Monday 9 May 2011

Day 56: Keep your cap on your pen.

This is almost a slow motion Fall song, very strange and showcases this album's rockabilly roots.



Song: The Acute
Album: Are You Are Missing Winner
Year: 2001

So this one is what I presume a filler track, but I still like it, Mark's vocals are drawled more than usual, he may actually be very drunk, I've no idea, but he seems to peter out, mumble lyrics and sounds quite depressed. The contrast here with the rockabilly music jauntily passing over his performance is quite unusual, as is the shredding that comes in around halfway through. The lyrics sound to me like a statement of fact, this is how it is, deal with it. That could actually be an allegory for this album, some people cannot stand it, others rate it as one of the most inventive albums they ever recorded. It's certainly a million miles from the pop-era and any semblance of focus has been utterly lost, but as he states on the opening track, this is a new Fall lineup, one that perhaps had ideas differing from the last one and this is the result. I'd say the next album, The Real New Fall LP manages to get them back on track, but AYOMW is an important document in the canon of The Fall, the experimentation of the cover versions, of which there are three, (to my knowlege) the unusual recording methods and general air of misanthropy make it a multi-headed beast to be tackled with repeated listens, I urge all Fall fans to give this album another go if you have previously written it off.

Just a note to say if my posts become a bit sporadic over the next few weeks, its because I won't be at home all that much, when I am I will catch up, but I'm commuting to a new job until I move house, so won't always have time/internet access to complete the blog on time every day, you have my word that I'll try though!

2 comments:

  1. I am enjoying this blog hugely - you must keep going even if you have to play catch up. I am filling CDs for the car with your choices in the order you post them. Spectre Versus Rector just completed CD3.

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  2. AYAMW=multi-headed beast is spot on. Spectral sludge + sonic strangeness. One of my favourites.

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