The Infotainment Scan

Imagine a very tasty cake, made by a very nice baker. But when the baker went to decorate it, she accidentally grabbed a tube of toothpaste instead of decorative frosting. Mark E Smith is that toothpaste. Not even Colgate, he’s a crest motherfucker. I almost gave this a 3, because the rest of what the band puts in is really tasty, but at the end of the day I don’t want toothpaste in every bite of cake.

This album sucked. I think the Wikipedia article summarized the vocals the best: "one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn"

Anyone in the possession of at least one partially functioning ear knows that the two greatest Fall albums are the the first one you heard and the last one you listened to. This is a truly great album and anyone who says otherwise is a cloth-eared fool.

I've been using this site to listen to an album a day for a month or two now and have never written a review until now. I'm motivated to do so here because of how negatively skewed it seems like reviews of this album are. I'd heard of The Fall before this but never bothered to try listening to them. I assumed they were like an Echo and the Bunnymen or Police situation -- pretty straight-forward guitar rock but lumped into more unique company because of their time period. This album was a surprise and after reading more, I'm excited to hear other albums from their decades of activity. The best of this sounds more like Can or Suicide or VU than I would have guessed. It's not mainstream rock masquerading as art. It's more like art in a rock and roll coat. They also remind me of other niche-90s acts like Lungfish, Dave Fridman era Mercury Rev, and other "talky-singer" bands but the fact that the Fall has decades of catalog interests me a LOT Granted, some tracks (A Past Gone Mad) are dated "madchester" sounding relics, but I'm guessing those tracks were their concession to the times. Overall there's some timeless stuff here. Standouts for me: It's a Curse League of Bald Headed Men I'm not rating 5 because it's not a GREAT or PERFECT album but I'm rating 4 because it's surprisingly good and wayy better than I would have guessed.

Day 29 of Albums You Must Hear... The Fall is an English post-punk rock band that was impressively active from the late 70’s up until a couple of years ago. I have never heard of them, and to my knowledge, I’ve never heard any of their songs. (They have released over thirty recorded albums). The album from The Fall that I received today is titled The Infotainment. While listening to this band, I really enjoyed the music, however, I really disliked the singer, Mark E. Smith’s vocal style. The half speaking, half singing style seemed very dated for 1993. Smith also has a trait of ending most of his words with an overly used annunciation of “ah”.. Here’s an example, on the song It’s a Curse, a song with a nice and heavy guitar riff, Smith sings/says “Cracked-ah, curse-ah, disliked-ah...” his use of “ah” after nearly every word started to really grate on my nerves and it’s done on seemingly every song. The opening track, Ladybird (Green Grass) has a super funky bass line and riff and is probably my favorite song on this album, and while he is singing a bit more than speaking, Smith’s style just takes me out of it, like the rest of the album. Being that vocalist and founder of the band Mark E. Smith is the only constant member of The Fall over the years that saw many line up changes, I could see why no one really stood up to suggest that maybe he try changing his style to match the times. It’s a shame because the musicians really jammed out on this album but their flame-ah to me-ah was-ah smothered-ah by-ah Smith-ah. Next album please!! Please share your thoughts, memories and opinions!

Marmite band…. And I love them. This is a fantastic album! Full of dry wit and oddball lyrics.

Mark E Smith is a legend. I like the mix of classic Fall sounds and dance music. The sneering lyrics and dark atmosphere were amazing.

sometimes interesting instrumentals, but I personally can’t stand the singer

Wow! I knew the cover of Lost In Music, but this is just a great album. Rave-punk with Mark E Smith bellowing his madness all over it. I've fallen in love with it - was always warm but not hot on The Fall, bit perhaps this was the album I needed to make me a convert. 10/10

The Fall is one of those bands who have a vast and largely consistent discography, which makes it hard to know where to begin. So, thanks to 1001 for pointing me to this album. I do enjoy Mark E Smith's idiosyncratic vocal delivery but I can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. It's like a drunk man under hypnosis.

