The Fall Cup: Last 64, Ties 13-16

   

Tie 13: Noel’s Chemical Effluence v Cyber Insekt

Steve: Cyber Insekt is fun, but Noel even more so.

Eric: No surprise here from the Chairman of Team Noel, though I'm sorry to vote against "Cyber Insekt," which I think is an interesting and exemplary Fall song, one of the very best of the Nagle era. I love its odd shuffling background synths, a unique sound that I can't think of having heard in any other Fall songs. But then "Noel" has the strange "Viking Horn" (when I first heard it, I thought maybe sampled from oboe of the Charlotte Bill mini-era), which also doesn't seem to appear elsewhere. And, as noted before, "Noel" is one of the very best examples of great studio material being socked away in the most inaccessible and counter-intuitive places.

bzfgt: This one’s about even, too. Cyber Insekt is musically really strange, kind of space age rockabilly. Noel has a majesty to it, with the keyboard horn part and the way it fades in. Win for Noel.

Richard: Noel has a lovely slow and subtle tumescence, with a fuzzy tone that's a like a shawm being played by a Dustbuster in the middle of an orchestra tuning up. Insekt is arguably the most thrilling spurning of the concept of "in tune" in the catalogue. The clattering drums and the soft backing vocals are beautiful, with those synthesised strings and ever-so-sligthly awkward guitar. Alas, a hundred live versions threw out this harmonic intrigue and became clodhopping heads-down boogies. For that reason, Noel is the victor.

Lewis: My sincere apologies to Eric but it's my ears, my review. Noel is fantastic of course but I think I said before it doesn't really fit in with the album it was intended for (Code Selfish or Shiftwork, either way it doesn't fit) so it was dumped heartlessly at the arse end of 27 Points. And again, to my ears, it doesn't really sound like The Fall, but make no mistake I will be sorry to see it go out. Unless it stays in, then I shall be miffed because the slightly more brillant Cyber Insekt will be out. I absolutely love Cyber Insekt, it's a fantastic opener to a fantastic album, only its brevity letting it down slightly. 

Result: Noel’s Chemical Effluence 4 - Cyber Insekt 1

Tie 14: How I Wrote 'Elastic Man' v Chino

Steve: By far the toughest choice in this set of ties for me, but the pensive melancholy of Chino wins out.

Eric: I'm going to surprise myself here and go with what I think will be the winner of this tie: "Elastic Man." I consider "Chino" to be the second best song on YFOC, but I consider that LP to be a bit over-rated, so that's not as high a point of praise as it might sound. I've generally lumped "Elastic Man" in with other early cuts that are beloved but which I don't really care for, but as I've noted several times already, playing these songs in this process, in some cases many years since the last times I spun them regularly, I'm finding that "Elastic Man" is working for me in 2023 in ways that it didn't in decades past. Those sorts of rediscoveries or rehearings are what's making this project so enjoyable, week after week after week.

bzfgt: Chino has a great feeling to it but not as much substance. Elastic Man is from a fertile lyrical era, where MES is starting to reach maturity and write with some depth.

Richard: Chino is one of the best tracks 21st-century Fall created, punchdrunk but triumphant, but it still can't quite defeat the the most consistently excellent lyric in the canon (or at least the most consistently excellent one that everyone can parse).

Lewis: How the actual f*ck do I pick one of these? They are, of their respective times, virtually inseparable in quality. I keep banging on about my 40 Years list I wrote for The Fallen, and how Chino shone out unexpectedly as the highlight of the last line up's career (excluding the brief non-Eleni line up), a brilliant and harrowing performance once familiar with the subject matter. Then there's Elastic Man which is of classic Fall legend, a deeply infectious tune and with a most wonderfully sinister sleeve for the 7" single. I'm sticking with Chino but I'm going to be chuffed and disappointed either way when the result is in. 

Result: How I Wrote 'Elastic Man' 3 - Chino 2

Tie 15: Winter v Hittite Man

Steve: I am a well-known defender of the merits of Re-Mit, but even I can't pretend that Hittite Man measures up to the majestic Winter.

Eric: Sorry to see "Hittite Man" go, if it does (which I am pretty sure it will), as it's a favorite of mine from the final Fall incarnation. I like the lyrics and their delivery, atop the vaguely Middle Eastern musical vibe that accompanies them. But as with "Garden" and "Tempo House", I'm really, really digging these long, intense Fall Epics through this re-listening process, and I consider "Winter" to possess one of Mark's finest lyrics ever: so thoroughly entrancing and evocative, a true tour de force of word magic. And, again, more Famous Fall Perversity with it split down the middle of Hex Enduction Hour, for no rational reason at all. We must celebrate such moments.

bzfgt: Hard to say if anything could beat Winter. The generic bass line is audacious, you have to have confidence that what you’re doing is good to write a song like this. This one facilitates a somewhat frightening encounter with the sublime. Hittite Man is great but not in the topmost tier. 

Richard: Hittite sounds as though the bass and keys are playing at the bottom of a reservoir, with MES and Pete sculling around the surface in a boat catching the notes as they bubble up - it's the cutesy Sega Master System game we never knew we needed. The vocal delivery is varied and quite mysterious, but still, Winter is the winner here, as frosty, austere and gnomic as the gruppe have ever been. That little break when the drums kick in sounds like someone unlocking a vast door, and is perfect.

Lewis: This one is very easy for me, I never really cared for Hittite Man, it just seems a bit dreary and overlong rather than dark and moody which I imagine is what I'm supposed to hear. In any case, Winter towers over it in every respect. I haven't got the faintest idea what it's about but it oozes with everything a top Fall track should ooze with and you can't ask for more than that. 

Result: Winter 5 - Hittite Man 0

Tie 16: Neighbourhood of Infinity v Fit and Working Again

Steve: Neighbourhood is an easy winner for me: dark and mysterious. 'Fit' is a little lightweight compared to much of the rest of Slates.

Eric: An interesting pairing here, with two cuts from classic albums that don't usually get the levels of regular love and attention that their record mates do. Both of them are jangled and jumbled chugs, with "Fit" being the sonically weirder of the duo, especially due to that clanky piano tone appearing at random points throughout. Tough choice, as I like them both, but right here, right now, I've got to go with the Slates entry as the more distinctive of the two, by a tiny margin. Glad to see both of these make it this far, expect whichever one wins here to end its run in the next round.

bzfgt: I don’t imagine it’ll get much further, but NOI has one of their best riffs. Nothing at all wrong with FAWA, but it doesn’t excite me as much. Time of the giant moths.

Richard: Whilst Fit is a track from my favourite Fall record, and a rare example of acoustic guitar and piano which win it bonus points, that live version of Neightboourhood is astonishing, a brief few minutes where the sonic planets aligned and pure gold was spun from rock chaff (the rest of the gig was adequate and unremarkable, as if to prove my point).

Lewis: This will also go to the wire and I once again suspect I will be in the minority, but it's reasonably easy for me to decide. Both are superb obviously, but as someone else noted before, F&WA is possibly the least essential track off Slates. However I'm hugely in love with every version of Neighbourhood, be it the LP mix you can dance to with Steve Hanley's bass kick at around 20 seconds, or the darker heavier live version from Creepshow/Palace Of Swords, or the filthy murky Hacienda performance where Paul Hanley skips across stage from keyboard to drum kit to help Karl Out. And MES's lyrical delivery on those last two are creepy as f*ck.

Result: Neighbourhood of Infinity 4 - Fit and Working Again 1

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