The Fall Cup

             Group 25 New Face In Hell, Middle Class Revolt, I’m Frank, Extricate, Pay Your Rates, Sleep Debt Snatches, Arid Al’s Dream, You’re Not Up To Much, Wolf Kidult Man, No Bulbs, Craigness, Tempo House, Proteinprotection, The N.W.R.A., Stepping Out Group 25 was deemed to be a particularly tough one by all of the panel. From my point of view, this was possibly the first set where I would happily have given points to all of them. The Fallen Apart from bzfgt criticising the 'incredibly banal' lyrics, nobody really disliked 'Stepping Out', and it would undoubtedly have done better in a less strong group. Richard commented that it ' must have been powerful at those very early gigs, but it's an example of nascent promise, rather than fully fledged glory'. Eric agreed: ' it's as much about the promise it portends than it is about what it actually is itself'. Lewis is known to be a fan of title-track-that-never-was 'Extricate', but even h

            Group 23 Tuff Life Booogie, Two Steps Back, Kinder of Spine/Spider, Joker Hysterical Face, Sing! Harpy, Iceland, Theme from Error-Orrori!, Irish, Serum, Bug Day, Terry Waite Sez, Clear Off!, Flat of Angles, Middle Mass, Look, Know Group 23 was regarded by some of the panel as one of the toughest groups yet (bzfgt described it as 'brutal'). I certainly found it really challenging, in particular to find a fifth choice that would get no points. The Fallen There was little love for ' Tuff Life Booogie '. Lewis thought it 'chucked together'; Richard's view was that it's an 'adequate B-side shimmy let down by annoying vocal hook'. Lewis' take on 'Terry Waite Sez' was 'I love it but it's too bloody short', but bzfgt dismissed it as 'slight' and Eric disliked Brix's 'thin and breathy' vocals. Richard and I both had some regard for the entertainingly bonkers 'Kinder Of Spine', and bzfgt said

  A list of the 33 songs that went out in the first round with zero points: Muzorewi’s Daughter Don’t Call Me Darling Junk Man Hark The Herald Angels Sing Tom Raggazzi Birthday Outro  Stay Away (Old White Train) Where’s The F***in Taxi? C**t Afternoon Disco The Bad Stuff Symbol of Mordgan Vixen Beatle Bones ‘n’ Smokin’ Stones Jingle Bell Rock White Lines Zandra Popcorn Double Feature Legend Of Xanadu White Line Fever Louie Louie Assume The Acute Happy Holiday Say Mama / Race With The Devil Italiano On My Own Stepping Out Funnel Of Love I'm Not Satisfied Segue Unutterable Rude (All the time) Home page

           Group 21 Riddler!, 2nd Dark Age, Room To Live, What You Need, Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun, Susan vs. Youthclub, Slates, Slags, Etc., Fall Sound, Slang King, Free Range, Telephone Thing, L.A., Dr. Bucks’ Letter, Mask Search, Choc-Stock The Fallen Eric, despite not being the biggest Dragnet  fan, was the only person who could find a point for 'Choc-Stock', awarded for its 'jollity'. Lewis considered it 'throwaway nonsense', but Richard was a little kinder: 'Its heart is in the right place, but it’s just too much of a bloody mess to truly love.' With 'Mask Search', it was Lewis who was the sole benefactor. 'Pete and Dave bouncing off each other in fine form', he claimed, but I find more common ground with Eric's view: 'a bit of stock Fallabilly rendered with the same teeth-gnashingly bad mix that defines most of Ersatz GB '. I enjoy what bzfgt described as the 'hazy. psychedelic' 'Ketamine Sun', although I

          Group 19 Black Monk Theme Part II, C’ n’ C-S.Mithering, He Pep!, Words of Expectation, Assume, The Acute, Squid Law/Squid Lord, Ten Houses of Eve, Bremen Nacht, Rememberance R, Everything Hurtz, Chino, Solicitor in Studio, I’ve Been Duped, Open the Boxoctosis #2 Even by our usual standards, this was a group lacking in consensus, with five of the songs getting at least one 10 or 12 mark but also attracting a zero from someone else. The Fallen Whilst AYAMW  has its defenders (I would certainly argue that it's better than many people say), I've never come across anyone championing ' The Acute '. That didn't change here, even if bzfgt does 'dig it sometimes'. Eric's comment was: 'not a good song, awful vocals, and the usual trashy AYAMW sonic miasma hovering over everything'. Richard was similarly unimpressed: 'Do I look like I have on my forehead “I’ll accept any quarter-arsed shit with The Fall on the cover”?' 'Assume' is

         Group 17 Shift-work, Wrong Place, Right Time, Mollusc In Tyrol, Hittite Man, Butterflies 4 Brains/Whizz Bang, The Chiselers, Psykick Dancehall, Bad News Girl, Last Chance to Turn Around, White Line Fever, Oswald Defence Lawyer, Noise, Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot, Louie Louie, The Past #2 The Fallen Another set of covers get a slating. 'Louie Louie' (as heard on Live 1977 ) is notable for Tony Friel's somewhat sarcastic send off, but is virtually unlistenable otherwise. As Eric pointed out, 'nobody ever needs to do that song again, ever'. Richard: 'Meaningless to judge this: they’re playing Louie Louie badly, they know they’re playing it badly, they’re happy they’re playing it badly. Shorn of experiential context there’s very little we can do with this except file it historically.'   As for this group's 'experimental' tracks, bzfgt found a point for the 'woozy keys' on 'Noise' and Lewis enjoyed 'MES taking the p*ss ou

        Group 15 Marquis Cha Cha, Draygo’s Guilt, Neighbourhood of Infinity, Just Waiting, Prole Art Threat, Popcorn Double Feature, Legend Of Xanadu, Impression of J. Temperance, Winter, I Can Hear the Grass Grow, Hit the North, Second House Now, Repetition, Light/Fireworks, Scareball The Fallen Cover versions continue to fare badly, with a trio of them propping up this table. Of the three, the panel had the most sympathy for the deadpan swagger of 'Just Waiting', although it managed just a solitary point from Eric. 'Legend Of Xanadu' was considered to be an ill-advised choice of cover (Richard: 'MES just can’t manage the vocal') and even some of the group themselves didn't like 'Popcorn' (Si Wolstencroft disparages it in his book). 'I Can Hear the Grass Grow' did somewhat better, although Lewis reminded me that there is a 'dismal' slow version . Experimental or filler tracks (depending on your point of view) have done little better,

       Group 13 Guest Informant, First One Today, Trust in Me, How I wrote Elastic Man, Jingle Bell Rock, Carry Bag Man, Surmount All Obstacles, Idiot Joy Showland, The Man Whose Head Expanded, Taurig, Underground Medecin, Cruiser’s Creek, Touchy Pad, Disney’s Dream Debased, Devolute The Fallen The only thing ' Jingle Bell Rock ' has going for is its brevity, so it joins our growing list of no-pointers. Somewhat more surprising is 'Idiot Joy Showland's very poor showing. Whilst not especially remarkable musically, for me the lyric is a neatly withering sneer at the Madchester scene. Richard was less impressed by this aspect ('congratulations, barn door hit confirmed'); Eric found it 'musically and lyrically annoying'; bzfgt thought it simply 'a little blah.' Lewis thought that the abstract electronica of ' Devloute ' had some merit (although 'headphones are essential' to appreciate it), but there was little enthusiasm elsewhere. I