This Nation's Saving Grace

This Nation's Saving Grace
Studio album by The Fall
Released	23 September 1985
Recorded	1985
Genre	Rock
Length	47:12 / 65:55 (Cassette/CD)
Label	Beggars Banquet
Producer	John Leckie
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Pitchfork Media (10.0/10) link Robert Christgau (B+) link
The Fall chronology
The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall (1984) This Nation's Saving Grace (1985) Bend Sinister (1986)

This Nation's Saving Grace is an LP by The Fall, originally released in 1985. It reached number 58 in the UK charts.

At the beginning of 1985, the group were without Paul Hanley, who left after completing the group's 1984 tour, as well as his brother, bassist Steve Hanley who took four months paternity leave from the band in the early part of the year. A tour was undertaken and the group recorded the double a-sided single "Couldn't Get Ahead / Rollin' Dany" and subsequent single "Cruiser's Creek" with Simon Rogers standing in on bass.^[1] The group had met Rogers through ballet dancer Michael Clark and he had already co-produced the early recordings of Brix Smith's other group The Adult Net. When Hanley returned, Rogers remained with the group, switching to guitar and keyboards - Hanley's return was marked with the inscription "S Hanley! He's Back" on the run-out groove of side one of the album.

The album is frequently cited as one of the group's finest. It ranked at #46 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums 1985-2005" and the CD edition was awarded the rare accolade of 10.0/10 by Pitchfork.

Track listing

LP

Side one

1. "Mansion"
2. "Bombast"
3. "Barmy"
4. "What You Need"
5. "Spoilt Victorian Child"
6. "L.A."

Side two

1. "Gut of the Quantifier"
2. "My New House"
3. "Paintwork"
4. "I Am Damo Suzuki"
5. "To Nkroachment: Yarbles"

• Several non-UK editions of the LP omitted "Barmy", replacing it with UK standalone single "Cruiser's Creek"

CD/Cassette

1. "Mansion" (Brix E. Smith) – 1:21
2. "Bombast" (Mark E. Smith, Steve Hanley) – 3:07
3. "Barmy" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 5:20
4. "What You Need" (M. Smith, Craig Scanlon) – 4:49
5. "Spoilt Victorian Child" (M. Smith, Simon Rogers) – 4:12
6. "L.A." (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:09
7. "Vixen" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:01
8. "Couldn't Get Ahead" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 2:35
9. "Gut of the Quantifier" (M. Smith, Karl Burns, Rogers, B. Smith) – 5:15
10. "My New House" (M. Smith) – 5:16
11. "Paintwork" (M. Smith, Rogers, Scanlon) – 6:38
12. "I Am Damo Suzuki" (M. Smith, Burns, B. Smith) – 5:40
13. "To Nkroachment: Yarbles" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 1:23
14. "Petty (Thief) Lout" (M. Smith, Scanlon) – 5:20
15. "Rollin' Dany" (Joe Stein, Paul Edwards) – 2:25
16. "Cruisers Creek" (M. Smith, B. Smith) – 4:16

• The CD edition was issued in 1988. The bonus tracks are all taken from contemporaneous UK singles. All of these tracks (with the exception of "Cruiser's Creek") were compiled in the US as the By Grace Are Ye Saved EP - this EP added "Barmy", missing from many non-UK editions of the album. A previously unissued edit of "Cruiser's Creek", omitting 2 verses, was used for this CD release and for all subsequent releases of the track on compilations (no explanation for this has ever been given). Despite this, the CD edition effectively compiles the group's entire 1985 output. The Fall Online website has reported that this album will be remastered and reissued in 2009.

Personnel

• Mark E. Smith – vocals, violin, guitar
• Craig Scanlon – guitar
• Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
• Steve Hanley – bass guitar
• Simon Rogers – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar
• Karl Burns – drums; backing vocals on "Rollin' Dany"

Trivia

• Yarbles (from the song entitled "To:Nkroachment: Yarbles") appears in the novel to A Clockwork Orange as Nadsat for testicles or bollocks.
• The CD edition of the album was covered in its entirety by members of the forum on the band's then-official website with the approval of Mark E. Smith[1]. The complete album was also covered in concert by Triple Gang, who featured members of Faith No More and Fudge Tunnel[2].
• The original vinyl version of the album has also been covered in its entirety by Electronica act Globo. The album gets an official release on the Comuse label in November 2008.
• 'I Am Damo Suzuki' is a tribute to Can, Damo Suzuki having been their vocalist. The riff descending in semitones is based on 'Don't Turn The Light On, Leave Me Alone' from Soundtracks, while the drum rhythm comes from 'Oh Yeah' from Tago Mago. The lyrics make reference to other Can songs, such as Vitamin C.

References

1. ^ Daryl Easlea - interview with Paul Hanley, "The Fall Box Set 1976 - 2007" accompanying booklet (Castle Music/Sanctuary 2007)