''Are You Are Missing Winner'' is the twenty-second album by English

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band the Fall, released in November 2001 on CD and in January 2002 as a vinyl picture disc.

Background and recording

Since the previous year's release of the critically acclaimed '' The Unutterable'', Fall front man

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

had replaced his entire band with a new line-up, a fact he acknowledges in a refrain in the album's opening track: "Not like the old one/We are the new Fall".Ham, Robert (2015)
Are You Are Missing Winner (2001)
, stereogum.com, 12 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2018 The group was short of money at the time, so the album was recorded very quickly in a cheap studio. Guitarist Ben Pritchard described the making of the album as a "very miserable experience ..There were rats running around. There was a weightlifter's gymnasium above us, you'd be recording a take and suddenly you'd hear BOOM dropping barbells and dumb-bells on the floor and you'd have to stop and start again". ''The Unutterable'''s flirtation with

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

is replaced on ''Are You Are Missing Winner'' by a more

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

-influenced sound.Life Mag: Albums: Latest Releases
, ''

Birmingham Evening Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

'', 16 November 2001. The album features a cover version of the northern soul track "Gotta See Jane", originally by

R. Dean Taylor Richard Dean Taylor (May 11, 1939 – January 7, 2022) was a Canadian musician, most notable as a singer, songwriter, and record producer for Motown during the 1960s and 1970s. According to Jason Ankeny, Taylor was "one of the most underra ...

(The Fall had previously achieved a minor hit in 1987 with a version of Taylor's " There's a Ghost in My House"). Also featured are versions of

Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...

's "

The Bourgeois Blues "The Bourgeois Blues" is a blues song by American folk and blues musician Lead Belly. It was written in June 1937 in response to the discrimination and segregation that he faced during a visit to Washington, D.C. to record for Alan Lomax. It rails ...

", as "Bourgeois Town", and of

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

's "African Man", as "Ibis-Afro Man", the latter being particularly experimental with different recordings of the track frequently playing simultaneously throughout. "Kick the Can" takes its title from an episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

''. The album's release was so rushed that the tracks weren't even mastered properly, resulting in wildly uneven audio levels and quality. It was remastered in 2006 for a

Castle Communications Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

reissue.

Reception

Critical reception to ''Are You Are Missing Winner'' was mixed, often focusing unfavourably on the contrast with ''The Unutterable''. Among the album's more negative reviews were that of John Bush of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, who suggests, "''Are You Are Missing Winner'' represents a rare misstep for the mighty Fall", and Andrew Cowen for ''

The Birmingham Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...

'', who called it "appallingly recorded throwaway kids stuff", and "scrappy even by their standards", going on to write "Mark E Smith sounds paralytic throughout, mumbling and ranting like some sorry old man. You can almost smell the wee." Edwin Pouncey, writing in ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'', is more upbeat: "…Smith scatterguns half remembered lyrics and conducts a whirlpool of splintered guitar, dishevelled drum and battered bass sounds with a Quasimodic Gene Vincent leather gloved fist that claws even deeper into the raw clay of innovation that birthed rock 'n' roll and continues to fuel Smith's unique vision".Pouncey, Edwin (Feb. 2002)
Review
''The Wire''.

Track listing

* Some CD copies have tracks 4 and 5 in the reverse order, despite the order being listed as above.

2006 edition

The album was remastered and expanded by

Castle Music Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

in 2006. The sound quality is less erratic than on the original edition, and 6 extra tracks are added as follows: ;Notes * "Rude (All the Time)" and "I Wake Up in the City" were previously issued on a 7" single by Flitwick Records in an edition of 500, all of which were given away to subscribers free of charge. "I Wake Up in the City", "New Formation Sermon" and "Distilled Mug Art" were included on '' 2G+2''. The live "My Ex-Classmates' Kids" was included on the single release of " Theme from Sparta F.C.#2". The final track was taken from the controversial "Rude (All the Time)" EP issued by

Voiceprint Voiceprint can refer to the spectrogram of a voice. More specific uses include: * VoicePrint, as of March 2012 now AMI-audio, Canada's broadcast reading service * Voiceprint Records, an English record label * The stored template used to identify a ...

in 2005 and is little more than a recorded discussion amongst the credited personnel.

Personnel

;The Fall *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, production * Jim Watts –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, guitar, vocals, production * Ben Pritchard –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, vocals * Spencer Birtwistle –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, production ;Additional personnel * Ed Blaney – guitar, vocals, production * Brian Fanning – guitar, vocals; bass on "Ey Bastardo" * Julia Nagle –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

on "Ibis-Afro Man" ''- uncredited; a section of this track is taken from a live recording from 23 April 2001 at the Mean Fiddler in London. Nagle was still in the band at this point and is clearly heard on the track''. * Steve Lloyd – engineering * Steve Lee – cover artwork

Notes

References

External links

Lyrics
{{Authority control 2001 albums The Fall (band) albums