''Imperial Wax Solvent'' is a studio album by the Fall – the band's 26th – released in the UK on 28 April 2008. The album featured a new British-based lineup after the departures of the American musicians who had been recruited to salvage a 2006 tour of the US and subsequently appeared on 2007's '' Reformation Post TLC''. Frontman

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 ...

, keyboardist Elena Poulou and bassist Dave Spurr remain from the previous incarnation. They were joined on ''Imperial'' by guitarist Pete Greenway (a guest guitarist on the previous album) and drummer Keiron Melling. Spurr, Greenway and Melling would prove to be the band's most stable lineup, enduring for six studio albums until Smith's death in 2018. It was the first Fall album since 2001's '' Are You Are Missing Winner'' to have been turned around in a year. An album a year was always the norm for the group in the past but this practice slipped in the period 2001–2007 (2006 was the first year since the group's inception that saw the emergence of no new material at all, with a cover of

the Monks The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American garage rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format ...

' "Higgledy Piggledy" from the tribute album ''

Silver Monk Time ''Silver Monk Time'' is a tribute album inspired by the German-American beat band the Monks. It also serves as the soundtrack to '' Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback'', a 2006 documentary film about the band. The record was produced and compiled by ...

'' being the only recorded appearance). ''Imperial Wax Solvent'' was also the first studio album since ''Are You Are Missing Winner'' to make prominent use of the low-fi production techniques which were previously one of the Fall's hallmarks: the

Groundhogs The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...

cover "Strangetown" has noticeable skips, and certain tracks on the album are presented in mono.

Reception and release

The album was well-received by critics, scoring an 81/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The album entered the UK album chart at #35, the Fall's first time on the Top 40 since 1993's ''

The Infotainment Scan ''The Infotainment Scan'' is the fifteenth album by The Fall, released in 1993 on Permanent Records in the UK and by Matador Records in the USA (the first of the band's albums to get an official American release since ''Extricate'' (1990)). At t ...

'' reached #9. The album received some press attention when, due to a pressing error, the music of the album was recorded onto the first shipment of

Faryl Smith Faryl Smith (born 23 July 1995) is a British soprano whose performance repertoire includes opera, classical and classical crossover. Her diverse concerts draw a wide range of audiences, and she particularly enjoys introducing new audiences to cl ...

's debut album ''

Faryl ''Faryl'' is the debut album by British mezzo-soprano Faryl Smith, released on 9 March 2009 by Universal Classics and Jazz. Smith rose to fame after her appearance on the second series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' and signed with Universal after ...

''. ''Imperial Wax Solvent'' was reissued by

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well ...

on limited edition translucent yellow vinyl for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2019 and as an expanded 3CD edition in 2020.List of official Record Store Day releases revealed
/ref>The Fall: Imperial Wax Solvent, 3CD Digipak
''

''. Retrieved 8 September 2021.

Track listing

*"Strangetown" includes elements of "Garden", also written by McPhee and originally performed by

the Groundhogs Groundhogs are an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s, and continued sporadically into the 21st century. Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals) is the sole co ...

2020 expanded edition

;Disc 1 - original album *as per original edition ;Disc 2 - Britannia Row recordings 21/9/07 *Unused recordings made at

Britannia Row Studios Britannia Row Studios was a recording studio located in Islington, London N1 (1975–1995), and then in Fulham, London SW6, England (1995–2015). The original studio was built by the British rock band Pink Floyd in a three-story block at 35 Brita ...

in London. ;Disc 3 - De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex 10/5/08 *An entire live set recorded at

De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and S ...

Bexhill on Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Rother District ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

Personnel

The Fall *

- vocals, production * Eleni Poulou - keyboards, vocals, lead vocals on "I've Been Duped" * Peter Greenway - guitar * David Spurr - bass guitar * Keiron Melling - drums Technical *

Grant Showbiz Grant Showbiz (real name Grant Cunliffe) is a British record producer principally known for his work with The Fall, The Smiths, and Billy Bragg plus as an artist in his own right with Moodswings. He has worked on more albums by both The Fall (1 ...

- production * Andi Toma - production * Tim Baxter - production * Tom Pritchard - engineering * Simon 'Dingo' Archer - engineering * Olliver Groscheck - engineering *

Anthony Frost Anthony Frost (born 1951) is a British painter noted for his abstract works consisting of brightly coloured prints and collages. Biography Frost was born in St. Ives, Cornwall, the son of Sir Terry Frost. From 1970 to 1973 he studied at the ...

- cover art

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums The Fall (band) albums Albums produced by Grant Showbiz