Fall in a Hole

In a real sense, the existence of the wonderful 1983 live album Fall In A Hole is a case of game recognizing game: the singular Chris Knox of Toy Love and Tall Dwarfs fame received permission from the Fall to use the mixing desk at an Auckland, NZ show in August 1982 to make a four-track recording. Initially supplemented by audience tapes from that performance and then in later reissues with cuts from other dates on the wider tour, it’s at once a compelling documentation of both the era and that particular six-person lineup, including the soon to depart Marc Riley. Drawing heavily on Hex Enduction Hour and the soon-to-follow Room To Live plus various other efforts of the time and earlier, it’s one blasting performance after another, Mark E. Smith under full steam and the band’s agglomeration of styles turned into the most unusual and compelling of rave-ups, accentuated by the two-drummer attack of Karl Burns and Paul Hanley. Standout performances include a frenetic “Fantastic Life” and a truly insane rip through “Prole Art Threat.”