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Hex Enduction Hour

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Untitled

Hex Enduction Hour is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk band the Fall. Released on 8 March 1982, it builds on the low-fidelity production values and caustic lyrical content of their earlier recordings. Fall frontman Mark E. Smith establishes a Northern working class aesthetic built in parts from the 20th century literary traditions of kitchen sink and magic realism. Smith described it as an often satirical, but deliberate reaction to the contemporary music scene; a stand against "bland bastards like Elvis Costello and Spandau Ballet ... [and] all that shit."[A]

Recording began during a 1982 two concert visit of Iceland, when Smith was inspired both by the otherworldliness of the landscape, its history and the enthusiasm of an audience unused to visiting rock groups.[1][2] The Fall recorded "Hip Priest", "Iceland" and non-album single "Look, Know" at the Hljóðriti studio in Reykjavík, and the remaining tracks in a disused cinema in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on their return to England. The album was widely praised on release as fully capturing their aggressive live sound. The UK recordings and later promotion were funded by the independent record label Kamera following a bitter and protracted dispute between Smith and former label Rough Trade Records. Hex Enduction Hour was well received by critics, and sold well relative to its release on a small label, and earned The Fall their first UK Albums Chart placing at No. 71. Today it is considered a hallmark of the post-punk era.

Background and recording

The Fall, Hamburg 13 April 1984. L-R: Scanlon, Smith, Burns, Hanley

By 1982 the Fall had released three critically acclaimed albums, but band leader Mark E Smith felt they were undervalued and poorly supported by their label Rough Trade Records, whom he regarded as "a bunch of well meaning but inept hippies". He felt constrained by the label's ethos and worried that the Fall were in danger of becoming "just another Rough Trade band". Frustrated and believing his career was nearing its end,[3] Smith made overtures to other labels, and found kindred adventurous spirits at heavy metal specialists Kamera records.[4] He proposed that Kamera record the band's final album, which he wanted to last exactly one hour. They had already recorded several songs at the Hljóðriti studio in Reykjavík during their 1982 visit.[5] Hljóðriti had lava walls, which according to Smith have a sound as if they had played in an igloo,[6] which critics agree was a large factor in giving the songs their otherworldly ambience.[5]

Smith wanted to record the remaining album tracks in a relatively open space, eventually using a disused cinema in Hitchin.[7] He had hoped that the ambience of such a space would begin to resemble their live sound. Kamera agreed to pay costs for the post Iceland recordings, which were mostly songs that appeared in their October 1981 UK tour.[8] Smith was impressed by their openness and signed, relieved to be free of Rough Trade.[5] The uncertainty around a label change, and Smith's doubts over The Fall's longevity, seep into and contribute to the album's edgy and unsettled sound. Music critic John Doran described "Hex" as the work of a band with a gun pressed to their heads.[5]

Mark E. Smith in 1990

Hex Enduction Hour takes influence from the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", Captain Beefheart and the early 1970s Krautrock band Can.[9] Smith has said that the title was intended to invoke witchcraft, but that the word Enduction was made up, a word he just liked the sound of.[10] His vocals are higher in the mix than on previous Fall releases and were described in 1982 by Sounds as "emerg[ing] like a loudhailer from a fog of guitar scratch".[11] The songs were deliberately produced in a raw and low-fi approach by Smith, Grant Showbiz and Richard Mazda in a sound described at the time as a "well produced noise"[2] that was acceptable by Fall Standards.[12] Critic Mark Storace claimed that he "could have done a better job on a 4-track if I was pissed out of my head".[13] Smith responded by saying that "nowadays people just can't just shut up if they don't know what they're talking about."[B][11] Elaborating on the purposely amateurish production values, Smith remarked that "it was all recorded in deliberately bad places ... deliberately simple sort of thing. Three songs were written at rehearsal and done the next time."[14]

