| Artist |
The Fall |
| Album Title: |
The Unutterable |
| Album Cover: |
 |
| Primary Genre |
Alternative & Punk: Old School Punk |
| Format |
CD |
| Released |
11/06/2000 |
| Label |
Cog Sinister/Eagle Records |
| Catalog No |
EAGCD164 |
| Bar Code No |
5 034504 116429 |
| Packaging |
Jewelcase |
| Tracks |
| 1.
|
Cyber Insekt (3:18)
|
| 2.
|
Two Librans (3:57)
|
| 3.
|
W.B (3:30)
|
| 4.
|
Sons Of Temperance (3:47)
|
| 5.
|
Dr. Bucks' Letter (5:18)
|
| 6.
|
Hot Runes (2:17)
|
| 7.
|
Way Round (3:21)
|
| 8.
|
Octo Realm/ Ketamine Sun (5:36)
|
| 9.
|
Serum (4:55)
|
| 10.
|
Unutterable (1:05)
|
| 11.
|
Pumpkin Soup And Mashed Potatoes (2:54)
|
| 12.
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Hands Up Billy (2:46)
|
| 13.
|
Midwatch 1953 (5:32)
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| 14.
|
Devolute (4:36)
|
| 15.
|
Das Katerer (2:42)
|
|
| Date Acquired |
09/06/2001 |
| Personal Rating |
 |
| Acquired from |
Let It Be |
| Purchase Price |
19.00 |
Web Links |
All Music Guide Entry:
Discogs Entry:
The Fall online - Discography: singles & albums |
Notes |
Recorded at Testa Rosa, Streetlevel II and Sonic Surgery Studios.
foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-12-22 04:05:52
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: The Fall / The Unutterable
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR6 0.00 dB -6.18 dB 3:19 01-Cyber Insekt
DR5 0.00 dB -6.25 dB 3:58 02-Two Librans
DR5 0.00 dB -6.21 dB 3:30 03-W.B
DR6 0.00 dB -7.15 dB 3:47 04-Sons of Temperance
DR6 0.00 dB -7.79 dB 5:19 05-Dr. Buck's Letter
DR7 0.00 dB -8.79 dB 2:18 06-Hot Runes
DR7 0.00 dB -7.33 dB 3:21 07-Way Round
DR7 0.00 dB -9.24 dB 5:36 08-Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun
DR6 0.00 dB -6.71 dB 4:56 09-Serum
DR11 -0.65 dB -14.63 dB 1:05 10-Unutterable
DR6 0.00 dB -6.82 dB 2:54 11-Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes
DR6 0.00 dB -6.66 dB 2:47 12-Hands Up Billy
DR8 0.00 dB -9.49 dB 5:32 13-Midwatch 1953
DR5 0.00 dB -8.75 dB 4:36 14-Devolute
DR5 0.00 dB -6.31 dB 2:42 15-Das Katerer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks: 15
Official DR value: DR6
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 1055 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
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|
| Reviews |
All Music Guide Review:
Review by John Bush
For The Unutterable, Mark E. Smith settled in with the (mostly) new lineup that debuted on 1999's The Marshall Suite and recorded yet another gorgeous, rambunctious, only occasionally scrutable masterpiece. Though it's not overly chocked with new ideas (especially for those already well-versed in the Fall canon), The Unutterable benefits from excellent songwriting and the crisp production of soundman extraordinaire Grant Showbiz, on loan from Billy Bragg. The far-too-short opener "Cyber Insekt" immediately launches the listener into a dense, chaotic soundworld that's only amplified throughout the album. The heavy rockabilly guitars and pummeling drums heard on The Marshall Suite are practically overwhelmed by the rich variety (and quantity) of synthesizer effects accompanying most tracks. And whereas most Fall albums have little explicit humor (though much implicit in the lyrics), Smith even sounds downright pleasant on the hilarious technology send-up (and Charles Bukowski tribute) "Dr. Bucks' Letter," laughing through a few of his lines over a heavily distorted bassline that's closer to percussion than harmony. The brief track "Octo Realm" is also fun (each of the bandmates takes turns introducing different characters in odd voices), though it prefaces a hazy, heat-stroked rant named "Ketamine Sun" (one that definitely earns its title). Despite a few tracks whose blueprints have been heard on countless Fall LPs in the past (just listen to the jaunty garage stomp "Hot Runes"), and a dangerously wizened-sounding Mark E. Smith on several tracks, The Unutterable is another excellent work from a band that, by all rights, could've burned out before some of their youngest present-day fans were even born.
