The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall

after all these years it comes down to Elves vs Lay Of The Land for me

for me its Clear Off, Oh Brother, No Bulbs, Creep, and Slang King, wow this album had a lot of great stuff

Really hard! I love the two Gavin Friday guest appearances and the singles, but then there's stuff like "Pat Trip Dispenser" which may or may not be about Pat Fish the Jazz Butcher. No weak tracks in my view.

Brix' contribution to this album (and the band) is priceless

No weak tracks? How about "Bug Day"?

Love Bug Day

Bug Day is relatively the weakest, but it's good neverthless

yeah, i agree, not a bad song here!
off the top of my head it's either lay of the land or trip dispenser. or slang king. or no bulbs. yikes, this is going to be hard!

My favorite era of the Fall begins here, for sure.

xpost: I'm pretty sure it's been established that Pat Trip wasn't about Pat Fish, but that would have been fun.

Off of the original album, I'd go with 2x4, which shows the band doing some pretty neat stuff with rhythm, contrary to what certain New Yorker Music Critics would have one believe.

Can't think of Pat Trip Dispenser as a part of the album, but it's one of my favorite non-album tracks of theirs. Also love the Gavin Friday appearances, and am always puzzled when people complain about them.

Oh, and for a *loooong* time I had this as the beginning of my favorite era of the Fall too, but a huge listening-fest last February convinced me that Perverted really is better at the end of the day. Just not as easy to appreciate (understatement).

I was being a little bit hasty, I guess. I love almost everything that came before this, too.

box set of this album from last year is worth the $$$, tho Fall diehards may have heard it all already.

"My favorite era of the Fall begins here, for sure."

not sure, but it was the first Fall LP i heard so it has a special place in my heart.
it's also one of their poppier efforts, thanks to Brix which is aso a talented guitarist and a songwriter.
i wonder what would have happened to The Fall's music if they were still married..

i dont think mark e. smith is capable of holding a relationship that long

true lol

I disagree with almost every post in here (inc. The decision to go with the orig CD tracklist)...that said, as much as I love the way the first four tracks, this is Disney by a country mile

finally settled on "Stephen Song" as my fave here after years & years... it just keeps driving upwards, more joyous and climactic by the measure.

This was my first Fall LP and is one of my most cherished musical cornerstones.

fucking love this album. "no bulbs" for me.

So long since I heard this album. Agree that there's not a bad track on here but not sure if there are many great ones. Actually I've forgotten a lot of these songs!

Voted for 'Copped It'.

Is that the one Gavin Friday tries to ruin?

I had (have) the Cassette edition, so for me that is the definitive track list.

THEBIGGESTLIBRARYYET!

I had heard "Copped it" from the preceeding Peel Session, so was sort of taken aback by GavFri's interjections. (Although his "Singing a song" bits reminded me of The Mixture's "Pushbike Song", so hey.)

Anyways, they seem missing off the Peel Session take now.

I don't think I knew it was Gavin Friday until now.

"2x4" vs "O! Brother"

this was the hardest fall album for me to get into because of the cassette/cd extended track listing - it was just too much to take at first. over time it's become one of my favorites. voted slang king.

i can never be bothered with listening to no bulbs.

Hmmmmm, always seemed a bit too long to me

Haven't listened to this for years but the run of Stephen Song – Craigness – Disney's Dream Debased was what made it for me. Going to be a bit rockist and ignore the bonus tracks, much as I love C.R.E.E.P.

I will dig this out/Spotify it this evening.

they're not bonus tracks it's a whole album in a album

decided to go with "2 x 4", it's that kind of a week

Hmmmmm, (No Bulbs) always seemed a bit too long to me

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Friday, 11 November 2011 14:22 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

There is a short version.

Yeah, thought there was. Dredging my memory, "Stephen Song", "2x4" and "Copped It" (in spite of G. Friday) seem best. Oh wait though, there's "Oh Brother" and "DD Disappointed Dunsky Debased".

