The Fall The Frenz Experiment (CD Format)

While Mark E. Smith is known as a mercurial bandleader who hires, fires, and abandons his members when it's time, he's also quite the humorous prankster. It's often a bleak and black humor, but it can be heard informing the way he approaches a song. "Carry Bag Man" is a demented sing-along that tells the story of an itinerant musician who states, "I've no time to sit comfortable down, but I still need armchairs round my home to put carrier bags on." "Get a Hotel" follows with a stalking bass line and a vocal reflecting an inner monologue. The cover of The Kinks' "Victoria" gave the band its first sizable British hit and provided listeners with some context for Smith's own observations. "Athlete Cured" displays how the group's instrumental chops carefully distinguish Smith's words. "Oswald Defence Lawyer" is a brutal excoriation of things real and imagined. "Tuff Life Booogie" is a hilarious '70s-styled boogie number. The other singles here—"Hit the North" and a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House"—further the band's accessible side.