The Fall
The Wonderful and
Frightening World of...
[Beggars Banquet]
Rating: 9.6
Easily one of the high points of the Fall's 20- years- and- running career
was their release of 1984's Wonderful and Frightening World. Even as
the album opened, you knew there was something really, really good waiting inside.
During the intro to the album's first song, "Lay of the Land," where
Mark E. Smith moans, "Armegeddon..." over a number of silly voices
chanting, "Lay! Lay! Lay!" images are invoked not of Satanic imagery, but
goofball cartoon antics. It's when the intro ends and the song stomps in
that you realize you were just being prepared for a mind-blowing experience.
Filled from start to finish with songs so artsy and other-worldly,
you could only imagine (or maybe you couldn't) what's going on inside
Smith's head. From the bouncy and insane "Oh! Brother" whose Sex Pistols-
meets- Plastic Bertrand new-waviness might even save the queen, to the "Simply
Brix" sounds of "C.R.E.E.P," not to mention the refreshing pop rock on "No Bulbs,"
Wonderful and Frightening World wastes no time making you aware
of its legendary status.
-Ryan Schreiber