There was a time about five or six years ago where almost every mixtape I made ended with the same three songs:

Neil Young's 'For the Turnstiles'
Uncle Tupelo's cover of CCR's 'Effigy'
Disney's Dream Debased

Between Stephen Song, Lay of the Land, 2x4 and Disney's Dream Debased for me I think.

they're not bonus tracks it's a whole album in a album

Oh well, I mean I originally had the vinyl LP with just 9 tracks on it.

lol it didn't even occur to me that this wouldn't all fit on one record

the cassette at the time had the extra material which i think is technically Escape Route from in as much as things have fixed labels in MES world

Album not helped at the time by having the worst title for a Fall release to date/

(that's better)

Were the "Oh Brother" and "CREEP" singles/B-sides on Escape Route also?

voted No Bulbs cos a) that instrumental krautrockabilly section in the middle & b) its fun to sing in your head when you are looking for missing clothes

call for escape route = draygos guilt, clear off, no bulbs, no bulbs 3, slang king 2 (latter two only appear on the b-sides comp iirc)

it isn't on my vinyl copy, but No Bulbs is the standout in this list. A lot of people rate this album, but I never got the love for it. Maybe its because at least half of these tracks aren't on the original. CREEP was a single, and hugely overshadowed by the superior Hey Luciani from the same period. Bend Sinister is the highlight of the Brix era for me.

What's the lay of the land my son??

I went for Slang King. This is probably my third favourite album of theirs after Bend Sinister and The Real New Fall LP.

first fall lp i ever heard. 'no bulbs' (with 'copped it' right behind)

This is probably my third favourite album of theirs after Bend Sinister and The Real New Fall LP.

I really have a hell of a time rating their albums - it changes depending on my mood. I mean, "The Unutterable" is freakin' FANTASTIC as well as the two you mention, plus there's singles and the shadow-over-it-all Peel Sessions box set. Every new album has at least 50% great tracks, it's an amazing track record.

Check the guy's track record!

Hope you're all looking forward to next year's Fall Ballot.

Yeah, like I said, it was contentious but it's my view and there you have it. I mean, when people talk about The Fall's Brix period you instantly know what they mean and what it entails.

"Early Fall" doesn't mean as much for example.

To you. Fair enough.

the problem is that these phases are always retrospective: to identify a "Brixish" era you have to point at elements of the sound that pre-dated and ante-dated her presence, it's a forced narrative.

i don't think there's anything wrong with discussing personnel changes or even applying autobiographical speculation btw (i don't think much of the latter but it's a valid critical approach i guess), i was just snarking at the occasional posting of outright gossip, don't think it's a route the board shd pursue.

sorry, to clarify, the things that people identify as typical "Brix-era" are things that are present outside of that era too

Yeah quite, i would have presumed it was a given that these things are never as neat or as tidy as we'd like them but in broad terms I know instantly what 'Brix period' means even though personally I wouldn't say it necessarily started the second she joined the group...

Well, the 'Brix' era started when they signed to Beggars Banquet, even though she was on the previous album.

That's exactly what I mean and proves my point that people know what you mean without you having to discuss it.

I'm still not sure what your point was

no bulbs

I don't know how clearer I can be on this - that the "Brix period" in The Fall's history is the most easily understood and clearly defined and this reflects directly on how much influence she had on the group's sound during that period.

Right. Well I'm glad you easily understand it then!

sorry, to clarify, the things that people identify as typical "Brix-era" are things that are present outside of that era too

― Ridin' Skyrims (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, November 15, 2011 6:19 AM

The problem is maybe thinking of the group ca. '84-'88 as having a "typical sound." They were eclectic and numerous people contributed to the songwriting. That said, I think Brix had a particular songwriting style that you didn't get from others and you can, of course, hear it return on Cerebral Caustic.

Are you being obtuse? Brix's pop influence is obvious to every Fall fan I speak with. When she came back you can hear it in stuff like "The Chiselers" which, at the time, was hailed as a return to form (a terribly overused phrase when it comes to The Fall).

