Two years running,
the Fall
's performance at the annual
Phoenix Festival
was broadcast live on the
BBC
by DJ
John Peel
, and this sharply packaged set rounds up both of them in their almost full glory -- just two tracks are excised, 1996 revisits to the storming versions of
"Pearl City"
and
"Behind the Counter"
that opened the 1995 set.
The Fall
were experiencing one of their undisputable live peaks around this time, no matter how many clouds clung to their immediate future. The studio albums
Cerebral Caustic
Light User Syndrome
, too, were proving the band's continued magnificence and, though it is very easy to become simply overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of
Fall
live albums out there, both the sound quality and performances captured here raise this one high above the run of the mill. Plus, is there a better live version of
"Glam Racket"
going around than this one? ~ Dave Thompson