45 84 89 A Sides

458489: THE A SIDES contains all the A sides from the Fall's singles released by Beggars Banquet between 1984 and 1989. The Fall: Brix Smith (vocals, guitar); Mark E. Smith (vocals, piano); Stephen Hanley (acoustic guitar, bass); Simon Rogers (guitar, keyboards); Craig Scanlon (guitar); Paul Hanley (keyboards, drums); Marcia Schofield (keyboards, background vocals); Karl Burns (bass, drums, percussion); Simon Wolstencroft (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Fredrica Federation (guitar). Producers include: John Leckie, K2, Simon Rogers, Ian Broudie, Grant Cunliffe. The A-SIDES is an essential sampler of The Fall's 1984-1989 output, closing the lid on the era many Fall fans consider the band's most fruitful. These years were also known as the Fall's "pop years" or as "the Brix years," after guitarist Brix Smith, the California-born guitar-playing then-wife of Fall leader Mark E. Smith who set Smith's increasingly didactic and vengeful screeds to quirky, psych-influenced pop music. The combination was intoxicating, and all 17 of these singles are brilliant--from the surprisingly straightforward covers of William Blake's "Jerusalem" and the Kinks' "Victoria" to the originals "Hey! Luciani" and "Couldn't Get Ahead." The A-SIDES is the best possible introduction to what one of the albums of this era called "The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall."