''The Light User Syndrome'' is the 18th album by the Fall, released in 1996 on

Jet Records Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot (band), Riot, Magnum (band ...

. It was the group's first album to feature keyboard player and guitarist Julia Nagle and the last to feature

Brix Smith Brix Smith (born Laura Elisse Salenger; November 12, 1962) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a major songwriter for the English post-punk band the Fall during two stints in the band (1983–1989, and 1994� ...

, while longtime guitarist

Craig Scanlon Craig Antony Scanlon (born 7 December 1960 in Manchester) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the Fall between 1979 and 1995. During his tenure he was a stalwart member for 17 albums and co-wrote over 120 of the group's songs; s ...

was fired in late 1995 during troubled recording sessions for "The Chiselers" single which preceded the album. A version of "The Chiselers" is included on the album as "Interlude/Chilinism".

told Simon Ford that ''The Light User Syndrome'' was recorded very quickly, with

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistol ...

absent for much of the recording, delivering nearly all his vocals on the final day. Although Julia Nagle remembers recording the vocals took more than a week, Smith himself claimed half the vocals were actually just guide vocals, which he found had been mixed as the final vocals when he took a day off from the studio. Despite this, alternate versions of many of the album's tracks featured heavily across the series of compilation albums issued by the Receiver label in the late 1990s. The album also features some vocals from producer Mike Bennett, as well as a rare lead vocal from drummer and guitarist

Karl Burns Karl Burns (born 19 March 1958) is a British musician best known as the drummer for The Fall, featuring in many incarnations of the band between 1977 and 1998. Although several musicians have rejoined the Fall having previously left or been ...

on a cover version of

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greates ...

's "Stay Away (Ol' White Train)." The album's second cover version, "Last Chance to Turn Around", was a Top 20 hit for

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

in 1965. The tour supporting the album was disastrous due to Smith's heavy drinking and misbehaviour, with Brix walking out of the group after the soundcheck at

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

Concert Hall (although she would return for one last gig at The Forum in London) and a gig in

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

being declared by long-serving bassist Steve Hanley to be the worst Fall gig ever.The Fall gigography , 1996
By the end of the year, they were playing without Brix and Burns, (Julia Nagle took one Christmas concert off to be with her son). Burns would return during 1997 for follow-up album '' Levitate''.

Track listing

2022 Deluxe Edition reissue

;Disc 1 * As per original CD ;Disc 2 ;Note *On early copies of the album, "The Ballard of J. Drummer" was misprinted as "The Ballad of J. Drummer".

Reissues

The album has been reissued three times, firstly by Receiver in 1999 and then by

Castle Music Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

in 2002. Both of these editions added "The Chiselers" single as well as its B-side "Chilinist". Iconoclassic Records released a 2 CD deluxe edition in 2022 with 12 bonus tracks, including "The Chiselers, "Chilinist," alternate versions and mixes, and live material.

Personnel

;The Fall: *

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, tapes, keyboards, production *

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals * Steve Hanley -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Simon Wolstencroft Simon John Wolstencroft (born 19 January 1963) 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 praised autobiography ''You ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, programming *

- drums, guitar, keyboards, lead vocals on "Stay Away", backing vocals on "Interlude/Chilinism" * Julia Nagle - keyboards, programming, guitar ''(listed as "Julie" on some editions)'' ;Additional personnel *Lucy Rimmer - backing vocals * Mike Bennett - production, vocals on "Interlude/Chilinism" and "Cheetham Hill" *Warren Bassett - engineering *Denis Blackham - mastering *Phil Rogers - sleeve design *Pete Cronin - photography

References

External links

A web page with photos, about the recording of the album ''The Light User Syndrome'' fro
Invisiblegirl.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Light User Syndrome, The 1996 albums The Fall (band) albums Jet Records albums