When Flying Nun announced in 1983 that it was going to issue a new live album by the renowned Mancunian outfit the Fall, the news came as a bit of a surprise. The label had positioned themselves as advocates for New Zealand underground music and here it was doing a live record from a prominent UK act. Yet Flying Nun’s Roger Shepherd and Chris Knox sensed an opportunity. Knox and Doug Hood, also working for Flying Nun at the time, had recorded the Fall’s appearances in Auckland the year before and had managed to secure a tacit agreement from the band to release it on Flying Nun.
Unlike back home in the UK, where the band had the backing of taste-makers such as John Peel but meagre record sales, the Fall were minor stars in New Zealand. In fact, if there was a barometer of New Zealanders’ distinctive musical tastes in the early 80s, it was their unparalleled support of the Fall. When Gap Records from Australia licensed the Fall for the territory, their single Totally Wired landed in the New Zealand singles chart for six weeks in the middle of 1981 (it peaked at No 25). The following year Lie Dream of a Casino Soul made the Top 20 and Hex Enduction Hour reached No 11 in the album chart after the band’s short New Zealand tour. Thanks to Knox and Hood’s tapes from two of those shows, Shepherd found himself with an unexpected opportunity. Putting out a Fall record on Flying Nun could make the label some real money and help offset the cashflow problems that threatened its stability.
