| A Part of America Therein, 1981 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Recorded | Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Houston, Memphis, May–July 1981 | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 52:11 | |||
| Label | Cottage Records (a US division of Rough Trade Records) | |||
| The Fall chronology | ||||
| ||||
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.
After a tour of Iceland with Paul Hanley on drums, singer Mark E. Smith invited Karl Burns (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. [1] [2] 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 (1982), and "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul", which was recorded and released as a single on the band's return to the UK. [3]
The album was given its first UK release in 1992, a "2 for 1" CD on the Dojo label alongside six-track mini album Slates . [4] 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), "Session Musician" (New Orleans), and "Your Heart Out" (California). It was reissued again in 2017, on vinyl by Let Them Eat Vinyl, and on CD by Westworld Recordings.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| The Austin Chronicle | [5] |
| Robert Christgau | B [6] |
The album received a 'B' rating from Robert Christgau, who commented "They're as consistent as the Isley Brothers: no notable rise in quality or interest, and also no falloff." [6] AllMusic reviewer Ted Mills gave it three stars, viewing it as one of the band's best early live albums. [4] Marc Savlov, reviewing the reissued album in 2002 for The Austin Chronicle , gave it two stars, calling it "abrasive", and opining that it showed the band "in its early, dismal anti-glory". [5] 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 . [7] Trouser Press viewed the performances as "uniformly strong, particularly the epic 'N.W.R.A.'" [2] The Wire 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". [8]
Despite only being available in the UK as an import, the album reached number 9 on the UK Independent Albums Chart in 1983. [9]
The Fall were an English post-punk group, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member. The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns; guitarists Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s.
Pink Flag is the first studio album by the English band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. Though the album failed to chart on its initial release, it has been widely considered to have been highly influential on many other musicians.
Slates is an EP by the Fall, released on 27 April 1981 by Rough Trade Records. It was one of singer Mark E. Smith's favourite Fall releases, and he claimed it was aimed at "people who didn't buy records".
Live at the Witch Trials is the debut studio album by The Fall. It was released on 16 March 1979, through record label Step-Forward. It is not, despite its title, a live album and was recorded in a studio in a single day and mixed by producer Bob Sargeant.
Totale's Turns is a (mostly) live album by the Fall, released on 5 May 1980.
Room to Live, subtitled Undilutable Slang Truth!, is the fifth studio album by English post-punk band the Fall. It was released on 27 September 1982 through record label Kamera.
Grotesque is the third studio album by English band the Fall. Released on 17 November 1980, it was the band's first studio album on Rough Trade.
Dragnet is the second studio album by English post-punk band the Fall, released on 26 October 1979 through Step-Forward Records. Appearing less than eight months after its predecessor, Live at the Witch Trials,Dragnet established at an early stage two key patterns characteristic of the group's future: that of high productivity and that of a regular turnover of group members.
Perverted by Language is the sixth studio album by English post-punk group The Fall, released in December 1983 on Rough Trade Records.
The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... is the seventh studio album by the Fall, released in October 1984. It was the band's first album after signing to the Beggars Banquet label. Brix Smith co-wrote three of the tracks. Paul Hanley left the band immediately after the accompanying UK tour, ending the group's distinctive "twin drummers" period.
Bend Sinister is the ninth studio album by English post-punk band the Fall. It was released in September 1986 by record label Beggars Banquet.
Blue Orchids are an English post-punk band formed in Manchester in 1979, when Martin Bramah decided to quit The Fall having recorded that band's debut album Live at the Witch Trials. Christened by Salford-based punk poet John Cooper Clarke the band recorded for Rough Trade and acted as backing band for the Velvet Underground's Nico before a 25-year period of intermittent activity and alternative identities.
Karl Burns is a British musician best known as drummer for the Fall, featuring in many incarnations of the band between 1977 and 1998.
Cerebral Caustic is the seventeenth full-length studio album by British post-punk group the Fall, released in 1995 on Permanent Records. It spent one week on the UK Albums Chart at number 67, 19 places lower than its predecessor Middle Class Revolt, marking the end of one of the group's relatively more successful periods.
Levitate is the 19th album by The Fall, released in 1997 on Artful Records. Levitate became the last album to feature two long-time Fall members, drummer Karl Burns and bass player Steve Hanley.
Fall in a Hole is a live album by the Fall, recorded in Auckland in August 1982 and released in December 1983 on the Flying Nun label of New Zealand.
Live in London 1980 is a live album by the Fall, released in 1982 on cassette on the Chaos Tapes label. Initially a limited edition of 4,000 copies, the album has since been reissued several times as The Legendary Chaos Tape.
Miles Davis at Fillmore is a 1970 live album by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and band, recorded at the Fillmore East, New York City on four consecutive days, June 17 through June 20, 1970, originally released as a double vinyl LP. The performances featured the double keyboard set-up Davis toured with for a few months, with Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea playing electronic organ and Fender Rhodes, respectively. The group opened for Laura Nyro at these performances.
Sabotage/Live is a live album by John Cale. It was recorded at CBGB, New York on 13–16 June 1979, and released by SPY Records in December 1979.
Hip Priest and Kamerads is a 1985 compilation album by British rock band The Fall, containing tracks taken from their releases on the Kamera label together with a previously-unreleased live track from the same era. It was subsequently reissued with a further four live tracks added.
