The Fall Discography Tube Map Art Print

A gift for Fall fans who long ago gave up trying to remember who actually played on what, because this settles it: 31 studio albums and 56 credited musicians, each running as their own line. They already own every record, and this is the one thing the records cannot give them.

Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. Produced unframed or framed. Deeply researched and designed by me in East Sussex.

I plot these in CAD software. Every credited musician becomes a transit line, every album becomes a station, and anyone who appears only once gets a branch line of their own.

The stations run chronologically from Live at the Witch Trials in 1979, through Hex Enduction Hour and This Nation's Saving Grace, to New Facts Emerge in 2017. With this band, the branch lines do a great deal of work.

Why this Fall discography tube map art makes a gift fans keep

Fifty-six musicians passed through 31 albums, and almost none of them stayed. That churn is exactly what makes the print worth hanging, because it is the one thing about this band that no single record can show you.

Working from liner notes and decades of archives, I traced who arrived, who left and who came back. It is the sort of present that gets framed rather than opened once and shelved.

Contributing musicians on the map

Mark E. Smith is the only continuous line across all 31 studio albums. Steve Hanley on bass and Craig Scanlon on guitar are the longest-serving sideman lines, both running seventeen albums from Dragnet in 1979 to Levitate in 1997.

Brix Smith appears across two distinct periods, joining at Perverted by Language in 1983, leaving after I Am Kurious Oranj, and rejoining for Cerebral Caustic in 1995. Simon Wolstencroft holds the drum chair from Bend Sinister in 1986 through to Levitate.

The later era belongs to a different cast entirely. Eleana Poulou runs from The Real New Fall LP onward, and Dave Spurr, Pete Greenaway and Keiron Melling carry the lines through to New Facts Emerge.

Then there are the one-offs, which is where the branch lines earn their keep. John Peel turns up as a single credit on Cerebral Caustic in 1995 and appears nowhere else on the map. It rewards every closer look.

How I make each print

Each one is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper with a textured matte finish, archival and acid-free, so the colours hold for years. Choose A2 or A1, unframed or framed, ready to hang in a hallway, living room or studio.

FAQ

How many albums and musicians are on the map?
31 studio albums, from Live at the Witch Trials in 1979 to New Facts Emerge in 2017, and 56 credited musicians.

How are the maps drawn?
In CAD software, plotted line by line. Every credited musician is a transit line, every album a station, and one-off contributors branch off the main routes.

Who is the only constant member?
Mark E. Smith, present on every one of the 31 studio albums.

Who were the longest-serving band members besides Smith?
Steve Hanley on bass and Craig Scanlon on guitar, both across seventeen albums between 1979 and 1997.

Does a musician who left and came back show twice?
No. The line breaks and rejoins, so you can see the gap as well as the return. Brix Smith is the clearest example.

What are the framing options?
Unframed, or supplied framed and ready to hang.

Related Music Maps

Browse the full range of gifts for music fans at the Gifts for Music Fans collection and the Manchester Bands collection at mikebellmaps.com.

For fans of British post-punk, the Stranglers Discography Map Art Print and the Johnny Marr Discography Map Art Print are natural companion pieces.