Mark Prindle Review:
The Unutterable - Cog Sinister/Eagle 2000.
8 out of 10
STUDIO ALBUM #21 - One of the key rules of music journalism is that one should become extremely familiar with the work he or she is reviewing before beginning his critique, perhaps listening to it several times on several different occasions, and ruminating on how the musical work fits into the artist's catalogue as well as the entire background dialogue of popular music.
Well fuck that - I can't remember when Rich Bunnell's deadlline is for getting new reviews in, and I want to make sure that this review makes it on the page in the next couple of days, so I'm writing my lousy review after only one listen. One listen that was alternately exciting, depressing, exhilerating, boring, mindblowing, pathetic, hilarious and shitty.
See, the problem with Mark E. Smith (aside from the various drug addictions and uncontrollable misanthropy) is that he's EXTREMELY self-indulgent. Usually this works to the band's (and fan's) advantage because Mark enjoys good music (high-NRG techno, catchy guitar rock and good old '60s style garage rock) - HOWEVER, he also fancies himself an avant-garde experimentalist and poet. When he COMBINES these two urges, wonderful things happen. You dance around the room, bang your head and reel with wonder at the brilliant mass of weird noises hitting you in the brain (check out Levitate for the best example of this). However, when he separates these two facets to his self-love, you either get straightahead catchy music (Frenz Experiment, Shiftwork -- you know, all those Fall albums that the whole world hates except me) or irritating, seemingly pointless shitnoise and word poop (which is why his solo album The Post-Nearly Man doesn't get a whole lot of listens roundabouts my homestead).
Which brings us to The Unutterable. Most of the record is fucking fantastic -- exactly what I mentioned in the last paragraph -- catchy, simple, little '60s garage-pop influenced riffs smashed right on top of modern electronica-ish dance beats (i know "electronica" isn't the right word, but I don't know enough about the genre to tell you by name what it is -- "jungle"? "drum and bass"? "ragtime"?) with Nader-style ("liberal"! Get it??? FUCK YOU!!!!) amounts of ugly, indescribably tuneless synth noise wafting to and fro between the speakers. That's the good side!
The bad side is that, just like on The Light User Syndrome, it seems like 3/4 of the way into the record, Mark just started fucking around, with no thought as to how the results might sound. "Octo Realm" and "Unutterable" are that lo-fi poetry crap he's prone to subject his fans to, but that's okay because those tracks are SHORT. The real problem arrives with the last three tracks, which effectively leave a really, really, REALLY awful taste in my mouth every time I listen to it (all ONE time so far!). The first of these three tracks, "Midwatch 1953," is really interesting in theory -- it appears to be three different songs played at the same time; you can choose to listen to whichever melody you want. Neat idea? Yes, it really is! For about three minutes! Then it keeps going! For another three minutes! Then there's "Devolute," which is a 5-minute bunch of echoey synth noises with Mark spouting off two different speakerfulls of shit with no real start or finish that I can see. And finally "Das Katerer." Which is "Free Range" with different lyrics.
I realize that sounded negative -- but honestly eleven of the first twelve tracks are fantastic!!! And, like I said, "Midwatch 1953" starts cool as hell - it just drags on way too long.
About the rest of the album, a bit more I should say. Great energy. Really neat synth noises and terrific variations on the guitar styles -- much more than you might have heard from Mr. Scanlon or Ms. Brix. This dude alternates between 60s Count Five-style garage rock, 70s Dead Boys-style punk rock, 50s/70s Crampsish rockabilly, 80s Sonic Youth-style repetition and even twangy Johnny Cashish country-western hoobajoob and Johnny Hashish moody harmonics in the same song! (check out "Dr. Bucks' Letter" - nice, huh? You expect to see cowboys sitting around a fire shooting peyote mescaline into their veins, don't you?).
Final conclusion -- I really like the album, but I'd downright LOVE it if Mark would stick to bringing us all that great music in his head, instead of shitting out his worst indulgences onto tape and making us sit through it (well, he doesn't physically come to our house and hold a brass knuckle to our head -- but he should!), as if it deserved to be part of the same CD that contains such instant classics as "Cyber Insekt," "Way Round" and the fucking HILARIOUS "Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes". 8.
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| Cover 1 |
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| Cover 2 |
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| Cover 3 |
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| Cover 4 |
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| Cover 5 |
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| Cover 6 |
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| Cover 7 |
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| Cover 8 |
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| Cover 9 |
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