After a winning streak that stretched clear through the last half of the '90s, Are You Are Missing Winner represents a rare misstep for the mighty Fall. Mark E. Smith sounds curiously lackluster on this ten-track set; the accompaniment, usually unhinged, is much more pedestrian than on late masterpieces like The Marshall Suite and The Unutterable. The real problem, however, is the production and engineering; with a few shining exceptions, the sound is soft and muddy, whereas a great Fall LP continually pushes the red line. One of the bare few highlights is "My Ex-Classmates' Kids," with Smith summoning some much-needed venom and the band sounding a bit more inspired. (It comes complete with a hilarious aside from Smith at the end: "Up your nose! Aftershave! Like little twigs! Twigs.") A promising cover of the obscure Motown nugget "Gotta See Jane" (originally by R. Dean Taylor) turns out to be a back-and-forth rockabilly snorefest, and the "avant" (or just difficult) piece "Ibis-Afro Man" is pretty difficult to take as well -- understandably, it all breaks down when Smith begins dueting with what sounds like an enraged monkey, then starts back up again with five minutes of a completely different song, recorded live. Frustrating, bizarre, confusing (in a bad way), and pasted together with the same haphazardness of the innumerable cut-rate albums that constantly aggravate Fall collectors and fans. ~ John Bush