''Totale's Turns (It's Now or Never)'' is a (mostly)

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

by the Fall, released on 5 May 1980.

Recording and release

The first of the band's many live and part-live albums, it was mostly recorded at gigs in the north of England, but the track "New Puritan" was recorded at

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

's home and "That Man" is a studio recording, an outtake from the recording sessions for the " Fiery Jack" single. Rather than record themselves in front of a receptive home crowd, the Fall chose to use recordings made in

working men's club Working men's clubs are British private social clubs first created in the 19th century in industrial areas, particularly the North of England, Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education ...

s and other less obvious settings;Smith, Mark E. & Middles, Mick (2008) ''The Fall (Updated Edition)'', Omnibus Press, , p. 114 Side 1 of the album was recorded at a leisure centre near

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

while the first two tracks on Side 2 are from a February 1980 gig in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. It is clear on the recording that the reception the band received ranged from indifferent to hostile, the enmity between band and audience evident from Smith's introductory statement "The difference between you and us is that we have brains". Friction within the band is also apparent, with Smith apparently chastising one of the musicians during "No Xmas for John Quays" with "Will you fuckin' get it together instead of showing off". Smith said of the album in his 2008 book ''Renegade'':

Nobody wanted to release it, because nobody played the sort of venues that you hear on it – places like Doncaster and Preston. The North was out of bounds; it might as well have been another country. We just pieced a load of tapes together. In the band's eyes it was commercial suicide releasing this dirge; they couldn't see the soul that lay behind it. That's musicians for you.Smith, Mark E. (2008) ''Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith'', Viking, , pp. 84–5

The album was released on 5 May 1980, the band's first release after signing to

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

Reception

Dave McCullough in '' Sounds'' gave the album a five star rating, calling the band "a living reminder of the failure of Punk and the almost solitary exponents of the directions in which it should have gone".

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

gave the album a B rating, describing himself as "a sucker for the overall sound, maybe even the attitude".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer Ned Raggett gave the album three stars, stating that it saw the band in "a hilariously aggressive mood", and delivering "some brilliant performances". Martin Longley, in a 1998 review, gave it three stars, calling it "a terse, brittle classic of cranky Mark E. Smith ranting". A 2002 review of the reissued album was given two stars by Marc Savlov in ''

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 demogra ...

'', describing it as "live with God-awful acoustics and utter crap recording that renders it barely there at the best moments". ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' described the album as "Jagged, largely recitative and nearly oblivious to musical convention, Smith's witty repartee carries the show as the band lurches and grunts along noisily." The album was chosen by

Luke Haines Luke Michael Haines (born 7 October 1967) is an English musician, songwriter and author. He has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder. Career ''New Wave'' Ha ...

in 2011 as one of his thirteen favourite albums. The album topped the

UK Independent 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 ...

in 1980, spending a total of 31 weeks on the chart.

Reissues

The album has been issued on CD several times, in 1992 by Dojo, in 1998 and 2004 by

Castle Communications Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

, and in 2017 by Westworld Recordings. The 2004 Castle reissue included the Fall's third

Peel session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

as bonus tracks. It was reissued on vinyl in 2004 by Earmark, and in 2017 by Let Them Eat Vinyl.

Track listing

Recording notes

*Tracks 1-6: recorded live at Bircoats Leisure Centre,

, 27 October 1979 *Tracks 7 and 8: recorded live at Palm Cove,

, 29 February 1980 *Track 9: studio outtake from the " Fiery Jack" sessions; recorded in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, September 1979 *Track 10: home demo recording from Mark E. Smith's house in

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ...

*Track 11: recorded live at

The Warehouse A warehouse is a storage facility. Warehouse or The Warehouse may also refer to: Buildings and places Canada * The Warehouse (Toronto), a defunct nightclub in Toronto, Ontario * The Warehouse Studio, a recording facility and photography studio i ...

, Preston, 22 November 1979 *Tracks 12-15:

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

Session; recorded 16 September 1980 Totale's Turns (It's Now Or Never)
The Fall Online. Retrieved 14 August 2021

Personnel

; The Fall *

– vocals *

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961) 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-Tape, and also w ...

– guitar, keyboards *

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. During his tenure he was a stalwart member for 17 albums and co-wrote over 120 of the group's songs; s ...

– guitar * Steve Hanley – bass * Mike Leigh – drums ;Additional musicians * Paul Hanley – drums (tracks 12-15)

References

{{Authority control The Fall (band) live albums 1980 live albums Rough Trade Records live albums