Excavate! cover art

Excavate!

The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall

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Excavate!

By: Tessa Norton, Bob Stanley
Narrated by: Dean Williamson, Maxine Peake, Pat Nevin
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About this listen

THE LOUDER THAN WAR #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR

A ROUGH TRADE, THE TIMES, MOJO, UNCUT, THE HERALD BOOK OF THE YEAR

This is not a book about a rock band. This is not even a book about Mark E Smith. This is a book about The Fall group - or more precisely, their world.

'To 50,000 Fall Fans: please buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations.'
DAVID PEACE

'Mind blowing . . . there is so much to enjoy in this brilliant book.'
TIM BURGESS

'A container sized treasure trove . . . I strongly advise you to buy it.'
MAXINE PEAKE

'The most wonderful, unashamedly intellectual, pretentious, ridiculous, exciting hymn to this incredible group.'
ANDY MILLER, BACKLISTED

Over a prolific forty-year career, the Fall created a world that was influential, idiosyncratic and fiercely original - and defied simple categorisation.

Their frontman and lyricist Mark E. Smith spun opaque tales that resisted conventional understanding; the Fall's worldview was an education in its own right. Who wouldn't want to be armed with a working knowledge of M. R. James, shipping-dock procedures, contemporary dance, Manchester City and Can? The group inspired and shaped the lives of those who listened to and tried to make sense of their work.

Bringing together previously unseen artwork, rare ephemera and handwritten material, alongside essays by a slate of fans, EXCAVATE! is a vivid, definitive record - an illumination of the dark corners of the Fall's wonderful and frightening world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Tessa Norton (P)2021 Faber & Faber Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Celebrity Sports

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All stars
Most relevant  
Not sure why Maxine had decided to do a Mrs Merton impression with the narration? Great listen though nonetheless.

Mrs Merton?

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Different, definitely not a band bio, enjoyed except for Maxine Peake’s tone. Just recorded a children’s book prior perhaps?

Who is Maxine talking to?

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Thing is, I'm a trucker... so it's difficult to find time to turn the page. So I was chuffed when I saw this. The comments about Maxine are a little harsh, but I see where they are coming from. She doesn't seem to be a Fallophile, it's just another well-paid gig that she has decided to read out in a slightly overly and badly acted monologue. Her best work is with the Eccentronic Research Council. What bugged me more is Pat Nevin (I presume it was him). His voice is lazy, bland, and somewhat slurred. It's also a tad pretentious, as is the whole approach to this lack lustre effort. I'm going to have to make time to read the book... so at least my other voice can read it at my pace, succinctly and with the passion of Fall fan. Which means not over acted, without pretension, and with clarity. This audible version is extremely disappointing, but not surprisingly so when you look at the ego's reading it. A bit shit.

not finished, and probably won't...

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Too much waffle and the book could have been much shorter and much more gripping if they'd concentrated on the characters in the band more. Mark E would've found this incredibly boring.

Disappointed read. Love the Fall but not this.

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Promising at the outset but descending into a pretentious semiotic tsunami at which point the exit sign seemed to be the only salvation.

Disingenuous

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Why does Tessa Norton feel it’s fine to rant about “white men” in a book about The Fall? This is the point at which I gave up on this terrible book. I suggest she goes and writes essays about grime and drill music and rants about black men.

As others have said, Nevin and Peake are appalling narrators. Which I may have put up with, if the essays had the slightest connection to The Fall, but they don’t. Yes, very post-modern and hip to write about The Fall whilst not writing about The Fall, well done. But if I want a tedious political history about working men’s clubs or statistics about amateur football teams, I would have picked books about those subjects.

This book and the audiobook is an insult to The Fall. Smith would have found it a hilarious waste of everybody’s time.

Made by people who hate fans of The Fall

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