Track Listing

1. New Big Prinz
2. Overture From 'I Am Kurious Oranj'
3. Dog Is Life/Jerusalem
4. Kurious Oranj
5. Wrong Place Right Time
6. CD Win Fall 2088 AD
7. Yes Oh Yes Van Plague
8. Bad News Girl
9. Cab It Up
10. Last Nacht
11. Big New Prinz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10467 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Named in honour of a series of Swedish softcore films of the '60s, 1988's I AM KURIOUS ORANJ is not a typical Fall album. This is the band's score for a ballet by England's experimental Michael Clark Dance Troupe. Although nearly all of the album's ten songs have vocals, they're necessarily understated, given the music's role as background. As a result, I AM KURIOUS ORANJ is possibly the most low-key release in the band's long and amazingly prolific career. Besides the stillrather aggressive title track, the album's highlight is a straightforward and surprisingly lovely version of William Blake's "Jerusalem", probably the most surprising cover ever by a band known for its odd choices in outside material. The CD includes three non-LP bonus tracks, including "Big New Priest", a radically different version of the album's opening track, "New Big Prinz".

Customer Reviews

Can't dance, can't sing
Ballet, the Fall. It is not the first pairing to come to mind i guess. Perhaps this can be a litle arty at times, it has something of a classical feel; repeated themes, and even repeated songs, dominate with subtle changes. The rhythms are aggressive, and ostentatiously vocal whoops make this definitively MES's work. What else would you expect? The verbal p[layfullness here is akin to that one might find in Beefheart's better bits, think Mirror man sans stonedness, for circularity of reference and punning.
And then, of course, overall, it's an eighteenth century, historical, concept album rock ballet. This genre does not form the bulk of many people's collections (unless aforementioned are small collections indeed). In a way one owes oneself a little insight into such a world.

My First Fall record
I have been looking backwards for inspiration musically lately and have found myself drawn back to The Smiths and the Stone Roses.One of my friends is a Fall obsessive and persuaded me to check the Fall out.Despite my protestations I felt myself strangely drawn to the haunting melody of "Overture from 'I am curious,Orange" which is the second track on the cd.This song neatly blends Brix Smith's pop sensibilities with Mark Smith's studied eccentricity.Other stand out track is the ska tinged "Kurious Oranj" which displays a tight band oozing of confidence.This album is very pleasant to the ear and is a good starting point for those who want to be introduced to Mark Smith's epic and occasionally disturbing musical oddysey...Enjoy!

More evidence of genius!
It's 1988 so naturally MES and The Fall do a song/ballet/art statement about the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when William & Mary of the Dutch House of Orange were invited to take over the English throne (that's the "Van Plague" he's talking about). I mean, what else would a pop band do with their time? But this album contains one of the all-time great Fall songs, one of the pinnacles of Mark E Smith's art, the towering, almighty re-interpretation of William Blake's "Jerusalem". It kicks off with "Dog is Life", a rant against dogs and dog owners that I totally identify with ("you don't see many rabbits being walked down the street") and then Jerusalem proper begins, and your life is never the same again. The band here is playing as heavy as they ever did on this track, the bass just grinding down, and down, and then down some more, while MES spits out Blake's verse with powerful menace, he really means it, ("I will not rest until Jerusalem is built in England's green and pleasant land"), and then, in the middle, he produces a glorious statement of libertarian sarcasm, as MES slips on a banana skin, hits his head on a protruding-ah!, brick-ah!, chip-ah!, and blames it all on the government. "It was the government's fault-ah! It was the fault-ah! of the government! Think I'll move to Holland, or Sweden, and get looked after properly by the government-ah!" I love this track, saw them do it live in London in 1989, it was very intense and, what's more, it was the night after the budget announcement! You'll appreciate that if you listen closely to "Jerusalem". The rest of the album is ok, but believe me, while some of their other work matched it, they never surpassed what they acheived here on "Jerusalem".