You're only allowed to post ONE per member.

SHIFT-WORK

this nations saving grace (cd version with bonus tracks). :applaud:

Live at The Witch Trials CD.

This Nation Saving Grace - in original lp version.
Fall album don't necessarily get better by adding extra tracks. Case in point: Wonderfull and frightening world gets completely destroyed by adding C.R.E.E.P in the middle :banghead: (hot candidate for worst fall song ever).

TNSG has it all: Bombast! My New House (my favorite fall song - first one I ever heard)! Damo Suzuki! Paintwork! Gut of the Quantifier! LA!
The only other album that comes close is Hex (of course).

TRNFLPFCOTC-for the distilation of everything that came before. It's still obscure and subtle , poetically so and beautifully delivered.

Anyway, its v hard to nominate the best as they (mostly) all are considering the context of the time and the travails of the group and Mr Smith.

TNSG. The original US vinyl pressing had a version of Cruisers Creek (instead of
Barmy) which clocked in at 6:06, as opposed to the 4:19 length of the EP version,
and still wasn't long enough. The song has a special place in my heart because it
was the second song the band played the first time I saw them live. Most of the
crowd (including me) hadn't heard it before, and repeatedly clapped at the numerous pauses, thinking the song had ended. In retrospect, hilarious. Of course, the entire album is great, with the exception of LA. Since Grimo won't leave me alone on The Infotainment Scan--my choice for worst Fall LP--may I assume he has an equally spirited, although civil, defense of LA? If so, bring it on!

Dr John,

I think my love of Infotainment is due to me seeing the band a lot in those days. That goes for Shiftwork era too. Similar to you and your attachment to TNSG era Fall? In seeing them at that time makes you a lucky, lucky, lucky ...... :banghead:

About L.A.: I loved it at first but it just goes on and on without any decent lyrics. Especially I don't like them doing it live, particularly with the shouty one circa 95.

In short: the best album is Slates, though that doesn't count as it was/is an E.P, isn't it? Hex is just as brlilliant and is closely, very closely followed behind by THE INFOTAINMENT SCAN ^_^

Nah, scrub all that: DRAGNET is the best, because of Flat Of Angles.

Hex Bomb! I know that this is the obvious choice, but it really is an astonishing pieve of work.

Interesting to see what your favourite was, JJ, after my reply on the "worst LP" thread!!

6 months ago it was 'Unutterable',today it's 'Middle Class Revolt',it just goes to show.........

Even with the crap CD mastering it has to be Groteque (After the Gramme).

There aren't many Fall albums I don't like, but tracks like Impression of J Temperance and The NWRA are the reason they're my favourite band.

Have to say Bend Sinister, wouldn't be able to say in a nutshell why. Certainly doesn't seem to be held in great regard round these parts.

Gotta agree with this. My new House has been the first song played in the six houses I have lived in since it was released. I always write a quote from the song on a congratulations card for friends who have recently moved. Spread the word. ^_^

Hex enduction hour. Just superb. TNSG is great for a lot of reasons but I think Hex is just the best overall album. The guitar sound, the arrangements are just so good. I think it is probably the only thing Mark couldnt fault in any way.
Oh and trnflpfcotc just behind it obviously.

Ah, but I started both threads.

I think the first Fall-album I ever bought is the best: EXTRICATE :rolleyes:

Oh, I wasn't claiming that you started this thread in reaction to me on the other - I'm not nearly so egotistical to entertain that scenario.

I just meant that it's interesting that people vary so much in their appreciation of various Fall works; I think I said before that I can't think of another artist whose canon is in such a state of flux amongst admirers.

Man, I'm not sure. Because every Fall album captures a particular moment in time, a snapshot of what was going on in Fall-land in each year. And there's been so many different Falls (in terms of sound, lineup and attitude). And it's hard to compare each album because most of them stand alone.

But I will say that the Real New LP is the most consistently great of all the records, with Unutterable and Grotesque in 2nd and 3rd place.

I would say at the moment the current album is my favourite, but given time that may (or more likely will) change, prior to its release I would have said The Infotainment Scan or Totale's Turns.

if i've well-understood the reply by athlete not cured, i agree with it:
my fav FALL album is the next one.
as for SHIFTWORK, it is a marvel which means a good memory to me: the first FALL concert i saw (early summer '91 i think)...
...they played tunes from 'oranj' and 'extricate' too... i also remember that during the gig a friend of mine asked me a pleonasticly foolish question: "do you like them?"
my answer was a bit less silly: "nah, don't like them 'cos they're like the air i breathe and i don't like the air i breathe but i simply breathe"

..."you haven't found it yet"...
all the best!
marco

Only 1 choice...?
I have to agree with Dave then - Grotesque!
NO! TNSG
NO! NO! Hex
NO! NO! NO! Perverted By Language (because of Garden)
Ah...Fuck it! Enjoy what y'enjoy and discard, skip, ignore the rest.
Happy 2004 one and all... I'm off to watch my new Bill Hicks dvd.... :lol:

perverted by language still might be my fave [smile and garden :D ]....but really i dont listen to it much....it is just special cos it was me 1st one.....if it is based on the one i like to listen to most....then i would say the cotc one....if i was trying to be objective and pick one for being the most original of its time...then i would say hex would win....so i guess HEX wins as best ever....but i dont think it walks away with the title ......there r loads of others that r nearly as good for me....besides the ones mentioned....the unutterable ...tnsg... grotesque.... extricate.

