Live at the witch trials is a term that refers to the practice of conducting trials and executing individuals accused of witchcraft during the early modern period in Europe, particularly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. This dark chapter in history saw thousands of people, mostly women, being accused of practicing witchcraft and subsequently being put on trial. These trials often took place in public settings, with spectators gathering to witness the proceedings. One of the main characteristics of these trials was the lack of concrete evidence or logic. Accusations were often based on superstitions, hearsay, and personal vendettas. It was believed that witches made pacts with the devil, flew on broomsticks, and caused harm to their communities through black magic and spells.
The Fall - Live At The Witch Trials LP
The first full-length album of The Fall, Live At The Witch Trials, is not actually a live album. Emerging out of a two-day studio session at Camden Sound in North West London during a sickly December of 1978, Witch Trials amounts to the sinister foundation of the band's diverse sound. Every song explores drastically different styles and wild terrain, leaving much to decipher over its eleven tracks.
"Frightened" has magnetic attraction / repulsion that shifts between Martin Bramah's skeletal guitar, Yvonne Pawlett's plastic keyboards and the lurching rhythm section of Marc Riley and Karl Burns. Mark E. Smith's mesmerizing bark and eerie lyrics warp the cosmic context with each repeated non-chorus. "Rebellious Jukebox" takes yet another turn and showcases the band's more melodic leanings.
One gets the sense that The Fall are in a time-travel hallucination (from 19th century witch trials to a scathing critique of the late-70s punk scene) where the band's snot-nosed scrabble afflicts the shape of pop to come. As Smith dictates, "We are The Fall, northern white crap that talks back."
Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Live At The Witch Trials has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1979. Liner notes by Brian Turner.
Track Listing:
- Frightened
- Crap Rap 2 / Like To Blow
- Rebellious Jukebox
- No Xmas For John Quays
- Mother-Sister!
- Industrial Estate
- Underground Medecin
- Two Steps Back
- Live At The Witch Trials
- Futures And Pasts
- Music Scene
Live at the Witch Trials
New reissues of the Fall’s first two albums find the band hungry, angry, and taking switchblades to a grim future.
Featured Tracks:
“Industrial Estate” — The Fall Via SoundCloudWhen the Fall’s “Industrial Estate” plays during the closing credits of High-Rise–Ben Wheatley’s new big-screen adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s classic novel–it’s more than a case of similar subject matter. True, the film is about urban malaise, and so is the song. But Ballard’s vision of a tower block turned hermetic, ingrown, incestuous, and cannibalistic unfolds with a clinical exactitude. On the other hand, “Industrial Estate” is a spew of dissonant chaos, fugue-state chants, and malfunctioning carnival organs that inhabits the liminal space between punk and post-punk–just like the rest of album it appears on, the Fall’s 1979 debut Live at the Witch Trials. At the time, the first wave of post-punks were taking Johnny Rotten’s “no future” rant and parsing it like surgeons, laying it bare and reducing it to its components like Ballard. The Fall were no exception but, where many of their contemporaries used anesthetic and scalpels, they packed switchblades.
Witch Trials came out in the spring of 1979, Dragnet in the autumn of 1979. Accordingly, these albums (newly reissued) are very much spring and autumn records, inasmuch as such acutely urban records can have ties to nature. The Fall came together in Manchester in 1976, the year punk conflagrated across England. Its working-class founder Mark E. Smith and his crew immediately hopscotched over punk, delivering an EP in 1978 (Bingo-Master’s Break-Out!) that tapped into everything from the Seeds’ keyboard-slathered garage rock to Can’s elemental clatter.
Witch Trials was both a step ahead and a step back with true punk bangers like “Futures and Pasts,” two-and-a-half minutes of eye-gouging and haranguing that unravels in hyperventilating gasps. That deconstruction quickly morphs from cheeky to sinister. “Rebellious Jukebox”—one of the first self-aware Fall anthems—churns and stutters, thrown into each successive moment by a serpentine bassline that coils like inside-out dub. Smith is all sneers and snarls, delirious as he struggles against and succumbs to rock’n’roll entropy. “We are The Fall/Northern white crap that talks back,” he taunts, chewing the microphone on “Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow.” Soon after, he takes a leap into the cosmic void: “We are frigid stars.” By the time the eight-minute closer “Music Scene” crawls its way into oblivion—en route, beating Public Image Ltd’s similarly distended “Theme” and “Fodderstompf” to the punch by months—the Fall had already established themselves as something far more wobbly and toxic than the emerging post-punk mass.
