I’ve been listening to a lot of The Fall since Mark E. Smith shuffled off the coil a couple weeks back. They did a lot of great — if often abrasive and difficult — stuff in their early and later years, but my favorite period is the 80s. For most of that decade Mark E.’s wife, the aptly named Brix, stirred a little sweetness into the pot of warlocks’ brew, creating something that occupied a unique place on the noise/pop spectrum. The 2-CD compilation 458489 B-Sides, which collects just the B-sides of their 45s from 1984 to 1989, is a ludicrously deep well of dark delights. To wit:

McGinty thought he could fool The Fall
With his imitation speeds
But he had not accounted for
The psychic nose
And did not know
There are no big shots on the rock
And even if there were
McGinty
Would not be
Among them