Reviews
"To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess "This collection of ephemera and essays strives to pin down the mightiest post-punk phenomenon of them all, taking a psychogeographical creepy crawl around Smith's hometown and investigating - among other topics - his "new puritan" work ethic and love/hate relationship with "professionalism"." -- Uncut "For more than four decades, The Fall have been all things to all people." -- GQ " Excavate! ...gives readers a look inside the brilliant and briar-y mind of frontman Mark E. Smith." -- Rolling Stone "There's much fun to be had . . . punctuated by fabulous ephemera, vintage interviews and carbon-copied originally lyric sheets." -- Mojo "This wide-ranging anthology of scholarly essays, sleeve artwork, lyric sheets and other ephemera is a satisfying reminder of Smith's scabrous wit, unique visual style and rich literary hinterland." -- Classic Rock "An insane hardback fanzine of found items from one of Mark E. Smith's carrier bags and essays by a really fascinating variety of people . . . this whole book is the most wonderful, unashamedly intellectual, pretentious, ridiculous, exciting hymn to this incredible group." -- Andy Miller, Backlisted Podcast " Excavate! is testament to the power such an effort sets out to rationalise, domesticate and destroy, placing The Fall in the hidden heart of the last 40 years of contemporary art." The Wire, "To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess, 'Mark E Smith provided me with an alternative education, looping me into Camus, and Arthur Machen, and William Blake, and Can, and dub and old garage punk and rock'n'roll.' - Stewart Lee '[A] cultural icon.' - Billy Bragg, on Mark E. Smith, "To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess "This collection of ephemera and essays strives to pin down the mightiest post-punk phenomenon of them all, taking a psychogeographical creepy crawl around Smith's hometown and investigating - among other topics - his "new puritan" work ethic and love/hate relationship with "professionalism"." -- The Wire, "To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess "This collection of ephemera and essays strives to pin down the mightiest post-punk phenomenon of them all, taking a psychogeographical creepy crawl around Smith's hometown and investigating - among other topics - his "new puritan" work ethic and love/hate relationship with "professionalism"." -- Uncut "For more than four decades, The Fall have been all things to all people." -- GQ " Excavate! ...gives readers a look inside the brilliant and briar-y mind of frontman Mark E. Smith." -- Rolling Stone "There's much fun to be had . . . punctuated by fabulous ephemera, vintage interviews and carbon-copied originally lyric sheets." -- Mojo "This wide-ranging anthology of scholarly essays, sleeve artwork, lyric sheets and other ephemera is a satisfying reminder of Smith's scabrous wit, unique visual style and rich literary hinterland." -- Classic Rock "An insane hardback fanzine of found items from one of Mark E. Smith's carrier bags and essays by a really fascinating variety of people . . . this whole book is the most wonderful, unashamedly intellectual, pretentious, ridiculous, exciting hymn to this incredible group." -- Andy Miller, Backlisted Podcast " Excavate! is testament to the power such an effort sets out to rationalise, domesticate and destroy, placing The Fall in the hidden heart of the last 40 years of contemporary art." -- The Wire "For fans of this incomparable band, I'll say Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley's curatorial achievement is indispensable." -- The Vinyl District, "To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess "This collection of ephemera and essays strives to pin down the mightiest post-punk phenomenon of them all, taking a psychogeographical creepy crawl around Smith's hometown and investigating - among other topics - his "new puritan" work ethic and love/hate relationship with "professionalism"." -- The Wire "For more than four decades, The Fall have been all things to all people." -- GQ, "To 50,000 Fall Fans: pls. buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace." -- David Peace "Mind blowing ... There is so much to be enjoyed in this brilliant book." -- Tim Burgess "This collection of ephemera and essays strives to pin down the mightiest post-punk phenomenon of them all, taking a psychogeographical creepy crawl around Smith's hometown and investigating - among other topics - his "new puritan" work ethic and love/hate relationship with "professionalism"." -- Uncut "For more than four decades, The Fall have been all things to all people." -- GQ " Excavate! ...gives readers a look inside the brilliant and briar-y mind of frontman Mark E. Smith." -- Rolling Stone "There's much fun to be had . . . punctuated by fabulous ephemera, vintage interviews and carbon-copied originally lyric sheets." -- Mojo "This wide-ranging anthology of scholarly essays, sleeve artwork, lyric sheets and other ephemera is a satisfying reminder of Smith's scabrous wit, unique visual style and rich literary hinterland." -- Classic Rock "An insane hardback fanzine of found items from one of Mark E. Smith's carrier bags and essays by a really fascinating variety of people . . . this whole book is the most wonderful, unashamedly intellectual, pretentious, ridiculous, exciting hymn to this incredible group." -- Andy Miller, Backlisted Podcast " Excavate! is testament to the power such an effort sets out to rationalise, domesticate and destroy, placing The Fall in the hidden heart of the last 40 years of contemporary art." -- The Wire "For fans of this incomparable band, I'll say Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley's curatorial achievement is indispensable." -- The Vinyl District " Excavate! The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall actually works a little like a museum exhibition, a bit like a eulogy and a lot like pornography for Fall fans...the book is a largely satisfying shrine to Smith's legacy." -- Washington Post
