Take It Down To The Wire (Live 1985) vinyl

The establishment rued the day Mark E. Smith came along, whether they were in the political elite or the music industry itself. The Fall's lead singer is unarguably Manchester's greatest contribution to pop culture simply because of his biting wit and predisposition for calling spades spades, twats twats. Thankfully, though, he and his band were also responsible for some unbelievably good post punk fare, alongside some exceptionally frenetic live shows, meaning it's about more than just attitude.

Even if you caught the troupe on stage in the years immediately preceding Smith's death, aged 60, the energy was palpable. Perhaps logically, though, Take It Down The Wire Live 1985 captures the essence of both frontman and outfit as they were at their peak. Unforgiving, uncompromising, broken, hopeful and altogether priceless. All hail Britain's "strange kind of antimatter treasure," we really didn't know what we had until it was gone.

Dj SoFa