I was listening to on Youtube 2/5, but it's the best album I've given 2 stars to, if that helps
Wow I love the intro to this album. That overdriven baritone guitar is SO heavy. Then that spooky change at 0:37 was super unexpected but cool. I like this intro a lot. So much intrigue. This album feels like a fever dream to me. The main riff of "Barmy" is like happy~ish and fun and then interspersed throughout the rest of the track is contrasting moments of cacophonous mood shifts into almost satanic sounding parts. Nothing ever really settles before it shifts gears too. I really like the almost-off guitar tunings in "What You Need". The song itself felt kind of boring though. "Spoilt Victorian Child" hahahah what is there to say? What a chorus. This album gave me a lot of reactions and for that I am thankful. I don't know if I loved the music however and that's a pretty important criteria for this list. I gotta dig the music. For that reason I'm giving it a 2/5 that leans close to a 3.
This record feels oily. And very samey sounding the whole way through. I like the way the bass was recorded. The clicks on each bass note was really pleasing. But I'm clearly looking for reasons to like this. It's fine.
This could have been an email.
I can see the appeal but this is definitely not my cup of tea.
Most of these songs felt like I was listening to the post-punk equivalent of a hippie jam band. I don't dislike the sounds going on, but it all felt rather aimless. If there were choruses, I rarely ever picked up on them. I usually like weird music like this, but there wasn't much for me to latch onto. Any time a song started with something promising, it was lost rather quickly. It felt very long too. So far, I've really liked the post-punk albums I've gotten, but this album is an outlier. I'm glad some people enjoy this, but I clearly don't get it. My favourite song was Petty (thief) Lout.
its kinda nothing British rock reminds me of the clash
Meh
Not my cup of tea. The overall sound was interesting, but the vocals were not great, which ruined it for me.
Too folky for my current mood
Algo peor que el punk es el post-punk y este disco es prueba de ello. De eso que se va completo sin siquiera oportunidad de notar algo interesante (aunque tampoco algo que odie). Simplemente nada. Y eso que, según Wikipedia, este es el disco de la banda que fue más convencional… FMS
Interesting, but leaves me cold.
This is a decent post- punk album. The lead guitar is ubiquitous but I think the real star is the bassist. A bit too cacophonous for me but I can see their appeal.
Not the biggest punk fan
1/16, 6%
I think I like this band but this album didn't do it
Completely forgettable
i don't get it
Sounds punk/new wave. Reminds me of the B-52s. It's ok
Not terribly memorable, sadly.
Nej du, detta var snarkigt värre.
A repetitious cacophony of mumbling and noise.
Not as bad I thought it would be from my memory of their random crap when I was an NME reader, but still - who likes this stuff?
Not sure if I wasn’t in the mood or what but didn’t really enjoy this.
Oh. So these guys again. They get another one? Hmm. I don't think I hate this is much as the witch one, but... I'm extremely annoyed by it. A lot of repetitive phrases backing the song title repeated over and over, going for 4–5 minutes each, for over an hour. Next!
I had another album from The Fall (Live at the Witch Trials) that I didn’t care for much, so I was surprised that there is another The Fall album on the list. This was a little bit better, although just a little. I felt bored. Apparently this is their most accessible album… so I guess The Fall isn’t going to be for me.
Kolejny raz baba niszczy bande, przynajmniej porownojac This Nation’s Saving Grace z poprzednim pickiem od The Fall, czyli Live At The Witch Trials, pomimo ze w dyskografii obie plyty dzieli az 7 innych pozycji i 6 lat, bo dzisiejszy album jest z 85, to tak dramatycznej zmiany w brzmieniu sie nie spodziewalem, z eksperymentalnego punka pelnego dziwnych zabiegow i bejtujacych do myslenia liryk przeszli do popowego grania w stylu post punkowym, glownej przyczyny tej zmiany domyslam sie w dolaczeniu do bandy Brix Smith, ktora gra nie tylko glowna gitarke zespolu, ale jest slyszalna praktycznie na kazdym utworze wokalnie w postaci jakis backgroundowych wstawek, ale to pewnie nie tylko ta zmiana, bo reszta skladu poza liderem Markiem i Burns na drumach, ale to jednak duet Brixowo Markowy, w tamtym czasie chyba jeszcze nie pod jednym nazwiskiem jest glownym duetem kreatywnym plyty, jesli sugerowac sie tym co slychac i co zdradzaja notesy pod utworami, wiec z podziemnego grania zespol przeszedl juz prawie do popowego janglowania, chociaz w tej ponad godzinie materialu na 15 trakach da sie wybrac kilka lepszych utworow, ale nadal nie jest to ten rodzaj odsluchu co podczas pierwszej kontantku z The Fallem, na plejke dodam jedynie couldnt get ahead, za te harmonijkowie wstawki
meh
Not good for me
Not my thing
Wasn't a big fan of this one. Wasn't a big fan of Mark E. Smith's vocals and couldn't care for his lyrics, or some of the punkier tracks music too (i.e. Bombast and Couldn't Get Ahead). Also found a few slower songs with very quite vocals quite annoying. The thing that saves it for me is the groove based tracks. Songs like L.A., Barmy, Paintwork and Cruiser's Creek weren't brilliant but were fun to listen to.
