Commentary

“The Boss”, which never had decipherable lyrics, was only ever played during the first half of 2006; for the first time at Petrol, Antwerp, on 26 January. It was played for the last time at the Brickhouse Theater, Phoenix, Arizona, on 7 May. That was the last time that Spencer Birtwistle, Ben Pritchard and Steve Trafford appeared with the group, leaving The Fall post-gig and abandoning MES and Eleni mid-tour. Their replacements were Rob Barbato, Orpheo McCord and Tim Presley, who had to learn sufficient songs in order to complete the U.S. tour, but evidently this did not include “The Boss”.

Out of the fourteen occasions we think “The Boss” was played live, it seems to have been first on the setlist nine times. Which meant that it was often what was playing when MES did his usual “Good, evening we are The Fall…” introduction.

An “early rough mix” of “The Boss”, credited to MES and Steve Trafford, turned up on disc 3 of Cherry Red’s 4xCD “expanded Digipak edition” of Reformation! Post-TLC (2020). The only other official release is a live version (from the Carling Academy, Bristol, 20 March 2006) included on the Castle/Sanctuary 5 x CD The Fall Box Set 1976-2007 (2007). Both versions are listed as “The Boss”, but on setlists it appeared as “Boss”. The “early rough mix” is entirely instrumental. MES provides vocals over the Bristol version, but to the extent it is possible to make out what is going on (i.e. hardly at all) it sounds like it’s mainly introductory comments.

Sources / Links

• The Annotated Fall: “The Boss” [Archived]
• The Fall: The Fall Box Set 1976-2007 (2007). 5 x CD box set. Castle/Sanctuary: CMXBX1558. [Discogs]
• The Fall: Reformation! Post-TLC (2007). 4 x CD expanded digipak edition. Cherry Red: CDEXRED800. Released April 2020. [Discogs]
• The Track Record: “The Boss”