Code: Selfish

1992 studio album by The Fall

Code: Selfish

Studio album by

The Fall

Released| 23 March 1992[1]
Recorded| Late 1991
Studio| AIR Studios, London and Glasgow
Genre|

* Alternative rock
* post-punk
* alternative dance

Length| 54:22
Label| Fontana
Producer|

* Craig Leon
* Simon Rogers
* Mark E. Smith

The Fall chronology
| Shift-Work
(1991)  | Code: Selfish
(1992)  | The Infotainment Scan
(1993)

|
|

Singles from  Code: Selfish

1. "Free Range"
Released: 2 March 1992
2. "Ed's Babe"
Released: 22 June 1992

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [2]
NME| 9/10[3]
Pitchfork| 7.5/10[4]
Select| [5]
Uncut| 9/10[6]

Code: Selfish is a 1992 LP by British rock band The Fall. Their 14th full-length studio album, it entered the UK chart at number 21, although it spent only one week on the chart.

The album is characterised by its harsher sound in relation to the previous year's Shift-Work, and is influenced by techno music (techno fan Dave Bush had been added on keyboards and computers).[7] Despite this, the album also has some notably mellow moments, with "Time Enough At Last" (named after an episode of The Twilight Zone) and "Gentlemen's Agreement" being at odds with the overall sound of the album.

Largely recorded in a converted church in Glasgow, Code: Selfish features the group's only self-penned Top 40 single, "Free Range". The album would prove to be their last for the Phonogram label, as the group were dropped following the release of the Ed's Babe EP later in 1992. Simon Ford reports in his Fall biography Hip Priest that Phonogram had to compensate the band for the early termination of their five-album deal and that these funds were used to record what became The Infotainment Scan.

The album was re-released by Voiceprint in 2002 under licence from Phonogram, and also appeared in a double-CD set coupled with an edition of Shift-Work on the same label in 2003. This edition added "Ed's Babe" and "Free Ranger" to the track listing. It was reissued again in expanded and remastered form by Universal in May 2007.

According to keyboard player Dave Bush, the song "Immortality" was partly inspired by Milan Kundera's 1990 novel of the same name [citation needed].

## Track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "The Birmingham School of Business School"| Mark E. Smith, Dave Bush| 6:45
2.| "Free Range"| Smith, Simon Wolstencroft| 3:58
3.| "Return"| Smith, Steve Hanley| 4:04
4.| "Time Enough at Last"| Smith, Craig Scanlon| 3:48
5.| "Everything Hurtz"| Smith, Hanley| 4:07
6.| "Immortality"| Smith, Scanlon| 4:30
7.| "Two-Face!"| Smith, Scanlon| 6:01
8.| "Just Waiting"| Hank Williams| 4:38
9.| "So Called Dangerous"| Smith, Bush, Hanley| 3:46
10.| "Gentlemen's Agreement"| Smith, Scanlon| 4:33
11.| "Married, 2 Kids"| Smith, Scanlon, Hanley| 2:45
12.| "Crew Filth"| Smith, Wolstencroft| 5:20
Total length:| 54:22

2002 reissue bonus tracksNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

13.| "Ed's Babe"| Smith, Scanlon| 3:17
14.| "Free Ranger"| Smith, Wolstencroft| 4:04
Total length:| 61:43

### 2007 reissue

[edit]

Disc one

* as per original edition

Disc two

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Free Range" (single version)| Smith, Wolstencroft| 4:21
2.| "Return" (slightly alternate version found on "Free Range" single)| Smith, Hanley| 4:04
3.| "Dangerous" (slightly alternate version of "So-Called Dangerous", from the "Free Range" single)| Smith, Hanley, Bush| 4:01
4.| "Everything Hurtz" (slightly alternate version found on "Free Range" single)| Smith, Hanley| 4:07
5.| "Ed's Babe" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)| Smith, Scanlon| 3:17
6.| "Pumpkin Head Xscapes" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)| Smith, Scanlon, Hanley| 3:49
7.| "The Knight, the Devil and Death" (from the "Ed's Babe" EP)| Smith, Scanlon, Wolstencroft| 3:23
8.| "Free Ranger" (remix of "Free Range", from the "Ed's Babe" EP)| Smith, Wolstencroft| 4:04
9.| "Noel's Chemical Effluence" (outtake, previously released on The Twenty-Seven Points, 1995)| Smith| 6:24
10.| "Legend of Xanadu" (previously released on NME compilation CD Ruby Trax, 1992)| Ken Howard, Alan Blaikley| 3:29
11.| "Free Range" (BBC John Peel Session, recorded 19 January 1992)| Smith, Wolstencroft| 4:05
12.| "Kimble" (BBC John Peel Session, recorded 19 January 1992; released as a single later the same year)| Lee "Scratch" Perry| 3:55
13.| "Immortality" (BBC John Peel Session, recorded 19 January 1992)| Smith, Scanlon| 4:27
14.| "Return" (BBC John Peel Session, recorded 19 January 1992)| Smith, Hanley| 4:10
Total length:| 57:43

