vII by Mark E Smith - 2nd lyrics book, Reviews..Favourable or General Complaint

A thread to really vent your spleen and wrath
or to damn with faint praise..
either way...
spring forth...

cog

ps. to those snidy comments about the quality of the paper..
it was deliberately chosen

its The Fall

NOT A FREEMANS FUCKING CLOTHES CATALOGUE !!

Give us a chance Cog, I've only just transferred the cash.

No news is good news!

I expect to be completely astonished by the lyrics' quality.

yep....your right
lots of blank pages
a few bus tickets
notes for the milkman etc.
but the cover is nice

The cover IS fookin ace!
Nice THICKNESS,,,,

That's me preliminary review, based on all-available evidence before me....

More to follow when fucker's in HANDS!!!!!

Still waiting my reply...

Preview on Lyrics Parade??

Sorry it's taken a while to get this review done, I've had too many distractions lately. Anyway, as I have commented already, it is a fabulous artifact for any serious fan of the Fall. It has obviously been a labour of love for MES and those close family members and friends who have assisted in bringing this to fruition. The printing process in itself was full of traumas as I understand, so it is something of a miracle to have this finally in the world.

I think by now, with several books having been co-written by MES, it is clear that Mark is never going to open up completely about the mystique that goes with his song lyrics and his private life remains mostly off the record. He has said in interviews that he doesn't want to give all his secrets away, and part of the appeal of the Fall has always been the cryptic lyrics, which often defy transcription, let alone interpretation. This book does offer some insights but mostly it just presents the lyrics - some in handwritten form, some facsimiles of Mark's original typed lyric sheets, some printed. But the book is also filled with illustrations, memorabilia and other snippets of interest to followers of the man behind the microphone.

It is a weighty volume, much larger - in every dimension - than the original orange lyrics book from 1985. 208 A4 pages, many in colour. Lyrics to 52 songs, including:

Spectre vs Rector
I'm Into C.B.
Disney's Dream Debased
US 80's-90's
Edinburgh Man
Dr Buck's Letter
Blindness
Scenario

There are many other writings of MES scattered throughout the book, including his amusing day by day "Guide To Writing Guide" which we all will enjoy. There's also "In My Area", a pictorial guide to drinking establishments in Mark's area, and a selection of Christmas cards sent by MES that have come back to haunt him. There are flyers and press releases and a personal Savage Pencil cartoon addressed to Mark from Edwin Pouncey. You also get to see Mark's gas bill and a short play entitled Old Friends. The background to the song Scenario and the Chindits is revealed. We get to see the actual letter from Dr Buck, which adds another piece to that particular jigsaw puzzle, although the full picture is still undisclosed. And just who did write Touch Sensitive???

There are also numerous very interesting illustrations, sketches and prints throughout that are very evocative and add flavour to the book.

So, a beautiful work that I would happily shell out 25 quid for.

Does sound mighty fine though.

Short pretentious review:

Wunderbar! Fucking WUNDERBAR!!!

Long pretentious review:

I imagine all of us, even those who don’t own a copy of the book yet, have seen the cover; but I wanted to start off by saying how amazing I think it is. It’s brilliantly designed by Prof. Andreas Schneider. The vII (which I assume means “Version 2”…or is it VII as in 7? As in a 7 year cycle: ‘Over! Over!??? ARGH…I haven’t even opened the fucker and my brain is hurting…)
Obviously it’s vII (version II), but you know...
Anyways, turned on their side, they become mathematical symbols - Equals and “greater than”. Very simple. Very beautiful….

On the first flick through, the book seems like an overwhelming mix of styles, typesets, photos, drawings, cuttings and clippings, collages, etc. It takes a while to adjust, but once the eyes have acclimatised to it, it gradually begins to make sense and take shape.
The book’s design is very idiosyncratic, but who here would expect (or indeed want) anything less?

Some pages are more like pure collage themselves; of newspaper cut-outs (Fall-related and not), clips of MES’ writing and printed lyrics to songs. Photos, some drawn over and added to, are strewn throughout - all, as far as I can see, have a reason for being here and, more importantly, a reason for being where they are.
The physical quality of the book is almost identical to that of ‘Lyrik & Texte’ (Orange Lyrics Book), ie. same type of cover and paper. In other words, perfect.

Okay, the most important part: Lyriks.
Nothing from Hex (most of that was covered in the Orange book), and nothing from ‘Levitate’, apart from that there’s selected additions spanning across the whole 30 years. Some unexpected (Pittsville Direkt), some worth the book alone (BLINDNESS, Service, Scenario...).
A lot of them are either in MES’ handwriting or are facsimiles of (I assume) his typewritten copies.
Either way, apart from the fact this is a collection of MES’ lyrics, his physical (and emotional, psychological) presence is all over this book.

The biggest surprise of all (and a most welcome one) is the inclusion of Scenario. A lot of the songs have bits of information and added context to go with the lyrics, but this is usually just one page. Scenario has 8 pages, scattered near the end of the book; including the lyrics themselves, relevant pictures and information, details of where MES took some of the lyrics, its inspiration, etc. I always loved the song and listen to it pretty much every day, but I had no idea there was so much behind it.

Almost as exciting as the lyrics for me is the inclusion of works from some amazing artists; again, some unsurprising and some less so - OTTO DIX!!, Goya, Blake, William Gropper, Savage Pencil, Jolan-Gross Bettelheim, Harry Sternberg, Suzanne Smith, a fantastic painting of MES by Herr Luff, Wyndham Lewis, a couple of Lowry cartoons.