Music and lyrics

The album was their first to include Karl Burns and Paul Hanley in the band's classic two-drummer lineup.[15] Smith intended the album's lyrics "to be like reading a really good book. You have a couple of beers, sit down and immerse yourself. None of those fuckers Elvis Costello or Spandau Ballet did that".[16] Hex Enduction Hour was written during an unusually prolific period in his career. Many of the tracks had already been dropped from their live set by the time they visited Australia and New Zealand in the autumn of 1982. The earlier single, "Look, Know" was recorded during the Icelandic sessions but not included on the album. This was characteristic of Smith's "never look back" approach.[17]

The opening track "The Classical" acts as a statement of intent similar to "Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow" on their debut album Live at the Witch Trials. Whereas on that song Smith described himself as "Northern white crap that talks back", on the opening lines of Hex Enduction Hour he complains that the fact that contemporary music that lacks culture, is his "brag", observing that that a "taste for bullshit reveals a lust for a home of office" and references "obligatory niggers", before accusingly shouting "Hey there, fuckface, hey there, fuckface".[18][19] Pavement released a less offensive, sanitised cover of the track in the early 1990s, Smith dismissed them then and later as mere Fall copyists.[20][C] "Jawbone and the Air Rifle" depicts a nightmare folklorish tale of a poacher (described as a "Rabbit Killer") bored by a decades-old marriage who escapes by roaming the local countryside at night hunting prey. One night the protagonist "lets out a misplaced shot" which draws the Hex of the 'Broken Brothers Pentacle Church'. The song's main focal point is towards the end when the lyrics detail a series of semi-religious, semi-pagan horrific and repeating hallucinations.[21]

"Hip Priest" was recorded in Iceland in a single take,[9][22] and is one of Smith's most personal songs, apparently written in bemusement following a recent rise in the band's popularity.[19] The track has been compared to dub but in its Northern bleakness if "it had been invented in a drizzly motorway rather than in recording studios in Jamaica."[23] "Hip Priest" was re-recorded in 1988 in a glam rock style as "Big New Prinz" for the album "I Am Kurious Oranj".[5] An excerpt of "Hip Priest" was used in 1991 in a closing scenes of Jonathan Demme's film The Silence of the Lambs.[24]

"Fortress/Deer Park" starts with a Casio VL-1 rhythm preset, same as used by Trio on their 1982 hit single "Da Da Da".[25] Its lyrics form a broad and jaundiced look at English culture and subcultures in the early 1980s.[23] It mentions [fucking] Jimmy Saville[25] while the lines "I took a walk down W11; I had to walk through 500 European punks" are a dry put-down of the fashion-oriented.[26]

"Winter (Hostel-Maxi)"
Sample of "Winter (Hostel-Maxi)", recorded in Iceland
"Who Makes The Nazis"
Sample of "Who Makes The Nazis", recorded December 1981
Problems playing these files? See media help.

"Winter" comprises two songs broken by a fade out and fade in; "Winter (Hostel-Maxi)" closes side one of the record, "Winter 2" opens side two.[17] The tracks were described by Smith in early press releases as "concerning an insane child who is taken over by a spirit from the mind of a cooped-up alcoholic". During the intro of "Winter (Hostel-Maxi)", the narrator describes waiting, hungover, in the early afternoon for the pubs to open.[27] The remainder of the song consists of descriptions of and encounters with a dry out house, a cleaning lady, a feminist wearing anti-nicotine and anti-nuclear badges, and a "half-wit" child. After this the lyrics move towards magic realism and ad-libbed inscrutability: "The mad kid had four lights: the average is two point-five-lights; the mediocre is two lights".[27]

"Who Makes the Nazis" mentions the philosopher Colin Wilson[28] before concluding that Nazis are born of "intellectual halfwits".[29] The track contains a number of sounds played through a dictaphone, a device that was to feature heavily in later Fall albums, most notably This Nation's Saving Grace.[30]