## Personnel

[edit]

The Fall

* Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes, production
* Craig Scanlon – lead and rhythm guitars
* Steve Hanley – bass guitar
* Simon Wolstencroft – drums, keyboards
* Dave Bush – keyboards, machines

Additional personnel

* Craig Leon – keyboards, production
* Simon Rogers – keyboards, production
* Cassell Webb – backing vocals
* Pascal Le Gras – cover art
* Dale Griffin – production on John Peel sessions
* The Fall – production on "Legend of Xanadu" (recorded at Suite 16, Rochdale, Greater Manchester)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Fall online - Discography". thefall.org. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
2. ^ Allmusic review
3. ^ "NME review". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
4. ^ Pitchfork Media review
5. ^ "Select review". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
6. ^ "10 Classic Fall albums". Uncut. April 2018. p. 55.
7. ^ Fadele, Dele (14 Mar. 1992). "Tales from the Cryptographic Ocean". NME.

## External links

[edit]

* Lyrics

* v
* t
* e

The Fall

* Mark E. Smith

* Steve Hanley
* Paul Hanley
* Craig Scanlon
* Brix Smith
* Marc Riley
* Karl Burns
* Tony Friel
* Martin Bramah
* Una Baines
* Simon Rogers
* Simon Wolstencroft
* Julia Nagle

Studio albums|

* Live at the Witch Trials
* Dragnet
* Grotesque (After the Gramme)
* Hex Enduction Hour
* Room to Live
* Perverted by Language
* The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...
* This Nation's Saving Grace
* Bend Sinister
* The Frenz Experiment
* I Am Kurious Oranj
* Extricate
* Shift-Work
* Code: Selfish
* The Infotainment Scan
* Middle Class Revolt
* Cerebral Caustic
* The Light User Syndrome
* Levitate
* The Marshall Suite
* The Unutterable
* Are You Are Missing Winner
* The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
* Fall Heads Roll
* Reformation Post TLC
* Imperial Wax Solvent
* Your Future Our Clutter
* Ersatz GB
* Re-Mit
* Sub-Lingual Tablet
* New Facts Emerge

EPs|

* Bingo-Master's Break-Out!
* Slates
* The Remainderer
* Wise Ol' Man

Live albums|

* Live 1977
* Liverpool 78
* Totale's Turns
* Live in London 1980
* A Part of America Therein, 1981
* Fall in a Hole
* Seminal Live
* The Twenty-Seven Points
* Touch Sensitive... Bootleg Box Set
* 2G+2
* Last Night at The Palais

Compilation albums|

* Hip Priest and Kamerads
* 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong
* The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004

Singles|

* "Rowche Rumble" (1979)
* "Fiery Jack" (1980)
* "Totally Wired" (1980)
* "Cruiser's Creek" (1985)
* "Hey! Luciani" (1986)
* "There's a Ghost in My House" (1987)
* "Hit the North" (1987)
* "Victoria" (1988)
* "Telephone Thing" (1990)
* "Free Range" (1992)
* "Why Are People Grudgeful?" (1992)
* "Theme from Sparta F.C. #2" (2004)

Album tracks|

* "Paint Work" (1985)
* "I Am Damo Suzuki" (1985)

Associated bands|

* The Adult Net
* Blue Orchids
* Brix & the Extricated
* The Creepers
* Darker My Love
* Imperial Wax
* The Passage
* The Teardrops
* Tom Hingley and the Lovers
* Von Südenfed

Related articles|

* Discography
* Band members
* Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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