Want the sound of a drunk playing a bass shouting in a dustbin? You've got it. Not as bad as it sounds. BT: Ladybird (Green Grass), Paranoia Man in Cheap Shit Room, The League of Bald-Headed Men

There is zero chance that I'll remember anything about this album once I've listened to everything on this list. It's a guy mumbling over some generic early 90s post-punk. A waste of time. Best track: Glam-Racket

I've tried diving into The Fall's discography before but always had the wrong starting point I guess and got too frustrated by the grating noise and aggressive anti-musicality - but this is much friendly water to wade into. He's assembled a pretty fantastic post-punk band here with a funk driven bass high in the mix, guitars that jangle and slash and swirl around, propulsive drums for dancing including high-energy nearly D&B drum machine patterns, and some awesomely cheesy 80s keyboard sounds. They're playing pretty conventionally organized songs - verses, choruses, hooks, melodies, everything! -borrowing a bit from two generations of alt rock: the post-punk of 80s bands like Gang of Four and the Manchester rave rock of Stone Roses & Happy Mondays - going pretty close to full disco on 'Service' & 'Past Gone Mad'. It's powerfull and driving, atmospheric and exciting, restless and frenetic music. It all makes for an accessible and, even appealing, platform for the vocals - which are snarled and sneered and drawled out more than sung. The whole thing is unhinged in a very fun way. Should've started here with them, let's see if this works as a gateway into the rest...

You never quite know what a Fall album is going to sound like, but you know whatever they do, it’s going to sound like The Fall. Does that make sense? I think it does.

I love Mark Smith's vocal style - insouciant, almost bemused, but the lyrics are all business, elegantly phrased but really acidic. I would hate to get on the wrong end of this guy's pen. This is old school social commentary that burns, pure punk in attitude, but smarter. Fave Songs: A Past Gone Mad, It's a Curse, The League of Bald-Headed Men, Lost in Music, Ladybird (Green Grass)

While the album has some decent post-punk bones, it's ruined by some really terrible early-90s electronic trash. At times I was able to look past that and enjoy the very Stooges-esque spoken-word vocals but it was always wrecked by the bloopy-blippy, synthetic trash that covers the whole album like bubblegum-flavored syrup on pancakes. Nobody wants that. Stop it.

Good Lord, that was awful.

not my style of singer at all, sounded a lot like a guy who just doesn't care. A classic British bastard which could be fun for some, but I'm looking for something much more unique.

Peak post punk 4/5

The band are great and if you can tolerate Smith’s idiosyncratic vocal style this is a decent post punk record full of northern grit, swagger and cynical wit.

I can see that this album polarises people, but I loved it.

Wasn't sure what to expect, since I confused The Fall with The Cure before queuing up the album. An interesting mix of sounds. Took me a while to settle into the groove, but when I did I got a distinct dance sensibility (New Order-y kinda?, though I'm not well-versed in their discography either) and obvious similarities to Protomartyr. Didn't quite gel, and my preference for Protomartyr probably says more about me than The Fall. That said, this is apparently one of their more mainstream projects, so I should circle back around and listen to something weirder in the future.

2 stars feels rough, but there's just much better post-punk albums out there. I'd likely never to listen to this again.

There’s not much I can tolerate less than a “singer” whose main goal isn’t to sing but to instead be some sort of sly, enlightened, hip shit-cock who babbles atonal drivel over a largely monotonous (and already dated upon release) musical backing. With a couple of decent exceptions, The Infotainment Scan is roughly 40 minutes of just that. Lucky me. 4/10

I think we've listened to two other Fall albums on 1001 albums. My other half and her cool mates are into the Fall. As a result, I've heard a few of her favourite songs (one of which "Glam Racket" is on this album) and I saw them live at least twice before Mark E. Smith died. I think this is the first time I've really enjoyed them. I can really see where both Pavement and LCD Soundsystem, "took inspiration" from The Fall on this one. I'm going to do a slightly risky thing given I've only heard it once and give it five stars. This is partly due to marking inflation, but mainly because I liked every song and I think I'll come back to this album again!

An Indie dinosaur.

