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After many years of experience and a discography that's certainly not slim, Clutch returns with the new "From Beale Street To Oblivion", and finally with a distribution that graces even Italy: let's say it with extreme satisfaction, it was about time that some asshole, broke-ass son of a bitch recognized the talent of these 4 rockers (sorry for the French).
But, unfortunately, they're not the first nor will they be the last to not receive the due/appropriate attention from critics and the public: they are those rare cases, like Unida (a great band by John Garcia, with two albums to their name) that emerge, in light of current rock, as anachronistic groups because of their background that magically sinks its roots in the past, indifferent to trends or the current sounds rock has undertaken.
Speaking of Unida, I strongly recommend you recover the unreleased album as soon as possible (you can find it under the name "unreleased album"), which was supposed to be released by American Recordings but in the end, due to legal reasons, remained frozen (let's hope not forever). A mortal sin, considering the album is one of the finest cases of old-school hard-rock that have come out in recent years, even produced by Rick Rubin (who had sensed the enormous potential of the band) where every single song is full of emotion and passion, with Garcia's voice often of a moving beauty.
An album of truly epic proportions, but it's simply the cruel destiny reserved by today's market for bands like these, and where the cause of this is not so much a problem of revivalism, but is rather to be found in the current trend that revivalism has assumed, mainly driven by the image imposed by record companies on bands, who if they want to achieve easy and immediate commercial success, cannot refrain from not caring about it.
For Clutch (or Unida), it can’t even be called a revival (or resurrection) operation, Clutch simply has what they play in their blood.
Influenced by the musical tradition and the context they live in, they didn't appear out of nowhere with a focus on revivalism: what they play now is the result of many years of forging their style, which is now well-defined, mature, and personal.
This maturity, achieved long ago, in this album concerns especially the songwriting, where there is no hesitation and in the vocal lines, which are as always superb, catchy, and even better than before, if possible. Indeed, the voice confirms to be the real added value, if not the core of Clutch, but on the contrary this time it seems the instrumental part wasn't spent too much, limiting itself somewhat to doing the minimum compared to the past, avoiding experimenting with some new solutions (except for some "southern" episodes): sometimes the song structures indeed have a perhaps some "traditional" rock'n'roll form and lack that unpredictability, madness, and creativity that have always distinguished Clutch.
Their greatest ability has not been a sterile re-proposal of vintage hard-rock, but that of crossoverizing the genre in a completely personal manner, which differentiated them from all other bands in the melting pot.
Returning to the album, it doesn’t mean it's a mediocre album, only that the expectation was greater considering the last two amazing albums.
This new one indeed continues the theme started with the previous one, namely a hammond organ present massively that enriches every song with its touch, allowing an adorable seventies feeling to breathe throughout the album.
The role of the hammond untangles in following step by step the riffs, sometimes dueting with them or simply as background to enrich the overall sound.
The typical Clutch sound therefore remains untouched and without particular noteworthy novelties, although with a less clean production than the previous ones by Joe Barresi (already with Kyuss, Tool, QOTSA, Melvins).
One of the songs that stands out immediately is certainly "White's Ferry", with a mid-slow tempo, weary and evocative, like a "return journey": its tones are calmer than usual, but it regains power in the chorus, and with an almost psych finale (a song quite unusual for Clutch, to be honest, which stands apart from their typical standards).
Another song that stands out immediately compared to the others is the following "Electric Worry", a rousing ZZ Top style boogie rock reinterpreted by Honky (an exceptional but almost unknown underground band), where the southern roots of the band emerge complete with harmonica and irresistible vocals: bluesy-rock tradition and much groove.
But it is not the only piece on the album with a southern imprint, indeed there is also "Black Umbrella", another song that makes it clear how much the group was influenced by the drummer's experience behind the skins on the last Five Horse Johnson album, bringing a breath of confederate spirit into Clutch.
There is no use going over the remaining tracks too much, there are no better or worse ones because everyone will find in any case their favorite groove, between an epic "Rapture of Riddley Walker", a "When Vegans Attack" (a crossover between rock/blues with splendid country incursions), the irresistible chorus of "Power Player", a reflective "White's Ferry" or an exhilarating and hyper-groovy "Opossum Minister" (indeed yes, these last two are my current favorites). The warm and enveloping tones of the organ do nothing but paint red light scenarios, and I’m surprised that Clutch haven't yet given "John Holmes Strikes Back" as a song title, but considering titles like "Opossum Minister" or "When Vegans Attack", then there are very good probabilities for the future.
This is porno-groove, friends, and after an album like this I'm bored even just hearing about a band like Wolfmother which, after only one album, is already extolled, or even hailed by various people (unfortunately not just from the young), as the Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath of 2000.
Of 2000? I would say straight as the originals of the '70s, since this is a group devoid of any personality, that simply exploits (plagiarizes?) the classics because it sensed the right moment when a revivalist musical proposal of the sort could garner positive feedback.
It naturally leads one to bring up for the billionth time the usual MTV, a vehicle of the spread of all kinds of polished musical trash like a tramp and packaged just right for the average teenager who, deprived of any mental autonomy, swallows various types and extraction of crap like Velvet Revolver, The White Stripes, Evanescence, Lacuna Culo, Trivium, Good Charlotte, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, and indeed Wolfmother, as if they were gold.
