{{short description|1985 studio album by the Fall}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox album | name = This Nation's Saving Grace | type = studio | artist = The Fall | cover = This_Nation's_Saving_Grace.jpg | alt = Album cover showing a black-and-white view of a Manchester cityscape, with an illustration of billowing clouds and a chariot drawn into the sky | released = {{start date|1985|09|23|df=yes}}<ref name="beggars">"[https://archive.beggars.com/the-fall-this-nation/ The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace]". Beggars Banquet. Retrieved 25 April 2022</ref> | recorded = June–July 1985 | venue = | studio = {{flatlist| The Music Works, London<br> The Workhouse, Old Kent Road, London }} | genre = {{flatlist| *Post-punk }} | length = {{duration|m=47|s=17}} | label = Beggars Banquet | producer = John Leckie | prev_title = The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... | prev_year = 1984 | next_title = Bend Sinister | next_year = 1986 }}
'''''This Nation's Saving Grace''''' is the eighth studio album by the English post-punk band the Fall, released in 1985 by Beggars Banquet. In contrast to the band's earlier albums, ''This Nation's...'' is noted for its pop sensibilities and guitar hooks, and John Leckie's accessible production.<ref name="GF"/> ''This Nation's...'' was recorded in London between June and July 1985, and is the second of the three consecutive Fall albums produced by Leckie. The album was accompanied by the singles "Couldn't Get Ahead" and "Cruiser's Creek", and tours of Europe and America.
Guitarist Brix Smith and bassist Steve Hanley consider ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' to be one of the band's best albums, an opinion widely shared by critics. According to ''The Guardian'', it shows the band "operating just on the edge of the mainstream and at the peak of their accessibility and yet strangeness".<ref name="Simpson">Simpson, Dave. "[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/15/the-fall-nations-grace-review The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace Omnibus Edition – review]". ''The Guardian'', 15 December 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2022</ref> In 2002, ''Pitchfork'' placed it as the 13th best album of the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412001757/https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Background and line-up == [[File:Brix Smith.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Steve Hanley and Brix Smith performing live, 1984]] The Fall's line-up had been stable for a number of years until November 1984 when, during a promotional tour for their preceding album "The Wonderful and Frightening World of...", long-time members, brothers Paul Hanley (drums) and Steve Hanley (bass) both quit. Their departures were triggered by an incident on the first of that month when the band's equipment was stolen from a van left parked after a gig in Cardiff's New Ocean Hotel. Although replacement equipment was arranged, Smith blamed the musicians for the loss. The following night, while hitting their tour-bus headrests with a stick, shouted "who the fuck would be stupid enough to leave a fucking van outside a hotel with all the fucking gear in it". After this, both brothers decided to leave the band.<ref name="p162">Pringle (2022), p. 162</ref> Paul Hanley's departure became permanent, leaving Karl Burns the band's sole drummer, while Steve Hanley was eventually persuaded by Smith to come back after taking paternity leave for several months.<ref name="f142">Ford (2002), p. 142</ref> According to Brix, the bassist's exit left Smith "chastened...for probably the only time I have ever seen".<ref name="p162"/>
Hanley was replaced by Simon Rogers, a classically-trained musician whom Smith knew from an earlier collaboration with the dancer-choreographer Michael Clark.<ref name="p162" /><ref>Ford (2002), pp. 142–143</ref> The self-taught Hanley has since admitted to being disillusioned by being replaced by a multi-instrumentalist, composer of ballets who had scored the 1982 top 20 hit "Cacharpaya" with folk music group Incantation.<ref name="p162" /> After Hanley's return in the midst of recording sessions for the new album, Rogers remained in the band but switched to guitar and keyboards.<ref name="bbc">Aston, Martin. "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/4bq4/ The Fall This Nation's Saving Grace Review]". BBC, 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2022</ref> Smith marked Hanley's rejoining the band with the words "S Hanley! He's Back" etched into the run-out groove on Side 1.
