Live: Uurop VIII-XII/Places in Sun & Winter, Son

Unknown Contributor Roles: Peter Greenway; Keiron Melling; Dave Spurr; Mark E. Smith ; Elena Poulou.
After at least 30 studio albums and nearly 40 years into one of the most idiosyncratic careers in British music, it's tempting to think Mark E. Smith might be mellowing just a bit, as the year 2014 finds him working with the same lineup of the Fall for a whole six years, making this the most stable lineup the band has ever had. On Live: Uurop VIII-XII/Places in Sun & Winter, Son, a 12-track set recorded at a number of Fall gigs staged between 2008 and 2012, Smith still sounds like one of the more inspired lunatics in U.K. rock, while his band is capable of delivering a caustic blast of guitar-fueled rock, just as expected (with keyboards on hand to give the music additional curious textures). Boasting audio that suggests you're standing in the middle of a crowded club, Pete Greenway's guitars and Eleni Poulou's keys sound suitably tough, Dave Spurr's bass comes off thick and ominous, and Keiron Melling's drums are fierce and imaginative. And while the band sounds furious on numbers like "Sir William Way," "Reformation," and "Wolf Kidult Man," other tunes sound suitable swampy, and two studio tracks are included for good measure ("Auto [2014] Chip Replace" and "Amorator"). ~ Mark Deming