IN all those years, 1978 to 2016, The Fall have only had three Top 40 singles, two of them cover versions (There's A Ghost In My House and The Kinks' Victoria), the third, Free Range, peaking at numero 40.
Yet Mark E Smith's longer-lasting-than-Duracell Manchester malcontents are every seven inch a singles band, as much as a cussed, nagging album combo. And they are all here, from Bingo-Master to Wise Ol' Man, via How I Wrote 'Elastic Man', Totally Wired, Mr Pharmacist, Hey! Luciani, Victrola Time and Sir William Wray; Smith's sneering slur a constant presence amid the angular guitars, rumbling bolshy bass and endless line-up P45s.
Three CDs of A-sides are outnumbered by the four discs of B-sides, with no diminution in quality and ace titles such as Hot Aftershave Bop, Lucifer Over Lancashire, British People In Hot Weather and Butterflies 4 Brains. There are even two "Christmas songs" from the Mancunian Grinch, (We Wish You) A Protein Christmas and Xmas With Simon.
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