This Nation's Saving Grace (1985)

This Nation's Saving Grace is the eighth studio album by the English post-punk band the Fall, released in 1985 by Beggars Banquet.

In contrast to the band's earlier more abrasive albums, Saving Grace is noted for its pop sensibilities and guitar hooks, and John Leckie's accessible production. Saving Grace was recorded in London between June and July 1985, and is the second of the three consecutive Fall albums produced by Leckie. The album was accompanied by the singles "Couldn't Get Ahead" and "Cruiser's Creek", and tours of Europe and America.

Guitarist Brix Smith and bassist Steve Hanley consider Saving Grace to be one of the band's best albums, an opinion widely shared by critics. According to The Guardian, it shows the band "operating just on the edge of the mainstream and at the peak of their accessibility and yet strangeness". In 2002, Pitchfork placed it as the 13th best album of the 1980s.

Background and line-up

The Fall's line-up had been stable for a number of years until November 1984, when, during a promotional tour for their preceding album "The Wonderful and Frightening World of...", long-time members, brothers Paul Hanley (drums) and Steve Hanley (bass) both quit. Their departures were triggered by an incident on the first of that month when the band's equipment was stolen from a van left parked after a gig in Cardiff's New Ocean Hotel. Although replacement equipment was arranged, Smith blamed the musicians for the loss. The following night, while hitting their tour-bus headrests with a stick, they shouted: "Who the fuck would be stupid enough to leave a fucking van outside a hotel with all the fucking gear in it." After this, both brothers decided to leave the band. Paul Hanley's departure became permanent, leaving Karl Burns the band's sole drummer, while Steve Hanley was eventually persuaded by Smith to come back after taking paternity leave for several months. According to Brix, the bassist's exit left Smith "chastened...for probably the only time I have ever seen".

Hanley was replaced as bassist by Simon Rogers, a classically-trained musician whom Smith knew from an earlier collaboration with the dancer-choreographer Michael Clark. The self-taught Hanley has since admitted to being disillusioned when replaced by a musician of Rogers’ caliber and wide accomplishments. After Hanley's return in the midst of recording sessions for the new album, Rogers remained in the band but switched to guitar and keyboards. Smith marked Hanley's rejoining the band with the words "S Hanley! He's Back" etched into the run-out groove on Side 1.

The Fall recorded their eighth Peel session on 14 May 1985. The recordings contain early versions of three songs from Saving Grace ("Couldn't Get Ahead", "Spoilt Victorian Child" and "Gut of the Quantifier") as well as a version of "Cruiser's Creek". Their ninth Peel session, recorded on 29 September, includes recordings of "L.A." and "What You Need" that writer Steve Pringle describes as "brighter and sharper" than the album versions.

Recording

The album was recorded between June and July 1985 at the London studios the Music Works and the Workhouse on Old Kent Road. John Leckie had produced the band's 1984 album The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... and had built a strong working relationship with Smith. Leckie's approach to the project was to both retain the Fall's rough edges and solid rhythm section, while emphasising Brix's more pop-oriented guitar parts. His production created a heavier wall of sound than their earlier releases, and Smith praised his ability to bring forward the drum and bass parts. Smith later said that what he and Leckie were trying to achieve was a "well-produced bedroom sound".

Music and lyrics

Steve Hanley had often been the group's main riff writer on earlier albums, but due to his absence in the lead up to the album, Brix and rhythm guitarist Craig Scanlon wrote most of the song's foundation riffs. Hanley later said that on earlier recordings the whole group had contributed music, but for This Nation's most of the work was done by Brix and Scanlon, in a 60/40 ratio by his estimation. As Brix had begun her career as a bass player, most of her musical ideas were simple one-string riffs played lead guitar but closely resembling bass lines. Although she had been in awe of his playing when she had joined the band in 1983, her attitude towards him was different on his return, when she told Hanley "I'll show you the bass line on my guitar and you Steve Hanley it up."

Smith's lyrics are typically caustic throughout; the music critic John Mulvey wrote that at times the "vile is positively phantasmagoric".