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The Big Midweek

Life Inside the Fall

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The Big Midweek

By: Steve Hanley, Olivia Piekarski
Narrated by: Stewart Lee
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The first insider's account of life inside The Fall, Steve Hanley's story unfolds like a novel; from 1979 when he joined his schoolmates Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon in The Fall, he puts us right in the heart of the action: on stage, on the tour bus, in the recording studio, and up close and personal with an eccentric cast of band mates. These vividly drawn scenes give unprecedented insight into the intense, highly-charged creative atmosphere within The Fall and their relentless work ethic which has won them a dedicated cult following, high-art respectability and a unique place in popular music history.

Narrated by Stewart Lee
Foreword by Marc Riley

©2014, 2016 Route Publishing (P)2025 Route Publishing Entertainment & Celebrities Funny Witty Inspiring Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

A Guardian Book of the Year
A Rough Trade Book of the Year
Reader’s Digest Editor’s Choice
A Dagsavisen Book of the Year
All stars
Most relevant
I first read the paperback of this when first released as I'm a life long music & Fall fan.
Had to have the audio book when I heard Stewart Lee was narrating - another long standing Fall enthusiast.
This is, without doubt a pretty amazing book on so many different levels. If you 'Appreciate' the Fall then this audio book should be compulsory listening. If you love other music biography type books but are not that familiar with the Fall then I think & hope you will find this book interesting.
It is not like any other music biography, its a truly amazing, funny, sad, emotional story of Steve's 20 years in The Fall. He is such a modest man who loved this group and contributed massively to it's unique sound with his PJ bass. The toll on him emotionally that lasted many years after he left the group comes through with this book and Stewart conveys this brilliantly.
In the neighborhood of infinity, that was The Fall

Fall Advice, Fall Advance!

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The Fall were as much of an enigma as the music industry has ever produced. And to the listener, Steve Hanley’s contribution was often as important as that of Mark E Smith..

This is a great, funny insight into all of that. The only mystery is how Hanley managed to avoid flattening Smith countless times before the inevitable dénouement.

Stewart Lee’s reading makes it almost perfect.

The music memoir that all others must judged by.

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I’ve always loved The Fall and I knew it was always a dysfunctional band but wow!
Steve Handley has some brilliant stories and to have one of the greatest living comedians, Stewart Lee, narrated is sheer genius.

Falling Down

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Everything about this book is fantastic. You won’t be disappointed. It put things in perspective about The Fall..

This was fantastic.

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I read the book originally and then came back to the audiobook because I enjoyed it so much. It’s a really solid telling of the tale of The Fall from the only other person than MES qualified to do so. Stephen Hanley’s perspective is beautifully narrated by Stewart Lee who captures the perfectly dejected intonation that any long time MES collaborator is bound to adopt. It’s full of facts and dates and is as close to a true telling of what went down without MES’s BS retelling in Renegade. A really valuable alternative perspective and very entertaining.

(Not) The Book of Lies.

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