Debate and controversy: what do they mean nowadays? We are told that all sorts of things are controversial. Apparently, there's a debate going on about evolution and global warming and MRSA. This is news to people who actually know anything about these subjects. Pity the poor experts who thought they'd got everything worked out, only for some bloke propping up the pub bar to let the world know that he wasn't satisfied with their answers, and that a proper debate needed to take place. Everywhere. As loud as possible.
All complete bollocks, of course. But rely on Doklands to find a subject worthy of proper debate, a question which has never been properly answered: which is better, Hip Priest or Big New Prinz. You should already know Hip Priest. It's one of The Fall's classic tracks, an aching, groaning grind of sarcasm and bile, a thudding minimal drone that erupts into cacophonous life just when you least expect it. It's grand. Just one problem with it: the production is lousy. So lousy that I can't bring myself to share the standard version, so here's the far superior and even longer Peel session recording. Big New Prinz was the highlight of the band's less than overwhelming I Am Kurious Oranj album, a soundtrack to a ballet about William of Orange. It takes the essence of Hip Priest and re-imagines it as something far more like rock music: punchy, compact and with an absolutely killer riff. It's total dynamite. It might lack the original's bite, but makes up for that with brevity and drive.
Answers below, please.
The Fall - Hip Priest
(alternate download)
The Fall - Big New Prinz
(alternate download)
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- Dok (
cyberinsekt) wrote,