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Excavate!
- The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall
- Narrated by: Dean Williamson, Maxine Peake, Pat Nevin
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
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Excavate!
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Summary
This is a book about Mark E Smith and The Fall - or more precisely, their ever-influential world. The Fall were so many things, so many worlds; if you got it (and not everyone did), they represented everything.
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.
Over a prolific 40-year career, The Fall created a world that was influential, idiosyncratic and fiercely original - and defied simple categorisation.
Their front man and lyricist, Mark E Smith, spun opaque tales that resisted conventional understanding; The Fall's worldview was an education in its own right. Who wouldn't want to be armed with a working knowledge of M R James, shipping-dock procedures, contemporary dance, Manchester City and Can? The group inspired and shaped the lives of those who listened to and tried to make sense of their work.
Bringing together previously unseen artwork, rare ephemera and handwritten material, alongside essays by a slate of fans, Excavate! is a vivid, definitive record - an illumination of the dark corners of The Fall's wonderful and frightening world.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Excavate!
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. A. J. Curran
- 10-07-22
Mrs Merton?
Not sure why Maxine had decided to do a Mrs Merton impression with the narration? Great listen though nonetheless.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- KK
- 19-06-23
Who is Maxine talking to?
Different, definitely not a band bio, enjoyed except for Maxine Peake’s tone. Just recorded a children’s book prior perhaps?
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anthony Howard
- 10-09-23
not finished, and probably won't...
Thing is, I'm a trucker... so it's difficult to find time to turn the page. So I was chuffed when I saw this. The comments about Maxine are a little harsh, but I see where they are coming from. She doesn't seem to be a Fallophile, it's just another well-paid gig that she has decided to read out in a slightly overly and badly acted monologue. Her best work is with the Eccentronic Research Council. What bugged me more is Pat Nevin (I presume it was him). His voice is lazy, bland, and somewhat slurred. It's also a tad pretentious, as is the whole approach to this lack lustre effort. I'm going to have to make time to read the book... so at least my other voice can read it at my pace, succinctly and with the passion of Fall fan. Which means not over acted, without pretension, and with clarity. This audible version is extremely disappointing, but not surprisingly so when you look at the ego's reading it. A bit shit.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Voice of reason
- 22-05-21
Disingenuous
Promising at the outset but descending into a pretentious semiotic tsunami at which point the exit sign seemed to be the only salvation.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Murmur
- 12-09-22
Disappointed read. Love the Fall but not this.
Too much waffle and the book could have been much shorter and much more gripping if they'd concentrated on the characters in the band more. Mark E would've found this incredibly boring.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Adam Musgrave
- 25-02-24
Made by people who hate fans of The Fall
Why does Tessa Norton feel it’s fine to rant about “white men” in a book about The Fall? This is the point at which I gave up on this terrible book. I suggest she goes and writes essays about grime and drill music and rants about black men.
As others have said, Nevin and Peake are appalling narrators. Which I may have put up with, if the essays had the slightest connection to The Fall, but they don’t. Yes, very post-modern and hip to write about The Fall whilst not writing about The Fall, well done. But if I want a tedious political history about working men’s clubs or statistics about amateur football teams, I would have picked books about those subjects.
This book and the audiobook is an insult to The Fall. Smith would have found it a hilarious waste of everybody’s time.
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