Artist:The Fall
Song:Victoria
Album:A-Sides 1978-2016
The British band The Fall were successful mostly at home. They had a few hits like this 1988 cover of The Kinks' classic Victoria. But mostly they had a rabid cult following and never crossed over to mainstream pop. And I don't think The Fall leader Mark E. Smith wanted anything more than that. He formed The Fall in Prestwich, England with Martin Bramah, Una Baines and Tony Friel. Influences include the German band Can, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges. After watching a Sex Pistols show, the four decided to start a band. Smith wanted to call the band The Outsiders. But Friel came up with The Fall which was a 1956 novel by Albert Camus. Smith was an avid reader so he liked that. The band was Smith on vocals, Bramah on guitar, Friel on bass and Baines on keyboards. They had a drummer at their first show. But he left and Friel brought in Karl Burns who he knew from another band. Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon saw them and paid for a recording session. When he couldn't afford to release them, Boon gave the tapes to Smith. Una's friend Kay Carroll became their manager and Smith's girlfriend. Friel didn't like her and was replaced by Eric McGann. He soon left and Uma was replaced by Yvonne Pawlett after Uma overdosed on drugs. They did record their first session with BBC DJ John Peel. He became a big fan. Bramah was the last original member to leave and he formed the band Blue Orchids with Uma. Since then, It's been Smith's show and anyone else is disposable. That's how he treated people. Some guys did stay like guitarist Craig Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley. The Fall had released a couple of albums on a small label. But then they released the 1980 album Totale's Turns on Rough Trade. And that's when things started to pick up. The problem was Smith didn't like Rough Trade. So in 1984 he switched to Beggars Banquet and they stayed there a long time. While on tour in the US. Smith met Brix Salenger. She became his wife and Brix Smith moved to England and became lead guitarist. She also wrote songs with Smith. She stayed until 1989 and that was probably The Fall's most stable period. This cover of The Kinks' classic Victoria is from the 1988 album The Frenz Experiment. It was a top 40 hit in England. Other than that, Smith wrote all the songs on the album. Simon Rogers produced. He was guitarist for The Fall for a while. You can get Victoria on this 3CD box set of singles. The Fall was not as successful after that. But Smith continued to lead the band until he died of cancer on Jan.24, 2018 at age 60. Here's the video for Victoria by The Fall.
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