More often than not the imagery adds another layer to the song it illustrates and there’s a correlation between the lyrics on one page and the image on the opposite page (William Gropper’s ‘The Judge’ opposite ‘Pay Your Rates’, for instance), but other times the corresponding image (or newspaper cut-out) doesn’t seem to connect at all, and you find yourself searching for context - for example, ‘Pittsville Direkt’ is opposite “a print from 1810 Bible”, which is so full of bizarre symbolism that I still can’t see the connection. And 'Rose' is printed opposite an old photo of the group (sans MES) circa the Riley line-up. What the fuck is that all about?!? Who is ‘Rose’ about, with the “wah-wah” line, etc?

Apart from images being coupled to a page of lyrics, the book contains a wealth of information alongside some and peppered throughout in the form of snippets of news, photos of all sorts of things that add familiar and not so familiar context to MES’ environment and his writing. So much so in some cases, that some pages take several readings before you understand what’s going on…and sometimes, even then you’re not entirely sure of the correlation between the seemingly disparate parts. I suspect, as with the lyrics themselves, all will reveal itself in good time.

Other fantastic elements (some already mentioned):
The Mark E. Smith Guide To Writing Guide - Day by day breakdown.
The short play 'Old Friends' is a fantastic addition. It seems to have been inspired by a page of Wyndham Lewis' 'Blast 1' (or was it?); anyway, the page from 'Blast' is included next to an excerpt from the play, in MES' handwriting. The picture that accompanies it, which has MES-handwritten speech balloons all over it, is one of the best and most colourful in the book. A testament to the friendship that shaped the book and very funny. I think it’s my favourite part.
The photographs of old pubs are extremely evocative.

It’s going to take me months to get through and understand everything in this book.
I wanted to write so much more, I haven’t even read half of it yet and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I have read, but I’m rushing the review a bit because I won’t be on here for a while. So apologies for that and I hope I’ve done it justice.

So in summary:
A fantastic piece of work and fully up to the standard of MES’ extraordinary talent as a writer. The greatest living writer to my mind, in fact, and this book is a credit to that gift.
In many instances this book will alter the way I think of certain songs. Recontextualising them, broadening my understanding, etc.
Let's face it, MES' lyrics printed on a piece of bog roll would still be a work of art. This book is brilliant in the obvious sense because it's chock-full of his writing, but also because it has so much more to add to the songs. At the end of the day, it's just a bloody BEAUTIFUL piece of work in itself.
I agree with Conway in that this was obviously a labour of love for MES, Herr Luff and everyone else involved.

Wunderbar! Fucking WUNDERBAR!!!!
Vielen Dank, Herr Luff und Mark E. Smith!
Thank you and goodnight (or morning )....
xxx

As Above-fantastic stuff this

but surely its "kneads his chin" Mark!!!

Happy!
wish the paper had been nicer.
Good product.
Congrats all round.

Thanks for that inspired and inspiring review. I believe the book is a little costly but I will have a look around for it.

Fantastic review, BK. Thanks a lot!

that was a review BUY CURIOUS

Herr Luff will be Chuffed

for me..i feel a competition starting
to loom in me mind
best review etc

will work on it
as i have some boxed sets to disperse still
sopranos/messiahs/monty python etc



cog

Excellent review, BK.

This only leaves me to add that this tome is bloody fantastic. So much more than a mere sequel to the 1985 book which I originally expected. A better testimony about the essence of The Fall than Renegade (which I enjoyed as well).

For those whinging at the thought of parting with a mere pony....

It's a very nice purchase, much better than I expected. Intriguing, enlightening and funny. in comparison to the orange book this is more like a scrapbook; bits of letters, classic bits of art and photography, contemporary drawings, defaced postcards as a short play (I found Gruß aus Düsseldorf particulaly amusing), junkmail, magazine articles, press releases and pamphlets. Also included is most of the Sinister Times articles. Some of the lyrics look to be photocopies of the original handwritten notes. We also get some other bits info, prose and poetry such as Amsterdam, London, Manchester, Holme; and the only two poems that Walter ever wrote - touching stuff.

All in all it's a great read, much more enjoyable than Renegade.

An ode to Cog.

Cog, Cog
Cog-et-ey Cog
He aint boring
Thats a log

Now I just sit back and wait for the free signed-by-every-member-past-and-present edition ...

PS: How is Germany these days D? They've got some odd censorship laws

"...THIS IS WHERE TRUE PENMANSHIP STAMINA COMES IN TO ITS OWN."

Made me chuckle this morning.

Tampering with the lyrics!??

Hilary-3 cups of tea/now your listening to XTC????
Freerange-incest posse

his prerogative i spose

got mine yesteday.

very nice indeed...only gripe was that a lot of the sinister times was reproduced in it, something which i've already got. but thats me being picky.

love the "days 1-6 - the mes guide to writing guide"

The photos of J Hill in the 60's Coventry strip are strangely arousing

Yes, I'm starting to regret that now though when I had my carping fit the book was £35 and I didn't know that postage was included, plus I thought it was merely the orange book updated a bit.

Nothing of the sort it seems.

As all the reviews are various temperatures of glowing then I shall be contacting that C. Sinister fellow.

If you're only going to buy one blue lyrics book this year, this should be the one.

Praise for V2:

'A rare piece of beauty' (Karl Lagerfeld)

'A gem. Priceless' (D.I. Vassiliev)

'His masterpiece' (Ruphus T. Firefly)

'Mine came with a crease and all dog-eared' (Dick Cheese)