The Fall recorded their eighth Peel session on 14 May 1985. The recordings contain early versions of three songs from ''This Nation's...'' ("Couldn't Get Ahead", "Spoilt Victorian Child" and "Gut of the Quantifier") as well as a version of "Cruiser's Creek".<ref name="p132">Pringle (2022), p. 163</ref> Their ninth session, recorded on 29 September, includes recordings of "L.A." and "What You Need" that writer Steve Pringle describes as "brighter and sharper" than the album versions.<ref name="p164">Pringle (2022), p. 164</ref>
==Recording== The album was recorded between June and July 1985 at the London studios the Music Works and the Workhouse on Old Kent Road.<ref name="irvin">Irvin (2007), p. 495</ref><ref name="p160">Pringle (2022), p. 160</ref> John Leckie had produced the band's 1984 album ''The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...'' and had built a strong working relationship with Smith. Leckie's approach to the project was to both retain the Fall's rough edges and solid rhythm section, while emphasising Brix's more pop orientated guitar parts. His production created a heavier wall of sound than their earlier releases and Smith praised his ability to bring forward the drum and bass parts. Smith later said that what he and Leckie were trying to achieve was a "well produced bedroom sound".<ref name="f147">Ford (2002), p. 147</ref>
==Music and lyrics== Steve Hanley had often been the group's main riff writer on earlier albums, but due to his absence in the lead up to the album,<ref name="p162" /> Brix and rhythm guitarist Craig Scanlon wrote most of the song's foundation riffs. Hanley later said that on earlier recordings the whole group had contributed music, but for ''This Nation's'' most of the work was done by Brix and Scanlon, in a 60/40 ratio by his estimation. As Brix had begun her career as a bass player, most of her musical ideas were simple one-string riffs played on lead guitar but closely resembling bass lines. Although she had been in awe of his playing when she had joined the band in 1983, her attitude towards him was different on his return, when she told Hanley "I'll show you the bass line on my guitar and you Steve Hanley it up."<ref name="steve250">Hanley (2014), p. 250</ref>
Smith's lyrics are typically caustic throughout; the music critic John Mulvey wrote that at times the "vile is positively phantasmagoric".<ref name="GF"/>
===Side one=== The album opens with "Mansion", one of the Fall's few instrumentals, which the band often opened their live sets with.<ref name="tq2">Middles, Mick. "[https://thequietus.com/articles/05603-the-fall-this-nation-s-saving-grace-review The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace Omnibus Edition – review]". ''The Quietus'', 26 January 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2022</ref> It is built around a guitar riff from Brix that evokes early horror and sci-fi film music and is clearly influenced by The Deviants' 1969 song "Billy the Monster".<ref name="p166">Pringle (2022), p. 166</ref><ref name="f146">Ford (2002), p. 146</ref> The following track "Bombast" is dominated by Hanley's bass. Smith's vocals promise to "bring wrath" to "bastard idiots" (including Lloyd Cole, whom Smith described in the September Peel session version of "Crusier's Creek" as having a "brain and face...made out of cowpat. We all know that)",<ref name="jm"/> and are at times sung through a megaphone.<ref name="Simpson"/><ref name="f146"/>
"What You Need" is built around Scanlon's circular guitar riff. The line "slippery shoes for your horrible feet" and song title are taken from an episode of ''The Twilight Zone.''<ref name="f146" /> "Spoilt Victorian Child" incorporates unused lyrics intended for the Fall's 1979 debut album ''Live at the Witch Trials'', but had been held back until the band found suitable "daft English music".<ref name="f146" /> The jerky and stuttering guitar riff written by Rogers is in 6/4 time, a signature Brix initially found difficult to master. Smith's lyrics contain a number of Victorian era reference points, including pop-up books, aqueducts, poxes and the Cottingley Fairies.<ref name="p172">Pringle (2022), p. 172</ref>
The 1985 cassette version contains the bonus track "Vixen", a melodic surf music song written and sung by Brix, which is described by Pringle as "rather slight" but was well-regarded by fans. It was never played live.<ref name="p165">Pringle (2022), p. 165</ref>
Side one ends with Brix's "L.A.", written while the Smiths spent an extended stay in the city. Mark had a poor impression of the city and said that he "Hated it...Horrible town. If you like a beer, you are regarded as a tramp."<ref name="tq2"/> The track was described in 2011 as an "electro-goth groove" by critic Martin Aston.<ref name="bbc"/> It contains prominent keyboards by Simon Rogers. While the lead vocals are sung by Brix, Smith added backings which he said reflect his impression of the city as "more haunted than any old place".<ref name="f147"/> Dave Haslam ranked it as "the sexiest song of 1985" in ''City Life'', an assessment Smith disagreed with yet claimed to understand; he credited its sex appeal to Brix's contribution and noted how the song was popular among women—"Except," he clarified, "that the Fall are probably the most unpopular group among women ''ever''. We've never had a good review from a woman journalist in the whole world."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Haslam |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Haslam |date=18 July 1986 |title=Hip, Hip, Hip, Hip Priest |magazine=City Life |location=Manchester |number=58 |pages=22–23 |url=http://thefall.org/news/pics/86jul18_citylife/86jul18_citylife.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605031454/http://thefall.org/news/pics/86jul18_citylife/86jul18_citylife.html |archive-date=5 June 2021 |access-date=2 May 2022 |via=TheFall.org}}</ref>
