The finest Fall compilation (so far).

How about the bonus CD tracks?

Well, that stopped him in his tracks...

Only available on some versions...

Wings just might be my favorite Fall song. At least for today...

Putta Block is the weakest here.

It's one of my faves.

Isn't life strange?

Indeed. And doesn't one of these tracks suggest:-

"Life should be full of strangeness – like a rich painting"

One of the greatest ever lyrics by anybody.

I would suggest that Neighbourhood of Infinity on Palace of Swords wins the award for "the biggest gap in quality between live and studio versions with the live version winning" category.

It's the bass, it's the odd Scanlon guitar bit searching for a chord of some description. Magical.

Oh, and Putta Block is so good that it hurts.

Agreed.
Vocals on the studio version: OK.
Vocals on live version: utterly terrifying.

Another Putta Block fan...

Think I should listen again tonight...

Some great things about Putta Block:

• “What a dynamic entrance!” (and indeed it is)
• The way it so effortlessly splices in bits of The N.W.R.A. and Cary Grant’s wedding that they sound like integral and necessary parts of the song
• “The only reason that you know this is because it was well documented”
• Lovely early example of Mark E. Smith actually singing

Totally agree with all of this. This is possibly my very favorite Fall track of all time. It has all the ingredients I love about them.

Andy

So did you?

My favorite part of the song:

Me and the guys played this for charity for spastics
We played it 10000 times
And raised 5 shillings and 7 and a half pence for charity

I laugh out loud at that every time I hear it.

No. Arrived home too late and had to do home things. Sorry. Tomorrow, I hope.

Martin, the world awaits your considered opinion on the merits of Putta Block.

Well, it's not so bad after all, but not a classic either. Now what I really liked were those Stars on 45 thingies which they played at concerts...very amusing ,they were.

I wish i could remember what I voted for.

I just bought the bonus disc today, so maybe I will do a poll on that.

another vote for the still reigning Fall Cup champ

My favourite Fall compilation. I love it :wub: Putta Block is one of my favourites too. I think it's the pacing of it, the way that it slows right down for the chorus and gets a bit chaotic at the end.

And mine. It's like an album in it's own right, perfectly sequenced, it's what a Fall comp should be like, rather than just tracks in chronological order.

aye.

Can't go past Totally Wired though, can we??

I agree ; the Falls' signature tune in my book - sends shivers down the spine.

I'm a huge fan of Palace of Swords : one classic after another.

In the end Elastic Man won out - probably my first Fall love. Putta Block and Neighbourhood pushing it close.

wings. the finest riff in rock history!

:)

i always thought the lyrics sounded like a dream that MES had, and he wrote them down when he'd just woken up. or maybe slightly later on during the day, as they seem to have a sense or perspective about them.

or maybe i'm just talking shit!

:lol:

Every song on here is excellent. I only chose Neighborhood (Munich:Live) because it was exclusive to that comp.

But all the songs on it are perfect.

Strange. You'd think having to choose between these (read it and weep, Meryl Streep) would have created a cachophany of chaotic sublimeness in an ageing fan's cerebos umbrellum. But, worse than that, I had this jewellery (that's "jewelry" for the benefit of USA post-its) box tune circling in my head, like a 70s horror movie. Or maybe it was a sappy bit of "About a Boy" the Roberta Flack biog playing on TV that I really really relate to.
My choice (pant, pant): Totally Wired, for its yanky sarcasm, NZ chart placing at the time, THAT dropped drumstick, and connecting me to the "world" all those years ago.
Then "Wings", for having the best video EVER. GUNS. SNUG. You know it needed a lens.

I'd have to go with Hip Priest & Kamarads for best single disc compilation. It is what I would give somebody who hadn't heard the Fall-- if they didn't like that one, they're better off staying away from MES product, I think.

But the LP being polled is excellent. I picked Wings. Even though I just voted against it in the Cup.

Doesn't matter to me if this is compilation, it's still one of my all-time favorite Fall albums.
Not sure I can vote for just one song. Wings comes really close, but all of these songs are fantastic and essential.

No vote.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

I'm pretty certain I posted on this thread before... in fact, I'm pretty sure it was a diatribe against this album, about people holding onto a compilation nostalgically that serves no purpose anymore, etc. I mean, how is this compilation better than the Totally Wired double CD, or the 50,000 Fall Fans career-spanning compilation, etc.? It's not.

Please let this album go away.

But that's not what I don't understand -- everyone says this forum lost posts from 2006 in a server crash, but sometimes it seems like a lot more than that is missing. I mean, this thread skips from 2004 to 2007... :confused:

By the way, I'm voting for Neighborhood of Infinity because it's the only track that still matters.

Dear Rex,

The Oswald Spengler Home for Deranged Curmudgeons called. You're three days past curfew and you, and they're sending the funny police your way.


In these days of ipods aren't ALL comps pointless unless they contain alternate material? I don't own 50,000 Fans, but unless I'm missing something couldn't I just assemble my own? Or even better, assemble my own with the tracks I want? Sure can.

On another thread you pointed out to me (and rightly so) that the A-Sides would be a good entry point for new, listeners. Wouldn't that comp be equally pointless by your same logic here?

And where would we be today without the time of the giant moths?

Voted for Wings - and it was on this was the first time I heard the song.

I love this compilation as it was the first time I'd heard most of this period stuff. I joined up around the time of Bend Sinister and had done quite a bit of back filling by then but there was still a lot of stuff to find. Back then, pre internet and user gudes and everything, not only was finding all the back catalog stuff sometimes tricky, finding out what back catalogue there was was equally hard. Eh the kids today etc etc.

Strangely I was very disappointed with Totally Wired on first listen. I'd had a bootleg tape from Amsterdam Paradiso '83 which according to the track listing started with Totally Wired which I loved, on hearing TPOSR I realised that it wasnt actually totally wired - turns out it was Words of Expectaion. Also on that tape was THE BEST EVER version of Backdrop.

No, some comps (50,000 Fall Fans, for example) have remastered tracks and some do not.

Until the Beggars tracks have been remastered, A Sides still has tracks that aren't available on the other albums.

Then the bashing starts, right? :D

What can I say? I disown them when they're no longer useful. ;)

Fit baby, Fit; anchor (along with Leave) for the best plastic or plastic released by man. Note- E-Prime violated with good reason... B)

I'm not one to keep hold of old compilations for the sake of it but this one is in a league of it's own!

As has been said many times before, the whole album just gels together so well, particularly with the live additions.

And also, before the advent of Sanctuary reissues and their bonus tracks, this was the only way to hear the likes of Neighbourhood (live) and Putta Block 7" b side which to me hold most of the albums appeal.

I now obviously have every track elsewhere but still play POSR regularly as a great early "best of", something I can't say for the likes of comps such as War Against Intelligence, Totally Wired etc etc etc.

Comps are still "relevant" (and I hate to use that term) if they work as decent listening experiences, as this one does. If my appreciation for it owes a lot to the fact that most of the tracks were new to me when I got my cassette copy then so be it. Would definitely buy the original vinyl if I came across a decent affordable copy.