I just noticed this the other day and wondered what people thought about it. Basically, i-tunes are putting together their own compilations. If you go to the i-tunes store they’ve even got one for The Fall.

It’s even got its own cover – 458489-style lettering and a photo of Brix coming up behind Mark like she’s about to give him a vampire bite or something. Even so, I can’t see even the most hardcore completists rushing to download this.

It’s actually in three volumes – The Basics, Next Steps and Deep Cuts. Yes, really. There’s 20 – 25 tunes on each, mostly from the 80s and they cost £16 - £19 depending on how many songs.

Volume 1 The Basics goes:

Totally Wired
How I Wrote Elastic Man
Hit the North, Part 1
There's a Ghost in My House
Kicker Conspiracy
Cruisers Creek
The Man Whose Head Expanded
Victoria
Hip Priest
Wolf Kidult Man
Theme from Sparta F.C.
Spoilt Victorian Child
Bingo-Master's Break Out!
C.R.E.E.P.
Oh! Brother
Leave the Capital
Rollin’ Dany
Couldn't Get Ahead
Hey! Luciani
Rowche Rumble
Lay of the Land

Seems a bit random with the running order there, same with the other two volumes as well. And looking at it, I was wondering how they decided what songs to include in the first place. Maybe the ones they’ve already sold the most of?

And in another exciting development, i-tunes have thoughtfully packaged all three volumes into one Complete Set. Press the ‘Buy All Songs’ button on that one and it’s going to cost you £51.35. For 65 Fall songs of i-tunes’ choosing.

So what about the economics of it? It sounds like a lot I think, they don’t even make the CDs. It also doesn’t look very good value for money when you look at how many songs you get on some of the Sanctuary re-issues for instance and the price you can buy them for.

It’ll never catch on!

Release date, February 2 ‘09. I’m guessing they didn’t start with The Fall so not sure how new this all is, I don’t use i-tunes much and hadn’t noticed it before. They’re not just packaging bands like this either, they’re doing it by genre and by year, etc, as well.

Another funny thing about it is where they’ve got a handy list of The Fall’s influencers, followers and contemporaries in the biography section. The influencers for instance are Syd Barrett, The Beatles, The Byrds, Incredible String Band, Roy Harper, John Lennon, Can, Pink Floyd and The Seeds. Followers include Whipping Boy, Sportsguitar and The Passage.

Well done, Steve.

Just goes to show that everything that starts with a "small letter i" is a rip-off. In some way or another.

Sounds like a reasonable idea if you don't know anything about a group, and you don't know where to start, and you'd like to let someone else make the decisions.

A bit like asking a friend to do you a compilation tape.

Like you say, though, these will be the most requested songs, so they're not exactly going for surprises.

'Deep Cuts', eh?

Yes, it seems like a good compo for beginners then maybe they will discover the more hidden but richer delights - I know this was pretty much how the group caught my ear in the first place, except it was the Student Union jukebox with about 8 singles/B-sides on it.

I did a similar sort of random compilation for someone at work who'd never heard of them, and he just bought Hex Enduction Hour yesterday :thumbsup:

What exactly would those DEEP CUTS be?
what did they consider to be only EXPERT STUFF?

An Lp by The Knife perhaps

It's made up entirely of live versions of Hex era anthem "And This Day".

Since you asked, the Deep Cuts are as follows:

Lost In Music
Dead Beat Descendent
God Box
Jerusalem
Pay Your Rates
What You Need
Fantastic Life
Popcorn Double Feature
Smile
Alton Towers
Clear Off
Cab It Up
Middlemass
Hard Life In Country
I Feel Voxish
Petty (Thief) Lout
In These Times
Draygo's Guilt
White Lightning
Crackhouse

wait... Crackhouse?!

Hey, I hadn't noticed it.
what the hell is crackhouse?

Only one of the most sought after live recordings, never released as a studio track, and MES never allows it to be released! ^_^

Sorry folk, no Crackhouse... the rest of the Deep Cuts are legit though...

You old tease, you! :(

:( Sorry. It was late and I was feeling mischievous.

Since MES is in seemingly good form and sending us May missives, however, this mighn't be a bad time to ask...

"Popcorn Double Feature" a Deep Cut?

Strange world...

Promise I'm not bullshitting, but I was going to post exactly the same comment earlier. :)

The Deep Cuts selections (not just for The Fall, but any of the itunes essentials) are a bit of a mystery to me. I understand the initial selection as being similar to an introduction to the band or a 'best of' and the next 20 or 25 for people who want to hear a bit more, but surely by the time someone gets to Deep Cuts they'd be better off investigating the individual albums?

It is down to your MES avatar - He is sharing with you his pre cog powers :D

It does seem peculier, given the amount of previous compilations available (Red Box Set for one), to release this trio of collections.

I suppose it's aimed at the people who only download their music, rather than collectors of CDs and vinyl.

But then I suppose some of the original albums are available to download anyway... :unsure:

It's the price that kills me. Between £16 and £19 pounds per set?
Are they really suprised when people choose to go down the file sharing route, especially for a band you only want to sample?

Good idea, but like everything ipod related, toooooo expensive. £50 for this lot. Wont that get you the Peel box set and the red box set also?

I can't help but think of i-Store users as being fools with too much money.

Considering you can get both boxes you mentioned for as little as £15/20 each if you look around then its deffo a smarter move.
However, if you're interested in the band you could always pick up 50000 Fall Fans or the The Rough Trade Anthology* for less then a tenner each.

*I already owned both TNSG and A Past Gone Mad (and A-Sides?) when I got this, but it's what really made me see the light.
Awesome 2 CD comp. Even though everyone on here will have all the tracks if you see it for around a fiver, grab it.

True in this case - those compilations are too expensive. These days you'd be better off checking them out using Spotify if you're curious...

Doesn't mean that all "i-stores" are like that though - like on eMusic I pay about a tenner a month for 50 songs. That's 3 + Fall albums right there.

A tenner for 50 songs aint bad at all, I guess :)

Not as good as nothing for endless songs, but still... :lol:

In all seriousness I think that if they charged around 30p a track more people would pay attention rather then going down the illegal path.
Thats about £6.00 for twenty tracks, about the price as an album from, say, Fopps.

Not everyone would be happy. Not even the majority - After all, free is always a bargain and the chances of getting caught are still quite low.

Me? I'll buy what I need if I find it cheap in stores and if not I'll have my Father-In-Law download it for me via bit torrent*.

*Our own laptop was that bug filled I'm not even going to risk using another torrent downloader on it.