The Fall Cup

                 And so, after six months, 51 posts and thousands of words, we finally reach the end of the road and announce the winner of this Fall Cup... But before we get to the final result, a few thanks: - To those on the Facebook groups Mighty Fall and It's Not Repetition... who liked and commented (often incredulously!) - Similarly, to those who did likewise on Twitter, especially  Paul Garratt , who reliably gave his verdict on pretty much every tie. - To the good folk on the Fall Online Forum, who contributed over 1300 posts to the 'Fall Cup' thread and never hesitated to express their views in their inimitably frank way! - And finally, of course, to Eric, bzfgt, Richard and Lewis, whose thoughtful, entertaining and perceptive commentary made this both an enjoyable read and a pleasure to run. Thanks for your good company guys. Right, on with the results... Scores after the second round : 25 Winter 22 Dr Bucks' Letter 20 New Puritan 13 Last Commands Of Xyraloth

                Scores after the first round : 13 Dr Bucks' Letter 11 Winter  9 New Puritan  7 Last Commands Of Xyralothep Via M.E.S. Round 2 New Puritan v  Dr Bucks' Letter Steve:  1-3   DBL was always going to be my winner here, but NP is more than good enough to give me a little pause for thought - so  by the criteria set out in the last post, it has to be a 3-1 result. Eric:  1-3          I'm temperamentally more of a "Year-Zero Nazi" than a "Look-Back Bore," so in the cases where one of the older cuts meets one of the new cuts, right here, right now, I'm going to favor the latter. In looking at these compositions and how they were presented, there's no good studio version of "New Puritan," and I've never heard a great live version of "Dr Bucks," so they're not quite the complete across-the-spectrum complete deals for me. But still, "Bucks" in its best form is a better song than "Puritan" in it

               After 48 posts, thousands of words and endless deliberation, we have arrived at the final stage of this competition. The songs that are going to slug it out for this prestigious award are: New Puritan Winter Dr Bucks' Letter Last Commands Of Xyralothep Via MES We are not going to have a traditional knock-out semi-final and final; instead, the panel are going to vote in a 'round robin' format. It will work like the group stage of the World Cup: each track will 'play' each of the other in three sets of matches. For each tie, the judges have three scoring options: 4-0 (Clear-cut, no-brainer decision) 3-1 (Some pause for thought before deciding the winner) 2-2 (Unable to separate them) N.B. I will post the results in three stages, but I won't begin until all of the panel have cast all of their votes, so as to avoid any temptation to vote 'tactically'. (I entered my own scores before any of the rest of the panel voted.) Round 1 New Puritan v Wi

              QF3: Mountain Energei v Dr Bucks' Letter Steve : I've voted consistently for 'Mountain' from the last 64 onwards because I love its fluid, hypnotic charm, boundless energy and crafty humour - also because there are several extended live versions that are pure joy. But for me it's met its match here. DBL, musically, is such a perfect balance: the coarse, grainy programmed rhythm track complemented by the delicate rimshot drums and the melodic guitar line that subtly cuts through the fuzz and distortion... (and yes, I am quoting from my own book here - no need to reinvent the wheel). It's good enough to sustain one of MES' more throwaway performances - but in fact he more than matches the quality of the music, with a sneering, perfectly pitched performance, filled with some of his most entertaining enunciations (‘recompense’, ‘magazine’, ‘checklist’, ‘CDs’, ‘download it’). The Realm of the Essence of Tong should be triumphant. Eric : The toughest

             QF1: New Puritan v Fiery Jack Steve : I do value 'Jack': not only is it a beautifully drawn vignette of working class life with some concisely evocative lyrics (' My face is slack /  And kidneys burn i n the small of my back') but it also has a crisp, invogorating energy that still sounds fresh over four decades later. It's also a significant moment in Fall history, a first 'dabbling in rockabilly' that fed into some of their most notable work of the period. However, I voted against it in the last 32 and last 16 and I'm going to do so again. For all its virtues, it sounds thin and slight compared to the towering, awe-inspiring ' righteous maelstrom’  that is 'New Puritan'. The third Peel session was an even more seismic shift in Fall history, and its apex was NP's torrent of lyrical invention (MES sounds like he's almost struggling to keep up with the ideas pouring from him) which,  coupled with the lacerating guitars and

            Tie 7: Crop-Dust v Last Commands Of Xyralothep Via M.E.S. Steve : I rate RNFLP  very highly (see my recent review here ), but although I appreciate the merits of Last Commands, for me there are several better songs on the album. In fact, I would argue that it's sitting here taking the place of Proteinprotection, which was eliminated criminally early. Crop-Dust has been a bit of a surprise package: I can't imagine that anyone would have envisaged any tracks from AYAMW  still being in the competition at this stage. But I think that its murky, fractured psychedelic sprawl, however plagiarised it might be, deserves to go even further. Eric : Dave Milner appeared on but one proper Fall studio album, but boy did he make his mark with it, as two of the final 16 songs standing in this contest carry his songwriting credit. I had to vote against one of them ("Mountain Energei") earlier in this round, so it's a no-brainer for me to tout Team Milner in this tie, a

