Dragnet (album)
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Dragnet is the second album by The Fall, released on 26 October 1979. It was recorded over three days in August of that year.
The album was recorded less than 8 months after its predecessor, Live at the Witch Trials, establishing at an early stage two key patterns of the group's work; that of high productivity and that of a regular turnover of group members - only Mark E. Smith and Marc Riley remained from the debut album and Riley had changed his role from bass to guitar. Dragnet is most notable for the arrivals of both guitarist Craig Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley. Both were just 18 when they joined the group and would form The Fall's musical backbone until the mid 90's. Marc Riley told Fall fanzine The Pseud Mag (issue #2, Feb/March 2005) that it was he who suggested Scanlon should join, as he didn't wish to fill previous guitarist Martin Bramah's shoes on his own. Riley, Scanlon and Hanley were childhood friends and they had been in Fall support band The Sirens together. This is the only studio album recorded with drummer Mike Leigh.
The album is somewhat solipsistic lyrically with several songs referencing the music industry; at least 2 tracks – "Printhead" and "Your Heart Out" – quoted or paraphrased reviews of the band's live shows. "Printhead" even verifies this fact within its own lyric. It also had a muddy, inchoate production – Riley has claimed this was a deliberate contrast to the sharp, clean sound of Live at the Witch Trials (The Pseud Mag, as above). It would be their final album for Miles Copeland's Step Forward label, the group signing to Rough Trade Records in early 1980.
Dragnet narrowly missed a place in the NME's Top 100 Albums of All Time list published in October 1985[citation needed].
Track listing
Side one
- "Psykick Dancehall" (Mark E. Smith, Marc Riley) – 3:51
- "A Figure Walks" (Smith) – 6:13
- "Printhead" (Smith) – 3:18
- "Dice Man" (Smith, Riley, Craig Scanlon) – 1:47
- "Before the Moon Falls" (Mike Leigh, Scanlon, Riley, Steve Hanley, Smith) – 4:35
- "Your Heart Out" (The Fall) – 3:08
Side two
- "Muzorewi's Daughter" (Smith, Kay Carroll) – 3:45
- "Flat of Angles" (Leigh, Scanlon, Riley, Hanley, Smith) – 4:58
- "Choc-Stock" (The Fall) – 2:40
- "Spectre Vs Rector" (Smith, Leigh, Scanlon) – 7:58
- "Put Away" (Smith) – 3:26
2004 reissue
The most recent edition of the album issued via Castle Music in January 2004 added not just the tracks from the 2 singles recorded on either side of the album but also some previously unheard alternate takes and breakdowns from the session for the "Rowche Rumble" single. The additional tracks are as follows -
- "Rowche Rumble" (Riley, Smith, Scanlon) – 4:01
- "In My Area" (Pawlett, Riley, Scanlon, Smith) – 4:05
- "Fiery Jack" (Hanley, Riley, Scanlon, Smith) – 4:43
- "2nd Dark Age" (Smith, Scanlon, Riley) – 1:59
- "Psykick Dance Hall (No. 2)" (Smith, Riley) – 3:39 - a re-recording of the album track.
- "Rowche Rumble (Take 2)" – 4:05
- "Rowche Rumble (Take 3)" – 0:33
- "Rowche Rumble (Take 4)" – 3:53
- "Rowche Rumble (Take 5)" – 1:35
- "In My Area (Take 1)" – 0:48
- "In My Area (Take 2)" – 5:06
Personnel
- Mark E. Smith – vocals
- Mike Leigh – drums
- Marc Riley – guitar, vocals
- Craig Scanlon – guitar
- Steve Hanley – bass guitar, vocals
- inner sleeve notes also state "Extra backing vocals Mrs Horace Sullivan (actually manager Kay Carroll) e. piano, kazoo, tapes etc: Smith & Scanlan" (sic - Scanlon's name was frequently, but not consistently spelt this way until around 1982)