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Live at the Witch Trials

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Untitled

Live at the Witch Trials is the debut album by The Fall, first released on 16 March 1979. It is not, despite its title, a live album, but was recorded in the studio in one day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant the next. In 2004, bassist Marc Riley told the BBC that the group had been booked into the studio for a week but that Mark E. Smith had fallen ill, leading to the cancellation of the first 3 days. No singles were taken from the album, a practice that would be commonplace for the group until 1986.

Some songs dated from earlier incarnations of the group with both Tony Friel and Una Baines featuring on the writing credits. Described by AMG as "brilliantly scabrous"[1], the album was given a generally positive reception, with Record Mirror in particular giving it a full five stars and describing the album as "a rugged, concerned, attuned, rebellious jukebox"[2]. Melody Maker was less impressed, being especially negative about the group's then-rhythm section of Marc Riley and Karl Burns[3]. In the event, by the time the album was released, Burns had already left the band and guitarist Martin Bramah also quit shortly afterwards to form Blue Orchids, leaving Mark E. Smith as the sole remaining founder member.

Track listing

Original UK edition

Side one

  1. "Frightened" (Mark E. Smith, Tony Friel) – 5:02
  2. "Crap Rap 2" / "Like to Blow" (Martin Bramah, Smith) – 2:04
  3. "Rebellious Jukebox" (Smith, Bramah) – 2:51
  4. "No Xmas for John Quays" (Smith) – 4:38
  5. "Mother-Sister!" (Smith, Una Baines) – 3:20†
  6. "Industrial Estate" (Friel, Bramah, Smith) – 2:00†

†See note about the US edition below.

Side two

  1. "Underground Medecin" (Bramah, Smith) – 2:08
  2. "Two Steps Back" (Bramah, Smith) – 5:03
  3. "Live at the Witch Trials" (Smith) – 0:51
  4. "Futures and Pasts" (Bramah, Smith) – 2:36
  5. "Music Scene" (Bramah, Yvonne Pawlett, Smith, Marc Riley) – 8:00

Original US edition

The US release of the album, also in 1979, came in alternate artwork and removed "Mother-Sister!" and "Industrial Estate", replacing them with "Various Times", the b-side of the group's second single "It's The New Thing". All subsequent editions have followed the original UK tracklisting.

Reissues

The album was available in its original form until the late '80s, being reissued on vinyl, cassette and CD by IRS Records in 1989. In 1997, Mark E. Smith's own Cog Sinister label issued a CD edition that was poorly mastered from a below-standard vinyl copy. However, in conjunction with Voiceprint, Cog Sinister reissued the album again in 2002 in greatly improved sound quality and adding the tracks from the group's first two singles, "Bingo Master's Breakout" and "It's The New Thing". In 2004, Castle Music released a definitive 2 CD edition of the album, mastered from the original tapes and with a vastly expanded tracklisting. However, the Castle Music reissue seems to have used a vinyl source for the three 'Bingo Masters Break Out' EP tracks.

Disc one - 2004 edition

  1. "Frightened"
  2. "Crap Rap 2" / "Like to Blow"
  3. "Rebellious Jukebox"
  4. "No Xmas for John Quays"
  5. "Mother-Sister!"
  6. "Industrial Estate"
  7. "Underground Medecin"
  8. "Two Steps Back"
  9. "Live at the Witch Trials"
  10. "Futures and Pasts"
  11. "Music Scene"
  12. "Bingo-Master's Break-Out!"
  13. "Psycho Mafia"
  14. "Repetition"
  15. "It's The New Thing"
  16. "Various Times"
  17. "Dresden Dolls"
  18. "Psycho Mafia"
  19. "Industrial Estate"
  20. "Stepping Out"
  21. "Last Orders"

Tracks 12-14 formed the "Bingo Master's Break-Out!" EP, originally released August 1978 with tracks 15 and 16 being the group's second single, originally issued November 1978. Tracks 17-19 were a summer 1977 rehearsal tape which had previously emerged on a bootleg single whilst tracks 20 and 21 were October, 1977 live recordings previously issued on a Virgin Records compilation Short Circuit - Live At The Electric Circus.

Disc two - 2004 edition

  1. "Rebellious Jukebox"
  2. "Mother-Sister!"
  3. "Industrial Estate"
  4. "Futures And Pasts"
  5. "Put Away"
  6. "Mess Of My"
  7. "No Xmas For John Key" (sic)
  8. "Like To Blow"
  9. "Like To Blow"
  10. "Stepping Out"
  11. "Two Steps Back"
  12. "Mess Of My"
  13. "It's The New Thing"
  14. "Various Times"
  15. "Bingo-Master's Break-Out!"
  16. "Frightened"
  17. "Industrial Estate"
  18. "Psycho Mafia"
  19. "Music Scene"
  20. "Mother-Sister!"

Tracks 1-4 were the group's first session for John Peel, tracks 5-8 being their second. The remainder were taken from Liverpool 78, a live album recorded at Mr Pickwick's in Liverpool on 22 August 1978. The sound quality is inferior but the recording is of historical interest.

In his autobiography Head On, Julian Cope claims that the lyric of "Two Steps Back" refers to him; the song does contain the line "Julian says 'How was the gear?'".

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Raggett, Ned. "( Live At The Witch Trials > Overview )". allmusic. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  2. ^ "Record Mirror, March 31, 1979 (LATWT review)". Visi.com. 1979-03-31. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  3. ^ http://www.visi.com/fall/news/pics/79mar24_mm.gif
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