5 Album

This is a good collection of material from when The Fall were at their peak (minus the year of This Nation's Saving Grace). Unfortunately the artwork that came with each release was left out (as with the other 5 Alum Box Sets). The remastering is very good and the singles related disc includes some great material. Nearly all Fall fans probably have the four featured lps, however, the Hit The North and The Singles cd will be of interest to longtime Fall fans as they contain material that has either not been previously available on cd or difficult to find on cd. Some fans may find this difficult to recommend after the fantastic job Beggars Banquet did on their Omnibus editions of The Wonderful Frightening World of The Fall and This Nation's Saving Grace, most fans will agree that the bonus material and the Singles disc make this a worthwhile addition to your collection. Unlike the other 5 Album box sets I have purchased that Beggars Banquet has released (Bauhaus and Love And Rockets) I can highly recommend this box set.

worth the $$$ ...

This is a mixed bag, but a *must* at this price. These records were the works leading up to the first departure of Brix Smith from the band and their label switch from Beggars Banquet to Fontana.The Frenz Experiment is a solid, somewhat overlooked album with great lyrics, great grooves like Carry Bag Man and Bremen Nacht, and their popular cover of The Kinks' "Victoria" to boot.I Am Kurious, Oranj is a step ahead, with the glam thump of "New Big Prinz", the humorous asides in "Jerusalem" and and the near-reggae patterned title track. The instrumentals are a bit dodgy, but this particular edition is helpful in that, unlike other re-issues, here you will find the alternate LP versions of four songs.The singles collection is the other necessity here — it reaches back before Frenz for a few tunes, includes all the b-sides, and adds "I African Mancunian", which is only available here (and isn't bad!).The Hit the North disc compiles various 12" single versions and is just to satisfy completists; if you like it, great. I've never enjoyed the live performances on Seminal Live, but the studio tracks are on par with the rest of the tracks in this box.

Be aware that the Hit The North CD doesn't come with any metadata on the disc- so you'll have to manually insert the song titles when you're ripping it down to the computer to get it onto your phone/mp3 player.Other than that- excellent!Arrived much earlier than expected in perfect condition.

Four really good albums. The fifth consists of reworks of the same song. Didn't really work for me, but the other four more than makes up for it.

RIP Mark E Smith

good intro to the fall

Hit the North