I would argue the current lineup and the last 3 albums has also established their own sense of period.

xp to Tom. Or, what Tim said.

and when they left Beggars and signed with Fontana, "Extricate" ws the first album without Brix.

So, "Brix" era = "Beggars" era, pretty much.

It could have a lot to do with Brix, or having decent studios and Producers able to get a 'production' job done. Or, both of those things.

I'm not denying Brix's influence I just don't agree that that era is the most easily understood (what does that mean?) or clearly definable in the 900 years of the Fall, but if that's what someone personally thinks, then that's fine

It's true, a lot of those earlier Brix albums were John Leckie productions instead of being self-produced or whatever xp

I can't break it down any more for you. If you don't understand what I mean now, it's probably not worth worrying about. (But one last example is 'Brix period' means the same thing to more people than 'early Fall' or 'classic Fall' or any other period you want to impose on the group.)

No Bulbs

LOL who's imposing? I think maybe you're getting the impression I don't like the Brix era, when I actually prefer to the periods immediately preceding and following it.

Lay of the Land.

The early '90s period when Scanlon and Hanley were writing a lot was almost as long-lived as the first Brix era.

XXP: You meaning not you specifically but people in general. I have no opinion on what you do or don't like about the fall.

XP: That is true but much fewer talk about the Scanlon/Hanley period of the Fall, and I would argue that even those that do would have differing opinions on exactly what this meant.

"Early Fall" means something to me!

Yes, and it means something to me as well but I'll bet you any amount of money these are different things.

I understand that being a Fall fan almost automatically means you are a contrarian at heart but whether you agree with me or not, what I've said really isn't that complex or mind blowingly weird.

tbh I have no idea how big the Brix period is, I don't know IRL Fall fans unless I've gotten them into it

Early Fall is quite specifically the Fall with Martin Bramah. That seems fairly cut and dried to me. It's (almost literally) a totally different band after him.

After that it's Riley/Scanlon/Hanley era, which is a different thing altogether.

Yeah I def think that, as a hindsight fan, Riley-era is just as definable as Brix- era bu those who were fans in real time may disagree. Riley-era Fall had a profound effect on my tastes so I think that's why I don't have as much use for the Brix stuff...

The funny thing is that the song that inaugurated the Brix/Beggars era--Oh! Brother--had been in Fall setlists in 77 and maybe 78 (same goes for Copped It)(sans Gavin F of course)

Great 29 songs from 29 albums podcast from my favorite local radio show: http://eardrumbuzz-wbrs.blogspot.com/2011/11/fall.html

XP: There was no qualitative judgement in what I was saying by the way. Although I do really like 'The Brix Era' as that's when I got into The Fall.

Anyway, onto more pressing matters... I can't call this poll at all. Need to go and listen to it for the third time this month to make my mind up.

My favourite Fall era is the Riley/Scanlan/Hanley/Burns lineup. Maybe its the period when I first heard them, when I was 15-16, but it also seems the most experimental and iconoclastic. They were like something alien. Alot of the Brix era stuff is great, but it seemed to me they had become another rock band, a great one, but more grounded, less oblique and truly surprising than what went before.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'll have to come back and get these 'eras' for the ballot, forward in the day.

'lay of the land' -- first fall song ever heard, changed my life.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow every one's a winner

No belts in this flat! No bulbs in this flat!

Top two songs not on original album=very slightly annoying...

They were both on the U.S. version of the album on PVC.

(The original U.S. version.)

If I remember correctly, there were even two of those little liner note fragments about both songs on the back cover? Can't remember if that's right.

Yah, that PVC vinyl is how I first heard the album. Even then, though, I remember sensing that creep and bulbs seemed slightly different from the rest...

whew, glad i snuck that bug day vote in

^hero

Bug Day = criminally underrated precedent for entire Levitate album. I rank ot ahead of Lay of the Land (though not far ahead)

For creeping menace, An Older Lover trumps Bug Day several times over