Albums by this artist

Hex Enduction Hour (1982)

The Fall

Hex Enduction Hour

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

The Fall Hex Enduction Hour Kamera, 1982 RiYL: The Birthday Party, Joy Division, Public Image Ltd.

Although Pavement only made Slanted And Enchanted once, The Fall made it...several more times than that. Probably the best Fall record for Pavement fans wondering what's up with all the comparisons to start with, Hex Enduction Hour is a dense, two-drummered stew of working-class sloganeering and studiously dissonant guitar-bass interplay. Done really well. You won't "get it" the first time you listen, but it's surprising how quickly this seemingly difficult music becomes listenable, even catchy.

"The Classical," Hex's first track, is covered by Pavement on the "Major Leagues" single. The Fall's version is way more chaotic, six minutes of a six-piece band driving a one-chord riff absolutely nowhere. Mark E. Smith, another one of those tone-deaf musical wunderkinds, provides the narrative, alternately sneering and shouting his way through the vivid clatter of his companions.

The rest of the record continues in the same way. The Fall's longest-termed members other than Smith, guitarist Craig Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley, have developed a uniquely taunting style of play which suggests at any moment organization will emerge and clarity will be granted the listener, but never actually gives such resolution. "Just Step S'ways," where guitar, bass, and Smith aren't even within a semitone of each other, skitters gleefully as if it were the catchiest song on the record. It kind of is. "Hip Priest" reveals the source of the drumbeat from Pavement's "Our Singer." "Fortress" reveals that The Fall own the same drum machine Trio used on "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha."

It's all really good, too. "Jawbone And The Air-Rifle" even has a chorus, sort of, and marks a reinvention of catchy on The Fall's terms that Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 hasn't managed to top in their whole career. "And This Day" ends the record with ten minutes of prime psychedelic stew and Smith vitriol.

The record suffers from perversely subdued production (every instrument seems to be mixed just a little lower than the next) and a few weak tracks in the middle, but it's still way better than whatever your local mainstream rock radio station is playing right now. And it's really not unfair to praise Pavement until you've listened to at least one Fall record. Remember, they did it ten years earlier, and they had day jobs. Not a single second drummer in Fall history, to the best of my knowledge, makes his living off gambling receipts and selling horse tip sheets on his front lawn.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.