Hex Enduction Hour out via Sanctuary, 17th January 2005

NEW YORK (Sanctuary Records) - Most Fall fans regard Hex Enduction Hour as the group's bona fide classic, encapsulating everything for which they are so loved and revered. Originally released in March 1982, 'Hex Enduction Hour' displays Mark E. Smith's vicious, lyrical edge whilst the band team of Mark Riley and Craig Scanlon produce more extreme, industrial edged clattering, combining both riff and melody.

This 2-CD remastered, deluxe edition adds bonus tracks recorded for a John Peel Radio One session in 1981, the 1982 single 'I'm Into C.B.' and a selection of live tracks recorded in England and New Zealand between November 1981 and August 1982. Also feature is a live track recorded at London's Astoria.

Earlier in 2004 The Fall's first album 'Live At The Witch Trials' celebrated its 25th anniversary. There aren't very many bands that have been together longer than The Fall and, with a few exceptions, it's difficult to think of any who, like The Fall, have released brand new material every year.

Formed at the height of the punk rock movement in Manchester in 1976, The Fall has released around 50 singles, 25 studio albums and perhaps 50 live and compilation albums. In February 2003 they recorded their 23rd John Peel session.

Famously the band has gone through numerous personnel changes over the years (there have been over 30 different line-ups so far) but always present is the enigmatic Mark E. Smith - musical genius, obnoxious drunk, Salford's finest poet, journalist's worst nightmare, working class hero.
Dubbed 'The Grumpiest Man in Pop', by the NME, Mark E. Smith has been carving his jaundiced signature on the music scene for the past twenty plus years. Rarely tempted to celebrate the lighter side of life, Smith uses humour and horror to illuminate vile hypocrisies and injustices and on stage will work himself into a maelstrom of contempt.