The Fall vs. 2003 and Victoria seem to me to be sadly lacking in interest, although, as usual, I may change my mind tomorrow. Any other suggestions?

Change your mind on Monday instead :devil:

White lightning :sick: , Grudgeful, F'oldin', anything Oranj ...

The whole Foldin' Money package was pretty shoddy. Grudgeful/Counter fairly insipid as well. And I won't change my mind. :nahnah:

hit the north

There have been one or two ropey ones, but Behind the Counter (despite coming during a not-especially-productive period) has always been one of my very favourite Fall singles. In fact, it probably reignited my interest to some extent when it arrived. I just loves that ballsy, big-beat Fall stompy thing.

I'd probably choose any cover version as my least favourite - even though I recognise the genius of some of them. I'm just one of those moaning sods who never really saw the point of the best band in the world wasting their time on other people's material :)

completely agree with you, glennA

.

Totally Wired

(Only kidding).

fallfandave, were you joking when you plumped for Hit the North? Don't understand, just can't see it.

Much as I hate to agree with fallfandave, I also vote for Hit The North. All of the various ripoff versions of the single were beneath the Fall's dignity. I do like Austrailians In Europe, though.

White Lightening, the production on it bothers me.

Chiselers, just don't get it;

also C.R.E.E.P. really dislike this one.

Not from Halifax then !! ;)

Have another listen or ask someone who is :D

"15 Ways." Just a boring track, really, a strange choice for an A-side, without much going on. Plus there's nothing interesting/insightful/funny about the lyrics, just another unfaithful-woman rant, delivered with little passion. "Hey! Student" and "$500 Bottle of Wine" are fun, but they're already on Middle Class Revolt, so why bother?

I love "F-'Oldin' Money" — my first exposure to '90s Fall was the Past Gone Mad comp and it was the first song that immediately stood out. Haven't got the single version, so I couldn't judge the merits of the package.

NO! .................it's the only single i can recall that has an a-side that really really annoys me....i hate that riff....

but i too love australians in europe....


i hated the 'hit the north' riff from the start....before all the extra versions they did....

whereas a song like mr pharmacist i grew to hate over time

:girly:

r u carrying some grudge against me then drjohnrock???.....cos i don't remember falling out with you :huh: .....

:girly:

Dr j could be a closet Dave trying to ensure that all Daves hold different views.

r u proposing to me richard? :wub:

:girly:

chisellers is fantastic and this has nothing to do with the fact that i am from halifax.
still don't get it though. :huh:

worst single - oh! brother. it was the first one i bought, luckily it didn't put me off.

:applaud: :( :cry:


happy news anyone????

The Shay (Halifax Town FC / Halifax RLFC ground) incomplete due to money running out (disappearing), getting warmer now !! :rolleyes:

No grudges here, dave no. 4. It's all in good fun. That's what I like about this board--fun, people who actually know the subject matter, and respect for disagreements--real give and take, compared to roughly half of my countrymen (I'm a Yank) who, if you have even the slightest negative thing to say about George "I Was Born With A Silver Foot In My Mouth" Bush, immediately want to label you as an unpatriotic, depraved monster who is personally responsible for crime, cancer, and all STDs, who probably hosts dinner parties where Osama bin Laden is the guest of honor, and who should be shot and hanged--after torture, of course. So I guess I'm not a "real" American since I:

1. Think George W Bush sucks.

2. Hate NASCAR.

3. Strongly suspect that Budweiser is urine from the company's Clydesdale mascots with a little grain alcohol thrown in. As my mother used to say when encountering a beer she thought was substandard: "They ought to put this piss back in the horse."

4. Long for the days when a popular bumper sticker read: Beautify America--Shoot A Redneck."

Whew, glad to get that off my chest. Sorry to stray so far off topic, but Mr. Patton says always staying on topic is a sign of Nazism, so I guess it's OK.

Sorry to disappoint dave no. 524, but my name isn't dave. I'll fully consider changing it, though, and be a closet dave who wants all daves to hold different views. Thanks for the suggestion.

Don't worry, I don't think Dave 004 was really alarmed.

I always strive to be an unpatriotic, depraved monster. With Blair we've similar shit here, just yours seems a bit more honest about what it represents - not that that makes it any more palatable. You can be honorary Dave 244 if you like.

Dammit, what is NASCAR? I keep hearing about it recently, some kind of KKK at prayer?

Rant on. It's too darn quiet here today! You stateside or in exile?

Interesting contibution, the last one. This is not ironic, but how do I convey this in writing? Anyway, Hit the North I like for the original song, not for the rip-off 57 alternative versions we got after. And.,yeah, 15 ways I had forgotten...it is boring, isn't it,...adequate but boring...

KKK at prayer? Very good guess, other Dave. NASCAR is a car racing organization whose races are frequented by rednecks who think that Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson have something to do with music. You probably heard of it when George "Chowderhead" Bush recently appeared at one of the races in a cheap ploy for the redneck vote--that news item probably did extend beyond US shores.
It's really strange--Bush appeals to rednecks, I think, because he doesn't read the papes (by his own admission), believes what he believes and can't be bothered with any facts to the contrary, and "stays the course" in spite of all common sense.
Don Quixote stayed the course with chasing windmills--similar situation. The funny thing is, the rednecks who identify with Bush don't realize that he would do anything to keep them out of any country club he's a member of back in Texas.

I am stateside. There are still some good things and good people in the US--just seems like they're harder to find when all this other crap gets attention.

