I've only been into The Gruppe for 4 years and love pretty much everything they've ever done. It occurred to me the other day that the long time Fall fans who got into them in the early days, or the mid-80s or even in the 90s will have a completely different perspective on the albums than I have, because of levels of expectation before each came out, etc.
Did you love the Dragnet to Hex/PBL stuff than go off them when they got Brix in?
Were you a bit perplexed (as Stewart Lee was) by the early 90s programmed beats, etc?
What about the break-up in late 90s?
Or have you always loved them no matter what changes they went through?

The main reason I'm asking is because everything I've bought upto and including Fall Heads Roll was retrograde, with no real expectations to shatter; but RPTLC and IWS were both highly-anticipated by me, because I'd been to gigs and heard the songs live beforehand. I love them both; but I can't imagine what it must have been like to go through that for 30 years...pretty fucking exhilirating, I guess. :beer:

I got a bit depressed around the Levitate period.

Had a lot of personal upheavals at the time (1995-1998), and the Gruppe seemed to be imploding at about the same time.

After 1998, work and travel totally took over my life (Regular 60-70 hour weeks for 5 years or so). I didn't really get back into music at all til about 2004, and spent a few years catching up. I have the broadband revolution to thank for the blessing of home based working.

:applaud:

60 - 70 hour workweek? That would have killed a lesser man. sorry 'bout that.

I've never wavered from thinking the Fall was the best band[even though I still don't much care for Levitate although the two CD singles back to back I really like].

I rate the Fall with a half dozen or so people or groups I reallly liked until they broke up or died. If the Fall puts it out, I'll but it and like it.

All in the past now.

Making up for it with 2-3 days working from my own home.

Clawing back that time slowly.

That's the spirit!!! Your job is keeping your job and taking in house vacations if possible.

Started listening to The Fall seriously around '85 - Cruisers Creek in the Peel festive 50 was the first one to catch my attention. Bought Bend Sinister soon after, and collected all I could from the (then) back catalogue.

Lost interest with Shiftwork (although I bought the Free Range single), and never returned till 2004/05 when I saw them on Jools Holland! ^_^

Immediately hooked again, I had a serious amount of catching up to do, but am now happily back on track. :)

Moral: NEVER let your Fall habit lapse, let alone for 14 odd years - plays havoc with yer bank balance... :rolleyes:

First saw 'em in '84, had been into them for a bit before that. So from "WAFWOTF" followed them right through to "The Infotainment Scan" without bothering to explore the back catalogue at all, not quite sure why - other than buying "Palace of Swords Reversed". I suppose in that era it was enough just to keep up with their current releases.
Then became a parent/ went off the radar for a bit, although a friend kept me in touch by sending me snippets of new albums as they came out. Only rediscovered them properly when making a Europe trip and finding it coincided happily with the New Century Hall gig in 2006.
Bought everything they've done since and explored the back catalogue deeply to find the most joyous, intense and challenging music I've ever heard.
So an on/off relationship really, but never went off 'em.
:D

Since 78, went off them a bit towards the late 80s (but I was getting drunk in Spain) but saw Extricate as a real return to form. But hey what do I knw?

First heard them in '84, I think, but it was the release of This Nation's the following year that made me sit up and take notice. I then started to explore the back catalogue more seriously. Lost interest in the early 1990's, but that coincided with a transient lifestyle when I lost interest in most things. (When ur living on the 'bones of ur arse' the first casualty is usually luxury items like music.) I began to take an active interest in music again in about 05/06, and joining the forum in 07 has definitely given me an unhealthy obsession with the gruppe. :ohdear:

First option.

I would consider myself a Fall fan for almost 29 years now. Admittedly the 90s weren't quite as trailblazing as the first 10 years, but that didn't diminish my Fall affection at all. The only time I felt a bit unsure was the 1997-2002 phase. However even then I was convinced the turnaround for the better would arrive. Unsurprisingly I was proven right...

went off them a bit in the mid - late 90s. wasnt really into the material. since them i have massively re-evaluated this ludicrous decision! i'm beinning to appreciate this part of the fall much more than i used to. it was watching the vid to 15 ways on youtube that made me think again - great track. also i was lost in a world of techno in the mid to late 90s anyway, which is not bad place to be lost in!! :)

i felt less worse about it when i read in the renegade book that even MES himself admitted that he wasnt at his best then. phew!!

