perverted by language

The Fall expanded (uh) into new musical and emotional territory with this experimental post punk pop perversion.  After releasing 'Hex Enduction Hour' and 'Room to Live' on Kamera Records, the band was convinced to return to Rough Trade.  Guitarist and keyboardist Marc Riley had been fired from the band early on in 1983 after tensions arose between him and Mark E. Smith during their tour of Australia and New Zealand (documented by the live album 'In a Hole' on Flying Nun Records) the previous year.  He was replaced later that year by Smith's new American wife Brix (Laura Elisse Salenger) Smith, who was instrumental in moving the group in a more pop friendly direction.  The single "The Man Whose Head Expanded" became a hit on the UK indie chart and in New Zealand.  

'Perverted By Language' was recorded at Pluto in Manchester with producer Steve Parker and features Mark E. Smith on vocals, piano, and violin; Craig Scanlon on guitar and vocals; Steve Hanley on bass guitar; Paul Hanley on drums and keyboards; Karl Burns on drums and bass guitar; and Brix(e) Smith on guitar and lead vocals on "Hotel Blöedel", backing vocals on "Eat Y'Self Fitter".  

Mark E. Smith considered at the time:    “It’s wrong to spoil yourself with sound in my line of work. I like to hear my records distorted to a degree, but I am pretty fussy when it comes to other people’s records. I really love the sound of those early Elvis and Gene Vincent things. I’d like to capture that atmosphere myself...Everything sounds good in the studio but that isn’t the way everybody else hears it. Some things don’t come across too well on it though. The bass can be very fuzzy, but then I don’t like much bass anyway. I particularly hate the very clean thudding bass on a lot of new records which I find very irritating. It’s too clean and becomes like a metronome...I don’t like Walkmans. I can’t say why, I just don’t. But I usually take a small cassette player on tour and I use it on stage for echo and backing effects. At home I have a small Hitachi cassette player and a JVC portable cassette recorder with Dolby, which I use for demos. I use it to jot down ideas with just voice and guitar. Sometimes I like to use it in the studio, putting the vocal on to it and then from there on to a track, but out of sync, so that it adds atmosphere. Sometimes I do the same for the guitar. I use that trick a lot on stage too.  I’ve got a little black box in the guitar and if I tune the JVC to FM [radio] I can put the guitar through it to get odd noises. I like unique sounds but as I’m not mechanically minded I prefer simple methods like that. You lose a lot of atmosphere when you try to recreate a demo in the studio, that’s why I like those early Elvis things. It’s all one-mike stuff. I don’t like using separate tracks for the drums, etc., in the studio but our latest album, ‘Perverted By Language’, was well-produced by our standards. It’s not so offensive to the ears this time!”

'Perverted By Language' went to number one on the UK indie album chart.  






http://www.visi.com/fall/

http://www.thefall.org/






1. "Eat Y'self Fitter"   Mark E. Smith 6:38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCOt6wbm80




2. "Neighbourhood of Infinity"   Smith, Karl Burns, Paul Hanley, Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon 2:41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_IF_qtgxLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eNlbabuYk8




3. "Garden"   M. Smith, Scanlon 8:42
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fIKzhUL2qs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMJJmdlZoPw




4. "Hotel Blöedel"   M. Smith, S. Hanley, Brix Smith 3:47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDR-OISJX8c

5. "Smile"   M. Smith, Scanlon 5:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhk6ZT6T0xA




6. "I Feel Voxish"   M. Smith, S. Hanley, Marc Riley 4:19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93POvcAyQ08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENxezdcIa4Q





7. "Tempo House" (recorded live at The Haçienda, Manchester in July 1983) M. Smith, S. Hanley 8:51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48z01TSaImM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTJdWN6BqwU





8. "Hexen Definitive / Strife Knot"   M. Smith, Burns, Adrian Niman, Scanlon 6:57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LRobcK8ULk







The full length video the band wanted to make for the album led to another falling out with Rough Trade.  They funded it themselves.