It's funny that isn't it? I also rate Bend Sinister - bought it again on CD the other week and couldn't stop playing it. But this week my favourite Fall album is TRNFLFCOTC.

Live at the Witch Trials
Hex
Real New Fall
The Unutterable
The Marshall Suite
Early Fall
Bend Sinister

ah, what the hell, i like'em all except missing winner. seriously.

disqualified for naming more than one

well shoot, ok, if i had to pick one it'd be:

Live at the Witch Trials

but I've always wished that "various times" was on the lp, seems like it'd fit perfectly!

well laddie youre in luck with the sanctuary reissue of latwt

have a fondness for dragnet 'cos my mate bought it me as a late birthday present many years ago.

My top 10:


1. This Nation's Saving Grace
2. The Light User Syndrome
3. The Unutterable
4. Country On The Click
5. Live At The Witch Trials
6. The Infotainment Scan
7. The Frenz Experiment
8. Grotesque
9. Dragnet
10. Bend Sinister

needless to say, this changes every day. Hex and Perverted have lengthy runs in there every few months. AYAMW had a long run in there and may make a comeback. The top 3 are pretty definite, however.

You were only supposed to name one! Oh well, break the rules, I don't care...

For my choice of Best Ever Fall Album I would have to make the very predictable choice of Hex Enduction Hour, even though it is an album I have not really listened to much in the last 10 years. It isn't even my favourate Fall album but it sort of sums up the sound and attitude of everything The Fall are about.

It's a bit like the Beach Boys, in that Pet Sounds is clearly their best album but I prefer listening to Smiley Smile, Friends or Smile bootlegs.

And to think I thought I might be the only person on earth to list Hex Enduction Hour and Smile as two of the best albums of all time! :D

Are you allowed to like the Beach Boys on this board?

I like the Beach Boys some (can't speak for others, don't remember if they came up in the "bands you aren't allowed to like" thread). I too find myself listening to Smiley Smile more than Pet Sounds and other Fall albums more than Hex, though I think Hex is if not the best than one of the two or three best Fall LPs. It might have something to do with the heavy emotional experience albums like Hex or Pet Sounds are, one being kind of corrosive and putting a twisted smile on your face like the guy on the back cover/in maf's avatar, the other making you all loveydovey/sentimental. They are albums which can change your mood as drugs or alcohol might. Other less "great" albums that might be merely enjoyable are less likely to change your feelings and thus your behavior.

That makes 3 of us! :D

...make that 4
:D

THERE IS NO CONTEST!!

GROTESQUE (AFTER THE GRAMME)

although if we can have a sub-section for best mini LP in the universe, ever:

SLATES

Bend Sinister

There is nothing I enjoy more than listening to my two different versions of Smile over and over again. I love Brian alone at the piano singing Surfs Up...blows the version away that was released on the Surfs Up album

The Beach Boys forum is thaddaway, boyo - first door on the right; hold your breath, 'cause it's a long drop through a dark night before you hit the Pacific Ocean Blue.

Yo Grimo:

Sorry to be so late in responding, but have been busy with numerous work hassles,
family matters, whine whine whine complain complain complain...

I think enough time has passed that I can judge TNSG on its own merits, not just in
the context I first heard a lot of the songs. But with all things Fall, the "best" choice
is rather arbitrary, I suppose. I would have a hard time arguing with anyone whose favorite is Hex, Grotesque, PBL, and yes, Dragnet. Dragnet has been slagged a lot over the years for the shit production, but I couldn't care less--such great songs.

I caught one of the shows on the US leg of the tour in support of IS. I was prepared to be disappointed but wasn't. They didn't lean on the techno stuff as much as one might have thought. I guess MES was already thinking ahead to the next phase. This one guy wearing a "Texas Death Rave" t-shirt looked disappointed.

OK, I'll muster as much praise for IS as I'm capable of. I like Glam Racket, League of Bald Headed Men, and, somewhat grudgingly, Why Are People Grudgeful? Ladybird is OK. And looking at things from a "marketing in America"
standpoint, it should be noted that IS was the first Fall album on Matador (MCR was
the second and last for the label). Since Matador was/is much loved by US indie rock types, the safe thing for the band to do would have been a much more rock-oriented album, maybe along the lines of Cerebral Caustic (cue disgusted groans from British haters of CC). So assuming that MES even cared about the "American Market", IS was a daring move, just not successful IMO.

Yeah, LA does suffer from a lack of words. The version on Seminal Live is better,
if for no other reason than MES added a (very) few more lyrics.

It's got to be Slates. This one does count as an album because when it's over you know you've had a proper meal (album) rather than a snack (EP)

Why has nobody mentioned The Frendz Experiment. It has to be the best if only because it was the first Fall LP that I bought and opened my eyes to the greatest band in the world. The Steak Place,Guest Informant, Tuff Life Boogie all send a shivver down the spine.

My vote however must be TNSG, undoubtedly the most exciting array of musical genius ever assembled.