The Fall – The Frenz Experiment (2xLP)

The Fall’s The Frenz Experiment arrived in February 1988 after a breakthrough stretch for Mark E. Smith’s Manchester group: in 1987 they landed their first UK Top 30 single with their cover of the Northern soul standard There’s a Ghost in My House, then followed it with the much-loved Hit the North. That run fed directly into the band’s 10th studio album, a record from the Beggars Banquet years when The Fall were edging toward their widest audience without losing their odd, abrasive centre.

The album catches that balance well. There is a more accessible surface here than on earlier Fall records, but the writing still twists in familiar directions: the title track is uneasy and pensive, Athlete Cured pushes a warped rockabilly charge, and Victoria turns The Kinks into something wiry and distinctly Fall. Even at their most approachable, they still sound stubbornly unlike anyone else.

This expanded edition is useful because it restores the wider picture around the original LP, adding the key non-album singles and B-sides from the period, including material from There’s a Ghost in My House, Hit the North, and Victoria, plus Bremen Nacht Run Out, which originally appeared with the album’s first pressing. With new interview-based notes, it works less like a simple reissue than a focused snapshot of one of The Fall’s sharpest late-80s phases.

Reviews

• A more complete picture of the band's period output does wonders for the Fall's The Frenz Experiment. – PopMatters

Genre: Punk & Alternative

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