===Side two=== Side two opens with "Gut of the Quantifier", the central bassline of which is reminiscent of the Doors's ''The Changeling''.<ref name="p169">Pringle (2022), p. 169</ref> "My New House" details the Smiths' purchase of a semi-detached in Sedgley Park, Prestwich, close to Mark's childhood home where his parents still lived. A number of visitors remarked how unusual the house was, in particular the blue/grey colour scheme used in each room.<ref name="tq2"/> Although credited to Mark Smith alone, the track originated from a riff by guitarist Scanlon.<ref name="p170">Pringle (2003), p. 170</ref> The lyrics are humorous and sardonic<ref name="f147"/> with lines such as "no rabbit hutch about it, I bought it off the Baptists, I get the bills, and I get miffed".<ref name="brix">Start Smith (2017), 1985−1986</ref> Although a fan favourite, and described by the ''Daily News''{{'}} David Hinkley as "near-hypnotic",<ref name="Hinkley">{{cite news|first=David|last=Hinckley|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/397254734|title=Record Reviews|work=Daily News|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=14|date=3 January 1986|access-date=16 May 2022|archive-date=8 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508020647/http://www.newspapers.com/image/397254734/|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> it was dropped from their live set after 1986.<ref name="p170" />
"Paint Work" is often described as the album's highpoint.<ref name="GF">Berman, Stuart. "[https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/hey-student-its-a-beginners-guide-to-the-fall.html Hey, Student! It’s a Beginner’s Guide to the Fall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220425193231/https://www.vulture.com/2018/01/hey-student-its-a-beginners-guide-to-the-fall.html |date=25 April 2022 }}". ''Vulture'', 3 January 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2025</ref><ref name="tq" /> It features a semi-acoustic tape collage, stream of consciousness lyrics, Karl Burns' cymbal crashes and "meandering" lead guitar line provided by Scanlon.<ref>Pilley, Max. "[https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151577-the-fangasm--the-fall The Fangasm: The Fall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023144712/https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151577-the-fangasm--the-fall |date=23 October 2021 }}". Drowned in Sound, 26 January 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2022</ref> Credited to Smith, Scanlon and Rogers, it blends studio recordings with sections recorded on a four track in Rogers' flat and audio from Smith's dictaphone. During the mixing, Smith took the master tape home and accidentally erased part of the track with a section from an Open University documentary lecture on "red giants stars".<ref name="f147" /> The sudden jump between lo-fi home taped and studio recordings fitted the mood of the track, and he and Leckie decided to include on the finished version.<ref name="Simpson" /> The lyrics are mostly series of "enigmatic" and often disconnected lines and phrases, with the central hook "Hey Mark! You're spoiling all the paintwork" based on a complaint made by a decorator just after the Smiths had moved into the "new house" detailed in the preceding track.<ref name="p170" /> The track was described in 2019 as "absolutely sublime" by ''Vulture'',<ref name="GF"/><ref name="tq">Dora John. "[https://thequietus.com/articles/05559-this-nations-saving-grace-the-fall Messing Up The Paintwork: This Nation’s Saving Grace Revisited]". ''The Quietus'', 24 January 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022</ref> as "mildly psychedelic" in 2011 by critic Mick Middles,<ref name="tq2" /> and as "a thing of true wonder" by writer Steve Pringle in 2022.<ref name="p170"/>
The drum heavy "I Am Damo Suzuki" is a tribute to the Japanese ex-pat vocalist Damo Suzuki of the Krautrock group Can,<ref>Johnson, Craig. "[https://spikemagazine.com/0205damosuzuki/ Damo Suzuki : HollyAris : I Am Damo Suzuki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027090246/https://spikemagazine.com/0205damosuzuki/ |date=27 October 2021 }}". ''Spiked'', 1 February 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2022</ref> who Smith has often described as an early and major influence.<ref name="f147"/><ref name="steve251">Hanley (2014), p. 251</ref> The lyrics describe and evoke Suzuki's stage presence and singing style and are accompanied by Brix's descending chords and Burns' metronomic drums. The music is heavily influenced by the 1971 Can song "Oh Yeah", but also contains elements of other Can tracks such as "Bel Air" (1973), "Gomorrah" (1974) and "Midnight Men" (1977). This is evident especially in the descending chords, which are similar to the earlier Fall track "Elves" (also written by Brix, and based on the Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog". "I Am Damo Suzuki"was described in 2022 as a "hypnotic art-rock anthem befitting of [Can's] name",<ref>Terich, Jeff."[https://www.treblezine.com/beginners-guide-the-fall-best-albums/ Beginner's Guide: The Best The Fall albums to start with] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526020312/https://www.treblezine.com/beginners-guide-the-fall-best-albums/ |date=26 May 2022 }}". ''Treble Magazine'', 23 March 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022</ref> while in 2019 Suzuki biographer Paul Woods wrote that "MES took the 'Oh Yeah' riff and overrode it with a speed-freak surrealist tribute to Can and Damo himself while throwing in an oblique reference to Fritz Leiber, one of a number of supernatural horror authors who also obsessed him."<ref name="sw155">Suzuki; Woods (2019), pp. 155–156</ref>
