''A Part of America Therein, 1981'' is a live album by the Fall, recorded on their 1981 U.S. tour and originally released only in the U.S. in 1982.

Recording and release

After a tour of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

with Paul Hanley on drums, singer

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

invited

Karl Burns Karl Burns (born Carl Birtles,1958 in Manchester, England) is a British musician best known as the drummer for the Fall, featuring in many incarnations of the band between 1977 and 1998. Although several musicians have rejoined the Fall havi ...

(who had left the band early in 1979) back into the group while also retaining Hanley. For this U.S. tour, the group were without Hanley as, at 17, he was refused a visa as he was too young for the clubs the band had been booked to play in. The Fall appeared with both Burns and Hanley on drums for the next three years, though both occasionally played other instruments. The album was compiled from recordings of live shows in Chicago, New York, Memphis, Houston, and San Francisco, between May and July 1981. The quality of recordings is variable, and the album was described as a "slap-dash document" of the band's US tour.Gimarc, George (2005) ''Punk Diary'', Backbeat Books, , p. 583Azerrad, Michael; Wolk, Douglas; Pattyn, Jay
Fall
, ''

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''. Retrieved 9 March 2018 It includes several songs that had not been released at the time of the performances, including three that would be included on ''

Hex Enduction Hour ''Hex Enduction Hour'' is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk group the Fall. Released on 8March 1982, it builds on the low-fidelity production values and caustic lyrical content of their earlier recordings, and features a two-dr ...

'' (1982), and "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul", which was recorded and released as a single on the band's return to the UK.

Reissues

The album was given its first UK release in 1992, a "2 for 1" CD on the Dojo label alongside six-track mini album ''

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''. This coupling was reissued in 1998 on Essential with amended artwork. It was released as a standalone CD album in 1998 by Castle, and in expanded form in late 2004, adding four additional recordings from the same tour: "Middle Mass", "The Container Drivers" (both in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

), "Session Musician" (

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

), and "Your Heart Out" (

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

). It was reissued again in 2017, on vinyl by Let Them Eat Vinyl, and on CD by Westworld Recordings.

Reception

The album received a 'B' rating from

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, who commented "They're as consistent as the Isley Brothers: no notable rise in quality or interest, and also no falloff."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

reviewer Ted Mills gave it three stars, viewing it as one of the band's best early live albums. Marc Savlov, reviewing the reissued album in 2002 for ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'', gave it two stars, calling it "abrasive", and opining that it showed the band "in its early, dismal anti-glory". Alex Ogg, writing for AllMusic, viewed the album as featuring "generally strong performances" but not as good as another live album from that period, '' Fall in a Hole''. ''

'' viewed the performances as "uniformly strong, particularly the epic 'N.W.R.A.'" ''

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'' considered the album showed the band "achieving its aims, with endless riffs approaching trancelike qualities", with the version of "An Older Lover" included described as "a definitive, hallucinatory live reading". Despite only being available in the UK as an import, the album reached number 9 on the

UK Independent Albums Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rel ...

in 1983.Lazell, Barry (1997) ''Indie Hits 1980-1989'', Cherry Red Books, , p. 84

Track listing

Original USA LP

*"The North Side" # "The N.W.R.A." ''(Chicago)'' # "Hip Priest" ''(Chicago)'' # "Totally Wired" ''(New York)'' # "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" ''(New York)'' *"The South Side" # "Cash 'n' Carry" ''(San Francisco)'' # "An Older Lover" ''(Houston)'' # "Deer Park" ''(Houston)'' # "Winter" ''(Memphis)''

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, kazoo,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Craig Scanlon Craig Antony Scanlon (born 7 December 1960 in Manchester) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the Fall between 1979 and 1995. Despite his surname being spelled 'Scanlon' he was wrongly credited as 'Craig Scanlan' on every record h ...

– guitar, backing vocals * Steve Hanley –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

* ''A Part Of America Therein, 1981'' (Sanctuary Records CD 2004 – sleevenote by Darly Easlea)

External links

Gigography 1981
from the original Fall website {{DEFAULTSORT:Part of America Therein, A The Fall (band) live albums 1981 live albums