           Tie 5: Weather Report 2 v Mountain Energei Steve : The most difficult tie of the last 16 for me. I adore the fractured vulnerability of WR2, but Mountain's light-hearted, controlled exuberance (especially in its live recordings) brings me so much joy that I have to give it the nod. Eric : This is the first of three consecutive ties featuring internecine 21st Century Fall Battle Royales, all of them sort of dreadful choices, this one perhaps the worst of the trio. In my "Favorite Songs by Favorite Bands" series on my website, posted in July 2020, I ranked "Energei" as #9 in my Top Ten, and "Weather" as #5.  With a lot of resigned reluctance, I'm going to hew to that ordering here and select "Weather Report 2" as my choice for advancement to the Elite Eight. "Mountain Energei" is a joy of a number, fun, catchy, cleverly arranged, and tight. All admirable elements, but the woozy and spooky and sad vibe of "Weather&q

          Tie 3: Blindness v Leave The Capitol Steve : It has been pointed out on the Fall Online Forum that LTC won a similar competition around 15 years ago, and, according to one member, 'has been widely regarded as the best Fall track ever.' Be that as it may, my personal view is that, despite its obvious strengths, Capitol is not even the best song on Slates (I'd certainly put 'Prole Art Threat' above it, and possibly ' Slates, Slags, Etc.' as well). I'm still going for Blindness, based on the Peel/Palais versions. Eric : I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if asked to give a curious newbie just a single song to help them understand what the Fall were like, I'd pick "Leave The Capitol," as the perfectly emblematic and representational example of all the elements that make The Fall so weird and wonderful (and occasionally frightening), boiled down into one dense dose of greatness. "Blindness" is a spectacular,

         Tie 1: New Puritan v Bury Steve : Something may come along at some point and swipe my vote for the furious torrent of ideas that is NP, but Bury - as much as I love its joyful stomp and council of bad knaves - is not quite it. Eric : In the first round, I awarded "New Puritan" four of a possible 12 points, and in the second round, I gave it three of a possible 20. I picked "Chicago, Now!" to beat it in the Round of 64, and "Shake-Off" to beat it in the Round of 32. I find its original "studio" version (it's not, really) to be of pisstake quality, and while various live versions are more intriguing, none of them seem particularly special or magical to be. I continue to believe that this one has elements of "you had to be there to see it performed live in its time" for it to carry such heft and import, and I wasn't there, so I don't feel it. And therefore I'm voting for "Bury" (I like the "Parts 2+4

     As we're down to so few songs, there's only a small amount of stats to share. Firstly, here's a round-up of the results: New Puritan 3 Shake-Off 2 Bury 3 Couples Vs Jobless Mid 30s 2 Fiery Jack 3 The Container Drivers 2 The Classical 3 Dedication Not Medication 2 Blindness 5 All Leave Cancelled 0 Garden 2 Leave The Capitol 3 Noel's Chemical Effluence 2 How I Wrote 'Elastic Man' 3 Winter 4 Neighbourhood Of Infinity 1 Gross Chapel–British Grenadiers 2 Weather Report 2 3 Mountain Energei 3 Wings 2 Dr Bucks' Letter 4 I'm Into CB 1 Lie Dream of a Casino Soul 2 Theme From Sparta FC 3 The N.W.R.A. 2 Crop-Dust 3 Last Commands Of Xyralothep Via M.E.S 4 Smile 1 Fantastic Life 2 Fortress/Deer Park 3 I Am Damo Suzuki 4 New Big Prinz 1 It's probably a mark of how difficult these decisions were that 11/16 ties ended in a 3-2 result. The year-by-year distribution of the songs that made it to the last 16 is interesting... Last 16 By Year: The Panel: The numbe

           Tie 13: The N.W.R.A. v Crop-Dust Steve : Oh God, how to seperate these two? Taken from two very different periods in Fall history, it's challenging to compare them. NWRA is lyrically outstanding, and like Garden and Winter, find the group ploughing a wonderfully repetetive furrow whilst MES pours forth ideas that he can barely contain. Crop-Dust rips off another song, is murky to the point of incoherence, and contains some brutally jarring edits - and yet, with repeated listens to this pair of songs, it has been the defiant, in your face don't give-a-sh*t-what you think arrogance of Crop-Dust that has won me over. Eric : "Crop-Dust" is without question the highlight of the weedy AYAMW, and it's a song that I almost always enjoy hearing, in both passive background and active focus modes. But we all know that the musical components, so important to its appeal, are (along with "Over! Over!") probably the most heinous act of intellectual property