The last thing most Fall fans expected the group to do in 1988 was provide music for a ballet, but in fact this is what they did. Of course, it helped that the Michael Clark company of dancers were some of the most avant-garde at the time in Britain and were inspired originally by the Fall's 'Hey! Luciani' single. The concept, very loosely, centers around William and Mary of Orange, and finds Smith arranging William Blake's 'Jerusalem' for the band, adding his own lyrics ('It was the fault of the government,' providing ironic contrast to the self-sufficiency espoused in Blake). As a cohesive Fall album it fails: The strongest tracks are those that have little to do with the ballet (and are available elsewhere). 'New Big Prinz' updates their own 'Hip Priest' into one of their heaviest tracks, full of threat and wonder. Features all forward momentum and jingling keyboards.
For the first time tracks felt like filler, and indeed they were. The CD booklet contains photographs from the performance full of giant pop-art hamburgers and cans of baked beans, suggesting I Am Kurios Oranj would have been more interesting to see than hear.
I Am Kurious Oranj
Get It At So, how to shake things up, how to make life interesting? Why, record the music for a ballet of course. I mean, what else are you gonna do? One thing it did do was give The Fall an actual reason to record an album, other than out of habit.
As a result, although not everything here works, a good half of it works magnificently, and the rest is never less than interesting. 'New Big Prinz' opens the whole shebang and The Fall sound more wired and alive than they had for a good couple of years, at least. A couple of years for The Fall being a long time, you understand. 'Big New Prinz' is stomping, storming, hand-clapping, the works. Mark E Smith sings and shouts, the guitar is catchy as the catchiest thing ever, and there you have it.
The 'Overture' is a solo Brix tune, sung by her as well. It's a very pretty guitar tune, pretty of course not being a usual Fall descriptive word, but then, this isn't a usual Fall LP. 'Dog Is Life' marries William Blake and Mark E Smith in a seemingly bizarre coupling but it works fantastically well. First of all we have Mark E Smith spitting out the 'Dog Is Life' rant after which 'Jerusalem' announces itself with strong drums and deep bass notes.
When the guitar comes in, when Mark E Smith starts singing, you realise this is a close cousin to the opening ' Big New Prinz '. In actual fact, together with 'Big New Prinz' and ' Wrong Place, Right Time ', ' Jerusalem ' was issued as part of a three song EP by the group. All three of these songs are great, but 'Jerusalem' is particularly entertaining for the lyrical content when Mark E Smith starts to get all political on us. ' Kurious Oranj ' deserves a special mention.
It's a song that's been known to disgust non Fall lovers I've played it to, though I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because the lyrics are completely daft and make no sense whatsoever. Perhaps it's because of the simplistic bass groove. It's an addictive bass groove though, once you get into it. It's a 'humorous' bass groove in line with the 'daft' nature of the song in the first place. Well, for all I know, the lyrics are dead meaningful. The end result is just sheer entertainment however, and that's alright by me.
![Oranj Oranj](/uploads/1/2/4/0/124047392/690216391.jpg)
We have a number of softer, sweeter guitar songs on the second half of this record. ' Guide Me Soft ' is a single exposed guitar with bare percussion and Mark E Smith half singing / half speaking. ' Yes O Yes ' is the kind of song that wouldn't have sounded out of place on 'Bend Sinister' but it also shares the grinding, repetitive nature of certain songs from 'The Frenz Experiment'. 'Yes O Yes' isn't particular a highlight here but it works in context. ' Van Plague?'
![Oranj Oranj](/uploads/1/2/4/0/124047392/257301275.jpg)
On the other hand just works, full stop. A greatly underrated Fall song, it's not often spoken of by fans but this is one of the sweetest Fall songs I can think of and also one of the best 'straight' Mark E Smith vocal performances. ' Bad News Girl ' isn't particularly noteworthy being a tuneless dirge, ' Last Nacht ' is a lively dance experiment and the closing ' Big New Priest ' merely an alternative mix of the albums opening cut. I'll mention ' Cab It Up!' Isn't original, the melody is obvious and goes round and round. It's a lively track though, and Mark E Smith is particularly lively vocally. When he shouts out 'cabbing it uptown, UPTOWN!'
![I am kurious oranj I am kurious oranj](/uploads/1/2/4/0/124047392/316938513.jpg)
It's a great Fall moment, for me at least. And, there you have it. 'I Am Kurious Oranj'. Difficult to come to a definite conclusion about the whole thing, other than it's entertaining. But, entertaining is good.
The last thing most fans expected the group to do in 1988 was provide music for a ballet, but in fact this is what they did. Of course, it helped that the company of dancers were some of the most avant-garde at the time in Britain and were inspired originally by 's 'Hey! Luciani' single. The concept, very loosely, centers around William and Mary of Orange, and finds arranging 's 'Jerusalem' for the band, adding his own lyrics ('It was the fault of the government,' providing ironic contrast to the self-sufficiency espoused in ). As a cohesive album it fails: The strongest tracks are those that have little to do with the ballet (and are available elsewhere). 'New Big Prinz' updates their own 'Hip Priest' into one of their heaviest tracks, full of threat and wonder.
Vijay yesudas divorce. Features all forward momentum and jingling keyboards. For the first time tracks felt like filler, and indeed they were.
The CD booklet contains photographs from the performance full of giant pop-art hamburgers and cans of baked beans, suggesting would have been more interesting to see than hear.