All heft and no bite. Too repetitive, songs built in very repetitive little guitar licks.
Never really liked The Fall so, while This Nation’s Saving Grace has some interesting moments, it's just not something I enjoyed or appreciated beyond 'yeah I can see why some like this, not me though'. 2/5.
It's the sort of music that sounds great live with plenty of volume but doesn't translate well into a listenable studio album. Songs are a bit repetitive and I find myself being bored before the end of each track.
Pretty rough around the edges, don’t think this has aged well
If The Clash and The B52s had a baby and The Talking Heads were godparents… 😬
I tried to like it. Tried real hard, made several attempts. Depsite this, I didn't find it enjoyable as a whole. It has some interesting sounds, but it doesn't outweigh the debatable vocal. Not my jam, at least at the time of listening.
Brzmiało jak coś co mógłbym polubić, mimo najszczerszych chęci nie udało się. Ciekawe linie melodyczne, ale niezbyt interesujący głos, technicznie jakoś nie powala, koncepcji albumu też zbytnio nie rozumiem - wydaje się losową zbieraniną dość generycznych tracków.
A few catchy riffs, notably Barmy, and slightly more coherent vocals than other Fall efforts but a long way to go before the accessibility of The Infotainment. Not awful.
Engelsk punk bliver hurtigt meget trættende
Meh, got some okay tracks on it. Bit long and it gets irritating after a while
It did not take me long to discover that I don't like this
kind of sounds like talking heads
Weird and unpleasant.
Más cercano al pop-rock, pero poco vistoso. Canciones sin mucha alma. No destaca en nada. No los conocía y me han decepcionado un poco
Probably innovative for its time, a precursor to Modest Mouse and other better noise that came after, but for that, still kind of sucks.
Weird punk album, the fall is not my thing
Ok
Eh. It starts out like the cliche 80s awkward anxious stuff that was popular at the time and gets better as the album goes on.
I'm sure this is a fantastic album for folks that really enjoy a particular flavor of punk. I am not one of those folk, and this makes the second 2-star album in a row. C'mon, albums generator! Gimme something I can like!
Ei oikein tämä post-punk tms. napostele. Vähän tuli Talking Heads tästä mieleen. Ei nyt ihan täyttä kuraa, mutta ei oikein myöskään minun kuppini teetä.
Tästä ei saanut oikein otetta. Periaatteessa ihan menevää postpunk-räminää mutta genrelle ominaisesti kappaleet on pääosin aika kuraa. Saman aikakauden yhtyeiltä löytyy huomattavasti laadukkaampiakin julkaisuja tästä genrestä. 2+
Instrumentation was good, but the vocals made it too much like annoying noise for me to really enjoy.
While there were some tunes in there, I did find the sound and the vocals rather unpleasing. Sorry
ehhhhh nothing that caught my attention 2.4
this is really not my thing. three songs in, gonna give it maybe one more song. 1 star so far. maybe 2 for production.
Decent album, but not entirely my thing
It was ok.
Didn't find this particularly memorable outside of the riff in the first 30 seconds.
unremarkable early british punk. all kind of blended together.
2.5
2/5 in the end it didn't even matter
Meerdere keren gekeken wanneer het afgelopen ging zijn. Een album zoals er dertien in een dozijn zijn.
It actually starts off decent with some catchy riffs and punk style songs. The B Side unfortunately takes it over a cliff.
It was fine, I liked it a little better than PJ Harvey. I didn't find the music special in anyway. I suppose that has been the point, there are genre defining albums. I certainly found other albums from this era superior. meh out of 5
Arty punk music made by and for people who think that enjoyable music is too bougie for them
Meh. Not my thing.
simple, repetitive and monotonous
Eh, it was fine.
Just not very interesting to me.
punk like this always seems so self-indulgent. Like "yeah we're gonna just mess around and you're gonna like it" Punk always feels like they just got drunk the night before and then forgot to write a song. Which to be fair is pretty damn punk BUT it still sounds...last minute. I'm just gonna yell "Spoilt Victorian Child" and it's supposed to mean something besides "Oh no I forgot to write a song"
Starts out decent but begins to fall off quite a bit, way too long, bad singing, just not my genre and truly forgettable
I liked one song
Neato
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
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.
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
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.
Never heard of these guys. Call me whatever, but I didn’t care for it.
Nope
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
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.
Le iba a dar 2 estrellas, pero a medida que pasaba el disco, me gustaba cada vez menos.
I really hated this. My favorite was the first song because that guy wasn’t singing
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.
A lot more atonal noise.
Slitsomt
Ugh. Another fall album. Bleh.
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.