The Fall Cup: Last 64, Ties 17-20
Tie 17: Gross Chapel – British Grenadiers v Impression of J. Temperance
Steve: Grenadiers is a masterclass of controlled tension and dynamics. The dark, twisted tale of J. Temperance is matched perfectly by the spooky, oppressive music. A tough call, but the latter still sounds so thrillingly horrific after all these years and just wins out.
Eric: This is a really tough and interesting pairing to parse, a duo of great songs that perhaps fly under the radar a bit, surrounded in their original releases by better-loved or better-remembered fare. I'd count both of these songs among the top tier of things that I've truly been awed by in focused re-listening mode throughout this project, and wish they weren't meeting each other so relatively soon in the process. But I'm going with "Gross Chapel", favoring its sonic density, its brooding mood, its length, and its dark hues (a defining aural trait of Bend Sinister for me) over the twangier and slightly higher-energy "Temperance."
bzfgt: This one is brutal. Each is a favorite, although I don't know if I'd choose either for the final five or whatever. It's almost a coin flip but right now I am feeling J. Temperance. Gross Chapel is probably a bit more accomplished in a way. But MES's waggish falsetto on JT is calling to me.
Richard: A pair of murky and crepuscular tracks with a similar atmosphere. Grenadiers keeps trying to take flight as a goth anthem but its batwings have been clipped, and it returns to a misty maze of alleyways, whereas Impression is a rumble, Blake's dark Satanic mills tuned to the frequency of Hanley's Fender. The way the guitar echoes and morphs the vocal lines is great, as are those 3 tiny keyboard notes that punctuate the softest parts of Grenadiers. Very close, but Grenadiers takes it.
Lewis: Maybe a tough choice for some, but quite easy enough for me, Gross Chapel being the goff highlight of the goff album which was my first Fall purchase and I've loved it ever since. Much as I applaud the excellent and frankly scary J Temperance story and accompanied horror film music, it's not exactly the easiest listen. And there's a curious line in Gross Chapel which is in no way connected, but coincidental to this tie - "No temper for Fall group". I'll put you down.
Tie 18: Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot v Weather Report 2
Steve: These choices don't get any easier. The sombre, meandering 'Hexen' is a perfect closer to PBL, and the beautifully melancholy chord change that demarcates the two sections is a classic moment. But the startlingly fragile and melancholy mood of Weather Report, and the way that it plunges into deep, throbbing electronica makes it a deeply moving experience that just about wins it for me.
Eric: I like the chikky-chik guitar and relentless plod of "Hexen" well enough, but I flat out adore the glorious two-part weirdness of "Weather Report 2," making it a clear winner here for me. As noted in earlier rounds, I find its lyrics to be moving, and I think the synth and voice second part of the song is Eleni's crowning studio instrumental moment with the group. She's not as technically fine of keyboardist as, say, Nagle or Bush, but she makes the most of her analog grind approach to her instrument here, and it's a perfect accompaniment to Mark's sad "nobody has ever called me sir in my entire life" narrative, atop the equally sad "you gave me the best years of my life" elements of the guitar-based first half, given their elegiac hospital setting.
bzfgt: This is a tough one but I don't feel much compunction voting for WR2. HD/SK is something I have to be in the mood for, and "explain the mood harm" is a clunky lyric that sometimes takes me out of it (perhaps petty!). WR2 has some viciously off-key vocals but it's moving and the back half is pretty wild.
Richard: Two fantastic two-part tracks. Report's movement from the unhurried melancholy of the opening section to Eleni's eddies of bass and lo-bitrate percussion, effectively a dissected Eski beat, is a thing of beauty, but even that can't trump the hair-raiing transition between the two halves of HD/SN, which sounds amazing every time.
Lewis: I think I was harsh on Hexen Strife Knot last time, can't remember why, but tonight it's quite agreeable. It ambles along in a most relaxed way, a driving but not intrusive beat that wants to get faster but is held off by a laid back sensibility. MES allows himself the odd squeal in the Strife Knot section, and when it does get a bit rowdy or excessive, it's once again reined in. WR2 is the essential ending to YFOC, but I do see it was a bit of a slushy sentimental relation of Chino which was intense and harrowing. WR2 doesn't quite match that despite trying hard with Eleni's undeniably eerie electronica.
