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Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
A definitive insight into the ever-influential world of Mark E. Smith and The Fall , featuring never-before published essays and ephemera from fans, collectors and the artist and band themselves.
'They are always different; they are always the same.' John Peel
Over the course of their prolific forty-year career The Fall were consistently one of the most influential and unique groups Britain has ever produced, with frontman Mark E. Smith hailed as one of the country’s sharpest lyricists. Following Mark E. Smith's death in January 2018, there was an outpouring of tributes from a surprising spectrum of admirers.
With contributions from Adelle Stripe, Dan Fox, Elain Harwood, Mark Fisher, Ian Penman and others, alongside never-before seen artwork, photographs, and hand-written material from Smith and the band, Bob Stanley and Tessa Norton unpack and make sense of the strangely fascinating landscape of The Fall . Illuminating their reference points, lyrical concerns and influences, from shipping dock procedures to Manchester City and contemporary dance to German experimental rock, this book cements their worldview as a vital contribution to British culture.
Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall is the definitive atlas to help you navigate The Fall 's idiosyncratic world.
'They are always different; they are always the same.' John Peel
Over the course of their prolific forty-year career The Fall were consistently one of the most influential and unique groups Britain has ever produced, with frontman Mark E. Smith hailed as one of the country’s sharpest lyricists. Following Mark E. Smith's death in January 2018, there was an outpouring of tributes from a surprising spectrum of admirers.
With contributions from Adelle Stripe, Dan Fox, Elain Harwood, Mark Fisher, Ian Penman and others, alongside never-before seen artwork, photographs, and hand-written material from Smith and the band, Bob Stanley and Tessa Norton unpack and make sense of the strangely fascinating landscape of The Fall . Illuminating their reference points, lyrical concerns and influences, from shipping dock procedures to Manchester City and contemporary dance to German experimental rock, this book cements their worldview as a vital contribution to British culture.
Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall is the definitive atlas to help you navigate The Fall 's idiosyncratic world.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2021
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1204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 16, 2025
An unashamedly academic exploration of Mark E. Smith’s literary influences, Excavate! explores the role of M.R. James, Wyndham Lewis, Arthur Machen in the lyrics and typography of the band’s early work, alongside a range of fantastic archival images, from gig posters and handwritten letters from MES, to ticket stubs and original band photographs. There are also essays on the influence of bleak Northern architecture, working men’s clubs, and football in The Fall, preventing the book becoming the sort of indulgent middle-class wank MES would have loathed. (Mind you, he’d still have hated this book). The writers are offered free reign to sink their intellectual gnashers into Fall lyrics, meaning most of the analysis comes from the early 1980s period, when MES was at his pinnacle (or most coherent) as a writer. There’s certainly no deep probing into ‘Spencer Must Die’ in this lavish tome. Recommend for all mere pseud mag eds and their fathers.
June 16, 2021
Back when I was a rock critter my take on The Fall was that their material was for all intents and purposes completely indecipherable. This erudite and passionate compendium, with magnificent illustrations, demonstrates that the indecipherability was not absolute...
Some of the essays are a tad precious but most are exciting and illuminating...and of course I've been binge-listening to the band since. Some knowledge of Industrial British history and football clubs will be a great help to the lay reader...
Some of the essays are a tad precious but most are exciting and illuminating...and of course I've been binge-listening to the band since. Some knowledge of Industrial British history and football clubs will be a great help to the lay reader...
April 20, 2021
As one of those 50,000 hardcore Fall fans (is there such a thing as a "casual" Fall fan?), I was excited to hear of the publication of this book. The included full-color ephemera & original LP cover art photos were refreshing to see (but similar goodies have been included in the various reissue projects over the years) and the essays were wildly uneven...so 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.
July 16, 2021
"Over the last few years two conflicting ideas about the Fall have come about, without ever really being recognised as contradictory. There’s the old idea of Mark E. Smith and the group as grim northern disciplinarians, prone to reactionary statements in interviews and a disdain for students and the work-shy; and another, which has been more common lately, that concentrates on Mark E. Smith as ‘Prophet in Prestwich’, a kind of Lovecraftian psychic and seer opposing the technocratic rationalism of Factory Records."
