Track Listing
1. Ladybird (Green Grass)
2. Lost In Music
3. Glam Racket No 3
4. I'm Going To Spain
5. It's A Curse
6. Paranoid Man In Cheap S*** Room
7. Service
8. League Of Bald Headed Men
9. Past Gone Mad
10. Light Up Fireworks Legend
11. Why People Are Grudgeful (CD)
12. League Of Bald Headed Men (mix)
| Details | | Number of CDs: | 1 | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Distributor: | Fullfill/Universal Music |
Album Notes
The Fall: Mark E. Smith (vocals); Craig Scanlon (guitar); Dave Bush (keyboards); Stephen Hanley (bass); Simon Wolftencroft (drums).Producers: Robert Gordon, Rex Sargeant, Simon Rogers, Mark E. Smith, Jack Adams.1993's THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN follows the WHY ARE PEOPLE GRUDGEFUL? EP as the first full-length result of The Fall's brief tenure with Matador Records. The album finds Mark E. Smith and company in a transitional phase, moving away from the dance-y electronics of the band's turn-of-the-decade work towards a return to the guitar-based pop of the mid-'80s era that many feel was the group's highest point. The electronic influence is still there on "It's A Curse," which recalls Stereolab's similar experiments in '70s-style krautrock, and the overtly dance-oriented "The League of Bald-Headed Men" and "Lost In Music." Elsewhere, "Ladybird (Green Grass)" echoes the late-'70s avant-funk of such groups as the Gang of Four and a respectful cover of Lee Perry's "Why Are People Grudgeful?" re-explores the post-punk fascination with dub and reggae. Throughout, Smith seems somewhat more reined-in than usual, only occasionally breaking into the sort of crazed harangues for which he's best known.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #43 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - ...Sarky Marky ensures that the Fall's first album since quitting Fontana is their lightest, most commercial in years...[as] the hip priest raps over scuttling bluebeat, thumping techno and novelty cover versions...
NME (12/25/1993)
...singer Mark E. Smith's in top form here chanting his oddly hypnotic theories about himself and the many people he disdains...
Spin (07/01/1993)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...They may have fallen off a major label, but there's been no fall from grace: THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN is as powerful as any Fall LP since the peak of THIS NATION'S SAVING GRACE, drawing and adapting from other genres to add muscle to Mark Smith's mysteries...
Q (06/01/1993)
...[THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN] contains two of [The Fall's] most convincing attempts at party music....Mark E. Smith sounds like someone you'd actually want to have at your party...
Melody Maker (04/24/1993)
(8) - Excellent - ...The Fall have failed to deliver a less than great album, and THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN stands a very peak of their canon...
NME (04/23/1993)
...[The Fall] continues to amaze: steady, precise rhythms underpinning Mark Smith's nasal, world-weary drone and dense, inscrutable musings... - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (05/21/1993)
...Smith likes to keep things fresh, and on INFOTAINMENT SCAN he does just that with a stripped-down approach and more techno/dance experiments....What keeps the Fall vital is not just what Smith says but how he says it...
Alternative Press (07/01/1993)
Ranked #43 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - ...Sarky Marky ensures that the Fall's first album since quitting Fontana is their lightest, most commercial in years...[as] the hip priest raps over scuttling bluebeat, thumping techno and novelty cover versions...Spin (7/93, p.16) - ...singer Mark E. Smith's in top form here chanting his oddly hypnotic theories about himself and the many people he disdains...Q (6/93, p.96) - 4 Stars - Excellent - ...They may have fallen off a major label, but there's been no fall from grace: THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN is as powerful as any Fall LP since the peak of THIS NATION'S SAVING GRACE, drawing and adapting from other genres to add muscle to Mark Smith's mysteries...Melody Maker (4/24/93, p.34) - ...[THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN] contains two of [The Fall's] most convincing attempts at party music....Mark E. Smith sounds like someone you'd actually want to have at your party...NME (4/23/93, p.30) - (8) - Excellent - ...The Fall have failed to deliver a less than great album, and THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN stands a very peak of their canon...Entertainment Weekly (5/21/93, p.50) - ...[The Fall] continues to amaze: steady, precise rhythms underpinning Mark Smith's nasal, world-weary drone and dense, inscrutable musings... - Rating: A-Alternative Press (7/93, p.68) - ...Smith likes to keep things fresh, and on INFOTAINMENT SCAN he does just that with a stripped-down approach and more techno/dance experiments....What keeps the Fall vital is not just what Smith says but how he says it...
NME (12/25/1993)
Ranked #43 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - ...Sarky Marky ensures that the Fall's first album since quitting Fontana is their lightest, most commercial in years...[as] the hip priest raps over scuttling bluebeat, thumping techno and novelty cover versions...Spin (7/93, p.16) - ...singer Mark E. Smith's in top form here chanting his oddly hypnotic theories about himself and the many people he disdains...Q (6/93, p.96) - 4 Stars - Excellent - ...They may have fallen off a major label, but there's been no fall from grace: THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN is as powerful as any Fall LP since the peak of THIS NATION'S SAVING GRACE, drawing and adapting from other genres to add muscle to Mark Smith's mysteries...Melody Maker (4/24/93, p.34) - ...[THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN] contains two of [The Fall's] most convincing attempts at party music....Mark E. Smith sounds like someone you'd actually want to have at your party...NME (4/23/93, p.30) - (8) - Excellent - ...The Fall have failed to deliver a less than great album, and THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN stands a very peak of their canon...Entertainment Weekly (5/21/93, p.50) - ...[The Fall] continues to amaze: steady, precise rhythms underpinning Mark Smith's nasal, world-weary drone and dense, inscrutable musings... - Rating: A-Alternative Press (7/93, p.68) - ...Smith likes to keep things fresh, and on INFOTAINMENT SCAN he does just that with a stripped-down approach and more techno/dance experiments....What keeps the Fall vital is not just what Smith says but how he says it...Classic Rock (04/06, p.93) - 9 (out of 10) - ...stands as a media-filleting masterpiece, The Fall at their most musically lethal...
NME (12/25/1993)
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