The Fall Cup: Stage 1, Groups 13-14

      

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 think there's a lot to love about 'Touchy Pad', including Tamsin Middleton's intense vocal contributions - Lewis begged to differ, calling it 'pretty awful... and that bloody woman makes it worse with her shrieking.' The others were less hostile, even if most couldn't find it any points - Richard said that it was 'a zero I regret having to award.'

'Underground Medecin' didn't attract any particularly negative comments, but neither did it provoke much enthusiasm. bzfgt thought 'Surmount All Obstacles' 'kind of cool' and I also think there's something intriguing about its belligerent strangeness, even if it's more of a shapeless groove than an actual song. Lewis, however, dismissed it as a 'duffer.'

Those rare Fall songs that feature someone other than MES on vocals have fared badly so far, and 'Trust In Me' didn't buck that trend, despite some support from bzfgt and Richard; Lewis considered it to be 'okay, but just filler.' 'First One Today' is a bit of a haphazard jumble that was generally looked upon kindly, and didn't fall too far short of qualifying. For a piece of instrumental electronica (although, as Lewis reminded us, there is an interesting version with vocals) 'Taurig' achieved a pretty respectable score.

The (Are You Are Missing) Winners

No surprise that 'Expanded' and 'Elastic' topped the group, although Eric was a little lukewarm with both, recognising their 'relative importance in the canonical choronology' but declaring them 'overrated', and in the case of 'Elastic', 'annoying'.

A few people have asked how we're dealing with songs that have a range of very different versions (a common phenomenon in the Fall back catalogue). The answer is that it's been left up to the panel: they may award points based on a partiularly good Peel session version, for example, if they think that's appropriate. This is particularly relevant with 'Guest Informant', which was bafflingly reduced to a 40 second snippet on the Frenz LP. The song's strong showing here is clearly based on the 'proper' version.

The remaining three qualifiers all attracted a zero from at least one of the panel. Eric found 'Disney' 'dull and plodding and endless'; Richard awarded what he admitted was 'a very unfair zero' to 'Cruiser's Creek', 'a chunky, if slightly overlong single'; bzfgt thought 'Carry Bag Man' 'kind of a nothing.' I'm with bzfgt with the last one: I've never understood the love for this simplistic and obvious plodder.

Group 14

Time Enough At Last, No Respects/No Respects Rev., English Scheme, Hotel Bloedel, Noel’s Chemical Effluence, Cloud of Black, Put Away, White Lines, Taking Off, Junger Cloth, Immortality, In My Area, D.I.Y Meat, Ladybird (Green Grass), Zandra

The Fallen

'Zandra' is one of those 'which one was that again?' songs: nothing particularly wrong with it, but completely forgettable. As Richard commented: 'B-sides gonna b-side, I guess. Good on 'em, not doing nobody no harm.' 'White Lines' deserves its place as no more than a minor footnote on one of the endless stream of largely pointless compilations. There's a reason why 'Cloud Of Black' was an outtake.

The fact that the jaunty 'Put Away' is tucked away at the end of Dragnet after 'Spectre vs. Rector' has probably contributed to it being rather unfairly overlooked. Nonetheless, Lewis dismissed it as 'throwaway' and it was a long way off the pace. Lewis did enjoy the longer version ('Take 2') of 'In My Area' but it received little appreciation elsewhere. 'Immortality' is a song that is best served by its Peel session version ('funky as f*ck' according to Lewis), but it's also one that even MES himself seemed to have tired of pretty quickly.

'Time Enough At Last' is one of those tracks where the back story (it's one of those inspired by The Twilight Zone) is perhaps more interesting than the song itself. Lewis thought that Brix's vocals on 'Hotel Bloedel' were 'terrible' but enjoyed the way they contrast with MES's vocals and the violin; bzfgt also thought that this combination was 'powerful'. I think it's a painful dirge, and Eric agrees, citing it as one of his 'ten least favourite Fall songs.'

For me, 'D.I.Y. Meat' is a decent burst of garage rock, and bzfgt agreed: 'It’s maybe kind of a lazy song to most people, but it’s harder than it seems to come up with something so dumb that’s so great.' Even thought Richard gave it zero, he still said that he was 'quite fond' of it. Fondness, however, was not enough to see it go any further.

The (Are You Are Missing) Winners

Lewis feared 'ridicule and dismissal' for giving 'Ladybird' top marks, but he was far from being alone in appreciating Infotainment's opener. Eric's love for 'Noel' is well established, and - for the time being at least - we're all with him on that. 

Late period songs 'Taking Off' and 'Junger Cloth' both qualified with ease, as did 'English Scheme', even if Lewis thought it 'not the best from Grotesque.' 'No Respects' was the most divisive song in this group, making through almost entirely via support from myself and bzfgt.

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