Audiopile Review: During The Fall’s lifespan, Mark E. Smith released countless live CDs on his own Cog Sinister label. In recent years, many (if not most) of these have appeared on vinyl, as have sundry questionable, grey-area releases. To take control of the situation, ex-Fall members Paul Hanley, Steve Hanley, Marc Riley, and Craig Scanlon have hooked up with Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label to form Popstock. This sub-label’s remit is to release live versions of entire Fall albums, culling the best takes from the available recordings. The first release is ‘Slates Live!’, and ‘Grotesque Live!’ should be coming soon. ‘Slates’, from 1981, is an interesting one to start with, given the original release’s hard-to-define nature (is it an album, a mini-album, an EP?) But it’s also one of the group’s best-loved whatevers. And the Popstock gang has done a great job of combing through the archives to find storming versions of classics like ‘Prole Art Threat’ and ‘Leave the Capitol’. This will be essential for Fall fanatics, but it’s also an essential historical document for one of post-punk’s most important units. This is a group that could mix the raw power of The Stooges with the cerebral psychedelia of the godlike Peter Hammill. And ‘Slates Live!’ shows that group as it really started to take flight.

Bella Union is delighted to announce Slates Live – the first release from bespoke Label Popstock.

Popstock was created by the surviving members of the Slates iteration of The Fall to present unusual and alternative versions of the brilliant records they helped create. These records promise to be unique in that they are the only new Fall releases going forward where actual members of the group are consulted, involved and renumerated at all.

Slate Live presents live versions of the six songs that make up the original mini-LP, with the incredible versions chosen to in order present the songs at every stage of their live performance, both pre and post recording.

Lovingly curated with input from band members at every stage, including sourcing, mastering and design, and with sleeve notes by Fall Uber-fan Stewart Lee, Slates Live is the type of release that Fall fans have been craving for years.