Track Listing

1. Joker Hysterical Face
2. Marquis Cha-Cha
3. Hard Life In Country
4. Room To Live
5. Detective Instinct
6. Solicitor In Studio
7. Papal Visit
8. Joker Hysterical Face
9. Town Called Crappy/ Solicitor In Studio
10. Hard Life In Country
11. Detective Instinct
12. Room To Live
13. Words Of Expectation

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52692 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 78 minutes

CD Description
Fall leader Mark E. Smith had never been satisfied with thesound of 1983's PERVERTED BY LANGUAGE, so this CD release has been completely remixed. This is not only The Fall's best-sounding album-it may well be the group's best album, period. PERVERTED BY LANGUAGE is an important record in The Fall's long and prolific career, as it begins a six-year stretch during which the band released one excellent album after another--each filled with such intelligent, knotty, and increasingly pop-oriented songs as LANGUAGE's "Eat Y'self Fitter", "Smile", and "I Feel Voxish". LANGUAGE is also the first album to feature Smith's then-wife Brix on guitar. The CD includes five tracks previously available only on singles, including 1982's amazing "Kicker Conspiracy", a funny and appealing song about football.

Customer Reviews

Hex Part 2?
Since there doesn't appear to be one already, I'll start with the tracklist:

1. Joker Hysterical Face
2. Marquis Cha-Cha
3. Hard Life In Country
4. Room To Live
5. Detective Instinct
6. Solicitor In Studio
7. Papal Visit

Live Bonus Tracks:
8. Joker Hysterical Face
9. Town Called Crappy - Solicitor In Studio
10. Hard Life In Country
11. Detective Instinct
12. Room To Live
13. Words Of Expectation

This album got a pretty nonplussed reaction on its original release - perhaps because it came so soon after the scorching "Hex Enduction Hour", a hard act to follow. It's much shorter than "Hex" but it's just as good in its way.

Highlights for me are Marquis Cha-Cha, which contains possibly the funkiest bassline of any Fall tune and Solicitor In Studio, which is a mighty stomping beast of a tune with lyrics about a lawyer trying to get in on the "TV celebrity-expert" racket.

Some of Mark E Smith's clearest, funniest writing can be found on this album. My favourite line at the moment is the repeated exclamation "Scientists and their bloody childish reading habits!" from SIS.

The bonus tracks fill the disc right up to over 77 minutes, and provide squealy, distorted versions of the original tunes, plus the seldom heard Words Of Expectation, 9 minutes of classic Fall bass chug a la Tempo House or Winter.

So, a great disc, but it gets a star docked because of Papal Visit - one of the very worst Fall noise experiments, with scratchy toddler-style violin playing and inaudible lyrics both courtesy of MES. Still, it wouldn't be a Fall album without that confrontational edge, and this one is one of their best.

Just Step S'ways
A few groups have been plagued by the question, 'how does one follow up one of the greatest albums of all time?'. Far fewer manage to equal that previous release. This was the challenge faced by The Fall after Hex Enduction Hour. However, it is unlike Mark E Smith to worry about expectations. Room to Live can hardly be compared to Hex; it is a very different album. However, my star rating betrays the fact that I prefer its predecessor. I'd recommend Hex to anyone, but this is perhaps more of an aquired taste. I love practically anything with Mark on violin, but many people do not.

Amazon's Tag Suggestions for this review include: budget, live albums, pop rock, christian, new wave and greatest hits. None of these are remotely appropriate.