"Iceland" was improvised[31] in a single take.[32] Smith was taken by a country which he described in 2008 as still inaccessible and "totally unlike what it is now. Beer was against the law. You could only drink shit like pints of peach schnapps".[D] It consists of a two note piano figure and a banjo part,[29] over which Smith played a tape recording he had made of the wind howling outside his bedroom window.[33] According to guitarist Marc Riley, "He [Smith] just said he needed a tune, something Dylanish, and we knocked around on the piano in the studio and came up with that. But we hadn't heard the words until he suddenly did them."[22] The line "Fall down flat in the Cafe Iol without a glance from the clientele" describes an incident that had happened to Smith that morning. He had tripped in a nearby cafe and fallen across several tables. He was surprised by the lack of response from the other customers, who seemed to have dismissed him as just another drunk.[22][34]

The closing track, "And This Day" originally lasted about 25 minutes; but was edited down to ten minutes to fit the album's length, it still remains one of the longest studio songs by The Fall.[1]

Cover art

Hex Enduction Hour's all-white cover with scribbles was described by music critic Robertson as "meticulously shoddy".[11] It consists of a series of biro scribbles laid down by Smith. The markings are mostly random rhetorical phrases and sentence fragments such as "Lie-Dream 80% of 10% OR 6% over no less than 1/4 = ??????",[35] "Hail Sainsbury's!", "CHUMMY LIFESTYLE", "HAVE A BLEEDIN GUESS"[18] and "CIGS. SMOKED HERE". In an interview with Sounds that summer, Smith mentioned that he liked art work to reflect the album content and that his graphic choices reflected his attitude to music. He mentioned how he was drawn to cheap and misspelt posters, amateur layouts of local papers and printed cash and carry signs with "inverted commas where you don't need them".[11]

The album art was seen by many within the industry as coarse and lacking accepted layout or typographical qualities. HMV would only shelve the sleeve back to front on their racking shelves.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
Pitchfork9.6/10[36]
PopMatters9/10[9]
The Quietusvery favourable[37]
Record Collector[38]
Stylus MagazineA[39]

Hex Enduction Hour was the first Fall album to make the UK Albums Chart, where it spent three weeks, peaking at no. 71.[40] By mid-1983 it had sold twenty thousand copies,[41] reflecting a surge in the band's popularity, and five years into their career brought them to the attention of record labels.[2] Critics were highly enthusiastic; according to Simon Ford, they could "have hardly been more supportive".[1] Reviewing the album in the NME, Richard Cook described the band as tighter and more disciplined than in earlier recordings, "their master piece to date",[1] while still maintaining their impact. He praised their having utilised recording studio techniques and atmospherics without resorting to glamorisation.[31] Melody Maker's Colin Irwin said it was "incredibly exciting and utterly compelling".[22] A dissenter was Neil McCormick of Irish fortnightly Hot Press, who dismissed the album as second hand melodramatic punk, and wondered if the album was "meant to be minimalist or primitive then it fatally ignores the true primitivism of the strong melody and accessible lyrics found in folk music."[35]

Later, Record Collector described the album as a "taut, twitchy and ominous masterclass in DIY post-punk", and singled out Smith's lyrics for praise.[38] The Quietus, in 2009, wrote of the album as "arguably ... The Fall's mightiest hour",[37] while Stylus Magazine wrote that "Hex demonstrates the culmination of 'early' Fall: a monolithic beast of ragged grooves piloted through the embittering miasma of English society by the verbose acidity/Joycean all-inclusiveness of Mark E. Smith."[39] Pitchfork listed Hex Enduction Hour as the 33rd best album of the 1980s.[42]

According to Smith, the album's lyrics had a negative impact on their later career. In 1984 Motown Records expressed interest in signing the band to a new UK division, with a provisional offer of a £46,000 upfront advance. The label executive asked to hear something from their back catalogue. Hex was the only album Smith had to hand, and remembered thinking, "when he hears that, we've had it."[43] The rejection letter stated that the label saw "no commercial potential in this band whatsoever".[28][44] Smith believes this was due to the "obligatory niggers" line from the opening track "The Classical".[45]

