2000 - Ketamine Sun
6 Nov 2000 - Album: The Unutterable
A confession - I really didn't like The Unutterable when it came out. I still didn't like it when I gave it a listen before one of The Fall Cups over on The Fall Forum some years ago.
Hearing odd tracks after Mark E Smith's death made me think I might have got this album slightly wrong but I haven't heard it in its entirety in about eight years. Here goes...
... What was I thinking? This is tremendous!
(I might write about why my taste may have changed in a future post but for now let's crack on with this so I can listen to it on repeat.)
MES sounds in great form from the off and the production (Grant Showbiz back in the chair for a studio album for the first time since Shift-Work) is much cleaner than recent efforts.
In fact, is The Unutterable the most different and most the same album in the Fall catalogue? As well as travelling some well worn Fall paths is there a hint of what's to follow over the next 17 years in this record? Let me try to explain myself.
If you didn't know, would you think Cyber Insekt, with Kazuko Hohki (singer from the English-based Japanese band Frank Chickens) on backing vocals, was from Elena period Fall? Similarly, Way Round seems like a template for some Elena-inspired work that you might find on an album like Sub-Lingual Tablet.
Two Librans could be on Fall Heads Roll - guitar to the fore and on the attack, while Sons of Temperance seems like it could be the godfather of Exploding Chimney.
I keep thinking W.B. reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's just classic later period Fall. You won't find the jazz stylings of Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes anywhere else though!
And as for looking back - Hands up Billy (with Neville Wilding on vocals), has the glam feel of a Brix song, Serum takes the best bits of drum and bass from the last couple of albums while Hot Runes rockabillys about before it fades quickly, knowing its job is done.
Das Katerer has a foot in both camps. Built on 1992's Free Range it also foreshadows Smith's work with Mouse on Mars as Von Südenfed.
Having said all that - is there anything like Dr. Bucks' Letter? The first part of the song is filled with regret, "I lost my temper with a friend" but the mood lightens dramatically when MES reads about "the essence of Tong" - a checklist of what DJ Pete Tong couldn't leave home without. (You Must Get Them All will, of course, tell you everything you need to know.)
We'll gloss over Octo Realm and wallow in how fantastic Ketamine Sun is. There's a Pixies feel to the backing with the keyboards playing the Kim Deal vocal role. (In fact, is this album Julia Nagle's best work with the group?)
In fact, Ketamine Sun and the first part of Dr.Bucks' Letter feel like companion pieces. Two songs laden with sadness and regret.
It's not all good. The title track is terrible, and we have the experimental Midwatch 1953 (with an acoustic guitar part that sounds like My New House and the return of a "bloody, blindy space invader"!) which is several ideas running at the same time to no success (Bonkers in Phoenix anyone?) and also Devolute which is experimental but thankfully only one idea.
Is The Unutterable a perfect bridge between 20th century Fall and 21st century Fall? Shall I go further and say that The Unutterable is the spirit of Fall past, the spirit of Fall present and the spirit of Fall yet to come? Discuss.
Whatever, I'm a convert.
As for the choice - I love Two Librans and yes, Dr. Bucks' Letter is magnificent but it doesn't move me like Ketamine Sun.
"I loved you now and now you're gone"
A confession - I really didn't like The Unutterable when it came out. I still didn't like it when I gave it a listen before one of The Fall Cups over on The Fall Forum some years ago.
Hearing odd tracks after Mark E Smith's death made me think I might have got this album slightly wrong but I haven't heard it in its entirety in about eight years. Here goes...
... What was I thinking? This is tremendous!
(I might write about why my taste may have changed in a future post but for now let's crack on with this so I can listen to it on repeat.)
MES sounds in great form from the off and the production (Grant Showbiz back in the chair for a studio album for the first time since Shift-Work) is much cleaner than recent efforts.
In fact, is The Unutterable the most different and most the same album in the Fall catalogue? As well as travelling some well worn Fall paths is there a hint of what's to follow over the next 17 years in this record? Let me try to explain myself.
If you didn't know, would you think Cyber Insekt, with Kazuko Hohki (singer from the English-based Japanese band Frank Chickens) on backing vocals, was from Elena period Fall? Similarly, Way Round seems like a template for some Elena-inspired work that you might find on an album like Sub-Lingual Tablet.
Two Librans could be on Fall Heads Roll - guitar to the fore and on the attack, while Sons of Temperance seems like it could be the godfather of Exploding Chimney.
I keep thinking W.B. reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's just classic later period Fall. You won't find the jazz stylings of Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes anywhere else though!
And as for looking back - Hands up Billy (with Neville Wilding on vocals), has the glam feel of a Brix song, Serum takes the best bits of drum and bass from the last couple of albums while Hot Runes rockabillys about before it fades quickly, knowing its job is done.
Das Katerer has a foot in both camps. Built on 1992's Free Range it also foreshadows Smith's work with Mouse on Mars as Von Südenfed.
Having said all that - is there anything like Dr. Bucks' Letter? The first part of the song is filled with regret, "I lost my temper with a friend" but the mood lightens dramatically when MES reads about "the essence of Tong" - a checklist of what DJ Pete Tong couldn't leave home without. (You Must Get Them All will, of course, tell you everything you need to know.)
We'll gloss over Octo Realm and wallow in how fantastic Ketamine Sun is. There's a Pixies feel to the backing with the keyboards playing the Kim Deal vocal role. (In fact, is this album Julia Nagle's best work with the group?)
In fact, Ketamine Sun and the first part of Dr.Bucks' Letter feel like companion pieces. Two songs laden with sadness and regret.
It's not all good. The title track is terrible, and we have the experimental Midwatch 1953 (with an acoustic guitar part that sounds like My New House and the return of a "bloody, blindy space invader"!) which is several ideas running at the same time to no success (Bonkers in Phoenix anyone?) and also Devolute which is experimental but thankfully only one idea.
Is The Unutterable a perfect bridge between 20th century Fall and 21st century Fall? Shall I go further and say that The Unutterable is the spirit of Fall past, the spirit of Fall present and the spirit of Fall yet to come? Discuss.
Whatever, I'm a convert.
As for the choice - I love Two Librans and yes, Dr. Bucks' Letter is magnificent but it doesn't move me like Ketamine Sun.
Ketamine is a great tune - riff is pinched off Lou Reed of course! I like the past/present/yet to come idea.
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