The word "Yarbles" in the title of "To NK Roachment: Yarbles" is borrowed from the novel ''A Clockwork Orange'' as Nadsat for testicles.<ref name="bbc" /> The track is a reprise of "Mansion", but according Pringle has a "softer and gentler tone."<ref name="p172" /> Both the vocal melody and lyrics "Every day you have to die some / Every day you have to cry some / All the good times are past and gone" are based on the 1963 Arthur Alexander song "Every Day I Have To Cry".<ref name="p172" />
===1988 bonus tracks=== Four bonus tracks were included on the 1988, 1990 and 1997 CD releases. The music for the album's second single "Cruiser's Creek" is built around another circular and twangy guitar riff by Brix, while the lyrics detail a debauched office-party.<ref name="f147" /> Writing for ''The Guardian'' in 2014, critic Dave Simpson described the song as "leftfield and outsiderly, yet the insistent tune is surely as catchy as anything by the Beatles."<ref name="ds">Simpson, Dave. "[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jun/11/the-fall-10-of-the-best The Fall: 10 of their best songs]". ''The Guardian'', 11 June 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2022</ref> For Hinkley, the song is reminiscent of Dire Straits.<ref name="Hinkley"/> It was released on 11 October 1985,<ref>"[https://www.allmusic.com/album/cruisers-creek-mw0001210414 Cruiser's Creek]". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 April 2022</ref> and was accompanied by a music video directed by both Mark and Cerith Wyn Evans,<ref name="e83">Edge (1989), p. 83</ref> and stars Leigh Bowery in a role Smith described as resembling "a clerk on acid, like he was from some alternative world".<ref>Ford (2002), pp. 147–148</ref>
The other two bonus tracks are a cover of Gene Vincent's rockabilly song "Rollin' Dany",<ref>Riley, Tim. "[https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_april-07-13-1989_18_14/page/n84/mode/1up The praxis of punk]". ''The Boston Phoenix'', 7 April 1989. p. 13. Retrieved 25 April 2022.</ref> and the original "Couldn't Get Ahead", which was recorded before Steve Hanley rejoined and has Rogers playing bass.<ref name="r82">Edge (1989), p. 82</ref>
== Release == ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' was released on 23 September 1985 by Beggars Banquet Records.<ref name="beggars" /> The label took out full-page adverts in the UK Music press, showing the album's bleak city-scape of Manchester's centre drawn by Michael Pollard with a horse-pulled chariot in the clouds above the city buildings drawn by Claus Castenskiold. A full-page advert in ''Melody Maker'' shows the album cover and includes details of their October and November 1985 UK tour, and mention of the cassette version of the album, that featured bonus tracks.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Fall – This Nation's Saving Grace (advertisement)|magazine=Melody Maker|volume=60|issue=39|date=28 September 1985|page=37}}</ref> ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' reached number 54 on the UK Albums Chart.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/21777/fall/ |title=The Fall |publisher=Official Charts Company |access-date=25 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112529/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/21777/FALL/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After tours of the north of England and the US, the Fall recorded the double A-sided single "Couldn't Get Ahead"/"Rollin' Dany" and subsequent single "Cruiser's Creek" with Rogers standing in on bass guitar.<ref>Easlea, Daryl. "Interview with Paul Hanley". ''The Fall Box Set 1976 – 2007'' accompanying booklet. Castle Music/Sanctuary, 2007</ref>
== Reception == {{Music ratings | subtitle = Contemporaneous reviews (1985–86) | rev1 = ''Calgary Herald'' | rev1score = A<ref>{{cite news|first=James|last=Muretich|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/483984775/|title=Primal rock group dives headlong into anarchy|work=Calgary Herald|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=C7|date=2 November 1985|access-date=26 April 2022}} {{subscription required}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Daily News'' | rev2score = {{Rating|2.5|4}}<ref name="Hinkley"/> | rev3 = ''Music Week'' | rev3score = {{Rating|3|3}}<ref name="mw rev">{{cite magazine |author=Anon. |date=28 September 1985 |title=The Fall: ''This Nation's Saving Grace''. Beggars Banquet. BEGA 67. |magazine=Music Week |department=LP Reviews |page=19 |publisher=Morgan–Grampian Publications |location=London |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1985/Music-Week-1985-09-28-I.pdf#page=29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231035355/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1985/Music-Week-1985-09-28-I.pdf |archive-date=31 December 2021 |access-date=2 May 2022 |via=WorldRadioHistory.com}}</ref> | rev4 = ''The Sault Star'' | rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Jim|last=Halverson|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/483984775/|title=Grace from the Fall|work=The Sault Star|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=8|date=9 