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Live at the Witch Trials

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Live at the Witch Trials is the debut album by The Fall, first released 16th March 1979. It is not, despite its title, a live album, but was recorded in the studio in one day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant the next. In 2004, bassist Marc Riley told the BBC that the group had been booked into the studio for a week but that Mark E. Smith had fallen ill, leading to the cancellation of the first 3 days. No singles were taken from the album, a practice that would be commonplace for the group until the late 80's.

By the time the album was released, drummer Karl Burns had left the band and guitarist Martin Bramah also quit to form Blue Orchids, leaving Mark E. Smith as the sole remaining founder member.

Contents

Track listings

Original UK edition

Side one

  1. "Frightened" (Mark E. Smith, Tony Friel) - 5:02
  2. "Crap Rap 2" / "Like to Blow" (Martin Bramah, Smith) - 2:04
  3. "Rebellious Jukebox" (Smith, Bramah) - 2:51
  4. "No Xmas for John Quays" (Smith) - 4:38
  5. "Mother-Sister!" (Smith, Una Baines) - 3:20
  6. "Industrial Estate" (Friel, Bramah, Smith) - 2:00

Side two

  1. "Underground Medecin" (Bramah, Smith) - 2:08
  2. "Two Steps Back" (Bramah, Smith) - 5:03
  3. "Live at the Witch Trials" (Smith) - 0:51
  4. "Futures and Pasts" (Bramah, Smith) - 2:36
  5. "Music Scene" (Bramah, Yvonne Pawlett, Smith, Marc Riley) - 8:00

Original US edition

The US release of the album, also in 1979, came in alternate artwork and removed "Industrial Estate", replacing it with "Various Times", the b-side of the group's second single "It's The New Thing". All subsequent editions have followed the original UK tracklisting.

Reissues

The album was available in its original form until the late '80's, being reissued on vinyl, cassette and CD by IRS Records in 1989. In 1997, Mark E. Smith's own Cog Sinister label issued a CD edition that was poorly mastered from a below-standard vinyl copy. However, in conjunction with Voiceprint, Cog Sinister reissued the album again in 2002 in greatly improved sound quality and adding the tracks from the group's first two singles, "Bingo Master's Breakout" and "It's The New Thing". In 2004, Castle Music released a definitive 2 CD edition of the album, mastered from the original tapes and with a vastly expanded tracklisting.

Disc one - 2004 edition

  1. "Frightened"
  2. "Crap Rap 2" / "Like to Blow"
  3. "Rebellious Jukebox"
  4. "No Xmas for John Quays"
  5. "Mother-Sister!"
  6. "Industrial Estate"
  7. "Underground Medecin"
  8. "Two Steps Back"
  9. "Live at the Witch Trials"
  10. "Futures and Pasts"
  11. "Music Scene"
  12. "Bingo Master's Break-Out!"
  13. "Psycho Mafia"
  14. "Repetition"
  15. "It's The New Thing"
  16. "Various Times"
  17. "Dresden Dolls"
  18. "Psycho Mafia"
  19. "Industrial Estate"
  20. "Stepping Out"
  21. "Last Orders"
Tracks 12-14 formed the "Bingo Master's Break-Out!" EP, originally released August 1978 with tracks 15 and 16 being the group's second single, originally issued November 1978. Tracks 17-19 were a rehearsal tape which had previously emerged on a bootleg single whilst tracks 20 and 21 were live recordings previously issued on a Virgin Records compilation Live At The Electric Circus.

Disc two - 2004 edition

  1. "Rebellious Jukebox"
  2. "Mother-Sister!"
  3. "Industrial Estate"
  4. "Futures And Pasts"
  5. "Put Away"
  6. "Mess Of My"
  7. "No Xmas For John Key" (sic)
  8. "Like To Blow"
  9. "Like To Blow"
  10. "Stepping Out"
  11. "Two Steps Back"
  12. "Mess Of My"
  13. "It's The New Thing"
  14. "Various Times"
  15. "Bingo Master's Break-Out!"
  16. "Frightened"
  17. "Industrial Estate"
  18. "Psycho Mafia"
  19. "Music Scene"
  20. "Mother-Sister!"
Tracks 1-4 were the group's first session for John Peel, tracks 5-8 being their second. The remainder were taken from the Liverpool 78 album, being a live set recorded at Mr Pickwick's in Liverpool on 22nd August 1978. The sound quality is inferior but the recording is of historical interest.

Trivia

In his autobiography, "Head On", Julian Cope claims that the lyric of "Two Steps Back" refers to him; the song does contain the line Julian says "How was the gear?". also a name of a band who chose the name as a tribute

Personnel

External links

The Fall
Mark E. Smith
Studio albums
Live at the Witch Trials | Dragnet | Grotesque | Slates | Hex Enduction Hour
Room to Live | Perverted by Language | The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
This Nation's Saving Grace | Bend Sinister | The Frenz Experiment | I Am Kurious Oranj
Extricate | Shift-Work | [[Code: Selfish]] | The Infotainment Scan | Middle Class Revolt
Cerebral Caustic | The Light User Syndrome | Levitate | The Marshall Suite | The Unutterable
Are You Are Missing Winner | The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) | Fall Heads Roll
Related articles
Manchester | John Peel

 

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