Oh, this is rich. Earlier today, Universal Music UK received an advance shipment of an album being released in exactly two weeks, on March 9. The discs, reportedly hundreds of them, sported the correct art, but contained the wrong music. The ‘right’ recording artist is 13-year-old Faryl Smith, who took third place in the 2008 edition of the Britain’s Got Talent TV show. The ‘wrong’ artist—very, very wrong—is The Fall, a cult band near and dear to this journalist, led by crotchety 51-year-old Mark E Smith.
You can probably see not only where this is going, but also how it got there. Still, you’ll find some ridiculously casual maths, not to mention a Smith vs Smith photo comparison, after the fold.
The Fall album in question is 2008’s Imperial Wax Solvent. (Today, though, let’s call it Imperial Wack Solution.) Unofficial worldwide soundscan figures put IWS, career-artist Mark E’s 27th studio release, at well under 10,000 copies sold. On the flipside (so to speak), consider the financial position of Faryl, yet to sell a single CD, but having nonetheless signed a U.K. record-setting deal in December for a cool £2.3 million (over $4 million CAD).
What I can’t process is the idea of this possibly being the result of some computer glitch, rooted in the shared surname. Sure, it’s the obvious solution, but it makes no real sense. Unless Mancunian hero Mark E’s music is actually being filed under Smith, versus Fall, at the pressing plant? No, I’d put this one down to either a wonderful coincidence, or a perfect prank.
Of course, jokes about The Smiths—as in, Manchester’s other alt-music heroes—have been relentlessly cascading through my head since I first discovered the Faryl/Fall story, at U.K. tabloid The Sun (creator of the above image, BTW). “I want the one I can’t have”? Not quite. “The Queen is dead”? Too early to call, so, no. “Half a person”? Mayyybe.
No, no, it’s gotta be “What difference does it make?” Because, per Mozza himself: It makes none. Doesn’t stop it from making my day, though.
Main image: Village of the Damned (1960); cheers to The Fall Online’s Twitter feed for the news lead
I’m not as up on my Fall discography as your good self but wasn’t there a track that’s now entered lore as having been left off Hip Priest and Kamerads, titled “Feral Cat Millworks Incident in Grand Canary”? The connections should not be dismissed as coincidence or conspiracy theory these 25 years later.
Unnamed source reached for comment in Salford was heard as muttering You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby.