Mini-album genius.

superb mini album, older lover shades the vote.

hail to alan minter.... it has to be fit & working...

I like the fact that Mark managed to get "Etc." onto this twice...

A work of genius, yet again. Voted Leave the Capitol but could have chosen the other five. The lyrics are among his best. I like the cover too.

Could’ve voted for any of ‘em really, but voted ‘Slates, Slags, Etc’ because:

1) of the drumming
2) and the guitar feedback
3) the shouting in the background
4) the distorted vocals
5) the sheer viciousness of MES’s vocal
6) and because the lyrics…

Okay mates
Let's get onto the valley of weights
The valley of weights is the valley
Where they cast off the weights
And became trite, uptight
Deaf and bereft …

…and the way they are phrased, are fantastic.

WENT FOR LOVER'S SINISTER ALLURE..........IF YER STICK 4 MORETRACKS ON HERE U HAVE THE BEST FALL ALBUM EVER

I agree, Slates, Slags, Etc is a particular fave ("knocks over your drink, pays for correct amount spilt" et al )- - but so is the whole damn thing. A brilliant big 10 inch.

yay! all of it, cant/shouldn't discriminate

:lol:

It is hard to discriminate on Slates, as it is consistently fantastic. Went for Prole Art Threat though, as Palace Of Swords Reversed was the next thing I picked up after TNSG, so Prole Art Threat was the first non-TSNG song I heard. And I love it that extra little bit more.

Middle Mass...fantastic bassline

Ah, but which 4 tracks?

Voted for Slags purely for the audio verite moment "Don't start improvising!". Love it.

Middles book suggests that Middle Mass is about M.Riley. Anyone have any theories on this?

Debris Magazine, 6 Jan, 1985.

What of it?

In which Riley himself says that the song is about him.

Ah, yes:

"He wrote a song called 'Middle Mass' (on the 'Slates' LP) about me and some of the people I was hanging around with at the time. It's a great song, but it does cut through me when I listen to it. I went up to him one day in the studio and said it's about me this song isn't it? And he started fumbling and said 'Oh no, it's about somebody else called Marc'. My respect for him went right down. I always stand by what I write. Having said all that, Smith is one of the best lyricists that I've ever encountered"."

How did you recall that, Martin?

The alleged story (Smith's version!) is that Riley took a brief holiday from The Fall, & hung out with a friend in London (I think) trying to write commercial rock songs & taking heroin.

:o

Fit & Working Again not too popular.

Most people don't mind being fit. It's the idea of working again which is the turn-off.

It only suffers from being in such good company.

'Prole Art Threat' is distilled, definitive Fall.

I had this on a mixtape in the car once (early college days). Once I was lugging a carload of college buddies somewhere-- the previous track to this one was VU's Black Angel's Death Song. That one wasn't too popular but Prole Art Threat generated real negative energy: turn that off! And it's so short!

My Failure to Convert People to Fall Fandom, anecdote #157

Andy

Middle mass by a mile. Though I do really rate all of Slates though. Interesting to see An Older Lover topping the poll. :huh:

"Exit this Roman shell".. in my top MES lyric chart

Slates, cause it's relentless. Must be in a minority, cause I've never cared too much for the studio version of Older Lover, the falsetto makes me wince, I prefer the version that's on A Part Of America.

Slates, slags etc - another hard one to pick though

Why does "Fit And Working Again" get so few votes? Why was it hardly ever played live? I absolutely love it... an underrated classic... as good as anything else the Fall ever did. :rant:

The campaign to get the new line-up to revive it starts HERE! Add your supporting (or dissenting) posts below...

older lover cause i end up dating older women.

What a combination of activities!

Anyway, yeah, Middle Mass.

Bass part.

Word up.

Leave the Capitol is so un-Fall like that its got to be the Fall (if you see what I mean)

That was hard to pick between Capitol and Slags.

Ill pretend I picked both :whistle:

Very odd results... I'm surprised to see Fit & Working so uniquely behind... and I'd have thought Slates, slags would walk it. I do prefer the Peel Middle Mass for its janglier guitar, but for me Slates remains the high-point of 1980-82 - less is more. :)

These must be the most even results of any of the fave track polls. Does that mean this is The Fall's most consistent album?

There are no bad tracks on this record, I believe. It's a masterpiece. And the sleeve is great, too.

I f'in love this album...not a single track you could class as bad.
Hey, theres not even a track you could class as weak.... 10/10 for me :applaud:

The only reason I prefer is Hex is that it sounds like a album, whereas Slates sounds like a collection of songs, if you know what I mean. Every song on here is a fucking corker, though.