Re-issues

The album went out of print when the Kamera label folded in 1983, but a German edition on the Line imprint remained available, with copies pressed on white vinyl.[46] Line issued a CD edition, flat transferred from a later generation tape. In 2002, a new edition titled Hex Enduction Hour + (adding both sides of the "Look, Know" single) was released via Smith's Cog Sinister imprint.[47]

The album was remastered and issued in 2005 by Sanctuary Records, along with a disc of bonus live material.[48] Smith conceded that the remastering was an improvement, but when asked if he liked the bonus live tracks he admitted that he hadn't listened "that far".[5]

Personnel

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Mark E. Smith

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Classical"The Fall5:16
2."Jawbone and the Air-Rifle"The Fall3:43
3."Hip Priest"The Fall7:45
4."Fortress / Deer Park"Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Karl Burns6:41
5."Mere Pseud Mag. Ed."Smith2:50
6."Winter (Hostel-Maxi)"Smith, Scanlon4:26
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Winter 2"Smith, Scanlon4:33
2."Just Step S'ways"Smith3:22
3."Who Makes the Nazis?"Smith4:27
4."Iceland"Smith, Scanlon, Riley, S. Hanley6:42
5."And This Day"The Fall10:18
2002 Hex Enduction Hour+ bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Look, Know" (single A-side)Smith, S. Hanley, Burns, Riley4:36
12."I'm into C.B." (single B-side)Smith6:29
2005 "Expanded Deluxe Edition" bonus disc
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Deer Park" (from John Peel session broadcast 15 September 1981)Smith, Riley, Scanlon, Burns4:26
2."Who Makes the Nazis?" (from John Peel session broadcast 15 September 1981)Smith2:57
3."I'm into C.B." (B-side of "Look, Know" single, 1982)Smith, Scanlon, Kay Carroll6:30
4."Session Musician" (live at the Bierkeller, Leeds, 5 November 1981)Smith, Riley, Scanlon, Hanley9:11
5."Jazzed Up Punk Shit" (live at the 666 Club, Manchester, 15 May 1982)Smith, Scanlon, Riley, Hanley4:10
6."I'm into C.B. (Stars on 45 Version)" (live at Fagins, Manchester, 30 September 1981)Smith, Carroll, Scanlon3:14
7."And This Day" (live at Main Street, Auckland, New Zealand, 20 August 1982)The Fall6:13
8."Deer Park" (live at Main Street, Auckland, 20 August 1982)Smith, Riley, Scanlon, Burns9:34
9."And This Day (Revisited)" (live Astoria 2, London, 26 February 1997)Smith, Riley, Scanlon, Burns, S. Hanley, P. Hanley5:24

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ "It was probably the first time I'd got to a point where I was alone with my ideas. And you can go one of two ways, either you curb your thinking, reign yourself in and buy what they're telling you, or you follow your own path, regardless". Smith, 113
  2. ^ "When your mired in the shit of the times ... you start to question not only people's taste but their existences. I'd rather listen to Polish builders clanking away than any of that crap." Smith, 113
  3. ^ "They haven't got an original idea in their heads". Keoghan, Jim. "20 Years On: Revisiting Pavement's Slanted And Enchanted". TheQuietus.com 5 November 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015
  4. ^ "But since then it's become like anywhere else. It's like when you return to the house that you grew up in and its smaller. About a third of the youth population turned up to see us. I feel guilty for spawning The Sugarcubes and Björk." Smith, 114