You can pogo to Witch Trials; you can’t to Dragnet. Where Witch Trials is wiry, Dragnet is weighty. The eight months separating the release of the two albums saw a huge lineup change, setting the pattern of perpetual upheaval that would become the Fall’s constant. Most notably, guitarist Martin Bramah left, and his empty space was filled by existing bassist Marc Riley and new recruit Craig Scanlon. On Dragnet, Riley and Scanlon echo each other just out of sync, rezoning the rhythmic domain of the songs. “Before the Moon Falls”—an eerie track that hints at such contemporaries as Pere Ubu and Swell Maps—jangles with urgency and decay. “I must create a new scheme,” Smith vows, a dirtbag urchin with a brain too big for his skull.
Dragnet can be overwhelmingly dense, folding in viola-like guitar like John Cale’s queasiest recursion (“Muzorewi’s Daughter”) and then Krautrock-leaning funk spiked with garbled demands and harsh glossolalia (“Put Away”). But the heavy hand lightens by “Choc-Stock,” a singsong slice of feral nonsense akin to Syd Barrett with a head cold and a hangover. There’s an answer to Witch Trials’ “Music Scene” in the form of “Spectre vs. Rector,” but it’s nothing like its predecessor; its sludge and subliminal menace practically invented post-rock as an afterthought. The track is visceral, reeking of spilled pints and machine oil, evoking the industrial scum-scape that incubated it.
In a 2011 interview, Smith said that Ballard’s 1962 post-apocalyptic novel The Drowned World was the only book by the author that he liked. Even then, he referred to it only as “that one where the world’s underwater.” Erudition in the formal sense is never what Smith or the Fall were about, and that’s made plain on Witch Trials and Dragnet, where Smith’s loathing of cultured, mannered learning oozes from every fracture. Instead, the albums are celebrations–if not exhortations–of working-class precocity and street-smart intellectualism cobbled together from thrift stores bookshelves and stolen snatches of philosophy. Hungry, angry, and ugly: that’s the post-punk proclamation of the Fall’s first two albums, a flag that would fully unfurl with the release of band’s masterpiece, Hex Enduction Hour, three years later. But for a fleeting few seasons in 1979, in the hands of Smith and his gang of urban mutant malingerers, all that mattered was feeding the future to itself and seeing what got puked back up.
Live At The Witch Trials
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It was believed that witches made pacts with the devil, flew on broomsticks, and caused harm to their communities through black magic and spells. Those accused of witchcraft were subjected to various forms of torture, such as dunking, pricking, and even being burnt at the stake. Live at the witch trials was a form of entertainment for the masses.
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The general public eagerly awaited these trials, which were seen as spectacles and opportunities to witness supernatural events. These events were often characterized by mass hysteria, with witnesses claiming to have seen witches perform supernatural acts during the proceedings. The accused were expected to confess to their crimes, often under duress, and those who did not were deemed guilty and faced the ultimate punishment. While the exact number is unknown, it is estimated that tens of thousands of people were executed as a result of these trials. The majority of the victims were women, particularly those who were seen as different or independent, such as widows, healers, and midwives. The live at the witch trials era stands as a dark reminder of the dangers of mass hysteria, prejudice, and the abuse of power. It highlights the consequences of fear and ignorance on society, where innocent lives were lost due to baseless accusations and irrational beliefs. Today, the term "witch hunt" is often used to describe situations where individuals are unfairly targeted or singled out without adequate evidence. In conclusion, live at the witch trials refers to the public trials and executions of individuals accused of witchcraft during the early modern period in Europe. These trials were characterized by a lack of evidence, superstition, and mass hysteria. While it was a form of entertainment for the public, thousands of innocent lives were lost during this dark chapter in history. It serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of fear, ignorance, and the abuse of power..
Reviews for "How "Live at the Witch Trials" Captures the Spirit of the Post-Punk Era"
1. John - 2/5 - I had high hopes for "Live at the witch trials" but unfortunately found it to be a disappointment. The album lacked coherence and seemed to jump from one genre to another without any clear direction. Additionally, the vocals were often muffled and hard to understand, making it difficult to fully appreciate the lyrics. Overall, I found it to be a confusing and unenjoyable listening experience.
2. Sarah - 1/5 - I can honestly say that "Live at the witch trials" is one of the worst albums I've ever listened to. The songs were incredibly repetitive and lacked any depth or substance. The instrumentation felt lazy and uninspired, and the overall production quality was poor. I couldn't find a single track that stood out or resonated with me in any way. It's a shame because I had high hopes for this album, but it fell far short of my expectations.
3. Chris - 2/5 - "Live at the witch trials" is a forgettable album in my opinion. The songs all blend together, making it difficult to distinguish one track from another. The lyrics lacked depth and didn't leave a lasting impression. Overall, I found the album to be quite monotonous and uninspiring. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for an engaging and memorable music experience.
4. Emma - 3/5 - While "Live at the witch trials" had some interesting moments, I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed overall. The album lacked consistency, with some tracks standing out as highlights while others fell flat. Additionally, the production felt somewhat amateurish, which took away from the overall listening experience. While it's not a terrible album, I don't think it lived up to the hype surrounding it.