November 1985|access-date=28 April 2022|archive-date=26 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426053407/https://www.newspapers.com/image/483984775/|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Sounds'' | rev5score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="CH">{{cite magazine |last=Roberts |first=Chris |title=Nationwide |magazine=Sounds |date=28 September 1985 |page=30}}</ref> | rev6 = ''Times Colonist'' | rev6score = {{Rating|2|4}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Brian|last=Belton|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/509308939/|title=On Track|work=Times Colonist|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=C7|date=30 November 1985|access-date=1 May 2022|archive-date=1 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501052220/https://www.newspapers.com/image/509308939/|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> | rev7 = ''The Village Voice'' | rev7score = B+<ref name="xgau">{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Christgau |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=7 January 1986 |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |location=New York |url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-86.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301220016/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-86.php |archive-date=1 March 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022 |via=RobertChristgau.com}}</ref> }}
''This Nation's Saving Grace'' was highly praised by the UK music press on release. The ''NME'''s David Quantick wrote the Fall had managed to create "one of their most accessible LPs yet" which was yet "infinitely more peculiar than almost anything else released this year."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Quantick |first=David |date=28 September 1985 |title=Fall In! |magazine=NME |page=39}}</ref> In a very positive review for ''Sounds'', Chris Roberts wrote "Oh, to be thirteen again and have this be the first record one heard".<ref name="CH"/> In contrast to the prevailing view of the Fall's development after recruiting Brix, ''Music Week'' suggested the album offered more of the same but lacked potential for mainstream crossover.<ref name="mw rev"/>
Critics generally praised Brix's direction and songwriting. Robert Christgau of ''The Village Voice'' noted how the "Yank guitarist...righted husband Mark E.'s feckless avant-gardishness" and said that the record was "cunningly sloppy, minimally catchy Hawkwind/Stooges with each three-chord drone long enough to make an avant-gardish statement but stopping short of actual boredom."<ref name="xgau" /> In a 1986 article on the band in ''Creem'', Renaldo Migaldi said "The Fall have been around since 1977, but only in the last couple of years have they achieved their fullest creative flowering" on ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' and their preceding album, noting that her contributions had been "integral to how the band sounds now. Namely, better."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Migaldi |first=Renaldo |date=August 1986 |title=Falling into Place |page=69 |magazine=Creem |volume=17 |number=12 |publisher=Cambray Publishing, Inc. |location=Birmingham, Michigan |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_creem_1986-08_17_12/page/n68/mode/1up |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref> Conversely, a blurb on the album in ''Cashbox'' was dismissive: "This is post wave rock 'n' roll for the depressed teenager."<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Anon. |date=7 December 1985 |title=''This Nation's Saving Grace'' – The Fall – PVC 8940 – Producer: John Leckie – List: 8.98 |page=8 |department=Album Releases |magazine=Cashbox |volume=49 |number=26 |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox49unse_24/page/8/mode/1up |via=the Internet Archive |access-date=3 May 2022}}</ref>
''NME'' ranked "TNSG" as the sixth best album of 1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/features/1985-2-1045389 |title=NME's best albums and tracks of 1985 |website=NME |date=10 October 2016 |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412194607/https://www.nme.com/features/1985-2-1045389 |url-status=live }}</ref> Listeners of John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show voted six songs from ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' to the annual Festive Fifty list: "Cruiser's Creek" (no. 3), "Spoilt Victorian Child" (no. 23), "Gut of the Quantifier" (no. 33), "Couldn't Get Ahead" (no. 39), "L.A." (no. 42), and "Rollin' Dany" (no. 55).<ref>{{cite web |author=Anon. |date=1985 |title=Festive 50s – 1985 |website=Keeping It Peel |publisher=BBC Online |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/festive50s/1980s/1985/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051211101523/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/festive50s/1980s/1985/ |archive-date=11 December 2005 |access-date=2 May 2022}}</ref> Jim Sullivan of ''The Boston Globe'' and Kristine McKenna of the ''Los Angeles Times'' also ranked the album in their top ten best albums of the year.<ref>{{cite news|first=Jim|last=Sullivan|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/437816943|title=1985's Top 10 Records|work=The Boston Globe|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=16|date=19 December 1985|access-date=4 May 2022|archive-date=1 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501051118/https://www.newspapers.com/image/437816943/|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Kristine|last=McKenna|author-link=Kristine McKenna|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/401578268|title=Critics' Top-10 Album Poll: Activism and Americanism|work=Los Angeles Times|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|page=64|date=29 December 1985|access-date=4 May 2022}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
===Retrospective evaluation=== {{Music ratings | subtitle = Retrospective reviews | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="TM">Mills, Ted. "[https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-nations-saving-grace-mw0000200218 This Nation's Saving Grace – The Fall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120132411/https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-nations-saving-grace-mw0000200218 |date=20 January 2022 }}". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 April 2022</ref> | rev2 = ''The Guardian'' | rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Simpson"/> | rev3 = ''Mojo'' | rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Rebellious Jukebox |magazine=Mojo |issue=275 |date=October 2016 |last=Harrison |first=Ian |pages=62–67}}</ref> | rev4 = ''Pitchfork'' | rev4score = 10/10<ref name="Tiffee">{{cite web |url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/f/fall/this-nations-saving-grace.shtml |title=The Fall: ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' |website=Pitchfork |date=September 1997 |access-date=6 February 2013 |last=Tiffee |first=Bruce |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030219042921/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/f/fall/this-nations-saving-grace.shtml |archive-date=19 February 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Q'' | rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Fall: ''The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...'' / ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' |magazine=Q |issue=350 |date=September 2015 |last=Price |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Price |page=120}}</ref> | rev6 = ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' | rev6score = {{Rating|4.5|5}} (1992)<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Fall |last=Considine |first=J. D. |author-link=J. D. Considine |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=DeCurtis |editor1-first=Anthony |editor1-link=Anthony DeCurtis |editor2-last=Henke |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=George-Warren |editor3-first=Holly |publisher=Random House |edition=3rd |year=1992 |isbn=0-679-73729-4 |pages=239–240}}</ref> {{Rating|4|5}} (2001)<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Fall |last=Gross |first=Joe |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/292 292–295]}}</ref> | rev7 = ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' | rev7score = 10/10<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Fall |last=Rubin |first=Mike |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=142–144}}</ref> | rev8 = ''Uncut'' | rev8score = 9/10<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Fall: ''The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall'' / ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' (+ extras) |magazine=Uncut |issue=219 |date=August 2015 |last=Pinnock |first=Tom |page=92}}</ref> }}
Bruce Tiffee of ''Pitchfork'' described the album as "one of the strongest" Fall releases and "perhaps the best record to emerge from the Beggars Banquet Fall era".<ref name="Tiffee"/> In 2011 Dave Simpson of ''The Guardian'' wrote that the album showcased the Fall "thrillingly subverting the notion of what pop music is",<ref name="Simpson"/> while John Mulvey of ''Uncut'' wrote that it contained the band's strongest configuration "in all their menacing and utilitarian finery".<ref name="jm">Mulvey, John. "[https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/the-fall-this-nation-s-saving-grace-omnibus-edition-35179/ The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace: Omnibus Edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120140451/https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/the-fall-this-nation-s-saving-grace-omnibus-edition-35179/ |date=20 January 2022 }}". ''Uncut'', 11 January 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2022</ref>
In 2002, ''This Nation's...'' was listed by ''Pitchfork'' as the 13th best album of the 1980s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/?page=9 |title=The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s |website=Pitchfork |date=21 November 2002 |access-date=20 January 2022 |page=9 |archive-date=3 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103103834/https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/?page=9 |url-status=live }}</ref> while it appeared at number 46 on ''Spin''{{'}}s list of the 100 greatest albums from 1985 to 2005,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p6-UYTO7l1MC&pg=PA84 |title=100 Greatest Albums 1985–2005 – 46. The Fall: ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' |magazine=Spin |volume=21 |issue=7 |date=July 2005 |access-date=20 January 2022 |last=Gross |first=Joe |page=84}}</ref> and as number 93 on ''Slant Magazine'''s 2012 list of the best albums of the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/best-albums-of-the-1980s/ |title=The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s |website=Slant Magazine |date=5 March 2012 |access-date=15 March 2012 |archive-date=25 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325191729/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-1980s/308/page_8 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''NME'' placed the album as number 400 on their 2013 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-400-301-1426436 |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 400–301 |website=NME |date=23 October 2013 |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-date=15 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015082150/https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-400-301-1426436 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The record was ranked number 441 in the third edition of writer Colin Larkin's ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' (2000), a list based on a poll of more than 200,000 people.