Which?

Imperial Wax Solvent by half a universe.

jesus, are you are has gotten two votes! would you credit it...

Why?

A more interesting comparison would be with Untterable or Hex.

Don't you like IWS, Stephen? :huh:

Or do you really like AYAMW? :D

I kinda think that IWS is the album AYAMW could have been had "things" not been so messy at the time - it has the same lo-fi crunch but about 70 tons more enthusiasm and ideas.

I'd go with IWS here. It's their second worst LP. AYAMW is the worst.

IWS easily, though the spirit of AYAMW lives on via Strange Town.

The sound of the original AYAMW album (not the Sanctuary remaster) obviously draws comparisons. However this time the blurriness must be more deliberate considering there's an experienced producer involved (Grant Showbiz).

Regardless of technical details the IWS songs are definitely more thought out. The resurgence after AYAMW continues.

Haven't voted yet.

Why? Because it's interesting to see how Fall fans feel the new record compares with other recent-ish ones.

The IWS vs. Unutterable poll was done here.




EDIT: Went for Are You Are Missing Winner – my favourite Fall album of the decade so far.

one of them's mine. How could I vote otherwise?
I like Imperial Wax Solvent, but I wonder whether I'll listen to it so many times and with as much fascination as I have done (and continue to do so) with other.

Ah but you're assuming that all threads are checked before posting... :ohdear:


Really!! Missing over IWS. IWS is THE return to form. I've worried that they were starting to sound like The Fall on the last couple. IWS sounds like nothing on earth, and all the better for it.

It's not your fault that you have failed to see AYAMW as one of the best concept records ever recorded. Unfortunately it is also one of the very few good ones.

But it's no IWS.

So maybe IWS is the record (finally) that AYAMW should have been!? :o

I like missing winner :) but, as you say, it's no IWS.

And thank you for your concern over how I view Missing Winner. :finger:

AYAMW is a good listen.

Not the best Fall LP but a good listen nevertheless.

I like to think of it as a Rasp, compared to other subtler Files.

I'm extremely fond of AYAMW (rates above FHR and RPTLC for me). Feelings towards IWS are still shaky...

Got a lot to do with my expectations though. Before I got AYAMW I've read a lot about how piss poor it was - when I first heard IWS I'd read a lot about how incredible it was.

In my experience, the truth lies somewhere in between for both IMO - however, a pleasant surprise doesn't necessarily have to be better than a slight disappointment.

Not gonna cast a vote for a while yet.

:o I must say, I'm gobsmacked.

shakes head

:huh:

Imperial Wax Solvent. Missing Winner can be fun listening to and I think there's more on it than just Crop-Dust. Anyway, the new one for me. More fresh and varied, better songs and so on... Then it has Taurig, Can Can Summer, Tommy Shooter and Latch Key Kid on it. Four songs which excite me absolutely these days.

AYAMW is the most undeservedly maligned album in the Fall canon. I love the stupendously mangled quality of so many of the songs on it. Whereas IWS strikes me as being (thus far) a bit overrated. It's still good though.

But I'm with Stephen on this one.

Imperial Wax Solvent

Are You Are Missing Winner

duh no brainer this one but see that at the time of writing this 9 people either had a (shockingly) different vote or their finger/mouse slipped at the critical moment.

IWS by a head, thanks to uplifting and exciting songs like Tommy Shooter, Exploding Chimney, Is This New or STSR, plus the epic success of 50 Year Old Man and the obligatory but pleasing weirdnesses of Alton Towers, Taurig, Can Can Summer...

AYAMW is unlucky here though. I didn't like it much at all for the first few months, but since then every time it goes on it has risen in my estimation and Crop Dust, MEClassKids and Bourgeois Town are the kind of Fall I'm really digging atm...