Sonic Youth Gossip - the fall - Imperial Wax Solvent

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- - the fall - Imperial Wax Solvent (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=20814)

I don't have this. I'm really gagging for a listen. Another one for the shopping list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glice

The Fall, for me, flal into one of the very few bands who are a lot like 'art' more than 'rock n' roll' for me [warning - exceptionally pretentious statement following]

With art, you can follow it, and not like some of it, and it still forms part of the total narrative of the artist. When the Fall are doing their churning records, I take the time and effort to forgive them, and posit records within the general [aesthetic] narrative of their art. They've always been a garage band, and they've always eschewed [musical] experimentation (in the lay sense), but there's a lot of records, like Levitate, Reformation! or Are you are... where the parity of lyrics, the parity of content seems like a radical idea within the context of the Fall's art in general. I used to be able to forgive SY anything, but the bits that always grated with me - their half-assed postmodernism, the endless pseudo-beat aspirations, their 'hipster' borrowings and their sheer American-ness suddenly, to my mind, left them with zero content a few albums ago (please bear in mind that ATL is probably my second favourite record of theirs). The Fall I have more albums by, and I can still be arsed to seek out the genius in them; moreover, I can still be arsed to see that the duff bits as duff bits and still want to know what the mad old fucker's singing about.

Also, with the Fall, in spite of having read a lot of the books that MES has, in spite of decyphering a lot of 'what they're about', perhaps confuse me more now than they did when I was a lot younger, and there's nothing, absolutely no-one in rock music I can say that about apart from the Fall.

Excuent Euloguous.

MES has used The Fall as a musical vessel to explore largely non-musical ideas, relating primarily to areas of literature and history. In itself, this wouldn't be enough but fortunately, MES's take on these areas has always been insightful enough to maintain my attention. Sonic Youth, on the other hand, are at their weakest when trying to do this. Their political statements are often at best banal - still too tied to a kind of Beat/counter-culture/punk dogma of teenage rebellion and anti-government posturing. As such, there is none of the subtlety or originality in Sonic Youth's world-view that is found throughout The Fall's long history.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarramkrop

I don't have this. I'm really gagging for a listen. Another one for the shopping list.

If you wait around a few more weeks another will be out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

i don't know what's wrong with you lot

You have ear-AIDS.

"the Man Whose Head Expanded-ah.

Turn That Bloody Space Invaders Off!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

"the Man Whose Head Expanded-ah.

Turn That Bloody Space Invaders Off!"

exactly
Better than this shower.
sarramkrop (and everyone else) - dont bother

Haha.

It is better, but that doesn't mean this isn't good.

Honestly, I'd take this album over any of their dancey/rave music shit..

It's definitely growing on me, although I still wouldn't call it vintage Fall. Saying that, after a few more listens, who knows?

Quote:

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

Haha.

It is better, but that doesn't mean this isn't good.

Honestly, I'd take this album over any of their dancey/rave music shit..

I guess i may come to appreciate this album more in years to come, but at the minute i think he needs to stick to Von Sudenfed.
Has his "Autobiography" (ive skimmed through it and it seems as though that isnt the most apt label cos its hardly a traditional life story) been released in America yet? I want to get it but money is tight at the min.

I know someone who has it but I think he just ordered it and paid a ton of money for shipping. I don't think it's officially been released here yet.

It's published over here by Penguin, so I'm sure it must have a US distribution. It's definitely worth a read. MES is, needless to say, a very good writer.

i thought that book was ghost written?

i've read some excerpt of that book and sounds like a good read, hope to be picking it up soon...actually, there's tons of books i need to buy that have been released recently.

The book is as entertaining as I hoped it would be. Funny, opinionated, full of revealing little details, etc. Unmistakably his voice though it was ghost-written.

True, it's not a comprehensive account of his life: not really an autobiography, as after the early years it soon becomes a rant which skips all over the place without explaining anything in depth: which is good! To use the cliché, it's as though he's talking to you (or shouting at you) in the pub (in an unusually good mood).

The only downside is a few naff stream-of-consciousness bits; but even that is very 'The Fall' in a way, the equivalent of the over-long experiment track which appears on a lot of their albums.

I went from Bend Sinister to The Unutterable (love it) and Country On The Click (love it). I don't like 90s dancey production, so I skipped the whole of their 90s output. Have I missed anything essential?

I'm assuming you skipped The Frenz Experiment and I Am Kurious, Oranj as well? Yr missing out on a lot of good material. :7(

Every Fall album is worth hearing in my books, even the truly crappy ones. If you don't like 90s dancey production, I suggest shelving the Extricate - Middle Class Revolt period for later and move towards their Cerebal Caustic - Marshall Suite run of albums.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperCreep

Thanks. I did skip The Frenz Experiment but I've just noticed the re-released CD has Victoria and Hit The North on (my second favourite Fall song - guess the first!), so I'll start with that.

I agree that their late 80s mid 90s period is too easily ignored. Supercreep says, there's some excellent stuff there, especially on Frenz, Oranj and Extricate. Well worth checking out. Shift-Work and Code Selfish have never been among my favourites but even here there's some decent stuff - although the slightly dancefloor-friendly production won't be for everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NWRA

Unmistakably his voice though it was ghost-written.

Wow, I never knew that.

Yeah him and Austin Collings (the ghost-writer) did a show at The Hay Festival talking about the book. I'm hoping it will appear on Sky Arts as lots of stuff from that festival has done.

They did a good job. Definitely reads like MES.

I spent my £6 HMV voucher on the "special edition" of the new Spiritualized album, wish i hadnt bothered now cos the extra packaging was not worth the extra money at all. Not decided on said album, but my point is i had earmarked the voucher for the book but decided against it, feel ive made the wrong call now :( Still, paperback here we come