You can always count on Mark E Smith to deliver the goods. Glam Racket is a scathing highlight, prediction the Britpop era sess pool on the rise. The biggest triumph is the Fall delivering a fresh take on their own sound while Indy darlings of the era were plundering their back catalogue

As a member of the league of bald headed men I can’t give this any lower than a 5.

Absolutely bloody brilliant, like everything by The Fall. The only downside was that I knew I was going to listen to the full 2 hours including extras. This is described as one of the most accessible albums from The Fall, but don't worry, the ‘accessible’ bit just refers to a dance music tilt, other than that it's business as usual. Favourite lyric from the extras: ‘If I ever end up like Richard Madeley cut my hands off with an axe please’ (A Past Gone Mad, Peel Session 16) Favourite song: Lost in Music

THIS is the album by The Fall that everyone should know (rather than Saving Grace). It has some of the best lyrics, and tunes, of any of their later albums. And possibly their best cover version in Lost In Music. Glam-Racket, Paranoia Man, A Past Gone Mad are all up there in the canon of great Fall songs. And this would be worth 5 stars for Service alone, one of sadly few wistful and poignant MES lyrics, made even more so by the janky House piano that tries to drive it along (and almost makes it). The nineties production is one of few reservations here. At the risk of being one of the 'lookback bores', these songs really would have benefited from a bigger sound, similar to Hex or Saving Grace. Or even the lo-fi clanking of Grotesque. This seems to fall (ahem) between pretty much every (bar) stool, soundwise. Oh, and Light/Fireworks could have been left off the end and everyone would have been much happier, I suspect. For better versions of many of these songs, The Twenty Seven Points live album shows what they could have sounded like. There's not really such a thing as a bad Fall album in my book, and this is one of the best. I just wish they'd beefed the sound up a bit.

the only Fall album I owned when it came out. contains my favorite Fall song, Paranoia Man, and so many other great tunes. hard to say what's their best but this is up there

One of my favourite Fall albums (I think I might say this everytime I listen to a Fall album?). Nicely evokes happy memories with it's Madchester vibe, even if it does sound a little dated. I'm always surprised and impressed at how MES always stepped close to but rarely strayed into ruining great performances from his band members.

oh nice! I love The Fall I was really in the mood for an album like this, I’m glad I got this today and of course the album is great, a bit weird but that’s what I love about it - 10/10

omg love so much, this is my new favorite album

Hard to be objective about this album -- first record by The Fall that I encountered and I f***ing love it.

One of my favorite bands. They have such an extensive catalog i had not previously listened to this one and i loved it!

This sounds like the band Lou Reed or Iggy Pop would have been in had they lived in Manchester instead of the US. Not bad, but at times grating with its repetitiveness and seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

Man... I love post punk and the 90's are my favorite decade of music, but I don't know if my summary at the end of this is going to represent that because this list keeps throwing out the most average and subpar albums of the 90's. Here's some great 90's albums this list didn't include: Toadies - Rubber Neck, Hum - You'd Prefer an Astronaut, Deftones - Around the Fur, Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West, Faith No More - Angel Dust, or any of the Type O Negative albums just to name a few off the top of my head. I mean I know that some of these are not the most popular, BUT NEITHER IS THIS ALBUM!!! the only difference is that those albums aren't from the UK, because for some reason we need like 50 obscure UK bands instead of some massively influential genre defining American albums. This album is fine, but it is pretty repetitive and doesn't push any new boundaries. Also the singer isn't that great. Mid 3.

This '93 release is much more melodic & accessible than their '79 release, without actually being very accessible. I was suprised to see Nile Rogers name on the song credits. Lots of catchy tracks that grow on you by the 2nd or 3rd listen. I gave their debut a 3, which was actually a 2.5. I'll give this a 3 as well, but it's more like a 3.5.

Danceable punk? No Thanks. I hate that they put a shitty cover of Lost In Music as the second song on the album.

It was interesting... mostly felt like a drug trip that wouldn't end.

