''Shift-Work'' is the 13th album by English rock band the Fall, released through

Phonogram Records Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany. Phonogram was the name ...

in 1991. The Fall started working on the album in 1990 while touring in support of ''

Extricate ''Extricate'' is the 12th album by post-punk band the Fall. It was made immediately after bandleader Mark E. Smith divorced guitarist Brix Smith. Brix's departure helped define the sound of this album: her background vocals and relatively po ...

''. Mark E. Smith sacked guitarist

Martin Bramah Martin Beddington (born 18 September 1957 in Manchester),The Fall online – biography

and keyboardist Marcia Schofield immediately after the Australian leg of the tour, reducing the lineup to four for the first time in band's history. Only one song ("Rose") from the sessions with Bramah and Schofield eventually appeared on the album (non-vinyl versions also included the single "White Lightning", originally recorded by

The Big Bopper Jiles Perry "J.P." Richardson Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959), known as The Big Bopper, was an American singer, songwriter and disc jockey. His best-known compositions include " Chantilly Lace" and " White Lightning", the latter of w ...

). Several tracks were released as the ''Dredger'' EP in August 1990, including "Life Just Bounces", which would later be re-recorded for '' Cerebral Caustic''. The Fall's first release with a reduced lineup was the single "High Tension Line" in December 1990. ''Shift-Work'' marked, in the opinion of critic Ted Mills, a change in direction for the group, as "repetitious grooves became interspersed with pop song structures."Mills, Ted.

Review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

Allmusic. Retrieved 29 March 2006. Of the songs on the original track list, several have been noted as being more "introspective" than previous Fall efforts. "Edinburgh Man" for example, in which lead singer Mark E. Smith longs to be in the city of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, has been described as "surprisingly malice-free" and, in one enthusiastic review, as the best Fall song ever.Dalton, Stephen (20 April 1991). "Quiet! Genius at Work...". ''NME''. The album reached number 17 in the UK charts, a two-place improvement on their previous best, ''

The Frenz Experiment ''The Frenz Experiment'' is the tenth studio album by English post-punk band the Fall. It was released on 29 February 1988 through record label Beggars Banquet. In October 2020, an expanded remastered edition was produced, containing singles, b ...

''. The album was re-released by Voiceprint in 2002, adding two additional tracks to the original 14 -rack CD: "Blood Outta Stone" and "Xmas With Simon". This incarnation was also made available in a double-CD set with Voiceprint's edition of '' Code: Selfish'' in 2003. It was reissued again in an expanded and remastered form by

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on 7 May 2007.

Track listing

Original UK LP

Original UK CD and cassette

2007 reissue

Disc One *''As per original UK vinyl'' Disc Two

Miscellenea

''The War Against Intelligence'' was the original title of the album until the outbreak of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

convinced Smith to change it to something less controversial. In October 2003, Universal released ''The War Against Intelligence – The Fontana Years'', a collection of Fall songs from the albums ''

'', ''Shift-Work'', '' Code: Selfish'' and related singles, even as the United Kingdom was involved in another Persian Gulf war.

Personnel

The Fall * Mark E. Smith – vocals * Craig Scanlon – guitar * Steve Hanley – bass guitar *

Simon Wolstencroft Simon John Wolstencroft (born 19 January 1963 in Altrincham, Cheshire) is an English rock drummer, best known for playing with The Fall from 1986 to 1997. He also played with early incarnations of The Smiths and The Stone Roses. His highly pra ...

– drums, keyboards *Kenny Brady – fiddle; co-lead vocal on "The Book of Lies" Additional personnel * Craig Leon – organ, guitar * Cassell Webb – backing vocals *

Martin Bramah Martin Beddington (born 18 September 1957 in Manchester),The Fall online – biography

– guitar on "Rose" and "White Lightning" *Marcia Schofield – flute on "Rose", keyboards on "White Lightning" *Dave Bush – electronics; keyboards on "Arid Al's Dream" *

Robert Gordon Robert Gordon may refer to: Entertainment * Robert Gordon (actor) (1895–1971), silent-film actor * Robert Gordon (director) (1913–1990), American director * Robert Gordon (singer) (1947–2022), American rockabilly singer * Robert Gordon ( ...

– bass and keyboards on "Cloud of Black" ;Technical *Craig Leon – production; mixing (tracks 2-4, 7, 8, 10-12) *Robert Gordon – production * Grant Showbiz – production * Pascal Le Gras –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ...

Notes and references

External links

Lyrics
{{Authority control 1991 albums The Fall (band) albums Albums produced by Grant Showbiz Albums produced by Craig Leon Fontana Records albums