Bend Sinister (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Bend Sinister
Type = Album
Artist = The Fall


Released = 29 September 1986 (UK)
1987 (US)
Recorded = 1986
Genre = Rock
Length = 43:33 (LP)
52:56 (CD)
Label = Beggars Banquet (UK)
Bigtime (US)
Producer = John Leckie
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:nx5ibks96akz link]

Last album = "This Nation's Saving Grace"
(1985)
This album = "Bend Sinister"
(1986)
Next album = "The Frenz Experiment"
(1988)

"Bend Sinister" is a 1986 album by The Fall, released on Beggars Banquet Records. It shares its title with Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Bend Sinister" (1947), and reached number 36 in the UK charts. The US version of the album was titled "The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus".

It was the third and last Fall album to be produced by John Leckie. When recording began, they were without a drummer, Karl Burns having quit shortly before sessions began. Ex-member Paul Hanley stepped in at first before permanent replacement Simon Wolstencroft was found. However, Leckie and Mark E. Smith argued during the recording, Smith complaining that "he'd always swamp everything, y'know, put the psychedelic sounds over it". Leckie, for his part, drew the line at Smith's insistence that some tracks be mastered from a standard audio cassette which Smith had been carrying around and listening to on a Walkman. Neither Smith nor Leckie speak highly of the album today. [Q/Mojo Special Edition : Morrissey & The Story Of Manchester, 2006] Nonetheless, the record contained their version of "Mr. Pharmacist", originally by US garage band The Other Half, which gave The Fall their first UK Top 75 entry, and remains a regular feature of the group's live set to this day.

Track listing

Vinyl record

;Side one
# "R.O.D." (Mark E. Smith, Steve Hanley, Simon Rogers, Craig Scanlon, Brix E. Smith, Simon Wolstencroft) – 4:36
# "Dktr Faustus" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 5:35
# "Shoulder Pads 1#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 2:56
# "Mr Pharmacist" (Jeff Nowlen) – 2:22
# "Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers" (M. Smith, Hanley, Scanlon) – 7:21;Side two
# "U.S. 80's-90's" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:36
# "Terry Waite Sez" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:39
# "Bournemouth Runner" (M. Smith, Hanley, B. Smith) – 6:06
# "Riddler!" (M. Smith, Rogers, B. Smith) – 6:22
# "Shoulder Pads 2#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:57

CD version

# "R.O.D." (M. Smith, Hanley, Rogers, Scanlon, B. Smith, Wolstencroft) – 4:36
# "Dktr Faustus" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 5:35
# "Shoulder Pads 1#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 2:56
# "Mr Pharmacist" (J. Nowlen) – 2:22
# "Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers" (M. Smith, Hanley, Scanlon) – 7:21
# "Living Too Late" (M. Smith) – 4:30
#* "Originally released on the "Living Too Late" single, 7 July 1986"
# "U.S. 80's-90's" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:36
# "Terry Waite Sez" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:39
# "Bournemouth Runner" (M. Smith, Hanley, B. Smith) – 6:06
# "Riddler!" (M. Smith, Rogers, B. Smith) – 6:22
# "Shoulder Pads 2#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:57
# "Auto Tech Pilot" (M. Smith, Hanley) – 4:53
#* "Originally released on the "Mr Pharmacist" 12" single, 1 September 1986"

Cassette version

# "R.O.D." (M. Smith, Hanley, Rogers, Scanlon, B. Smith, Wolstencroft) – 4:36
# "Dktr Faustus" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 5:35
# "Shoulder Pads 1#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 2:56
# "Mr Pharmacist" (J. Nowlen) – 2:22
# "Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers" (M. Smith, Hanley, Scanlon) – 7:21
# "Living Too Late" (M. Smith) – 4:30
# "U.S. 80's-90's" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:36
# "Terry Waite Sez" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:39
# "Bournemouth Runner" (M. Smith, Hanley, B. Smith) – 6:06
# "Riddler!" (M. Smith, Rogers, B. Smith) – 6:22
# "Shoulder Pads 2#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:57
# "Auto Tech Pilot" (M. Smith, Hanley) – 4:53
# "Town & Country Hobgoblins" (M. Smith, Hanley, Marc Riley, Scanlon)
#* "Live version of "City Hobgoblins", recorded at Town & Country Club, Kentish Town, London on 12 July 1986"

"The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus"

# "There's a Ghost in My House" (Holland-Dozier-Holland, R. Dean Taylor)
#* "Originally released on the "There's a Ghost in My House" single, 27 April 1987"
# "U.S. 80's-90's" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:36
# "Shoulder Pads 1#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 2:56
# "Mr Pharmacist" (J. Nowlen) – 2:22
# "Riddler!" (M. Smith, Rogers, B. Smith) – 6:22
# "Hey! Luciani" (M. Smith, Brix Smith, Stephen Hanley)
#* "Originally released on the "Hey! Luciani" single, 8 December 1986"
# "Haf Found Bormann" (M. Smith)
#* "Originally released on the "There's a Ghost in My House" single, 27 April 1987"
# "Terry Waite Sez" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:39
# "R.O.D." (M. Smith, Hanley, Rogers, Scanlon, B. Smith, Wolstencroft) – 4:36
# "Shoulder Pads 2#" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:57
# "Gross Chapel - GB Grenadiers" (M. Smith, Hanley, Scanlon) – 7:21

Credits

*Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
*Brix Smith – vocals, guitar, keyboards
*Craig Scanlon – acoustic and electric guitars
*Simon Rogers – keyboards, machines, guitar
*Steve Hanley – bass guitar, guitar
*Simon Wolstencroft – drums, percussion - "credited on the sleeve as "John" S. Woolstencroft" (sic)"
*Paul Hanley – drums on "Dktr Faustus" and "Living Too Late"

References