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Ford, 104
  2. ^ a b c d Edge, 49
  3. ^ Ford, 109
  4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Jeffries, David. "The Fall: Biography". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015
  5. ^ a b c d e f Doran, John. "Becks Induction Hour: Mark E Smith On The LP That Nearly Ended The Fall". The Quietus, 19 February 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2015
  6. ^ Smith, 114
  7. ^ Britton, 47
  8. ^ Ford, 100
  9. ^ a b c Begrand, Adrian. "The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour". PopMatters, 20 September 2005. Retrieved 06 October 2014
  10. ^ Smith, 115
  11. ^ a b c d Robertson, Sandy."Hex Enduction". Sounds, 8 May 1982. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  12. ^ Edge, 47
  13. ^ Storace, Mark. Hex Enduction Hour. Flexipop!, March 1982
  14. ^ "The Fall, Union Hall, 19 August 1982". Salient, 6 September 1982
  15. ^ a b Raggett, Ned. "Hex Enduction Hour". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2015
  16. ^ Smith, 113
  17. ^ a b Irwin, 1982
  18. ^ a b Ford, 103
  19. ^ a b Edge, 50
  20. ^ Herrington, Tony. "Mancunian Candidate". The Wire, September 1996
  21. ^ Forde 103–104
  22. ^ a b c d Irwin, Colin. "The Decline and Fall in Iceland". Melody Maker, 26 September 1981. Retrieved 8 October 2015
  23. ^ a b Goddard; Halligan, 142
  24. ^ Beck, 78
  25. ^ a b Goddard; Halligan, 97
  26. ^ Edge, 53
  27. ^ a b Edge, 52
  28. ^ a b Britton, 48
  29. ^ a b Reynolds, 196
  30. ^ Goddard; Halligan, 104
  31. ^ a b Cook, Richard. "Hex Enduction Hour". NME, 13 March 1982. Retrieved 4 October 2015
  32. ^ Kay, George. "The Fall of Slick, Mark E. Smith's Enduction Hour". Rip It Up, September 1982. Retrieved 4 October 2015
  33. ^ Edge, 45
  34. ^ Edge, 44
  35. ^ a b McCormick, Neil. "Hex Enduction Hour". Hot Press, 1982. Retrieved 4 October 2015
  36. ^ Raposa, David. "The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour". Pitchfork, 5 July 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2015
  37. ^ a b Middles, Mick. "The Fall".The Quietus, 21 October 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2013
  38. ^ a b "Hex Enduction Hour". recordcollectormag.com. Retrieved 8 March 2013
  39. ^ a b Powell, Mike. "Hex Enduction Hour". Stylus Magazine, 16 February 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2013
  40. ^ "Official Charts". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015
  41. ^ Ford, 115
  42. ^ "Staff Lists: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s". Pitchfork, November, 2002. Retrieved 8 March 2013
  43. ^ Ford, 130
  44. ^ Irwin, Colin. "Perverted by Anguish". Melody Maker, 20 October 1984
  45. ^ Edge, 72
  46. ^ Thompson, 59
  47. ^ "Hex Enduction Hour: Releases. AllMusic. Retrieved 2 January 2015
  48. ^ Begrand, Adrien. "Hex Enduction Hour: Expanded Deluxe Edition. PopMatters, 19 September 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2016
  49. ^ Graham, Bill. "The Fall at McGonagles". Hot Press, March, 1982
  50. ^ "Hex Enduction Hour: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 December 2015
  51. ^ Skinner, Alan. "Hex Enduction Hour". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 December 2015

Sources

  • Beck, Jay. Lowering the Boom: Critical Studies in Film Sound. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-252-07532-2
  • Britton, Amy. Revolution Rock: The Albums Which Defined Two Ages. London: AuthorHouse, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4678-8710-6
  • Edge, Brian. Paintwork: Portrait of The Fall. London: Omnibus Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-7119-1740-8
  • Ford, Simon. Hip Priest: The Story of Mark E.Smith and the Fall. London: Quartet Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7043-8167-4
  • Goddard, Michael; Halligan, Benjamin. Mark E. Smith and The Fall: Art, Music and Politics. London: Ashgate, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7546-6867-1
  • Reynolds, Simon. Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. London: Faber & Faber, 2006. ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6
  • Simpson, Dave. The Fallen: Life In and Out of Britain's Most Insane Group. London: Canongate, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84767-144-8
  • Smith, Mark E. Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith. London: Penguin, 2009. ISBN 978-0-14-102866-8
  • Thompson, Dave. A User's Guide to the Fall. London: Helter Skelter, 2003. ISBN 978-1-900924-57-3
  • Young, Rob. Rough Trade. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2006. ISBN 978-1-904772-47-7
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