Hope that rant is good enough. It's Sunday afternoon here, but since I've been
somewhat retricted by a physical ailment, I need to go in to work to play catch up.
Take care, all.

Ah, got it - I think they were slgging it off on Killradio. Yes, lots of good people in the States - your independents are the only radio I listen to apart from Resonance. Thank God I don't have to rely on the sad losers at the BBC any more, Peel apart, and him only rarely.

It's funny, it's opposite where I live. I'm in a university of 25 thousand and there isn't one, not one single Bush fan here. In fact, for a psychological study for a class, a friend of mine set up a "Support Bush" stand in front of the dining commons purely to gauge people's negative reactions. Some people attempted to tear it down before they were told it was a joke.

Anyhow, of early Fall era, the only single that doesn't floor me is Look, Know. But--I love I'm into C.B.!

It does get difficult to know where the Bush supporters lurk, or at least those under 50 - a suppose half of them are burning crosses and shagging chickens somewhere down South ... it's the same here where people are all "I won't vote Labour again, they've betrayed us" and you know they'll win regardless ... only here the opposition's even worse.

But then you see the replies at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1069522/posts and you know why they're poorly represented in universities.

I'm the other way round, but there you go - contrary again.

"They're skint
Relocation due for the chiseler"

aha!

town are always skint though.

i was touched that profits from the single were donated to the cause - that'll be, ooh, 7p then.

So do I. But labelling him a jaded leftie liberal's more fun. I think he's basically just not turned on by politics at all. I was always skeptical of this alleged 1976/77 Communist Party membership business - Friel maybe, MES no way. I'm surprised at his reported anti-war stance, though - maybe he's mellowing in his old age. He'll be turning veggie next.

the weird thing is...i bet we don't agree politically on the fall site....except for being anti establishment....good job we can spin doctor it n say it is just music!!!!!!! not politics!!!!!!!! like not all social n pack animals r non-political :wacko:


i think bill hicks was a supreme comedian basically cos he was political

the rest who were good at telling jokes were good at telling jokes within their present environment....which can be good enough....and they can be truly skilled comedians

but it can also feel a little awkward and disconcerting if you feel outside of the jokes politically...

furthermore.....does the fall sit comfartable down as just music n nothing to say?!

Funny thing is, I think Fall fans with political views tend to be quite leftish even though the band's not explicitly political. Maybe people were tired of being lectured to, or maybe it's that the more agitprop bands burned out or "mellowed". For me the Fall's music is still political in essence even minus the overt (but still sometimes oblique) anti-fascist stuff of the '70s ... no music for smug conformists.

Hicks had the lot - politics, drugs, sex, taking the piss out of chickenshagging Southern inbreeds ... I admit a lot of it probably fell a bit flat if you didn't feel some identity with the world view - maybe that's the advantage of music, that it can appeal across boundaries. I think the Fall can appeal apolitically, but I prefer to think of MES as a good old-fashioned burnt-out leftie liberal at heart.

Getting a bit profound tonite ... anyway, I still like a good rant every now & then so don't anyone take offence. I'm sure fans' politics amuse MES no end, but the feeling's mutual, ha ha.

:o i am outraged by your political easy come, easy go attitude otherdave...

:rant: i think it demands a duel to the death at the very least.....
:mellow: as any sane noble gentleman would agree

unfortunately...............not tonight though....i'm a bit tired..... :zzzz:

Death, yes ... kill, kill :gun: You're right, I quite agree.

You know, that's funny, I tend to think of MES as a former leftist who became conservative. There's all the bile directed at students (more likely to be leftists than other age groups, at least in the US, cf. Itchload's post), communists, socialists, feminists and women, for example. There are elements of populism and appeals to proletarian identity, but then there's the work ethic, which is identified as not-leftist ("communists are just part-time workers"), and all the "stand by your man" songs, which are pretty paternalistic. And despite comments opposing the Iraq war, it seems like he's kind of pro-war, or at least pro-military ("God help us if there's a war"). He doesn't seem to like things which strike him as effeminate.

At the end of the day it's probably not possible to reduce MES to a single ideological stance (he votes for Orthodox Jews for Better Pavements, isn't that right? — seems sort of, uh, neutral). At first I wanted him to be a leftie because I was, but after a while it just didn't gel with what he was saying. I might be looking at it through dark lenses though.

If Fall fans are leftists it probably has something to do with the proletarian aspect (though some of us, e.g. me, are hardly working class) and a general dissatisfaction with the status quo, be it cultural, economic, or political. But then you were getting at that when you said they were not for smug conformists.

:lol: Very civil; if it's mutual I suppose no one can really complain.

When I was about 9 years old, if I got mad at someone I would point down at them and say "DIE!" It didn't work, though.

I agree with the above post. I think it also has to do with MES' inability to outright appease his audience. I believe once he got the feeling that Fall fans were leftist, he immediately started slipping in un-PC things and the like. At the same time, it's impossible to pin down where he stands in interviews, because all his responses are more geared toward the journalist that what he really feels. in a recent interview, he claimed he actually had nothing against students--that he thinks its great people are interested in learning, he just didn't understand some of the stuff they study at the university. I also recently read him say that even though his father was a military man, he wasn't. That goes against a number of pro-War type statements he made in the past. I don't think there's a strong opinion he's stated that he hasn't at one point contradicted. It's the beauty of MES, he'll never let us understand him, and it's that contradictory streak in him that I believe has kept the Fall fresh for all these years.