Glasgow 1981

CD arrived this morning…

The whole thing comes in at just 37 minutes and Eccles Connection mentions on the ‘Vaults’ thread that the last four tracks of the show are missing so this disc is perhaps not exactly startlingly good value for money…

Nevertheless, as I haven’t heard the bootleg version, I have to say I’m reasonably happy with it…the sound quality is pretty poor for the first couple of numbers (some crackle / distortion, horribly muffled drums) but it does pick up later on – not sure if this is due to adjustments made by the person taping the gig or by the gig’s soundman (Grant Showbiz does come in for a few barbed comments from MES early on…).

Good versions of ‘Jawbone’ and ‘Printhead’ and great versions of ‘Older Lover’, ‘Middlemass’ and ‘Slates’…

MES is on great form throughout, you get more words, more varied intonation, more expression, more invective, during one song than you do in a whole gig these days…

For fuck's sake!

Thanks for the warning as this is my all-time favourite live Fall recording for precisely the reasons you cite. The discovery that the process of immortalising it has been done in such a cack-handed fashion absolutely typifies the all-round incompetence that ruins so much Fall product. It really is getting beyond a joke now.

I'll be sticking to my CDR version - Voiceprint can shove this up their arses.

This product is pathetic, over-priced, a ripoff, an insult to Fall fans and an insult to the casual music fan who buys it. Avoid.

But... if I avoid it, I won't own it!

The idea of making live gigs available to a wider audience is laudable. This wider audience may consist only of diehard Fall fans plus a handful of others, but in theory the notion is great. Not everyone has access to the bootleg tapes the records come from (although anyone who gets in touch with me about Fall recordings will receive the most sympathetic of replies...don't worry if you haven't got anything Fall-wise to offer in return...other music finds a place in this pad as well...) so in principle these releases are a great idea.

But...

Why so expensive?

Why no apparent attempt to improve the sound quality?

Why no sleeve notes?

Why the high price?

Why the delay in the release dates without any explanation or reasons?

Why do they think we are stupid?



I'm not allowed to offer you tapes of this record, but if I were I'd love to do so just to make sure that this record company, who haven't been so bad as some say in the past, don't make a profit out of what is a shoddy, pathetic, cynical operation. Nowt wrong with doing business...that's how yours truly lives. Everything wrong if the product you offer is as limited, grotty and fuck-you as these live gigs are.

Christ on a bicycle. Just when you think Voiceprint couldn't fuck up any further, they manage it: royally. This is one of the all-time great Fall gigs and the complete show is widely circulated. Why on Earth would Voiceprint see fit to release an incomplete, 37-minute version? I'd return it and demand a refund.

:o
this is also my fave Fall gig. Can't believe that it only clocks in at 37mins, which means voiceprint have left out some of the best tracks (including Cash and Carry)

Dodgy stuff this...could whoever was responsible for this actually contact some of the traders here for complete versions of the gigs?

I will be seeking this bootleg version [not this vaults shit] ...ASAP

nice review

[of bootleg version - not the vaults SHIT]

they say piracy kills music... but sometimes... as we see... it liberates it... sometimes the recording industry kills music.

Not sure why people are complaining about getting a mere 37 mins instead of the full set. This kind of thing - short sets instead of a standard (approx 60m) set - is getting applauded all over the rest of the site RE current gigs, as 'being what the Fall are all about'.

Surely, Voiceprint are merely giving Fall fans what they want? They were probably planning to release the whole set, then saw that countless people are giving the thumbs-up to current gig lengths ... so they probably decided to go with the current Fall ethos and slash off half the show, because ... that's what the Fall are all about.

Apparently.

:blink:

I think the bugbear is that the other songs do exist and, last time I checked, CDs can hold up to 80 minutes of music....

But I take your point ;)

Post of the month that. Okay it's only 2nd Nov, but will take some beating.
:applaud: :lol: :applaud: :lol: :applaud:

Is there any truth in the rumour that Voiceprint plan to publish the collected works of William Shakespeare but missing out the last two Acts in each play?

Thank you kindly ... I aim to please! :)

I don't see why they shouldn't, after all it isn't just Fall fans who get this VP treatment.

I was on a big 70s Hawkwind kick recently. Being an obsessive compulsive sad bastard, this necessitated buying all the odds and ends of the band's 70s travels ... quite a task. Anyway, VP publish 7 CDs in a Hawkwind Weird Tapes series, and guess what? The track details are incorrect ... there's no venue/date info ... and they're pretty damn short, too. These shows were supplied to VP by Hawk-boss Dave Brock, too!

Having said all that:
1. the lady at VP was enormously helpful in sending me a couple of items I needed, for which I am eternally grateful (she didn't have to do it)
and
2. their Hex Enduction Hour + CD simply explodes from the speakers ... easily the best CD of that album, sounding just like the original Kamera vinyl! (it's a very good vinyl dub in fact, but bloody hard to find now ... )

But ... even I am now getting a little peeved at paying out for these Vaults shows, which is a bit of a turn-up for me to say that, but I think enough's enough ... when you've been out of work as long as I have, you start to question each and every purchase ... and this is getting to the point where even I may have to call it quits on the obsessive collecting ... :(

I don't have this recording....

So, is it worth the money, then?

i know ..... elsewhwre

but got no 1504 from 2000 in a comic shop in boston

I've got number 1577. It's not even the full show, but I quite like it. :)

Boston Lincs ?

boston ma.

Saw this in Fopp the other day for only £3. But even at that price I decided against buying it when i checked the tracklisting,it's basically only half the gig.

I have a reasonable quality tape of this gig which sounds like mixing desk copy and it is nearly twice as long.

I have 3 of the 5 "Vaults"...I guess I should pass on Glasgow and L.A. then?

Best avoided like the clap, R. :D

Just the same old versions that were always available in trades.

I think Ed Blaney downloaded 'em from Soulseek and pressed them up as they were. Or something like that. It's well discussed in other threads.

I only bothered with the Retford Porterhouse gig myself as it was the only one i didn't have then. I believe it was recorded by a member here.

The others are butchered/bowdlerised, wrong running order etc..

Thanks very much.
I like the Retford CD, the two others not too much.
The Fall should know material like this is damaging to their reputation.