Tie 19: Mountain Energei v Ladybird (Green Grass)
Steve: An easier decision. Ladybird, with its crunchy guitar riff, is a cracking album opener, but the loping, humorous bounce Mountain Energei is just such a joy - especially in some of the extended live versions - that it's a clear winner.
Eric: "Mountain Energei" is another easy choice for me, though once again I'm not in the least bit averse to "Ladybird," a fine spot of 90s Lads Era Fall, notable for the prominence of its guitars and bass and organic drums in a period oft-defined by bubbling sequenced synths. But "Mountain" is a musical and lyrical joy, with some fine magpie words work by Mark. Also of interest to me: having heard the instrumental demo track for the song that Dave Milner brought in, and comparing it to the final released version(s) (I prefer the RNFLP one to the scuppered COTC one), it really hammers home the impact of the group's instrumentalists and Mark in making something good enough into something truly sublime.
bzfgt: Again, very difficult and as I begin to type this, I still don't know which way I'll vote. I guess ME seems a little more of a major effort, and Ladybird doesn't have a perfect rendition as there's a riff missing on the otherwise superior Peel version....so I'll say Mountain Energei.
Richard: Energei is a seductive snake, Ladybird a sprightly gazelle. The mammal wins.
Lewis: Ladybird is an odd one, classic Fall sounds abound but somehow it's all slightly to cock. The Peel version that I heard first is superb, but on hearing the album mix it confused me because MES seemed to get his delivery right on the Peel one while confusing his lyrics on the original. It might just be me, I dunno, smashing song though. But not quite as smashing as Mountain Energei, nicked off Dave Milner by MES, '8 Clothorn Road' being the original. By the time it reached TRNFLP it was transformed to one of that album's top tunes, and went on to become extended and improved on live for some time. My pick is the 2006 Oslo Oyafestivalen performance, on my birthday, I so wish I had been there.
Result: Mountain Energei 4 - Ladybird (Green Grass) 1
Tie 20: Wings v The Man Whose Head Expanded
Steve: You can't deny the power of Wings' grinding riff, but I have to confess that I've never quite revered the song in the way that many Fall fans do. Expanded's dark yet strangely funny tale of paranoia and plagiarism, which features some wonderfully inventive guitar work from Craig Scanlon, is clearly the better song to these ears.
Eric: A big '83 brawl here with a pair of cuts from a duo of non-album singles. In keeping with typical Fall perversion, I think the best of the four songs on those two singles is a b-side: "Wings." I've never been as fond of "The Man Whose Head Expanded" as the general critical consensus expects, finding it a pleasant chug, but also finding the chorus detracts and distracts from its essence for me; I'd have liked it better had the verses been knit together and extended, Fall Epic Style. "Wings" has got one of those great unstoppable, head-bopping, repetitive Fall grooves that draws me in and holds my attention, wholly. I'd have been fine if its length had been doubled into Epic Mode too.
bzfgt: I love TMWHE but this isn't particularly close for me. Wings is one of his best lyrics, and one of their best riffs.
Richard: Here is a list of incorrect things: TMWHE is not thrilling and hilarious; TMWHE's speed-kraut cannonade is better than the inscrutable SF fable that is Wings by a rotted curled feather; TMWHE wins this round.
Lewis: Yeah yeah, this will go right against the grain, but Wings despite it's obvious "classic status" is slightly overrated imo. Granted it may be brilliant lyrically, but that incessant "Bang f*cking bang the mighty Fall" drumming style that modern day Fall fans told Keiron Melling off for was also overbearing 35 years earlier. Much more interesting and funful was the same era single TMWHE. I do like the songs where MES dishes out instructions to the group which they dutifully follow, in this case "Turn that bloody blimey space invader thing off", and so they do. The speeded up techno version they did for a Peel session later on was less successful, bloody awful even but we can ignore that.
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