This is my second album from The Fall in less than a month's time, and I'm still left wondering why they are on this project at all, let alone twice. Especially considering that their main pitfall from the previous album is the main pitfall here, too -- namely, a very repetitive music and vocal delivery. Really, this is fine, it's just not really very noteworthy. 2.5, but uninspired to really round it up.

what is this doing here

Someone let this band record FIFTEEN times. I first to believe it. This is monotonous, out of time crap.

Another album where decent musicianship is ruined by an annoying singer. sad

2.1 - An old man ranting in his sleep over royalty-free industrial rock music.

Lord, I beg your forgiveness for all the times I sinned, denied your existence, and said your name in vain. Please allow me to rest easy and not listen to another The Fall album, certainly not a fourth album.

I'm in this phase right now where all this list seems to give me are albums that make me want to die. The vocals (there is no singing here) are so wildly awful. After listening to this album for an hour I was actually in a bad mood.

Per the Wikipedia blurb on here: "At the time of its release, it was considered the band's most accessible album." I admittedly haven't listened to other albums by The Fall (so maybe their earlier stuff is akin to Throbbing Gristle), but I don't know how a rational person could describe this album as "accessible." There is no universe in which this album appeals to a wide range of people. Enjoyment of art is subjective, and I'm sure some people like this flavor of weird, and that's fine...but I think this is one of those instances where "different" and "good" are conflated. The vocals here are unusual; that does not make them good. The instrumentals, to me, are neither impressive nor aurally pleasant; sometimes they're weird, sometimes they're basic, never are they good (to clarify: I'm not saying anyone in this band is bad at playing their instrument, I'm just saying the composition is bad). So I think these guys made a bad album, but because it sounds different than the vast majority of albums, some people talk themselves into acting like it's good. Different != good. It's unusual, and I guess it's interesting in some ways, but I did not enjoy this at all.

The Fall. NIE gehört. Ansage nach Lesen von Band- und Album-Info auf Wikipedia: bin ergebnisoffen, glaube aber, dass ich es scheiße finden werde. Uuuund: ich finde es zum kotzen. Das kann doch mit DEM Gesang keiner ernsthaft produzieren. An welcher Stelle hat da die Selbstkritik ausgesetzt? (Im Übrigen: wie unmusikalisch ist das 'panel‘ von Musikkritikern, das diese Anthologie erstellt hat, dass es DIESES Album für würdig befindet, darin aufgenommen zu werden?) Stellenweise ist sind die Stücke ja ganz nett arrangiert, das täuscht aber zu keinem Zeitpunkt über die uninspirierten Kompositionen hinweg. Ich MUSSTE nach dem 5. Song ausmachen, nie wieder The Fall. Am liebsten kein Stern.

Awful. DNF. 0 stars.

The Fall's catalog is intimidatingly huge, and I had never heard this one, alas. 😭 Weird to say but a great one to start with?

A jagged, glitchy anti-pop manifesto, delivered by Mark E. Smith while pacing in circles around the concept of “reality.” This album is like if your TV malfunctioned and started insulting you—in iambic verse—with a broken Casio keyboard playing behind it. It’s one part dystopian rave, one part aggressively Northern spoken-word breakdown, and somehow still catchy?? Smith doesn’t rap or sing—he decrees. And you, helpless mortal, are decreed upon. ⸻ 🧃 Rating: 4.4/5

Great album, you can se they influenced so many different bands with their style.

I love The Fall.

Wish wish wish I had been out of my music hiatus during this era I would have dead-headed these guys across the countryside.

Paranoia Man in a Cheap Shit Room Past Gone Mad

There are other albums by The Fall that are better than this, but I'm still going with five stars. Just like a stopped clock is right twice a day, there came a time where the music scene and The Fall were aligned for a short while. It didn't last long, it probably wasn't intentional, but, for a short time, it was almost hip to profess an interest in The Fall's back catalogue. For me, there's few albums by The Fall where I actually love every single track. This is one of them. The cover of Lost in Music is up there on my personal list of the best tracks of all time and I could listen to Mark say "Glam Rac-ket-uh" maybe one hundred more times than he actually does.

Perfect!

Pleasantly surprised to see this on the list. I love a bit of The Fall. Easy 5

Kickass! Opened up a whole new vein of punk rock to me!

