The Fall Cup: Stage 2, Groups E-F

                   

The panel must award a total of 78 points to the songs in these groups; no song may receive more than 20 points, and they must give points to at least 8 of the 12 songs. The top 4 go through to the last 64.

Group E is made up of the qualifiers from groups 9 and 10 in the first stage.

Three of the four qualifiers were pretty predictable, and once again 'Blindness' achieved first place by some distance. What was interesting was 'All Leave Cancelled' coming in ahead of 'Sparta' and 'Lie Dream', with big marks from everyone but Richard: 'Fungus growing rampant on a folk rock tune, or perhaps a possessed R.E.M. song. Sometimes more fascinating than good, but proof that Fall Sound is more than krautabilly.' Eric enjoyed hearing the final lineup 'flexing their prog and noise and experimental muscles most ably, while still integrating some crushing riffery.'

'W.B.' came a creditable fifth, buoyed by a 15 from bzfgt, who praised MES' 'affectless delivery' as 'brilliant... the lack of personal investment makes him more convincing as a prophetic voice.' 'War' fared much better than most of the covers (perhaps because it's only loosely a cover anyway), with Eric enthused by 'an inspirationally weird song [that] they made both weirder and punchier in their retelling.' 

There were several notably divisive tracks. 'I Wake Up in the City' got 24 of its 27 points from just two of the panel (myself and bzfgt), although Lewis did comment that 'if points were for attitude, this would probably earn 20.' Likewise, 'Mess Of My' got 90% of its score from Richard and me - with bzfgt and Lewis blanking it altogether. Marc Riley will not be impressed, given that it's one of his favourite Fall songs (see the Fall in Fives Radio Show episode 15).

'M5' is a solid if unspectacular track, so its mid-table placing seemed fitting. 'Cosmos 7' was another that bzfgt threw points at to no avail: 'a scifi trip that deserves a place in the canon; the way the keys bounce around on the EGB version and then give way to the riff….fabulous.' Eric, on the other hand, thought it 'half-baked and poorly mixed', although Richard noted that 'the illogical mixing of EGB works in its favour, it does sound like a broadcast picked up by a 60s cosmonaut.' Lewis' three points were mainly for the single mix:

There was plenty of praise for 'Bombast' (Richard: 'A great noise, with one of Shanley's heaviest anchors'; Lewis: 'a storming 3 minute rush of adreneline'), but at this stage, perfectly decent tracks are bound to go by the wayside. It was no great surprise to find 'My Door Is Never' propping up the table, given how most RPTLC songs have fared thus far - for reasons we probably don't need to explore. As Richard said, 'I have officially run out ways to say that it's sad that a band as good as the dudes made such an undercooked album.'

bzfgt was the most out of kilter with the general consensus in this group, awarding a 12, 14 and 15 to tracks that didn't progress and only averaging 7 marks for the qualifying songs.

Group F is made up of the qualifiers from groups 11 and 12 in the first stage.

A tough group, the panel agreed ('brutal' was bzfgt's assessment), where we were bound to lose some quality songs - although the top three of 'Garden', 'Leave The Capitol' and 'I'm Into CB' won't surprise anyone. That said, there was still some disagreement at the top: bzfgt 'ran out of points' for 'Capitol; Lewis described 'Garden' as 'the one I'm supposed to love but don't.'

By far the biggest controversy of this group (and probably the whole second stage) will be the failure of 'Kicker Conspiracy' to make it into the last 64. It was scuppered by a zero from bzfgt, who - as he indicated in the previous stage - is constantly perplexed by the barrage of (to him) impenetrable football-related comments on his Annotated Fall site. Its place was taken by the deliciously woozy 'Alton Towers', despite Lewis' criticism that it's 'such a really strange way to open an album, this hardly sets the scene for the rest of the collection which is surely what an opening track should do.' (I would argue that this is exactly what you'd expect a Fall album opener to do.)

I was very disappointed to say goodbye to the beautifully melancholy 'Recovery Kit'. I'm sure bzfgt will feel the same about 'Backdrop' - another non-qualifier that he awarded serious points. 'Maybe a bit too ramshackle, maybe a bit too long,' thought Lewis, 'still bloody good but not a group winner.'

'Dktr Faustus' was another divisive one, gaining all but one of its points from just two of the judges. Lewis thought he might have given it more in a less stong group, but Eric and I were not fans of Brix's vocals on this one. Neither was Richard: 'A lot of the criticism directed towards Brix seems to be unfair enough to border on misogyny, but I have to say her vocals spoil this track.'

Another personal disappointment was the failure of 'Frightened' to progress, hampered by a lack of love from bzfgt and Eric. Paul Hanley will be the ex-member most upset by this one - he picked it as his 'special Fall song' for the Fi5 Radio Show (episode 11). 'Cab It Up!' was further off the pace than I expected, despite Lewis's verdict that it was the group's 'best "pop" song' and Eric enjoying its 'chuggy and energetic and ebullient' qualities.

Both Eric and I had a ten-pointer that finished in the bottom two. My regard for 'O.F.Y.C. Showcase' was not shared by Eric ('well-produced, but hollow feeling') or Richard ('an excellent sound - perhaps those Domino studio types weren't such a chain around the neck as has been reported - but there's still not enough of it for me to love'). Eric's appreciation of 'Contraflow' ('a punchy, powerful bit of piss and vinegar') was not enough to keep it off the bottom of the table. Richard: 'My wife always says this sounds like Rage Against The Machine. Not sure I agree, and I like it a lot, but it will never be more than an album track.'

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