One thing I like about The Fall is that their songs stand alone very well. You can mix and match fall songs from various LPs, or mix them into playlists with other artists and they sound great. I don't think many bands have this virtue to the extent The Fall does. Just to name one example sort of close to the Fall, when a Beefheart song comes up in a mixed playlist, I generally fastforward. If I am going to listen to Beefheart, then I usually need to listen to a whole album or at least a side. Similarly, Ween is a band that takes great pains ordering and selecting songs for their lp's, and Ween just isn't as good unless you lissen to an lp start to finish.

So, that is kind of what this poll is about: what Fall LP is the most important to be listened to as an LP, all the way thru and in order.

I am going to vote for Unutterable. It is between that one, Kurious Oranj and Grotesque for me. these three Fall albums, as good as all of their songs are in isolation, just sound better as whole albums. The sequencing of songs on each of these has a metarhythm that I really like, really adds something.

What is funny to me is that some Fall LPs have a real consistent tone (eg, Levitate. Perverted, TWAFWOTF), but I don't find it neccessary or even preferable to listen to these in their respective entireties. I like hearing songs from these LPs scattered with either other Fall or other artists.

I have been meaning to lissen to Marshall Suite in order, in one or two sittings. I have never done that, and I suspect it might benefit from a concerted lissen.

2 things are key on the question here: 1) there is a discernable flow and order to the LP; and 2) the whole is greater than the individual songs. Of all the Fall studio LPs, I think Grotesque fits this description the most. It has individually great songs, but they sound the most right when they are in proper running order. Another reason why this LP is so revered.

Voted for Dragnet

Individually ALL of the songs are great.

Together the whole lot sounds amazing with the production etc providing "the twelfth man" to quote a football expression

On these grounds, I'd have to say The Frenz Experiment - Allthough the prescence of Victoria throws it's balance off a bit (not necessarily because I don't like it much, but because it's different in spirit - a frisky singalong amidst the elegant, world weary pop).
I LOVE that album, but it's not got any of my top 10-15 Fall songs.

Grotesque a close second. Levitate and AYAMW too - it helps to surrender yourself completely to these albums' eh... 'different' aesthetics...

Of course all Fall albums should be listened to in their entirety which is exactly what I always do. <_<

If it really has to be one choice in this poll it's Hex for me. Apart from The Classical I probably wouldn't put another song in my personal top twenty. Nevertheless together with Grotesque and Dragnet this is my favourite Fall album overall, mainly due to its ideal flow. Kicking off with the mighty Classical, the epic Winter right down in the middle (esp. on the original LP) and the punishing And This Day bringing things to a pertinent end. I couldn't imagine any other running order.

Good Idea for a poll, it got me thinking about the Fall in a new way, AYAMW, strikes me as a nice setlist.
Alternately, you could have a poll of the album that lends itself to be split up the best, I suspect TWaFWotF, would win that one.

In its original LP form, I absolutely agree, Kap. Frenz it is. A perfect flow of songs, in perfect order. If Nieghborhood of Infinity began Perverted, followed by Eat-Fitter, that record would easily have won. Cured by Itunes for my carrying copy, of course.

Others close- MCR, Grotesque, and TRNFLP (weirdly enough, both US and UK versions), and Oranj- though again only in its original form.

how about LPS that shouldnae be expanded? PBL ruined-luckily i have 'original' cD and vinyl editions

Haven't heard enough of them in there entirety to choose yet,
but I do love Bend Sinister :applaud:

Marshall Suite.


By no means my fave LP, but it seems to flow.

Hex has the best rhythm. Winter closing side 1 and opening side 2, and the mixture of short fast songs and the longer ones. Perfect.

Ditto, still may be my favorite after all these years, :) though they all have to be listened to the whole way thru, I can't play just a few songs, whets the appetite too much! :P

I continue my campaign for Hex to be released on 2xLP at 45rpm to overcome that nonsense of 1 hour on 1 record which is said to reduce sound quality...