Ne er heard of them before, but great

This album had a live version of a song that I'd never heard before from the previous album I listened to and it's freaking me out more than it should

Yes! What a cracker. Loved it

Very underrated album and band.

Five stars because fu the Fall are awesome. It's different and you just don't get it. This is their most accessible album, and it's not all that accessible. I wonder if someone challenged Mark E. Smith (who is a god by the way) to come up with a pop album? Might change me name to Shadrach Glamrick.

Will come back to you

This is just incandescently brilliant music. The drunkard beat poetry lyrics are pretty good too. Anyone hating on this album but at the same time loves Dylan for his singing need to STFU. Favorites? Yes, all of them.

nice album, never heard of them, but i would definitely check out more of them

Lost In Music, I'm Going to Spain, Paranoia Man in a Cheap Shit Room, and The League of Bald-Headed Men all bangers

good weird lost in music glam-racket it's a curse service past gone mad

Again, awesome album!

Great peak 90s fall with electronic touches and studio trickery. The band slaps.

New to me. Can‘t believe how good it is!

Love the Fall! Haven’t heard this one as much as Hex Enduction Hour or Wonderful and Frightening World but it is prime Fall music

great album, my fist listen to The Fall and liked it a lot!

This is hilarious, and knowingly, intelligently so. Post-irony before it was even a thing.

I really disliked “Live at the Witch Trials” and disliked “The Nation’s Saving Grace.” I’m wondering why I need another album from The Fall. With great reservations and more than a little resentment this journey begins… “Ladybird”… this is not terrible… maybe even exceeding tolerable. Way better than expected. “Lost In Music”… what?! A remake of a Sister Sledge song?! By Nile Rogers?! Ummmm… this is unexpected… they’ve breached the walls! WTF?! I love this! “Glam-Racket”… nice beat! Great guitar! Fuck… am I having fun?! “I’m Going To Spain”… Love the delivery, love the tune, love the lyrics, love it! The remaining songs have interesting arrangements, a sort of punk-y vibe and constant undertones of madness. Even the odd talking-over-the-music thing is working for me over music this good. A few songs tested my patience a little… but they are surrounded with so much good stuff that any discomfort was quickly forgotten. Where The Fall’s other albums I heard were off-the-rails bad, this one is an odd and wildly fun ride that teeters precariously along without ever losing me as a listener. I willingly continued into the two bonus tracks and loved them both. Well hell… Never in a million years would I have thought The Fall would get a 5 out of me but The Infotainment Scan kicked me square in the musical nuts and here we are.

The only bad thing about this album is the suprisingly well played music which often overshadowed the spokenword lyrics of the titan that was Mark E Smith.

Pongan menos pinche Elton John y más The Fall. Por el amor de dios.

Discazo. Favs: "Lost in Music", "Past Gone Mad", "Why Are People Grudgeful?". 10/10

skroz kulllll

"The Infotainment Scan" is the 15th album by English post-punk band the Fall. Alternative rock, post-punk and alternative dance are the Wiki-listed genres. An odd assortment but fits. The album was well-received critically and, at the time of its release, was cited as their most accessible album. The bandmembers included Mark E. Smith (vocals, tapes, production), Craig Scanlon (guitar), Steve Hanley (bass, backing vocals), Simon Wolstencroft (drums, programming) and Dave Bush (keyboards, programming, backing vocals). The album reached #9 in the UK. Looping sounds open the album and "Ladybird (Green Grass)." A drum beat, deep bass and Smith's vocals enter. Great guitar in this post-punk song. The Fall sounding like the Fall in this coming of age themed song with Smith stressing to get out of town. They change things up next with a cover of Sister Sledge's "Lost in Music." A disco dance beat and a jingly Chic-esque guitar. Oh, Mr. Smith cannot hold back and blasts Britpop and Suede in "Glam-Rock." This song would not be out of place on Blur's "Parklife." The highlight of the album might be "It's a Curse." A driving guitar riff, more deep bass and a rock beat. Hypnotic with a groove going. An echoing piano. He's trying to get over a relationship but its causing him to be mind fucked. The band fuses distorted guitar and a disco beat in the eerie "Paranoid Man in Cheap Sh*t Room." Of course, the title was taken from a "Twilight Zone" episode. The last song on the CD and the only single released is "Why Are People Grudgeful?" A song influenced by two reggae songs (Joe Gibbs, Lee Scratch Perry). More a pop song with a churning guitar and pronounced bass. On this album, the Fall does not do the complete transition that Wire did from their punk 70's style to their 80's electronic phase but they do successfully incorporate disco and pop beats into their post-punk musically base. The songs cover a range of topics (get out of town, dance, Britpop, making fun of a bad song, paranoia, gerontocracy (only old people in control) and dissing the pop past). Mark E. Smith is as cranky, funny, grumpy and droll as ever. Yes, this is a really good album. There's plenty to like here and it's never boring.

