I can't say I agree with the fact that Magazine, or numerous other bands that could fit in here, aren't here to vote for, but then it's not my thread.

The Fall gets my vote for now.

Though I voted for PiL because they were my introduction to this wonderful period of music, I have been on one massive Fall kick recently. It's literally all I am listening to. That and Neil Young.

I got Live At The Witch Trials, Grotesque (After the Gramme), and Hex Enduction Hour and all three of them are absolutely awesome and great. Especially Live At The Witch Trials, but that's probably because that's the only one I have on CD at the moment.

Short impressions of them so far -

Live at the Witch Trials: Frightened is absolute genius. So damn catchy. So are Rebellious Jukebox, No Xmas for John Quays, Mother-Sister, Two Steps Back, Bingo Master's Break-out...you know. So good. I love that low-budget carnival electric piano and weirdly shiny guitar. Such a unique sound.

Grotesque: Awful production, a lot harder to get into, but I can tell this is good stuff. The carnival sound on Witch Trials has gotten ditched, but there's a strangely pronounced rockabilly influence here which is really cool. and the really experimental stuff like "C 'n'C-S Mithering" is fascinating. it's sinking in.

Hex Enduction: Goddamn this thing is long. way better produced than Grotesque. the two drummer thing is often great, but sometimes it makes things sound sloppy..."And This Day" is really horrible on first listen. "Hip Priest" obviously rules (I'd heard it before this), but "The Classical" and "Who Makes The Nazis?" are fantastic too. this one also needs to sink in a bit.

The best Fall song ever is Kicker Conspiracy.
It's a fact.
Look it up ...in the place one looks up that sort of thing.

"In the marble halls of the charm schools - high flair...is punished (uh)"

"FANS! ! ! "Remember, you are abroad!
Remember the police are rough!
Remember the unemployed!
Remember my expense account!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG !!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG!!!
AAAAAANNNNDDD HIS GROTTYSPAWN! ! ! !"

I'm swooning just singing this in my head.
Pure genius, M.E.S.

-A

alex maiolo wrote:The best Fall song ever is Kicker Conspiracy.
It's a fact.
Look it up ...in the place one looks up that sort of thing.

"In the marble halls of the charm schools - high flair...is punished (uh)"

"FANS! ! ! "Remember, you are abroad!
Remember the police are rough!
Remember the unemployed!
Remember my expense account!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG !!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG!!!
AAAAAANNNNDDD HIS GROTTYSPAWN! ! ! !"

I'm swooning just singing this in my head.
Pure genius, M.E.S.

-A

What album is this from?

If a band was playing gigs and/or recording albums in 1977, is it post-punk?

That disqualifies The Fall, Joy Division, Wire, and I don't know the history of The Pop Group.

But putting that aside, for 1977-1980 Wire is the winner, by a bit over Joy Division. But the Fall really hit its stride with the string of albums from Grotesque to Perverted, and despite Wire's surprisingly good current incarnation, the Fall wins overall.

The first few records of all these bands are great, but I have to say, I have consistently enjoyed the numerous records Wire have put out, as a whole, more than any of the other bands listed. Nothing, or at least very little in their catalog, is unlistenable.

A few of the bands, like JD and the Pop Group, ended too soon, although I do like everything they recorded. I never liked JD's followup, New Order. I do like some of the Mark Stewart material after the Pop Group folded.

Gang of Four, I really like only the first two albums, and the 2nd is not anywhere near as good as "Entertainment!"

PIL, same thing, first two albums are great, but then I kind of lost interest.

The Fall, a lot of brilliant material, but I'm not well-versed in the later output.

I go with Wire. Especially since I find "Send" to be every bit as good as their older material.

SecondEdition wrote:

alex maiolo wrote:The best Fall song ever is Kicker Conspiracy.
It's a fact.
Look it up ...in the place one looks up that sort of thing.

"In the marble halls of the charm schools - high flair...is punished (uh)"

"FANS! ! ! "Remember, you are abroad!
Remember the police are rough!
Remember the unemployed!
Remember my expense account!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG !!
HOT DOGS AND SEAT FOR MR. HOGG!!!
AAAAAANNNNDDD HIS GROTTYSPAWN! ! ! !"

I'm swooning just singing this in my head.
Pure genius, M.E.S.

-A

What album is this from?

This tells me you don't have 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong - sort of a greatest hits. It's on Perverted By Language, which is worth getting, but just buy 50,000 so you can have a solid collection. Then you can zero in on the records that contain the songs you like the most from this collection.
Half of it is crap, but the un-crap songs are well worth the price of admission.

-A

i can't believe there are that many people who think the best post punk band from the uk isn't wire.

it is.

the fall and the pop group are tedious. i'm sorry you love them so much.

joy division's albums are also mostly boring. rarely rocking, mostly boring. and also, depressing.

p.i.l. put out three OK albums.

gang of four has one poorly produced album of great songs and one or two adequately produced albums of OK songs.

wire put out an ok punk rock album. a fantastic post punk album. and then some weird ass fucking album that made joy division look like idiots.

all of them have brilliant songs, brilliant arranging, brilliant track orders. then almost three decades later instead of the "we're reuniting to play the same old shit" they put out absolutely badass noisy, rocking, awesome fucking albums that made the current contenders for the crown look like chumps.

it's wire. it's obviously wire. i'm sorry you're too stupid to notice.

Probably Wire, but I'm leaning more and more towards PiL. Metal Box gets all the attention and is, yes, great, but alone doesn't merit them being the very best. So I listened to First Issue and The Flowers of Romance again. As I suspected, they're both awesome, if flawed ("Track 8", "Religion II", and "The Flowers Of Romance" are all GREAT). And I can listen to listen to them and forget that Lydon ever recorded Album. Commercial Zone is spotty, but has some highlights, most of which come from Keith Levine.

Alright, I figured it out. Here's the breakdown. For my tastes anyway.

PiL with Keith Levine is a CLOSE second to Wire's first three albums. Levine's PiL beats late '80s Wire, who beat late '80s Fall. Early Gang Of Four beats early Fall by a small margin. Post-2000 Wire beats post-2000 Go4, Fall, and whatever Keith Levine is doing. Joy Division beats 'em all with Unknown Pleasures. Closer was fine too.