An excellent, widespread and mindcrunching anthology of essays on Mark E. Smith and his lifework, The Fall.
I say 'widespread', because The Fall's music and especially Smith's lyrics can be seen as quite impenetrable, or so specific that they have little meaning to anyone who isn't Smith himself, but this also means that you can approach them from any direction you like. Which is what happens here -for example, there's a piece on Smith's love of cosmic horror literature, like Lovecraft, and how an infamous (and perhaps sinister) song like Spectre Vs Rector can be seen in that context.
I say 'mindcrunching' because it can take some time to fully appreciate the direction taken on a particular essay. Some of them didn't work so well for me, of course (seems inevitable) - one essay tries to link Smith to a collection of art installations, and while I enjoyed reading about the installations, it felt like Smith got jammed in at the end of the piece.
"Mark E. Smith would scour lower-league bands for new Fall members as if he was the chief scout of a financially straitened football club."
The essays are all beautifully written, and it's lovely to read the love for a mercurial artist like Smith that the authors clearly have.
The book is filled with excellent illustrative material - photos of Smith and the various versions of the band, show posters and tickets, lots of handwritten notes and letters. There is a full discography of the studio albums, including covers and backs.
"In the most compelling Fall songs, the group merely provide an open structure through which Smith roams like a suspicious caretaker, flashing his torch from one empty dark room to another."
Included also are two interviews with Smith, taken from earlier publications.
Mark E. Smith himself would've probably laughed into his pint, at the idea of this book. He is sorely missed.
(Thanks to Faber & Faber for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
An excellent, widespread and mindcrunching anthology of essays on Mark E. Smith and his lifework, The Fall.
I say 'widespread', because The Fall's music and especially Smith's lyrics can be seen as quite impenetrable, or so specific that they have little meaning to anyone who isn't Smith himself, but this also means that you can approach them from any direction you like. Which is what happens here -for example, there's a piece on Smith's love of cosmic horror literature, like Lovecraft, and how an infamous (and perhaps sinister) song like Spectre Vs Rector can be seen in that context.
I say 'mindcrunching' because it can take some time to fully appreciate the direction taken on a particular essay. Some of them didn't work so well for me, of course (seems inevitable) - one essay tries to link Smith to a collection of art installations, and while I enjoyed reading about the installations, it felt like Smith got jammed in at the end of the piece.
"Mark E. Smith would scour lower-league bands for new Fall members as if he was the chief scout of a financially straitened football club."
The essays are all beautifully written, and it's lovely to read the love for a mercurial artist like Smith that the authors clearly have.
The book is filled with excellent illustrative material - photos of Smith and the various versions of the band, show posters and tickets, lots of handwritten notes and letters. There is a full discography of the studio albums, including covers and backs.
"In the most compelling Fall songs, the group merely provide an open structure through which Smith roams like a suspicious caretaker, flashing his torch from one empty dark room to another."
Included also are two interviews with Smith, taken from earlier publications.
Mark E. Smith himself would've probably laughed into his pint, at the idea of this book. He is sorely missed.
(Thanks to Faber & Faber for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
February 1, 2022
If you love The Fall then you will want to get your mitts on a copy of Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall.
Probably a hard copy version.
It's a beautifully produced tribute to a remarkable group that is packed full of interesting ephemera.
The bulk of what there is to read is a selection of essays inspired by the group.
In addition to the essays, there's lots of gig flyers, album artwork, and correspondence from Mark E. Smith. It's a delight to see all this stuff grouped together
Back to the essays, some are brilliant. I particularly enjoyed Bob Stanley's essay Call Yourself Bloody Professionals. Around a third didn't work for me, these range from a bit pretentious, to just too removed from The Fall. That is my only disappointment with this beautiful book and why I cannot give it the five star rating it would otherwise deserve.
