The Twenty-Seven Points

The Twenty-Seven Points
Live album by The Fall
Released	1995
Recorded	various locations 1991-1995
Genre	Post-punk
Length	1:40:05
Label	Permanent Records
Producer	none credited
The Fall chronology
Cerebral Caustic (1995) The Twenty-Seven Points (1995) The Light User Syndrome (1996)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

The Twenty-Seven Points is a double album by the Fall, released in 1995. Subtitled "Live 92-95" the album consists of live recordings made in various locations between 1991 and 1995, but also contains 2 previously unheard studio tracks as well as some mildly diverting interludes. Credits on the album are sketchy but the front cover lists the cities in which the tracks were recorded; Prague, Tel Aviv, London, Glasgow, New York City and Manchester.

Critical reception

Trouser Press wrote: "Composed of live tracks, rough demos and random interpolations from Glasgow, London, Manchester, New York, Prague and Tel Aviv, the 28-track, two-CD set is frustratingly uneven but ultimately captures the Fall live experience, complete with onstage disasters."

Track listing

Titles are given exactly as listed on the original sleeve.

• Disc one

1. "Mollusc in Tyrol" (note - this is a brief excerpt of the released track played over a PA as an intro tape, not an actual live rendition)
2. "Return"
3. "Ladybird (Green Grass)"
4. "Idiot - Walk Out" (an aborted "Idiot Joy Showland" recorded live Oct. 19, 1993 at the Kentish Town Forum in London)
5. "Ten Points" (a recording of Mark reciting a draft of the lyrics to "Glam Racket", played over the PA)
6. "Idiot Joy Showland" (recorded live Oct. 19, 1993 at the Kentish Town Forum in London)
7. "Big New Prinz"
8. "Intro - Roadhouse M/CR" (a John Barry recording used as an intro tape)
9. "The Joke" (recorded live March 21, 1995 at the Roadhouse in Manchester)
10. "M.H.'s Jokes" (a dictaphone recording of MES chatting with a friend - likely Mike "The Haircut" Hill)
11. "British People in Hot Weather"
12. "Free Range"
13. "Hi-Tension Line - Tel Aviv 92"
14. "The League of Bald-Headed Men"

Note: Tracks 10 & 11 are listed on the cover as one track but indexed as 2 on the actual disc.

• Disc two

1. 95: "Glam Racket"/"Star" - (two separate live recordings spliced together)
2. "Lost in Music"
3. Prague '91/"Mr Pharmacist"
4. "Cloud of Black" (studio track)
5. "Paranoid Man in Cheap Sh..t Room"
6. "Bounces - Leeds 94" ("Life Just Bounces" sung by Burns)
7. "Outro - Leeds 94"
8. "Passable" (actually "A Past Gone Mad")
9. "Glasgow Advice" (MES spoken word played over the PA)
10. "Middle Class Revolt - Simon, Dave & John"
11. "Bill is Dead"
12. "Strychnine"
13. "War!"
14. "Noel's Chemical Effluence" (studio track)
15. "Three Points" (more MES spoken word played over the PA)
16. "Up Too Much" (actually "You’re Not Up to Much")

Note: 15 & 16 are listed as one track but indexed as two on the disc.

2006 reissue

The album was reissued by Castle Music in May 2006 in a remastered edition but with no additional material. However, as the release was mastered from the original vinyl, the original CD-only bonus tracks "Three Points" and "Up Too Much" are missing from this new version, despite being listed on the sleeve.

Personnel

• The Fall:
  • Mark E. Smith - vocals, tapes (etc)
  • Simon Wolstencroft - drums
  • Craig Scanlon - guitar
  • Steve Hanley - bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Dave Bush - keyboards, backing vocals
  • Karl Burns - drums, vocals, guitar
  • Brix - guitar, vocals, bass guitar
  • Julia Nagle - keyboards
  • Kenny Brady - fiddle on "Prague 91/Mr Pharmacist"
• Simon Rogers - machines on "Noel's Chemical Effluence"
• Robert Gordon - bass and keyboards on "Cloud Of Black"
• Rex Sargeant - mix and tape
• Andy Bernstein - sound on tracks 8-23
• there is also an additional credit which appears to read Andy: Rime Time Studios, Ancoats, M/C