Take No Prisoners: Mark E. Smith’s favourite live album
Manchester, 1976. Heatwaves sweep the country as drought reaches such a peak that the UK parliament is forced to pass the Drought Act. Great Britain and Northern Ireland head to Austria to compete in the Winter Olympics and bring back one gold medal. And Mark E Smith finds himself in a busy and bustling crowd in Manchester, watching the Sex Pistols and being encouraged to start his own band.
His aim was evident from the start: “When I was 18, the vision was to make music that didn’t exist because everything else was so unsatisfactory.” From that day on, he decided to form his band, The Fall, which would see him achieve global success, fulfilling that aim, creating music that didn’t exist. It also showed people how high his standards were when people wanted to work with him.
The band had a lineup that changed consistently. Smith was never shy about letting musicians go, as he had little time for people’s attitudes, wasn’t willing to baby artists through the process of making music, and didn’t see the sense in having a taboo of letting people go. “It’s a bit like a football team,” he said, “Every so often you have to get rid of the centre-forward.”
Because he had such high standards and an ever-changing taste, it was hard for people to pin down the kind of music that Smith enjoyed properly; however, there were a lot of artists he respected and albums he enjoyed listening to on repeat. One of these was a live album. He clearly had an affinity for live sound, given it was a gig that inspired him to start making music; however, it wasn’t the Sex Pistols who moved him with their live sound. It was Lou Reed.
Playing at The Bottom Line in New York, Lou Reed recorded the live album Take No Prisoners. The album is a beautiful piece of work that sees Reed play a barrage of hits and continually address the audience. There is a genuine camaraderie that goes on as Reed addresses those in the audience, some of whom are a bit more recognisable than others.
For instance, during his performance of the hit ‘Walk On The Wild Side’, Reed says hello to Bruce Springsteen, who was watching from the crowd. Springsteen also helped Reed record the studio version of the track by providing uncredited vocals. “Hi Bruce,” says Reed, “Springsteen is alright, by the way. He gets my seal of approval. I think he’s groovy.”
There was always an intelligent humanity to Lou Reed’s music. He was observant and honest, but when he spoke about his feelings, he did so in a way that felt exposing, like you were given a different angle on something that had surrounded you your whole life. It’s no surprise that Smith was a fan, as one of his biggest criticisms of many musicians was a perceived lack of intelligence and inability to express themselves properly.
“A lot of musicians are really hard to deal with,” he said, “They aren’t as smart as me.”