I love the fall and this album has a couple of funny songs on it, glam rocket and going to Spain for example. I don’t think it’s the best and it’s not in my regular playlist but it’s definitely the Fall. I think if you didn’t already like the fall this might be to long for the average listener.

Great album. Learned about The Fall from this listening series and I'm very happy to have done so.

Good english punk, little hard do understand but maybe due to sound system

why did i think the fall was a 2000s pop rock band

Interesting

Didn't expect post-punk to be so dancey and fun but The Fall really make it work. Reminds me of some LCD Soundsystem stuff, which can't be such a bad thing. Pretty dang solid record! 7/10

Very good.

Je ne connaissais pas,une belle découverte 😉

Really enjoyed this one 👌

I've never listened to The Fall before this album showed up. I found the album mostly pretty pleasant. Particularly liked "lost in music"' "I'm going to Spain" and "league moon monkey mix" Hard to believe these guys have released 31 albums and that having released that many times I've still barely heard of them. They're pretty good, though! I've gone on and listened to more of their stuff after the album finished, so yeah a good discovery!

It was incredibly weird and I liked it.

Well. Mark E. Smith, man. I don't think anything would have prepared me for this, and if I'm transparent for a second, I'm really not sure what to make of it. I've been describing this one as the inverted, evil cousin of Achtung Baby. Seems to serve as a gateway into the Fall's spiraling and strange discography.

Weird elevated to idiosyncratic genius (this means you, Mark E.). Even the title is one edge off from expectations--we get to look at the subject as it's drawn out all over the place under withering satire. The nonsinging invites you to hear the droning, driving insistence of the music more clearly. I can't hear enough.

I think with Mark E Smith, you’re either all in or find The Fall impenetrable. Even though I never nowadays willingly spin a Fall record I’m reminded that actually Smith is an unlovable genius and I get sucked in. Those hypnotic repetitive melodies and that monotone is strangely compelling. I’m in.

It's funny. I'm never in the mood for The Fall, and yet, every time I put on one of their records, I'm all in. They kind of defy logic for me. When I read the negative reviews for them on this site, I basically agree with everything people say. The dude not only can't sing, but he has a distinctive delivery that can absolutely drive people insane, and what's more, thanks to his accent, I can barely understand half of what he's saying. On paper, I feel like I should hate this. And yet, somehow I don't. The band keeps things interesting. And Mark E Smith, rather than annoying me, always keeps a smile on my face.

ladybird hani etz no fun gfunde. er singt lustig. lost in music au no cool, er groovt recht. chic cover findi geil. haha glam racket fangt mitem heavy bassriff ah und denn chunt mega nöd de drumbeat woni erwartet hett. i'm going to spain tönt wie 80er indie? nice? aber er singt chrüzfalsch. mann ey die britische indie bands. paranoia man in cheap shit room isch en rieeese titel. find de song au no geil er redt afoch sache. moll cool. bi service hani etz au no erstuunlich spass. baldheaded au no geil?? hää past gone mad goht au easy dumm mit elektrobeat und gitarre und so? fett geil? haha light fireworks hört afoch uf und en guy brummlet chli ume.

This Kicks ass. 4 stars.