Levitate (the Fall album)

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 (whose playing was once described by Smith as the defining element of the group's music).

Levitate
Studio album by
The Fall
Released29 September 1997
Recordedmid-1997
West Heath Studios, London
Beethoven Street Studios, London
PWL Studios, Manchester[1]
GenreAlternative rock
Length49:35
LabelArtful Records
ProducerMark E. Smith
The Fall chronology
The Light User Syndrome
(1996)		 Levitate
(1997)		 The Marshall Suite
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
NME8/10[3]

The album remained out of print for a long time, as Artful went bankrupt in the early 2000. An expanded, remastered 2CD/3LP version of the album was released by Cherry Red Records in May 2018.[4]

Recording background

Levitate was recorded amidst a difficult period for the group, described by personnel turmoil and financial troubles due to a VAT bill incurred in the 1980s and early 1990s for nearly £200,000.

Simon Wolstencroft left after a disagreement about the recording of 'Everybody But Myself'; also having received financial advice about the group's VAT bill, he resigned from being a co-director of The Fall business.

Karl Burns was fired in 1995 after the recording of The Light User Syndrome but reluctantly brought back in during the recording of Levitate, after Simon Wolstencroft left.

Julia Nagle programmed computers using Logic Audio software, played guitar and keyboards on most of Levitate, and contributed vocals on songs "Doc Shanley's Quartet", "I'm A Mummy" and "Scareball". Her young son Basil contributed a spoken part on 'The Masquerade'.

The album was initially going to be produced by Keir Stewart and Simon Spencer (who previously collaborated with Smith under the moniker D.O.S.E. on the 1995 single "Plug Myself In"). Most of the recordings took place at Edwyn Collins's studio in West Hampstead. However, Stewart and Spencer soon fell out with Smith over payments and left after a week, taking most of the tapes with them. The only tracks from these sessions to make the album were "4½ Inch" (allegedly edited out of samples of a rehearsal recording), "Spencer", later re-dubbed by Smith as "Spencer Must Die", and "The Quartet of Doc Shanley". Scottish artist Tommy Crooks joined the group towards the end of recording Levitate, playing guitar.

The album features several covers – "I'm a Mummy" by Bob McFadden & Dor and "Jungle Rock" by Hank Mizell, as well as an interpretation of the song "I Come and Stand At Every Door", based on a poem by Nazım Hikmet and a traditional tune, previously performed by Pete Seeger, The Misunderstood and The Byrds ("Jap Kid" is an instrumental version of this track). Another track, "Tragic Days", is a poorly recorded fragment of a jam session at Martin Bramah's flat back in 1990, when Bramah still played in The Fall.

"Masquerade" was re-recorded from the album version and released as a single in February 1998 to coincide with the group's leader Mark E. Smith receiving the Godlike Genius award at the NME Awards.[5] It reached number 69 in the UK charts. The "Masquerade" sessions also produced a b-side "Calendar", a collaboration with then-unknown Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) which came about after a chance meeting when Smith allegedly mistook Gough's car for a taxi outside the pub.

The album was followed by another shambolic tour. Smith sacked the whole group in Ireland in November, although they were re-instated within days.[6] The situation was caused by the group's sudden debt crisis because of the VAT bill, which left Smith and Steve Hanley in danger of their houses being repossessed. It was during the US tour in 1998 that the group essentially fell apart, leaving Smith with only Nagle's support in rebuilding the group for their next album The Marshall Suite.

Track listing
  1. "Ten Houses of Eve" (Mark E. Smith, Julia Nagle) - 3:39
  2. "Masquerade" (Smith, Nagle) - 3:58
  3. "Hurricane Edward" (Smith, Nagle) - 5:52
  4. "I'm a Mummy" ("Unknown" - actually Rod "Dor" McKuen) - 2:37
  5. "The Quartet of Doc Shanley" (Smith, Hanley) - 3:14
  6. "Jap Kid" (Nagle) - 3:03
  7. "4½ Inch" (Smith, Hanley) - 3:56
  8. "Spencer Must Die" (Smith, Simon Spencer) - 4:00
  9. "Jungle Rock" (Hank Mizell) - 3:11
  10. "Ol' Gang" (Smith, Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft) - 4:00
  11. "Tragic Days" (Smith, Martin Bramah) - 1:29
  12. "I Come and Stand At Your Door" (credited to "Anon/Nagle") - 3:31
  13. "Levitate" (Smith, Nagle) - 2:50
  14. "Everybody But Myself" (Smith, Wolstencroft) - 4:15

Limited edition bonus disc

The first CD edition came with an additional 5 song disc of outtakes and alternate mixes spanning the group's career.

  1. "Powderkex" (Smith, Burns) - 3:17
  2. "Christmastide" (Smith, Wolstencroft, Craig Scanlon) - 3:44
    • A remix of "Xmas With Simon", a b-side from the 1990 single "High Tension Line"
  3. "Recipe For Fascism" (Smith) - 1:03
    • A lo-fi spoken word piece by Smith
  4. "Pilsner Trail" (Smith, Hanley) - 5:20
    • A live recording from 1983. A studio version of this song was released in 1998 on the expanded reissue of Perverted By Language. Credited to Mark E. Smith and either Steve or Paul Hanley, both of whom were members of The Fall in 1983. On the Perverted by Language reissue, the song is credited to the whole group.
  5. "Everybody But Myself" (Smith, Wolstencroft) - 3:04
    • Recorded live May 14, 1997 at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester. A portion of this same live recording precedes the album version.

2018 Reissue extra tracks
  1. Powderkex (Smith/Burns)
  2. Christmastide (Smith/Wolstencfroft/Scanlon)
  3. Recipe for Fascism (Smith)
  4. Pilsner Trail (Smith/S. Hanley)
  5. Everybody But Myself (live) (Smith/Wolstencroft)
  6. Masquerade (Single mix) (Smith/Nagle)
  7. Ivanhoe's Two Pence (Smith/Burns/S. Hanley/Nagle)
  8. Spencer Must Die (live) (Smith/Spencer)
  9. Ten Houses of Eve (remix) (Smith/Nagle)
  10. Calendar (Smith/Damon Gough)
  11. Scareball (Smith/Burns/S. Hanley/Nagle)
  12. Ol' Gang (live) (Smith/Wolstencroft/S. Hanley)
  13. Masquerade (Mr Natural mix) (Smith/Nagle)
  14. Masquerade (PWL mix) (Smith/Nagle)

Personnel

The Fall

Additional personnel

  • Andy Hackett - guitar, backing vocals on "I'm a Mummy"
  • Brix Smith - voice sample ("this is new, fresh, fresh out of the womb") on "Masquerade" (uncredited; from Brix's final performance with The Fall at the Forum, London, 11 October 1996)
  • Martin Bramah, Craig Scanlon - guitars on "Tragic Days" (uncredited)

Technical

  • Sebastian Lewsley - engineering, voice on "Hurricane Edward"
  • Jason Barron - engineering
  • Richie Reed - engineering
  • Ollie Maxwell - engineering
  • Xor - mastering
  • Venus - design

References
  1. "Levitate". The Fall Online. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  2. "Levitate - The Fall - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  3. NME review Archived 2005-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Levitate – The Fall's 19th album (originally released in 1997) will be reissued on triple vinyl, double CD and digital formats in May". Cherryred.co.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  5. "FallNews - all mud and witches". Visi.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  6. "FallNews". Visi.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  7. "PSA Tommy Crooks - Reformation!". sites.google.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.

A web page with photos, relating to the album Levitate from Invisiblegirl.co.uk

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