Reformation Post T.L.C.

It's the 26th studio album by Mark E. Smith's (MES) legendary garage-punk/post-punk group founded in 1976 in Manchester, UK. In John Peel's words "the FALL: always different, always the same". Reformation Post T.L.C. finds the FALL once again different, but questionably the same. In contrast to their previous two LPs, Reformation Post T.L.C. comes across as haphazardly composed and ill-produced (awful mix/unacceptable sound quality). Following Smith's FALL-ing out with his band amidst their US tour last year, the new CA-based band members (Darker My Love, the Hill) along with MES and his wife Elena are having a hard time cementing their ideas into a coherent sound. There is a distinct disconnect between MES vocal character and the music behind it. Despite the negativity, there are a few true FALL gems here (FALL Sound, The Wright Stuff) and an adorable cover of the country classic White Line Fever. The Fall is a damn great band to see live these days, but this LP struggles through MES experimentation with tapes and noise, the Fall's traditional garage-punk bombast and plenty of aimless jazzy psych noodling around reminiscent of MES' favorite band Can, but to paraphrase his classic tune he is [no] Damo Suzuki.
Play 3, 4, 8, 11, 6, 12
1. An ill-composed song. Pretty bad.
2. Heavy bass driving.
3. Bombastic punker! A true Fall classic!
4. Cute, awesome cover of Merle Haggard’s country classic.
5. M.E.S. blah-blah-blah-ing his way through an aimless song. He’s doing a “hick” accent while narrating the gospel of his new band line-up. This sucks.
6. Signature Fall bass riffs and repetition. Pretty good.
7. Jazzy psych strings.
8. Female vox! A Fall song without MES singing? Organ-driven psych tune. Vox remind me of Death by Chocolate and VU’s John Cale. Beautiful.
9. Live recording? Sparse and lazy. Loungy guitars.
10. Dark experimentation with noise. No vocals.
11. Edgy surfy instrumental with looped vocals and tapes.
12. Signature Fall repetition. Edgy. Driving synth/bass.
13. 30 seconds of atonal beat.