Mark E. Smith & Ed Blaney-Westhill Community Centre, Brighton (14/02/09)

If you pegged this side-project as an inebriated and half-assed self-indulgence, your arrow could not have landed farther from the tree. While the studio recordings may display some of the aforementioned qualities, this intimate live document is nothing short of astonishing. Capturing Smith—for the first time in his career—in a relaxed acoustic setting before a handful of acolytes, he manages to steer the proceedings straight into a thicket of avant freak fringe weirdness, balancing some of his finest pure singing to date with toy keyboard and xylophone (!) overlays on the Blaney pieces that wholly recontextualize the material. Blaney’s old school melodicism is an ideal sauce for the main course of Smith’s absurdist utterances, and the pervasive d.i.y. ethos on display transforms “Real Good Time Together” into one of the few Velvets covers that avoids mimicking the sound but instead manages to net the esprit du corps of the original. But the real highlight here is “Mettle Claw,” as bleak and harrowing a view of contemporary English society as “New Puritan,” and every inch that songs equal. The recording on offer here is also a superb one. A soundboard of sorts from the Consortium, this is crisp, clear, with virtually zero audience noise.

Tracklisting:

01 The Train

02 Mettle Claw

03 When We Were Young

04 Real Good Time Together

05 No Retreat

06 Hustle (with MES singing lyrics to “Transfusion”)

07 Durasti

08 Luddite

09 Transfusion

10 My Ex-Classmate’s Kids

THE FALL- OPERATION DESTRUCT (cdr, unreleased, 2009, UK)

Having spent the bulk of 2008 in the post-LP doldrums, with a scattered series of somewhat airless, claustrophobic gigs, the new Fall material that emerged in the first half of ’09 was like a jolt to the nervous system. Boxed-in has always been a position of strength for Mark E. Smith, and the lineup of Greenway-Melling-Spurr (now two years on) finally began to explore virgin territory. Veering from the college rock/acid glaze of the last half-decade, they inched away from traditional song structure towards a more post-modern remit, utilizing Greenway’s effects-rich guitar (heard to superb effect here on the extended runout to “Latch Key Kid”) and pushing the avant electronics of Elena Poulou even further to the foreground. New songs are discovered within the riffs of the back catalogue, such as the stunning new version of “Strangetown” included here, that incorporates musical elements of “Wings.” Nothing exemplifies this fresh approach better than the lead track here, the cavalry-charge of “Cowboy George,” which tears up “Mountain Energie” and rearranges the pieces, turning a gentle tumble into an avalanche. Another gem is “Bury,” welding girl-pop stomp with one of Smith’s classic takes on British provincialism.

Tracklisting:

01 Cowboy George

02 Bury

03 Latch Key Kid

04 Strangetown

05 Funnel of Love

06 Carry Bag Man

07 Chino Splashback

08 Jack the Ripper

09 Hot Cake

Thanks to the Consortium for the always superb unofficial live recordings.

Source gigs in comments

The Fall - Queen Mary's College, London (5 February 1981)

For my first post, I chose this excellent soundboard recording from '81, once planned for release on Cog Sinister. In addition to material from the previous autumn's Grotesque LP, the gruppe also performs the forthcoming Slates mini-LP in its entirety. Notable as well for an early version of Jawbone & The Air Rifle, which would not be released on vinyl until over a year later. A sprawling, clattering, thrilling performance from a pre-Karl Burns lineup featuring Paul Hanley on drums. A far more worthy document than the officially released show from Glasgow later the same month.

