Noel’s Chemical Effluence

Written by:

Mark E Smith

Initial release:
The Twenty-Seven Points – Cog Sinister/Permanent PERMLP36, August 1995

Subsequent releases:
A World Bewitched – Artful ARTFULCD35, 6 February 2001
High Tension Line, Recall/Snapper Music SMDCD443; 22 September 2002
The Twenty-Seven Points, Castle (CMQDD1351) May 2006
Code: Selfish, Fontana/Meercury Records 9847302; 7 May 2007 (reissue of original album plus bonus tracks)
Permanent Years (Paranoia Man In Cheap Sh*t Room), Fulfil Records ARTFULCD53; 22 May 2006
The Fall Box Set 1976-2007 – Castle CMXBX1558, September 2007
The Fontana Years CD574267; August 2017; box set contains Code: Selfish extended CD)

Group on initial recording:

Mark E Smith – vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Simon Wolstencroft – drums; Simon Rogers – machines (?)

Commentary:

The following analysis of this track was published in The Pseud Mag no. 14 (March 2007) as part of the series “Gladys Winthorpe’s Emporium Of Particularly Underacknowledged Fall Compositions”

Smith, M E: vox
Scanlon, C: guitar
Hanley, S: bass
Wolstencroft, S: drums
Rogers, S: machines(?)

“Noel’s Chemical Effluence” is quite possibly the ultimate unappreciated Fall song due to the fact that it’s somewhat perversely hidden away on the latter stages of the live compilation “The 27 Points”, even though it’s actually a studio recording. As per “One Day”, the featured line-up on this song is difficult to identify although in this case it is primarily due to the lack of information given regarding when it was recorded. The liner notes on the album state that Simon Rogers played “machines” here, so I’ve gone with that (more fool me – trusting Fall liner notes? Tsk!). Whilst the bass playing featured is unmistakedly Doc Shanley, I’m assuming that it is Craig playing the guitar(s) and Simon drumming.

“Noel’s Chemical Effluence” starts with the rather doleful cries of nordic horns, which regularly crop up throughout the rest of the song. At 0:06, the guitar (right) and bass (central) fade in, playing an undulating riff almost in unison. Simon’s reverbed drums (mixed with rather too much treble for my liking) appear at 0:26, also faded in. Other elements to subsequently appear include an abrasive keyboard riff playing a catchy 7-note riff (0:45) and some samples in later sections of the song (e.g. “wobbly” noise sample best heard at 6:18, slowed down at 2:21).

The song is a classic example of the group “digging that repetition” and repeating a single musical section ad nauseum to build the atmosphere, which gets more and more intense as the song progresses. For example, note Craig’s guitar playing he starts strumming chords at 1:13 after initially picking out the 8 note tune in the introduction – this gets more and more savage as time goes on. The 2 chords he plays at the end of each repetition of the phrase are frequently repeated to give another common reference point (e.g. 1:52, 2:00, 2:08, etc). An edit at 2:51 brings a marked step-up in intensity, plus a possible extra guitar, slightly left of centre – difficult to say whether it’s this or the previously mentioned abrasive keyboard. Then, when the song is at it’s peak, there’s an amusingly shambolic ending – it all falls apart at 6:12 – as the drums stop abruptly. It takes a few seconds for all the other elements to register this and stop too, Craig’s somewhat wobbly guitar closing proceedings. I love this juxtaposition between the solo weedy guitar and the huge “wall of sound” music that preceeded it a few seconds earlier.

MES’s vox are mixed well above the supporting music and are bathed in a slight amount of reverb. The lyrics are very cryptic and difficult to decipher, although with the references to “waiting for the keyboards, as ever” and whistles (a sample of a whistle being played appears immediately after MES utters the line at 5:08), it may well be that the song is at least in part about Dave Bush – he used to blow a whistle at live gigs during some tracks (e.g. “Behind The Counter”, the studio version of which also features a whistle or a sample of one).

In my mind at least, “Noel’s Chemical Effluence” is a fitting tribute to Craig Scanlon as it was the last “new” song to feature his guitar work – he was sacked (infamously for “slovenly appearance and failing to maintain amps”) around the time that “The 27 Points” was released

According to Dave Bush, Noel was a bus driver for the group on tour and one of his jobs was cleaning out the chemical toilet on the vehicle.

There is an extended (and unreleased) version of the song which features some interesting lyrical additions….

Noel’s Chemical Effluence (NCE)
NCE
He (We) were going right through the Alps
When we picked up this fabulous scent of NCE uh
Da da da etc
Ah NCE
Ah NCE
With pleasure and excellence at work I will come to you
When the Swiss journalist got on the bus he was streaming with puss
NCE made it all seem so……
Kaliedoscope grey plastic blood cut
Hard wired
On the finger of your scarred SS castle
Barbed ?

That purple vomit stream, stream scrubbed to Backroom angels of St Augustian
and ,,,,,,,, description

Through dust erased by NCE
Ah NCE
NCE
Ah NCE

There was a fuss about the elements we sent the keyboards as ever
the firmanent , the firmanent of it is going out the exit
NCE
NCE
AH NCE

There’s a inherent disease goes with a imbalance of juices in the brain then a
Transit causes the ??? to envisage white faces as if spiked by mescaline

NCE
NCE

And we’re going right through the Alps
Look what happened at the Lodge
Look what happened at the castle
Look at the red purple vomit stream
From a bed addled, right into the bathroom
NCE
NCE

On the finger of your banker band
And when all else fails we can always blow the whistle
NCE
Ah NCE
NCE
NCE

In work, in pleasure I will come for you the abdominiser in excellence……
SSSSSS……..
Stewart Lee’s opinion: “a gradually uncoiling, lean and slinky slice of snake-charming music, that ranks amongst the group’s finest moments.”