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Larkin |editor-first=Colin |editor-link=Colin Larkin |year=2000 |title=All Time Top 1000 Albums |title-link=All Time Top 1000 Albums |edition=3rd |publisher=Virgin Books |location=London |isbn=0-7535-0493-6 |page=161}}</ref> According to Larkin's ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', Brix's "partly melodious sheen ... brought an air of 60s subculture to the group's post-industrial rattle", without compromising the band's "stubbornly maverick" roots, as the album "shows the Fall extending stylistic barriers without sacrificing their individuality."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Larkin |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Larkin |year=2016 |title=Fall – ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |edition=online 4th |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972636-3 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001/acref-9780195313734-e-79814 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220503211137/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195313734.001.0001/acref-9780195313734-e-79814 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |access-date=3 May 2022}}</ref>
In his 2022 book "You Must Get Them All: The Fall on Record", Steve Pringle describes the album as the "perfect marriage of The Fall's increasing accessibility and their more challenging qualities". According to Pringle "it contains a flawless balance of everything the group did exceptionally well: aural barrage and grinding repetition, off-kilter pop-hooks, sonic experimentation and audacious weirdness."<ref name="p173">Pringle (2022), p. 173</ref>
== Legacy == James Murphy—best known as the frontman of New York dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem—purchased ''This Nation's Saving Grace'' the year of its release and said its aesthetic initially "terrified" him.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sisario |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Sisario |date=28 May 2010 |title=Dance Track Master, Accidental Fan |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/arts/music/30lcd.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601230943/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/arts/music/30lcd.html |archive-date=1 June 2010 |access-date=2 May 2022}}</ref> He later said it was a formative influence: {{blockquote|I was completely blown away. At the time, all I could hear on the radio was synth pop and then here comes this band that sound broken and wrong. I'd never heard anything like it—the idea of someone taking the time to go into a studio and record a singer [who] may or may not be in tune. It opened a lot of abstract paths to me because before that I was looking at abstract art and saying, 'This is garbage! What's the point?' But I started to get into abstract art because of the Fall ... I started to realise that people's aesthetic goals were not necessarily to achieve perfection.<ref>{{cite web |last=Delaney |first=Sam |date=24 June 2005 |title=Now playing at my house ... |website=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/25/popandrock |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919002245/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/25/popandrock |archive-date=19 September 2014 |access-date=2 May 2022}}</ref>}} Murphy said the album inspired him to take greater risks in his music and, more specifically, noted its impact on the lo-fi intro to "Yr City's a Sucker" from LCD Soundsystem's 2005 self-titled debut album, akin to the tape experimentation of "Paint Work".<ref>{{cite web |last=Burns |first=Todd L. |date=27 May 2013 |title=James Murphy |website=Red Bull Music Academy |publisher=Red Bull GmbH |location=New York |url=https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/james-murphy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511101249/https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/james-murphy/ |archive-date=11 May 2021 |access-date=2 May 2022}}</ref> On the band's 2017 album ''American Dream'', the song "Other Voices" alludes to "L.A." with the line, "This is what's happening and it's freaking you out".<ref>{{cite web |last=Doran |first=John |date=9 October 2017 |title=James Murphy Knows He's Not Getting Any Younger |website=Noisey |publisher=Vice Media |location=New York |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/james-murphy-lcd-soundsystem-2017-interview-american-dream/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108092013/https://www.vice.com/en/article/pak8q9/james-murphy-lcd-soundsystem-2017-interview-american-dream |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=2 May 2022}}</ref>
==Reissue== An extended version of the album was issued in 2011 on the Beggars Banquet reissue imprint "Beggars Archive". The 42-track box-set was accompanied by a 48-page colour booklet and two discs of rough studio mixes and Peel sessions.<ref name="tq2"/><ref name="sl">Lee, Stewart. "[https://www.stewartlee.co.uk/album-review-archive/the-fall-the-wonderful-and-frightening-world-of-this-nations-saving-grace-omnibus-edition/ The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of… / This Nation’s Saving Grace Omnibus Edition]". stewartlee.co.uk. Retrieved 25 April 2022.</ref>
== Track listings == === Original UK LP === {{track listing | headline = Side A | title1 = Mansion | writer1 = Brix Smith | length1 = 1:21 | title2 = Bombast | writer2 = Steve Hanley, Mark E. Smith | length2 = 3:08 | title3 = Barmy{{refn|The original US LP follows the UK LP track listing, but swaps "Barmy" for "Cruisers Creek"|group=n}} | writer3 = M. Smith | length3 = 5:21 | title4 = What You Need | writer4 = Craig Scanlon, M. Smith | length4 = 4:50 | title5 = Spoilt Victorian Child | writer5 = Simon Rogers, M. Smith | length5 = 4:13 | title6 = L.A. | writer6 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length6 = 4:10 }} {{track listing | headline = Side B | title7 = Gut of the Quantifier | writer7 = Karl Burns, Rogers, B. Smith, M. Smith | length7 = 5:16 | title8 = My New House | writer8 = M. Smith | length8 = 5:16 | title9 = Paint Work | writer9 = Rogers, Scanlon, M. Smith | length9 = 6:38 | title10 = I Am Damo Suzuki | writer10 = Burns, B. Smith, M. Smith | length10 = 5:41 | title11 = To Nkroachment: Yarbles | writer11 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length11 = 1:23 | total_length = 47:17 }}
=== Cassette and CD === {{track listing | headline = 1985 cassette | title1 = Mansion | writer1 = B. Smith | length1 = 1:21 | title2 = Bombast | writer2 = Hanley, M. Smith | length2 = 3:07 | title3 = Barmy | writer3 = M. Smith | length3 = 5:20 | title4 = What You Need | writer4 = Scanlon, M. Smith | length4 = 4:49 | title5 = Spoilt Victorian Child | writer5 = Rogers, M. Smith | length5 = 4:12 | title6 = L.A. | writer6 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length6 = 4:09 | title7 = Vixen | writer7 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length7 = 4:01 | title8 = Couldn't Get Ahead | writer8 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length8 = 2:35 | title9 = Gut of the Quantifier | writer9 = Burns, Rogers, B. Smith, M. Smith | length9 = 5:15 | title10 = My New House | writer10 = M. Smith | length10 = 5:16 | title11 = Paint Work | writer11 = Rogers, Scanlon, M. Smith | length11 = 6:38 | title12 = I Am Damo Suzuki | writer12 = Burns, B. Smith, M. Smith | length12 = 5:40 | title13 = To Nkroachment: Yarbles | writer13 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length13 = 1:23 | title14 = Petty (Thief) Lout | writer14 = Scanlon, M. Smith | length14 = 5:20 | total_length = 59:06 }}
{{track listing | headline = 1988, 1990 and 1997 CD bonus tracks | title15 = Rollin' Dany | note15 = single A-side | writer15 = Joe Steen, Paul Edwards | length15 = 2:23 | title16 = Cruisers Creek | note16 = edit) (single A-side | writer16 = B. Smith, M. Smith | length16 = 4:16 | total_length = 65:56<ref name="irvin"/> }}
== Personnel == ;The Fall<ref name="irvin"/> * Mark E. Smith – vocals, violin on "I Am Damo Suzuki", guitar; harmonica on "Couldn't Get Ahead" * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals * Steve Hanley – bass guitar, backing vocals * Craig Scanlon – guitar, backing vocals * Karl Burns – drums, backing vocals * Simon Rogers – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drum machine, backing vocals ;Technical * John Leckie – production, engineering * Joe Gillingham – engineering * Michael Pollard – cover<ref name="p166"/> * Claus Castenskiold – cover<ref name="p166"/>
==Notes== {{Reflist|group=n}}
==References== === Citations === {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin}} * Devereux, Eoin (ed.). ''Always Different, Always the Same: Critical Essays on the Fall''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2022. {{isbn|978-1-5381-6535-5}} * Edge, Brian. ''Paintwork: Portrait of The Fall''. London: Omnibus Press, 1989. {{isbn|978-0-7119-1740-8}} * Ford, Simon. ''Hip Priest: The Story of Mark E. Smith and the Fall''. London: Quartet Books, 2002. {{isbn|978-0-7043-8167-4}} * Hanley, Steve. ''The Big Midweek: Life Inside The Fall''. London: Route, 2014. {{isbn|978-1-9019-2758-0}} * Irvin, Jim, ed. ''The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion'' (4th ed.). London: Canongate, 2007. {{isbn|978-1-8419-5973-3}} * Pringle, Steve. ''You Must Get Them All: The Fall on Record''. London: Route Publishing, 2022. {{isbn|978-1-9019-2788-7}} * Simpson, Dave. ''The Fallen: Life in and Out of Britain's Most Insane Group''. London: Canongate, 2010. {{isbn|978-1-84767-144-8}} * Start Smith, Brix. ''The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise''. Faber & Faber, 2017. {{isbn|978-0-5713-2506-1}} * Taylor, Steve. ''The A to X of Alternative Music''. London: Continuum, 2006. {{isbn|978-0-8264-8217-4}} * Suzuki, Damo, Woods, Paul. ''I Am Damo Suzuki''. Omnibus Press, 2019. {{isbn|978-1-7830-5971-3}} {{refend}}
==External links== * [https://thefall.org/discography/data/album09.html ''This Nation's Saving Grace''] at TheFall.org * {{Discogs master|5241|type=album}} * [http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/arranged-by-album/this-nation-s-saving-grace/ Lyrics] at The Annotated Fall
{{The Fall}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1985 albums Category:The Fall (band) albums Category:Albums produced by John Leckie Category:Beggars Banquet Records albums