Description:
Like nothing else anyone had ever heard, or has heard since, the intense idiosyncrasies of Grotesque rendered it too "difficult" even for commonplace critical adulation. That it was so overlooked is more a tragedy for contemporary music than for Mark E Smith personally, whose priorities always lay elsewhere. The mood is wintry, the songs are barbs and fables. Sniping, minutely-observed social comment ("English Scheme", "Pay Your Rates") takes turns with tall tales in the spooky, terror-fried style of MR James, northern legends of changelings "fed with rubbish from disposal barges". "C
Like nothing else anyone had ever heard, or has heard since, the intense idiosyncrasies of Grotesque rendered it too "difficult" even for commonplace critical adulation. That it was so overlooked is more a tragedy for contemporary music than for Mark E Smith personally, whose priorities always lay elsewhere. The mood is wintry, the songs are barbs and fables. Sniping, minutely-observed social comment ("English Scheme", "Pay Your Rates") takes turns with tall tales in the spooky, terror-fried style of MR James, northern legends of changelings "fed with rubbish from disposal barges". "C'n'C S Mithering" is nothing less than a complete overview of the early Eighties' inadequate cultural milieu (as well as demonstrating Smith's unsettling gift for "pre-cognition", as he details his premonition of Manchester youth gathering for "house dances" in out-of-town warehouses). It is phrased with an originality and dexterity that more closely resembles the latter-day genius of Dr Dooom or the Wu-Tang Clan than anything from rock's sorry, pseudo-poetic portfolio. Relatively little heard before this CD reissue (original vinyl copies, when tracked down, fetch silly prices), Grotesque is the most brutal, the most intensely imaginative, and arguably the finest Fall album of all. --Taylor Parkes
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Manufacturer: Essential
Release date: 29 June 1998
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 5017615864021 UPC: 5017615864021
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