The Fall - Call For Escape Route (Beggars Banquet)

I'd love to know just how many takes it needed to get Mark E. Smith's lead out of tune. Maybe the guy has a natural talent for it. Similarly, it must have taken hours of valuable studio time to get that tinny guitar sound just so; time that could have been spent writing a decent song. (Dave Ling, No 1, October 27, 1984)

The Fall - Couldn't Get Ahead (Beggars Banquet)

Psychobilly was a name coined to describe wild and wonderful horror folk the Cramps. This latest from the dear old Fall could fit such a description equally well, although the Manchester band owe far more to the living than the dead. The whole thing bops along jerkily but with a total joy and life that's brilliantly infectious. Wild. (Eleanor Levy, Record Mirror, June 29, 1985)

Mark E. Smith is without doubt the man with the most revolting voice in modern day music. A tuneless dirge with puerile lyrics presumably written on his tube ticket to the studio, "Couldn't Get Ahead" is an utter embarrassment from start to finish. I've always placed pride before a Fall, maybe it's time Mr Smith started doing the same. (Dave Ling, No 1, June 29, 1985)

The Fall - Cruiser's Creek (Beggars Banquet)

Yet another riff that makes you wonder how the Monkees ever did without it, and reinforces the Fall as just extraordinary (in the humblest sense). Brix lets loose a stinging guitar stutter that, backed with a split splat drum and Mark's sock-in-mouth vocals, remains one of the most exciting, raw sounds around. Great stuff to annoy the neighbours with. The AA side 'LA' should be listened to as well - it's not a B-side. (Andy Strickland, Record Mirror, October 12, 1985)

Perhaps Mark Smith is bored by now with his "Last Angry Young Man" label. Here he delivers his story in an economic pulsator with an excellent guitar twist that you don't want to stop. And it doesn't. Single Of The Fortnight. (Paul King, Smash Hits, October 23, 1985)