The Fall: Next Steps

Editors' Notes Despite his reputation as rock's foremost curmudgeon, Mark E. Smith toyed with The Fall's sound as if it were post-punk putty. While 1979's “No Xmas for John Quays” captures the band in a primitive, garage-grimed state, just a few years later they were riding the rockabilly rhythm of “Couldn't Get Ahead.” And Smith wasn't afraid of the dance floor: check the baggy groove of “Telephone Thing” and the breezy ska of “Why Are People Grudgeful.”