Still, as I stated at the outset if you love The Fall then get a copy of this book.
3/5
Probably a hard copy version.
It's a beautifully produced tribute to a remarkable group that is packed full of interesting ephemera.
The bulk of what there is to read is a selection of essays inspired by the group.
In addition to the essays, there's lots of gig flyers, album artwork, and correspondence from Mark E. Smith. It's a delight to see all this stuff grouped together
Back to the essays, some are brilliant. I particularly enjoyed Bob Stanley's essay Call Yourself Bloody Professionals. Around a third didn't work for me, these range from a bit pretentious, to just too removed from The Fall. That is my only disappointment with this beautiful book and why I cannot give it the five star rating it would otherwise deserve.
Still, as I stated at the outset if you love The Fall then get a copy of this book.
3/5
April 11, 2021
I have given this book five stars because I concluded that it mostly achieved what it set out to do - explain The Fall in its cultural and historical context. This does not mean that it is a straightforward exposition of a singular, if perplexing phenomenon. On the contrary I found that it veered from blocks of brilliant insight convincingly set out and from which I felt I had really learned something, to dense academic mini-treatises which were I felt only tangentially relevant, bordering at times on pretentious drivel.
But that’s just part of the fun. Was MES a visionary genius or a narcissistic piss artist in love with his own myth?
Fall fans will need no convincing to buy and read this book, and all of them will get something from it, either to reinforce or modify their existing view. For those yet to encounter The Fall’s music, this probably isn’t the place to start.
But that’s just part of the fun. Was MES a visionary genius or a narcissistic piss artist in love with his own myth?
Fall fans will need no convincing to buy and read this book, and all of them will get something from it, either to reinforce or modify their existing view. For those yet to encounter The Fall’s music, this probably isn’t the place to start.
June 21, 2021
Good not great.
The posters, photos, handwritten MES images and various bits and bobs from throughout the Fall’s career are superb.
Then we come to the essays that are peppered throughout, the quality of which fluctuates wildly. The best are personal takes, the worst are insufferably pretentious. The sort of thing of thing Smith would have grumbled as being ‘student’.
The posters, photos, handwritten MES images and various bits and bobs from throughout the Fall’s career are superb.
Then we come to the essays that are peppered throughout, the quality of which fluctuates wildly. The best are personal takes, the worst are insufferably pretentious. The sort of thing of thing Smith would have grumbled as being ‘student’.
July 15, 2021
Tosh and I discuss this with number one fan Dave Ehrlich on our Book Musik podcast.
We are neophytes to the forbidding and frankly overwhelming world of The Fall, so we’ve enlisted Dave to be our Sherpa. Dave’s been a super fan since the 80s and guides us through The Fall’s mysterious landscape. This is not a band for the faint of heart and their prodigious output means there’s some work to be done to explore their universe, but we’ve found that the rewards are more than worth it. We’re quickly becoming super fans as well.
We are neophytes to the forbidding and frankly overwhelming world of The Fall, so we’ve enlisted Dave to be our Sherpa. Dave’s been a super fan since the 80s and guides us through The Fall’s mysterious landscape. This is not a band for the faint of heart and their prodigious output means there’s some work to be done to explore their universe, but we’ve found that the rewards are more than worth it. We’re quickly becoming super fans as well.
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July 4, 2021The greatest compliment I can pay this book is that the wide-ranging essays provide so much cultural and historical context there were times when for a moment I forgot I was reading a book about MES and The Fall. Essential.
July 15, 2021
Excellent book and on Book Musik, we have a mega-Fall fan Dave Ehrlich and we discuss this fascinating book on The Fall: Book Musik podcast
May 6, 2022
in some ways, the Fall are the academic's band, so it's fitting that this collection features some truly arcane and out-there para-intellectual meanderings. most of them cut beyond the expectations of biographical material or interpretive meanderings--standouts are Elain Harwood's psychogeography of the north country, Paul Wilson's account of working men's clubs, both the editorial introduction and each of the of the essays on amateurism and DIY by Bob Stanley and Tessa Norton, and Mark Sinker's essay that focuses on Machen, mostly. really some fascinating context, and context is key for even beginning to understand the Fall. These are split by archival ephemera (e.g. mark scrawls) and some truly awesome fan zines and interviews.
