''The Marshall Suite'' is a 1999 album by the Fall, their 20th. The album builds on the techno-influenced beats of its predecessor '' Levitate'' (1997), while also returning to a more

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

-influenced sound reminiscent of earlier Fall lineups with songs such as the catchy "Touch Sensitive" and the strange, complex, thumping

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

beats of "The Crying Marshal". The album was long out of print, but a new three-disc edition was released in the summer of 2011.

Background

''The Marshall Suite'' was made immediately after an American tour during which

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 ...

had an onstage fight with members of the band and was arrested following ongoing altercations at the hotel at which the group were staying. While the remaining band members quit and returned to England, leaving Smith in a cell in Manhattan, Julia Nagle chose to stay in the band, helping to assemble the group's new lineup. During the recording of the album, this new lineup was still taking shape; the group shed a drummer before recording could even begin, and the album features two different bassists. For these reasons, it is something of a patchwork: of 13 tracks, "On My Own" is a reworking of the previous album's "Everybody But Myself", three tracks are covers, two are sound collages, and "The Crying Marshal" is a remix by producer Steven Hitchcock of a Smith collaboration with the Filthy Three ("Real Life of the Crying Marshal"). Two songs use some of the same lyrics (a 14th track, "Tom Raggazzi", a reggae-tinged reprise of "Anecdotes...", was included on the vinyl version). Nevertheless, the album was well-received. Around the time of the album's release, rumours circulated that ''The Marshall Suite'' was a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about the "Crying Marshal" character. Smith stopped short of denying this, telling ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' that "I thought it would be good to do it as the story of his life, a themed LP, with a thread running through it. It's such an unhip thing to do." An unpublished section of the interview, later placed on the magazine's website, suggested that Smith was not yet finished with his creation: "I do want to continue the Marshall theme, develop it. Maybe a five-sided thing next, the return of the Marshall". However, he does not appear to have returned to the theme on any subsequent Fall album. The first of the album's three covers, "F-'Oldin' Money", which Smith described as "half a cover ... based on a piece of

," is a 1959 track by American rockabilly singer Tommy Blake. "Bound" is originally a 1974

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

instrumental by The Audio Arts Strings titled "Love Bound", to which Smith added lyrics. The third cover, " This Perfect Day", was first released by Australian

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band the Saints in 1977. An edit of the album's opening track "Touch Sensitive" was used in the UK as a soundtrack to an advert for the

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

Corsa.

Track listing

CD version

Vinyl version

*Note: writing credits as per original vinyl edition.

2011 reissue

;Disc 1 :1-13: ''as per original CD'' ;Disc 2 ;Note * "Antidote" is the same track as "(Jung Nev's) Antidotes" on ''The Marshall Suite'' album. ;Disc 3 ''(Live show for

XFM Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

Radio, 14 April 1999)''

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 ...

, keyboards,

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 ...

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 ...

on "Tom Raggazzi (Finale)" * Julia Nagle – keyboards, guitar,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

* Neville Wilding – guitar, vocals * Adam Helal – bass guitar * Karen Leatham – bass guitar * Tom Head –

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 ...

Additional personnel * Steve Hitchcock - string arrangements * Steve Hanley - bass on Peel session #21 *

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 ...

- drums on Peel session #21 * John Rolleson - backing vocals on Peel session #21 * Speth Hughes - special effects on Peel session #22 Technical * Mark E. Smith –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Steve Hitchcock - production * Elspeth Hughes - engineering * Jim Brumby - engineering * Richard Flack - engineering * Pascal Le Gras - photography * Warne/Trustam - design * Mike Robinson - production on Peel session #21 * Nick Scripps - engineering on Peel session #21 * Mike Engles - production on Peel session #¤22 * Kevin Rumble - engineering on Peel session #22 * Andy Pierce - remastering (2011 reissue)

Notes

References

External links

* A web page with photos, relating to the album ''The Marshall Suite'' fro
Invisiblegirl.co.uk

Lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall Suite 1999 albums The Fall (band) albums