70s KnockOut Cup- Final 4 *Modernist 5- fange 12*

[never/ever]

A

The Fall - Repetition




B

MC5 - Skunk (Sonically Speaking)

[Diamond Dog]

Easy - "Skunk" is one of the great rock tracks of the decade. And The Fall is tuneless desperation.

B

[T. Willy Rye]

B

[naughty boy]

One of my least favourite Fall numbers, that. What's amazing is that they followed the idea through, pretty much unfailingly, for 40 years. But 'Repetition' is a chore to listen to.

The MC5's last album has some of their best stuff. Unfortunately around half of it is rubbish. Fortunately this is one of the good ones.

B

[Purgatory Brite]

Two very poor choices. Tedious art-rock nonsense from the Fall as you would expect. Why are the MC5 allowed to get away with second-rate heavy metal just because they express vague politically right-on statements? ABSTAIN.

[Darkness_Fish]

A's an interesting choice for the final, a dreary grey track designed to annoy. The keyboards sound really, really cheap, and that insistent guitar riff picks away at the scabs covering my brain. I quite like the bold intent of it, so it's a bit annoying that they have to ruin it and throw that "blank generation" bit in, which kind of undermines their own purpose.

Does the drum intro to B ever stop? Reminds me of Ski Sunday, just listening to the clattering of cowbells. It's a bit of a burst of energy, but it's also a bit of a lump of hoary old rock bollocks. I know it's earlier than The Stooges track from the previous round, but it shows how far Iggy moved from bluesy stuff, which will always smell slightly musty and stale to me. That bit of sax is ace though.

I'm giving it to The Fall, for being the more interesting idea, and being the one I could certainly listen to more than once.

A

[Dayodead]

A

[toomanyhatz]

Does the drum intro to B ever stop? Reminds me of Ski Sunday, just listening to the clattering of cowbells. It's a bit of a burst of energy, but it's also a bit of a lump of hoary old rock bollocks. I know it's earlier than The Stooges track from the previous round, but it shows how far Iggy moved from bluesy stuff, which will always smell slightly musty and stale to me. That bit of sax is ace though.

My feelings about the MC5 in general in a nutshell. I've gone on and on about how overrated I think they are and it's in large part because they would not let go of their macho sweaty "boogie" side. Iggy was always more otherworldly, more androgynous. Tyner was a sweaty rock guy. And not as good a singer. And less kinetic.

I do like the 'free jazz' side to their music, though, and it's in enough abundance here to make it more interesting than MES's incessant yapping (which admittedly does have some fury in it- just think in this case the Detroiters have a touch more).

Close call but B.

[C]

Sorry guys - but 'final' material...?

Neither to my taste - again

But -+B+-




.

[Polishgirl]

N for nope.

[fange]

I do like this Fall track, but B is just more exciting for me.


B

[Osgood]

A band I actively dislike vs a band I can voluntarily listen to once every ten years or so. Nothing on these tracks moves me to change this. The MC5 track was rather annoying, but MES plays in a major League in that respect.

B

[Rayge]

a - I know this quite well - it was the B-side of one of their earliest singles - It's a New Thing? Having Bramah on guitar is a big plus, and that woozy, trebly line that spiders through it is kind of my thing (the guitarist with Zounds had a similar vibe and I always enjoyed what he did with Blue Orchids. A confession about the Fall: I bought about 15 singles and a dozen albums, and listened to them all, but I barely made out any of MES's lyrics apart from odd slogans and titles, and have little or no idea what any of them is 'about'. I always enjoyed his wordplay in interviews, even though I disagreed with him about almost everything: I actually liked the evolving rocking sound of the band, and the general idea of it. 6 / 10
b - At the time, I couldn't be arsed with the MC5, but got into them later, largely because of the Free Wayne Kramer punk release of the original version of Looking At You c/w Rambling Rose, although I never actually bothered with this album. And the main reason I did not get into them was the same as hatz, viz Tyner, who was, I though, entirely risible. Chubby white guys with afros and weedy tenor voices are not my idea of the leaders of a kick-arse noise band, but I did love the guitarists. Starting with a drum solo - ooh, is that a cowbell? - isn't my idea of a good time, though. Thank fuck Mr Patti found his amp and plugged it in before I went to sleep. And that screaming horn in the wig-out at the end was a welcome surprise. But there was too much Tubs and Tyner for it to really get my juices flowing. 5.5 / 10

Basically two bands like the Doors that are sonically interesting but have a Marmite frontman it's difficult to warm to. But since MES is basically responsible for shaping the sound of the Fall, while Morrison and Tyner basically contribute naff poesy in leather trousers and Fotherington-Thomas in rebel drag vibes respectively, they win here

A, just

[Jumper K]

B.

[The Modernist]

The Fall are too idiosyncratic to ever be lumped in with punk, even though they emerged from it and are unimaginable without it. But their early records, and this one in particular, encapsulate a certain strand of punk - insolent, confrontational and very funny. It might not win any awards for being a good tune but it has character and wit by the bucketload. It would've been even funnier if they'd made it eight minutes long.
I've never got the MC5. They were very limited musically and struggled to write a memorable rock song. Their one idea - turn it up to 11 and play it fast - was done much better by others. Underneath the "rebel" cache, there's not a lot there.

A

[Rayge]

Pedanticus writes: what the fuck is a "'rebel' cache", and how the fuck are you supposed to get under it?

[The Modernist]

cachet.

[echolalia]

I'm not voting for A.

I'm not voting for A.

I'm not voting for A.

B

[trans-chigley express]

My least favorite match of the final by some distance but B wins this quite handily.

B

[Nick Danger]

B