The Fall Cup: Last 64, Ties 5-8

 

Tie 5: Amorator! v Fiery Jack

Steve: A tricky one, because I do love the scrabbling psychobilly of Amorator! - but the lyric and vocal delivery of Jack have to win out.

Eric: Super tough opening pair for me, wow. "Fiery Jack" is one of my favorite early Fall songs, especially among the non-albums singles which I don't usually love, and I think it's a great example of Mark in his finest voice. The music is chugging and relentless, with a twinky lead guitar line that gives it a naive country vibe, rednecky without the cowboy baggage. "Amorator!"  always evokes Nigerian Juju to me, with an odd wobbly guitar or keyboard figure (can't tell which) that works perfectly with its unstoppable swinging rhythm, and a very good late era MES vocal performance and lyric. Playing them back to back, right now, and loving them both, I've gotta lean ever so slightly toward "Jack." I'll probably say something different if you ask me tomorrow.

bzfgt: This is a very difficult choice, as these are both favorites, and two of the best “Fallabilly”-type efforts. While FJ is a classic, to me Amorator! is also every inch a classic. It exemplifies the singularity of the Fall trip, even in the latter days. The lyrics are among my favorite from MES’s entire career. It’s such an oddball song in every way, but in a way that speaks to me. It almost seems like something they just improvised on the spot, but the moment at which they did was a peak moment when the Fall gods spake.

Richard: Surprisingly similar guitar parts underpinning these songs written decades apart. Whilst the claggy circus of Amorator is enjoyable, the sleek bounce and tapebox snare of Fiery Jack takes this one relatively easily.

Lewis: I'm afraid I will quite regularly appear to be a Look Back Bore; it certainly seems that way with these two. F Jack is as I said before possibly my favourite single; Amorator is possibly my third favourite from The Remainderer so maths wise it's a no brainer.

Result: Amorator! 1 - Fiery Jack 4

Tie 6: Two Librans v The Container Drivers 

Steve: Librans finds a revitalised Fall in top-notch form, but again it's the lyric/vocal (plus Paul Hanley's drumming) that win out for me.

Eric: And another super tough pair. I guess that's going to be the new normal at this stage in the game. "Two Librans" is a super-boss cut on a superior album, a crunchy number that rocks about as hard as the group ever did, in any incarnation. But I have to go with "The Container Drivers" as the winner here, with regret, in large part for its Peel version, which is probably the very greatest Fallabilly cut in the catalog, and with that being such an important part of their collective creative vibe, it's hard to kick it to the curb. Paul Hanley's rollicking barely-in-control drum work on this version of the song clinches it for me, perhaps his best moment as the group's solo drummer.

bzfgt: Another really difficult one. Container Drivers is another Fall classic, and I don’t know if I’d go that far regarding Two Librans. Also, on CD MES’s sense of humor is on full display, which always seems to elevate a Fall lyric. However, there’s something spooky and moving about those first few Unutterable tracks that isn't replicated elsewhere. MES around this time had developed an affectless delivery that made him sound like a prophet, and I go in for that in a big way. Furthermore, the riff during the verses is outstanding. This was almost a toss-up, but Two Librans wins.

Richard: The humour of Drivers is subtle, twisting that American freeway celebration from the truckin' songs MES loved so much and cutting them down with the bathos of bad jobs and Britishness (plus the Peel version absolutely slaps). At many points in my life that would have been the winner, but Librans is one of those tracks that just sounds better with evry passing year. I love the mudslide bass and the lyrics which are inscrutable without being tossed off nonsense.

Lewis: If Two Librans had been done on a Peel Session and came out even more blistering than the original, it could have got my vote. But it wasn't, so it doesn't

Result: Two Librans 2 - The Container Drivers 3

Tie 7: The Classical v New Face In Hell

Steve: Another toughie, but much as I love NFIH's relentless groove, the awesome clatter of The Classical has to get the nod.

Eric: This one's the easiest pick for me in this set of four pairings, though I suspect it may cause anguish for some other panelists. I quite like the music in "New Face in Hell," but it and "Muzorewi's Daughter" are probably the tip-top exemplars of Mark Shrieking Mode for me, and that is a vocal style that I just don't care to listen to. "The Classical," on the other hand, is always welcome, and always pleasing, a perfectly distilled essence of almost everything that I love most about The Fall, in one easily-consumed dose. More Paul Hanley drum magic here, too, this time with Burns beside him. Man, does that clatter sound good.

bzfgt: I, like probably every Fall fan ever except Dan, love The Classical, and it was one of the first Fall tracks that bowled me over back in the day. The scratchy Scanlon guitar that doesn’t play as many chords as the bass line does something to the synapses... NFIH has great lyrics and a great groove, but I think I do prefer the former. But it had better not win the whole thing! Not just because of the Twitter poll, of course, but because there are a handful of tracks that deserve it more.  

Richard: Two big hitters from the early-eighties golden age. Classical is a churning stew, a wonderful contrast between those locked-in drums, and the exploratory wander of the picthed instruments. The lyrics are great (that obligatory niggle notwithstanding), but it's the instrumental outro that truly electrifies. Hell is probably Smith's most cogent narrative, and has some brilliantly chewy rhythms in the writing - "Muscular, thick-skinned, slit-eyed neightbour is at the table" has rarely been equalled in the canon - and the rolling Velvets culvert down which they travel is a delight. Almost impossible, but Classical takes it.

Lewis: What a horrible tie, to lose either of these at this stage is outrageous, but one must go. I'm going with NFIH, reasons being all the versions I know (album, Peel, a couple of live ones) are virtually faultless (apart from the Chaos Tapes one where MES fluffs his lines and has to apologise), whereas brilliant as The Classical is, no other variety touches the original. That is my (doubtlessly flawed) decision.

Result: The Classical 4 - New Face In Hell 1

Tie 8: Dedication Not Medication v Tempo House

Steve: Another I struggled with. Tempo House is lyrically rich, and features a classic SH bass line, but it is regrettable that we never got a proper studio version. The mutant electro-funk of Dedication just about wins it for me.

Eric: Back to tough choices. "Tempo House" has really grown on me as I've listened to it a lot lately as part of this project. It has a nice bit of Fall perversity about it, being a live cut on an otherwise studio album, as though the group either (a) couldn't re-capture the concert magic in the studio, or (b) couldn't stand to play it all again. "Dedication Not Medication" is a choice bit of latter-day weirdness, both lyrically and musically, with its bed-wet pills and its spongy sproing of a synth sound. As with the "Jack" vs "Amorator" tie, I'm gonna go with Older Fall over Newer Fall again, with the superior lyrics and compelling epic run of "Tempo House" doing much more for me today than the Connie, Cookie, Curly Wurly, and Pierce Brosnan narrative does.

bzfgt: This one is easy for me. Tempo House does have a nice turgid groove with Hanley’s bass, but it’s not quite what it should be. Imagine if they had put Backdrop from Austurbaejarbio on PBL instead? It would be the best Fall album ever.

Richard: Dedication has a dizzy, broken spring sound, as if Mario were jumping through dimensions after grabbing the wrong mushroom. Tempo is basically just a bassline with small drum embellishments, but the lyrics are hilarious, and somehoe it doesn't get boring. A point to Tempo.

Lewis: With this it's easier for me, and I'm not coming across all LBB. Plain fact is (and I'll use this excuse a lot) I get more enjoyment and pleasure from Dedication - especially the vinyl mix and some live takes - than I ever will from Tempo House (though it's still a bloody good track). A studio version of Tempo might have made things different, but we'll probably never know about that.

Result: Dedication Not Medication 3 - Tempo House 2

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