On the minus side, the essays by Mark Fisher and Owen Hatherley are complete rehash (reprint) interpretations that kind of stink in comparison to those described above. anyone purchasing this book doesn't need plates of the album covers and back covers--could have replaced these 100 pages with more zines? Stanley and Norton promise an evaluative account of MES that doesn't try to 'cancel' him while balancing his uh clear shortcomings, but the essay collection doesn't really deliver on their promise to foreground the role of women in the Fall. none of these gripes detract from what cannot be but an incomplete beginning to contextualizing what the fall was or is or means.
On the minus side, the essays by Mark Fisher and Owen Hatherley are complete rehash (reprint) interpretations that kind of stink in comparison to those described above. anyone purchasing this book doesn't need plates of the album covers and back covers--could have replaced these 100 pages with more zines? Stanley and Norton promise an evaluative account of MES that doesn't try to 'cancel' him while balancing his uh clear shortcomings, but the essay collection doesn't really deliver on their promise to foreground the role of women in the Fall. none of these gripes detract from what cannot be but an incomplete beginning to contextualizing what the fall was or is or means.
August 9, 2022
Finally conquered this beast! Huge Fall fan, so I appreciate and will immediately digest anything written about the group. The essays are a total mixed bag; the ones that I disliked are overly esoteric and only tangentially connected to band. While I appreciate thoughtful and even academic analyses of pop culture, there are times when these works fall flat - too much of that content rests here. No regrets on laboring through this one, but couldn’t recommend it to anyone beyond the true Fall believers.
September 23, 2025
An excellent compendium of academic essays about matters in The Fall's universe, artwork, interviews, letters from Mark E. Smith and other cool ephemera. Much as I love reading books about who was in The Fall and what they thought about the whole business, this was a refreshing change of style. It took me straight back to my teenage years poring over Fall sleeve notes in Our Price and was every bit as exciting and mystifying. I also liked the inclusion of Mark E. Smith's Christmas cards to Steve Hammonds at Sanctuary Records, as charming proof that sometimes he actually liked people.
July 1, 2021
Wonderful and frightening. A book that studies the prism of The Fall from various angles and perspectives. Right up my strasse.
June 6, 2023
MES would have loved this.
March 28, 2023
EXCAVATE! winds up less than the sum of its parts. As a fan of the Fall since my teens, it made me realize how little of the band's context I know. Mark E. Smith had a very particular mindset: a proud autodidact and working-class Mancunian. Some of these essays help fill in the gaps, analyzing his lyrics' references to early 20th-century horror literature and British institutions like working men's clubs. The inclusion of early versions of album artwork and hand-written lyrics and answers to fan mail - not to mention sheet music for "The Classical!" - is a great touch, but reproducing the graphics for every single album the Fall released is a bit much. Several essays are rather shallow or have little to do directly with the Fall, and the book elides the vital contributions of other musicians, especially women, to the band's constantly shifting sound.
August 14, 2021
Basically a scrap book. Even an Ian penman essay can't rescue it
August 26, 2022
Some nice pictures. I found most of the essays too boring and pretentious to read. Disappointing, as there must be something interesting to say about the Fall, but the writers here are mostly keen to drag in theoretical frameworks, grind political axes and the like. I enjoyed "Renegade", but that was just Smith in character; so far I've yet to find a Fall book that really illuminates and/or entertains. This doesn't do much of either. It was also striking (with the caveat that I skimmed and skipped faster and faster as I lost interest, so I may have missed something) that no-one writing here seems less than worshipful. A critical engagement with the Fall's cacophony and Smith's hermetic (to put it respectfully) approach to the lyric craft (and hostility to the singer's - he could carry a tune, witness A Day in the Life - but mostly refused to) could be fascinating, but I didn't find it here.
