The Fall's tenure on Beggars Banquet during the 1980s resulted in some of their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed work. This was no doubt helped by the presence of
Brix Smith, who consciously pushed the post-punk cult heroes in a more accessible direction.
The Frenz Experiment, their tenth studio album, was their first to crack the Top 20 in the U.K., following their highest charting single, a 1987 cover of
R. Dean Taylor's Northern soul hit "There's a Ghost in My House" (appended to the original U.K. CD edition of
Frenz, along with its follow-up, the dance-rock anthem "Hit the North Part 1"). The album's only proper single was a triumphant cover of
the Kinks' "Victoria," which charted nearly as high as the original, and became the Fall's second Top 40 hit. While the album itself is certainly punchier and more cleanly produced than previous
Fall releases, with vocals and drums much more prominent in the mix, much of its material probably threw the band's newfound audience for a loop. Ambling opener "Frenz" features
Mark E. Smith lamenting "My friends don't amount to one hand," and though it's nowhere near as bleak as most of the contents of
Hex Enduction Hour or
Bend Sinister, it doesn't set the most optimistic tone for the rest of the album. Still, the record contains plenty of upbeat driving rhythms, as well as evidence of the band's unconventional sense of humor. "Athlete Cured" is a warped rockabilly stormer built around a bass line nicked from
Spinal Tap, with
Smith ranting about a German athlete, often through a megaphone, while laser-like synths tatter and buzz. "Bremen Nacht," included in different versions on the CD and vinyl formats, is another lengthy one that basically amounts to a crooked, ragged rhythm with more of
Smith's inscrutable yelling on top. "Oswald Defence Lawyer" is a drunken ramble made slightly less abrasive by backup vocals from the rest of the group. "The Steak Place," by contrast, is a more reflective acoustic tune carried by finger snaps rather than drums. Like other Beggars-era
Fall albums following the 1985 classic
This Nation's Saving Grace,
The Frenz Experiment is uneven in terms of songwriting, but it benefits from excellent production, and even its less-successful moments are still highly adventurous and worth hearing.