Editing The Fall (band) (section)

=== 1983–1989: Brix Smith years ===
In 1983, Rough Trade Records released the Fall's ninth single, "The Man Whose Head Expanded", and on 19 September issued the band's tenth single and double pack "Kicker Conspiracy". Bizarrely, in November Kamera Records released around two- to three-thousand copies of the planned 1982 single "Marquis Cha Cha", the release date having been put back due to Kamera's financial troubles in late 1982, making it the Fall's eleventh single issue.

[[File:Brix Smith.jpg|thumb|left|[[Steve Hanley (musician)|Steve Hanley]] and [[Brix Smith]] during the ''[[Perverted By Language]]'' tour in [[Hamburg|Hamburg, Germany]], April 1984]]
That year Smith's American girlfriend and later wife, [[Brix Smith]] joined the band on guitar. Born Laura Elise Salenger, she was nicknamed after the track "[[The Guns of Brixton]]" by [[the Clash]], a favourite song of hers. Brix's tenure in the group marked a shift towards the relatively conventional, with the songs she co-wrote often having strong [[Hook (music)|pop hooks]] and more orthodox verse-chorus-verse structures. Additionally, Brix's keen sense of fashion gradually influenced the group's members to give more attention to their clothing and styling, though her platinum blonde hair and glamorous style were somewhat at odds to the otherwise working class appearance of the Fall. Brix's first live appearance with the Fall was on 21 September 1983 at the Hellfire Club, Wakefield.

''[[Perverted by Language]]'', released 5 December, was the Fall's final album for [[Rough Trade Records]], but the first to feature Brix. Also released in December was the live album ''In a Hole'', recorded during the Fall's tour of New Zealand in 1982, on [[Flying Nun Records]].

This era, a favourite period amongst many critics and fans, was marked by Brix's effort to find a wider audience for the Fall. They achieved a few modest UK hits with singles, including their versions of [[R. Dean Taylor]]'s "[[There's a Ghost in My House]]" (no. 30, 1987) and [[the Kinks]]' "[[Victoria (The Kinks song)|Victoria]]" (no. 35, 1988) and their own songs "[[Hey! Luciani]]" (no. 59, 1986) and "[[Hit the North]]" (no. 57, 1987),<ref name="betts">{{cite book| first= Graham| last= Betts| year=2004| title= Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004| edition= 1st|publisher= Collins| location= London| isbn= 0-00-717931-6| page=271}}</ref> and enjoyed a string of critically acclaimed albums: ''[[The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...|The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall]]'' (1984), ''[[This Nation's Saving Grace]]'' (1985), ''[[Bend Sinister (album)|Bend Sinister]]'' (1986), and ''[[The Frenz Experiment]]'' (1988). ''[[I Am Kurious, Oranj]]'' is notable as the fruit of a ballet project between Smith and dancer [[Michael Clark (dancer)|Michael Clark]]. [[Simon Rogers]] and later Marcia Schofield played keyboards. Paul Hanley quit during the tour supporting ''The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall'', and [[Simon Wolstencroft]] replaced other drummer Burns after ''This Nation's Saving Grace''. Wolstencroft becoming sole drummer shifted the group's sound; his drumming was described as "nimble" and "funky" when compared to Burns.<ref name="The Fallen"/> In 2014 [[Simon Wolstencroft|Wolstencroft]] published a memoir ''You Can Drum But You Can't Hide'' about his 11-year stint in the Fall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolstencroft |first=Simon |url=http://stratabooks.co.uk/book/memoir-5/you-can-drum-but-you-cant-hide/ |title=You Can Drum But You Can't Hide |date=13 November 2014 |work= |publisher=Stata books |isbn=9780957369078 |access-date=6 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924110819/http://www.stratabooks.co.uk/book/memoir-5/you-can-drum-but-you-cant-hide/ |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>