March 29, 2023
This is not your typical music biography. A collective of essays; personal or something more suited in an alternative journal more aligned to art, music or lit crit. It contains an absorbing selection of photos and flyers. You find yourself lost in that forgotten habit of slinking into sleeve-notes. The book itself is weighty and large. Coffee table-esque (but no doubt Mark E. Smith would balk at the suggestion.) Several of the essays have appeared elsewhere,from an earlier period, and as a result a lot of focus is on the band’s early years, I would have liked to have seen more from the early 90s triptych of albums. There is a noticeable body-swerving of the much more danceable mid-to-late 80s tracks (but to be fair, they do speak for themselves.) Intelligent, lovingly curated, and as unique as the man himself. If you love the Fall then read this.
July 13, 2021
"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."
Wie een makkelijk lezende biografie over Mark E Smith of The Fall verwacht zal teleurgesteld zijn. Dat is het absoluut niet. Het boek is exact wat het zelf beweert te zijn: een boek over de wereld van The Fall. Dat betekent kleurrijk, ongrijpbaar, briljant, soms taai en onbegrijpelijk, maar altijd intrigerend. Het is een soort encyclopedie over een wereld waarin alles draait om The Fall, geregeerd door de dictator Mark E Smith. Het is een slechte biografie maar een uitstekende encyclopedie en als zodanig waardeer ik dit boek enorm.
Wie een makkelijk lezende biografie over Mark E Smith of The Fall verwacht zal teleurgesteld zijn. Dat is het absoluut niet. Het boek is exact wat het zelf beweert te zijn: een boek over de wereld van The Fall. Dat betekent kleurrijk, ongrijpbaar, briljant, soms taai en onbegrijpelijk, maar altijd intrigerend. Het is een soort encyclopedie over een wereld waarin alles draait om The Fall, geregeerd door de dictator Mark E Smith. Het is een slechte biografie maar een uitstekende encyclopedie en als zodanig waardeer ik dit boek enorm.
April 25, 2022
This is a book that most definitely not light reading but still needs to be added to your collection of books about MES and the Fall. Was he a genius or just ripping the pish out of all of us? He was both. A book to be dipped into every so often to remind you just how unique Mark E Smith and his ever changing band were.
July 15, 2021
The collected essays are a mixed bag: some brilliant, some just so-so. There's album-related artwork, handwritten notes, photos etc
It's a book for fan boys an girls of course and Mark E Smith would have hated it but this is essential reading for Fall addicts everywhere.
It's a book for fan boys an girls of course and Mark E Smith would have hated it but this is essential reading for Fall addicts everywhere.
September 26, 2021
Fascinating
September 17, 2022
A bit of a varied selection of articles on aspects of the UK band the fall, particularly examining the enigma of Mark E Smith. Some articles are incisive and thought-provoking.
October 14, 2022
I can't say I came out with more knowledge about The Fall than I had before but I certainly learned a thing or two about English football.
November 13, 2022
a portable exhibition
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May 23, 2022"I’m grateful to the editors of 'Excavate!,' a lavish hardcover with a magical-portal feel to it that explores and partially explains The Fall. There are (very good) essays in here, plus photos, marginalia, ephemera, arcana. If it sends you—as it did me—on a monthslong Fall binge, good luck. You’re in for a ride."
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/a...
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/a...
June 19, 2025
fucking great! a keeper! a re-reader!
the guy working in the bookstore* I bought it from was very excited, almost ecstatic that I bought it!
saw a Hilma af Klimt exhibition the day I bought it. Hilma af Klimt mentioned twice in the book!
*Unity Books, Wellington
the guy working in the bookstore* I bought it from was very excited, almost ecstatic that I bought it!
saw a Hilma af Klimt exhibition the day I bought it. Hilma af Klimt mentioned twice in the book!
*Unity Books, Wellington
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews