In spite of the few obvious influences that seem to creep into the Fall’s work (the Monks, the Stooges, rockabilly, dub), the band never seemed beholden to them. When they would work those elements into their songs, it was never as a reference point. The pieces were being used for new ends in classic postmodern fashion. That’s what makes Shift-Works a near-novelty in the discography. Here was the band actively and angrily responding to the rise of the dance-pop scene in their native Manchester. The “t-shirts and rubbish” techno scene, or as they dubbed it on the album, the “Idiot Joy Showland.” The funniest element is that the band — aided by future member Dave Bush and his sequencers, keyboards, and “machines” (as he’s credited in the liner notes) — managed to replicate the sound of the worms in shapeless kecks in bands like the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. Were it not for MES slinking and snarling over the top, you likely wouldn’t recognize this as a Fall record.