I guess I loved 'em, then went of 'em a wee bit.
Brought PBL when it came out, within 6 months had all the albums / singles.
Saw them live for the first time in 1985 - and at least once every year since then.
BUT! Kinda went of 'em during Bend / Frenz / IAKO - shocking I know... back on board by Extricate and totally "locked in" again since Levitate.

Got into them about 1983.
I hate the Brix knockers, as the shine she put on them was part of the reason I got into them.
I lost interest in the new stuff after being on the dole and spending £12 on Middle Class Revolt. I felt swindled, especially after the sheer magic of TIS.
Around about 2002, I realised I was a complete tool, and that every Fall album is - technically - rather ace.
And verily there shall be more joy over one sinner who repenteth than something or other or what not.
It's in the Bible.
"Probably near the back" - Rev Lovejoy.

:o

was going to post here but asm's post more or less describes what happened with me.

Baby oil would be my guess.

Got into them later 86. Festive 50 and repeat peel session. First record bought was WAFWOTF (my local record shop didnt have Bend Sinister). Fairly avid until MCR (although in hindsight I'd probably spent a couple of years in denial). Then CC was the first album I didnt buy when it came out, which is weird as how did I know it was rubbish before I bought it. But then along came Chiselers and its been pretty good every since.

I remember her saying in an interview that she used a eucalyptus-based soap.

Can I just rephrase that line?
"I hate the people on here who knock Brix, as I think that she gave their music a pop-edged melodic shine, which - though much detracted - was one of the reasons that I first got into the Fall."

Kids!

I got into the Fall in the early 90s, loving the early catalog up throught the erly Brix years. I loved it so much I gave Infotainment and MCR many listens just because it was the Fall, even though I thought they were sleepwalking through the material. I still anticipated every new Fall release, although at that time I was only able to listen to them in the record stores because they were usually only available as imports...and I was dead broke.

I remember seeing The Marshal Suite in the shop- $25 or something. With that god awful cover. I listened to it and thought- they are done. It's over. What a pity.

But then I found a used copy of Levitate for $5 and realized what sort of genius they were actually up to. Techno and electronica were sounds that immediately turned me off at the time- and on surface listening, where you're quickly shuffling through the tracks at the record store, something like Marshall Suite seemed utterly generic and terrible to me. But those late 90s albums require deeper listening. They still perplex me- it's what the Fall is about...being on the verge of crap and genius, almost losing balance on the tightrope.

For the past seven years, I have been less than thrilled with the Fall. I still anticipate each album- and hope that all the line-up chaos produces a gem like the Unutterble again...but this garage rock 101 jag has been going on for far too long. There are little glimmers of hope on some of the albums, though.

as anyone who will listen knows. i got perverted by language in 1989. it was the most interesting thing in a closing down sale in a record shop on the isle of wight.

played it once. huh? i thought. then over a few weeks, it just took over...

very quickly got latwt,tnsg, i am ko,seminal live (which was then a new release and i loved it!)

fell out of love for periods around cc and mcr.

but lus just blew everything out of the water. i thought it was great.

been a sad old obsessive since.

if i'd bought tears for fears instead in the closing down sale, god knows where i'd be...

on edit, i think peel played all the sessions in the summer of 1990, i think he branded it 'the fall in august', still got some on a c90. that was a great time!

God, Tears for Fears! I bet you wake up in a sweat sometimes. How close!

I never went off them. Some LPs have been not as good as others, but then the next one comes along and shows that they're not in a terminal decline, and that the whole release schedule is really some kind of long-term project, with individual sections sometimes only making sense years later. I did not much like CC when it came out, but the concerts at the time were as good as any others. AYAMW is still not particularly likeable (and I didn't much care for the concerts of those times); but you knew that that wouldn't last, and he'd come up with something different. And he did. (I never understood the dislike of Levitate.)

Joined mid 80's with considerable verve and interest, but spent most of the 90's not caring at all- still buying all the material of course, but without much enthusiasm but for the couple of great songs on often, to my ears, otherwise miserable albums. Something about Levitate, which is, 'objectively', full of holes, drew me back in, and then Marshall Suite sent me packing again. Unutterable brought me back, and my enthusiasm has lingered despite the slower pace of releases and the presence of Fall Heads Roll. IWS is gold to these ears, and it needed to be.....

That was the thing that converted me, finally.

Since then, up and down. Down at the moment. But I will come back to them at some point.

I like the period when Scanley/Hanlon were in the group.