![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fall_kurious_oranj.jpg\")
The Fall were never most people\u2019s idea of a commercial group. They didn\u2019t have the jangling melodicism of the Smiths, nor the sophisticated funk groove of Gang of Four. But the British postpunk band did have Brix Smith. She was Mark E. Smith\u2019s wife and lead guitarist, and her influence moved the band in its most accessible musical direction.<\/p>\n
On its face, this 1988 album might seem to be a foreboding, ungainly project; it\u2019s the soundtrack (of sorts) for a ballet about William of Orange\u2019s rise to the the English throne some 300 years earlier. But the tunes are superb. The irresistible jangle of \u201cOverture from \u2018I Am Curious, Orange\u2019\u201d is a showstopper. Even the track\u2019s growling vocals work, adding bit to the shimmer.<\/p>\n
This is not to suggest that I Am Kurious Oranj<\/i> isn\u2019t idiosyncratic and deeply strange. \u201cDog is Life\u201d sounds like a field recording of Mark E. Smith ranting about \u2026 something. And “Jerusalem” has a style and manner not a thousand miles removed from Public Image Limited. \u201cKurious Oranj\u201d sounds like ska turned on its side and run through a wringer (with saxophone and other clattering instrumentation and vocals seemingly tossed in at random).<\/p>\n
\u201cWrong Place, Right Time\u201d is a kind of minimalist, postpunk rethink of \u201870s cock rock, with muscular corkscrew bass lines. \u201cI can\u2019t dance, I can\u2019t sing,\u201d Smith tells us. Perhaps he\u2019s right, but he and his band can certainly entertain.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuide Me Soft\u201d is sinister and droning. \u201cWin Fall C.D. 2080\u201d draws from dub, but it certainly isn\u2019t dub reggae; an insistent vibraphone line sounds more than a little bit like part of King Crimson\u2019s \u201cNeal and Jack and Me,\u201d a track off the progressive pioneers\u2019 1982 album Beat<\/i>. Perhaps Smith heard it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, O Yes\u201d pits deliberate single-note piano against guitar, bass and drums and Smith\u2019s voice, all seemingly doing their own things. Yet they feel (tentatively) connected. With another singer, \u201cVan Plague?\u201d could have potentially been a hit. With Smith, it\u2019s just weird. And wonderful, if you dig the Fall\u2019s overall aesthetic. \u201cBad News Girl\u201d is a catchy riff and a weird \u2013 even by Fall standards \u2013 lead vocal.<\/p>\n
Composition credits (Mr. and\/or Ms. Smith) notwithstanding, the real hero of I Am Kurious Oranj<\/i> is bassist Stephen Hanley. His thunderous, buzzing electric bass is the glue that holds these 11 songs \u2013 and the album as a whole \u2013 together musically. Though different formats featured different a sequence, the LP ends with the poppy (hey, we\u2019re sort of grading on a curve here) \u201cCab it Up!\u201d No clue what it\u2019s about, but the live track is the sound of a band having fun. Smith even yelps a bit.<\/p>\n
Listeners won\u2019t come away from listening to I Am Kurious Oranj<\/i> with any greater understanding or appreciation of the reign of King William. But they\u2019ll still be richer for the experience. The Beggars Arkive vinyl reissue of the album features a lavish gatefold package, and the vinyl itself is \u2013 wait for it \u2013 orange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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