Which?

voted IWS in every one of your new polls so far, will probably continue to do so until the shift work - sorry, scratch that, the infotainment scan.

The Unutterable by a mile.

This is the first one I'm not willing to answer until IWS has had (a lot) longer to bed in. An initial thought is that, musically, IWS is a lot more "Fall-like" than The Unutterable, but I'm not sure what that means, or whether it means anything.

5 all so far - I cant decide either, so no vote yet! :confused:

i bit the bullet and voted iws on this one - its the record i've been least ambivalent about for a long long time. i never was fully committed to the greatness myth surrounding the unutterable and real new anyway...they're good,but i'm not sure they're so great that i should discredit the impact iws has had on me as false or premature. i even thought reformation had qualities that were more interesting than either of those records, if not as well realised.

I think IWS is a fantastic album, and was completely blown away the first time I heard it - so raw, so exciting, so much energy.

Still, The Unutterable has all that as well, but it is working on other levels too... IWS is slightly shallow in comparison. There´s more to discover on The U.

(Have I mentioned that The Unutterable is usually my favourite Fall album?)

The Unutterable.

Better music.

So you´re no Motörhead fan then? ;)

Yes I am.

Don't see the link at all myself to be honest, maybe if they sped the songs up x 3... :lol:

Not listened to Unutterable enough sinse getting it off emusic the other month so I'll come back to this one.

This will require at least another month, probably six. It is certainly a contest, however.

This is certainly the closest contest in this current batch of "IWS vs" polls, which probably suggests that IWS IS the best since Unutterable.
And though it grieves me to say, Unutterable has at least one missable track, Midwatch.

IWS does not! :thumbsup:

Advantatge IWS- each song is a universe unto itself, done to its own measure, whereas Unutterable is all hashed together as far the the principle of its sound...

Advantage Unutterable- A long and protracted punch that is vigorous and unrelenting, and even touching.

Lyrically they are both top tier, though Unutterable a little more sustained, though IWS maybe a little more imaginatively compact and ephemeral, or maybe both apply to both, or maybe....

This will be tough. It took me a couple years to like every track off Unutterable. It took me two weeks for IWS. But then it took me 10 years to like every track off PBL- so this is a moot point.

hard to say. its a long time since the unutterable.

i do recall being instantly impressed with it and that there were a few standout tracks on there from the first listen (cyber insekt, ketamine son, dr buck etc). however, i don't find myself playing it as much now, unlike say marshal suite or levitate (or PBL, for that matter).

my problem (such as it is) with unutterable and the aforementioned marshal suite (and RNFLP) is that the production is quite heavy handed. now, don't get me wrong - i'm not a "live in the studio" albini-style purist. far from it.

but it seems to me that MES seemed less "hands on" in charge on marshal... and unutterable. whether that's just down to public perception at the time ("fall singer takes a fall" and all that) i know not.

but i do know that MES and the fall in general seem in a much better way than at the turn of the decade/century/millenium.

I thought TRNFLP was the official best Fall album in recent years? :o

I thought Unutterable was a triumph at the time but I don't listen to it so much now, but then there's loads of great albums - Fall or otherwise - I don't have time for, but they have a place in my heart, so to speak.

I like Midwatch.

The live versions, the texture of the sound, on the 5CD box set I liked in particular.

:)

The Unutterable starts off very strong but then gets patchy, whereas I think IWS maintains a steady quality level throughout.

The Unutterable.

Both exceptional albums though.

There's just so much more happening in The unutterable. It's an album you can get totally lost in.

IWS is like a "best of" album in a way, but with original songs, and the mono production hurts my ears a bit, but it is great.

I remember the first time I heard The Unuterable I digested a legal hallucegenic plant extract called Salvia and the entire experience blew me away. I had never heard or experienced anything quite like it before or since. Although brilliant in many respects, I just feel though that it is slightly less cohesive and structured than IWS, which to my mind is probably THE Fall masterwork. IWS somehow represents the culmination of an ever metamorphasizing Fall sound that manages to reach new heights of creative brilliance. Shame about the misconceived 'I've Been Duped" though.

Too early for me.

I'll revisit this in a couple of years.

IWS

The Unutterable, easily.

IWS is a fine release but no way is better than The Unutterable................

Can't understand IWS being ahead...but each to his own, &c.

The Unutterable is miles ahead, for me...

I've just noticed that I went with IWS when this thread opened, but of late I've been praising Unutterable as the better of the two.

Is this the "test of time" thing kicking in...? :confused:

IWS is the better one to my ears. MES IS The Fall and he really is on top form throughout. The Unuttereble is good, indeed I like it more now than when it came out... but the songs do get a bit patchy after the first 5 tracks. No such trouble with IWS. TO recap:

1. Never has there been such an opening song anything like Alton Towers on any LP ever.
2. The shredding guitar sound on Wolf Kidult is ace.
3. 50 Year Old Man for the massive riff post the banjo bit. Ok, the banjo bit too.
4. Strangetown for its quirkyness.
5. Taurig - as that sort of noise should not be on a Fall LP.
6. Tommy Shooter as its possably my favorite Fall song of the last 10 years.
7. STSR as its got a great sing-a-long chorus.

I voted IWS, just, because:

The initial impact on excitedly playing it for the first time was huge. Particularly after 2007's TLC unfinished tepidness. I was overjoyed with the new Fall album.

Plenty of singalong stuff, a real feeling that they wanted to write some cracking, offbeat songs. Obviously there's great songs as such on Unutterable too (2 Librans, Sons of Temperance, W.B., Dr Buck: hey, four of the first five... a problem with the track listing for me, then?

Unutterable seems overlong somehow. I'm not thrilled about Hot Runes, Way Round, Hands Up Billy or Cyber Insekt either: none of them bad songs but not the sort that speak to me for all eternity, or whatever.

Atm most of IWS probably will. Can't get enough of 50 yr old Man, STSR, Tommy Shooter, Latchkey Kid, Wolf Kidult Man, Can Can Summer, Chimney, Is This New, nearly the lot.

So that's me then.

So far IWS is the winner. Honestly, due to a gap in Fall listening I got the Unutterable and Imperial the same day.

According to iTunes the play count is 8:1 in favor of IWS.

I vote IWS but just love The Unutterable too, hard one for me this

imperial wax solvent

the unutterable is great too mind

:)

Unutterable has an edge for me cos there's nowt on it that makes you think 'heard it before, ho hum' whereas Is This New and a couple of others on IWS sound too typical, dammit.

Although there is nothing as stone-cold AMAZING on Unutterable as Alton Towers. IWS is certainly more about individual moments.

Both in my impossible Top 10, atm IWS gets my vote.