Setlist:

Your Heart Out
Totally Wired
Leave the Capitol
An Older Lover
New Face in Hell
Middle Mass
C n C's Mithering > Crap Rap #19
Fiery Jack
Jawbone and the Air Rifle
Slates, Slags etc.
Fit and Working Again
Prole Art Threat
Impression of J. Temperance
The Container Drivers

lineup : Smith/Riley/Scanlon/S. Hanley/P. Hanley

Queen Mary's

THE FALL, GLITTERING BEACH (CDR, UNRELEASED, 1990, UK)

The re-addition of Martin Bramah to The Fall in mid-1989 meant the group's sound would subtly shift, with many of the aesthetics espoused by Bramah's own project The Blue Orchids reflected both in Fall vinyl product (now being issued by Phonogram) and in live performances from the period. Smith's "snap-together surrealism" was augmented by Bramah's thick, impasto slabs of lead guitar (a rarity for the group) and Marcia Schofield's synth-string orchestrations. At gigs, as an ensemble they were "post-punk neurodelica" given a veneer of bitter, contemporary pop. Also involved was Charlotte Bill, who added baroque oboe and flute ornamentation. Grittily brooding, unexpectedly labrynthine, and gleamingly commercial--thanks in no small measure to Smith's Velvety crooning--their full-length studio piece, "Extricate," was a rich though decidedly overground affair. These live tracks evince a decidedly heavier methodology, beginning with a blistering, pre-release "The Littlest Rebel." Elsewhere, the focus is on the considerable heap of quality non-LP material from this period, such as a brittle and queasy "Arms Control Poseur," featuring 70's cheeseburger guitar leads from Bramah, and a primordially oozing "Error Orror."

Tracklisting:

01 The Littlest Rebel

02 Butterflies 4 Brains

03 And Therein

04 Arms Control Poseur

05 Popcorn Double Feature

06 I'm Frank

07 Black Monk Theme Part 1

08 Zagreb

09 Bill Is Dead

10 British People In Hot Weather

11 Telephone Thing

12 Hilary

13 Error Orror

14 White Lightning

15 Sing! Harpy

THE FALL, EXTENSION CITY (CDR, UNRELEASED, 2007, UK)

Blasting into the stratosphere at full throttle, on the night of Mark E. Smith's fiftieth birthday, the "American lineup" of The Fall began a series of twenty dates across the UK to promote the kaleidoscopic and brilliant Reformation Post-TLC album. Creating a massive, swirling sound that incorporated huge washes of reverbed guitar, and a thick gauze of continuous bass fuzz, all marbled with spiky, avant minimal synth squalls from Elena Poulou and Tim Presley's pure, glistening higher-key leads, the performances reached a heady peak early on and never relented. This was a band that, simply put, understood how to make bracingly modern and compelling sounds, with each of the participants bringing a deft touch to the proceedings. Barbato's work is never less than astounding, with a fusillade of bass effects driving the ferocious acid groove, and occasional second keyboard adding warmth and complexity. McCord's drumming is pure genius, superbly employing the cymbals to signal propulsive shifts. Smith, as well, is engaged and inspired throughout, offering a fresh set of lyric motifs (the "victory roundabout," "Green/grey mountains"), his bent poetic recitations beaming quasar-like from beneath the furiously charged canopy. Half of the gigs are represented on this disc, and the quality never drops below the transcendent, from a slow-rising and definitive "Senior Twilight Stock Replacer," with its deft sense of momentum and suspense, to "Systematic Abuse" reshaped as spacerock, and an exhuberant, brainwarping "My Door." Also included are the one-off Bilston performance of "Wolve Kidult Man," featuring a stone heavy bass riff and unheard Smith lyric referencing the "Seattle Six," and a skewed, churning "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" incorporating a vocal drop-in from Beefheart's "Plastic Factory."

Tracklisting:

01. Senior Twilight Stock Replacer

02. Hungry Freaks, Daddy

03. Fall Sound

04. White Lightning

05. My Door Is Never

06. The Wright Stuff

07. Over! Over!

08. Wolve Kidult Man

09. Insult Song > The Bad Stuff

10. Systematic Abuse

11. Reformation

12. Just Step S'Ways

Source gigs in comments. Thanks to the Consortium for the magnificent audience recordings, and to Mike Cotgreave for the photograph.

This space is intended as a platform for music, writing and other ephemera related to Mark E. Smith and The Fall. The first offering should be up within the next few days. Contributions of uncirculated or unpublished material and comments are always welcome.