I'd second that. I was gutted to hear that the 2LP Hex reissue had loads of bonus tracks on the second LP - like I care about them!

It would make it super unwieldy listening to Winter i.e. having to change the LP rather than just flipping the side, but it's a small loss I feel, seeing as you gain basslines. 30 minutes a side is 50% too much for the capacity of an LP, and the first thing that goes is the bottom end when you exceed that amount.

One thing I did think was that you could programme it this way...

a1 The Classical
a2 Jawbone
a3 Hip Priest

b1 Fortress/Deer Park
b2 Mere Pseud
b3 Winter
b4 Winter 2

c1 Just Step S'ways
c2 Who makes the Nazis
c3 Iceland

d1 And This Day

...so Hex can take its proper place amongst other prog classics by having side 4 as all one long track. (Hex is prog, there's no point arguing, just learn to live with it).

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As for listening to the LPs as a whole. Are you all mad? I can't think of any LP I listen to all the way through, let alone one by The Fall. For me, it's all about tracks, not about albums. Singles are best, LPs trail long behind.

Having said that, although side 1 is a mess, side 2 of IWS really gains from the way it is programmed and the variety therein makes it greater than the sum of its parts.

I guess the nearest one for good-all-the-way-through status is Grotesque, but even then, C N C is 7 minutes of droney nothing specialness, and New Face In Hell is massively overlong.

I know this is not going to be a popular viewpoint, so please don't flame me.

Bend Sinister.

Not my favourite Fall album ever but great, and definitely my favourite semi-darkness, glass of wine in hand, Fall listening experience. :wub:

It's interesting that you pick Bend Sinister. It's a danceable record, but it gets darker as it goes on. Some Fall Lps have very different side 1 and 2s and this is one of them.

Just a random thought and I'm not really sure how I'd defend it, but I think Bend Sinister is The Fall's most J******e sounding album.

Agree with Bend Sinister, :mellow: maybe it's just me, I can only play a whole album, made oodles of mixed tapes, :) but when I put something on, I'll 100% always play the whole thing, oh well, probably in the minority on that! :banghead:

Heh heh Rowche, those in the minority will pay the penalty :devil:

Agreed. And a bit strange since it's all downhill after Touch Sensitive.


The Light User Syndrome too flows very well up to The Coliseum, included.

I'm like that, "artists" last of all - there are only a few dozen I'd want to listen to more than one song by in a lifetime. It's all in the song, a listenable LP is a rare beast indeed, and one 3min gem packs that much more punch.

That'd be my #2 for bulk listenability, after Witch Trials and followed by Cerebral Caustic, the Unutterable and RNFLP. I don't know that any gains hugely from being listened to in a lump, they're just the ones I can stomach.

Interesting poll.

The only LP I can honestly say I listen to in it's entirety every timew is Slates, mainly because every track is a classic.

I usually play an album straight through, but sometimes skip an iffy track (WMC Blob, Ride Away, Papal Visit, for example) if I can't be arsed/don't have time.

I'm also fond of selecting the best tracks from an album, and playing them as an EP, this is the usual way I listen to RPTLC.

The WAFWOTF and TNSG CD's are particularly annoying, and I often programme the CD player to play the original album, or the singles separately.

Grotesque it flows so well. Most Fall albums are better for listening to in one sitting and as a whole. It's like removing chapters from a book, it no longer makes coherent sense.

voted for TWAFWOTF IN ORIGINAL lp VERSION. Why would you want to break up the flow of either side or listen to a song out of context ? This album has a great gothic undertow, partly thanks to gav's vocal contributions.

TNSG

this is it

Voted "I am Kurious Oranj"!

Would have liked to see "The 27 Points" here.
:rant: :rant:

Somehow, to me, this is the best 'concept album' ever.

:)

The Train Part Three should always be listened to in its entirety without a break. :blink:

Wieviele Kölsch Flaschen? :P :)