But holy mother, do you really want your children to grow up with this kind of insult to music?
I mean, do you want to introduce to these poor kids today what rock is with throwaway bands that stand out between actors, posers, and jugglers, which is the policy MTV is founded on?
Do you really want to leave your children in the hands of a nanny like the White Stripes?
I don't even want to know where you guys are going to sleep, it gives me the chills, it gives me the chills... (cit.)
Clutch can be trusted, you can be assured, they know hard rock like the back of their hand and they don't try to screw you over: they are 4 ordinary American workers who bust their asses in more or less ordinary jobs, and who then at the end of the day only have the need to relieve stress by playing in the most sincere way possible (but with uncommon class). Making this music, it's hard to think about getting rich, and even though they are now professionals, their role is to keep you company with a healthy, honest, and unpretentious dose of "From Beale Street To Oblivion".
A band and an album to take to bed with you as they are well versed in the rules of transport, and the next morning you will still find them next to you, because they are not a slut.
If you have a physiological need for groove and genuine spirit, ask for no one else but Clutch: rest assured they have enough in tons to warm your numbed souls.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Power Player (03:04)
Diplomatically, emphatically deny
any prior knowledge shape or kind.
You don't know nothing about a Russian hooker.
Some bloke broke in and straight up took her.
Western European journalists, devious little monkeys,
They're bloody relentless.
Call the consulate, and burn the evidence,
Don't speak another word, just burn the evidence.
I'm not giving you attitude, I just want another drink.
I don't care about the altitude, I just want another drink.
Get your hands off me, you don't know who I am.
I'm a power player, I'm a power player.
Get your hands off me, you don't know who I am.
I'm a power player, I'm a power player.
You can always tell the terrorist by his cologne and the watch on his wrist.
It says I'm the type of man that can kick off anywhere, kick off anywhere.
I'm not giving you attitude, I just want another drink.
I don't care about the altitude, I just want another drink.
Movers, shakers, money makers, deal breakers, and dogs,
In this game you've got to lose a couple of your pawns.
I'm not giving you attitude, I just want another drink.
I don't care about the altitude, I just want another drink.
Movers, shakers, money makers, deal breakers, and dogs,
In this game you've got to lose a couple of your pawns.
03 The Devil & Me (03:55)
The devil and me had a falling out.
Violation of contract beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Wherever he go, whomever he meet.
He got to cross my house on the other side of the street.
And you know that's the truth. Now here's the part that the devil sings while he's
hanging his head in a hard rain:
Where I'm headed, I don't know.
Down this path, we all go.
Grace and luck, blood from stone.
Got nowhere to call my home.
What comes around goes around three-fold or more.
Now you can't get off of that killing floor.
I'm going back to Tennessee, back where I come from.
Gonna head back to Beale Street, Beale Street and Oblivion.
The devil and me, bad blood and beef.
An undisciplined child, a liar and a thief.
It's a low down shame, we were the best of friends.
But I suppose all good things got to come to an end.
What comes around goes around three-fold or more.
Now you can't get off of that killing floor.
I'm going back to Tennessee, back where I come from.
Gonna head back to Beale Street, Beale Street and Oblivion.
I'm going back to Tennessee, back where I come from.
Gonna head back to Beale Street, Beale Street and Oblivion.
Gotta get off of that killing floor.
04 White's Ferry (05:22)
Only the dirt I do believe.
As memory vanishes among the leaves.
Wizard of tickets is always glad to charge a pilgrim's fare.
Jubilee's generally early. Let's take the country air.
Mistreating granite, limestone, and clay. It's a shameful soil.
But all grows well on the floodplain tract if you can afford the toil.
Cradled in ivy, we will allow
the moss to prosper upon our brows.
Boxer rebellion, the Holy Child. They all pay their rent.
But none together can testify to rhythm of a road well bent.
Saddles and zip codes, passports and gates, the Jones' keep.
In August the water is trickling, in April it's furious deep.
Wizard of tickets is always glad to charge a pilgrim's fare.
Jubilee's generally early. Let's take the country air.
Mistreating granite, limestone, and clay. It's a shameful soil.
But all grows well on the floodplain tract if you can afford the toil.
Only the dirt I do believe.
Divinity vanishes among the leaves.
05 Child of the City (03:52)
Child of the city, Mother of the Earth
Baptism by firefly, pinch a parson’s purse.
Queen of Cups the Joker’s blade is old and dull.
Child of the City
Yet it slices us with the nicest miracles.
Babe in the Wilderness, Father of Creation,
Spinning of the wind, the gathering of nations.
Professor on the Toadstool convene your class.
Babe in the wilderness.
In absentia, please show your hands.
And your feet. Are you touched by a beast?
Wash yourself, live your life. Take the Earth as your wife.
False idol raiser, play the town.
Count up your blessings and melt it down.
Immortal Dominator. Governor of the World.
Sic semper tyrannis. The Fisher and the Pearl.
The bearer of this letter is a charlatan.
Immortal Dominator.
In absentia, please show your hands and your feet
And your feet. Are you touched by a beast?
Wash yourself, live your life. Take the Earth as your wife.
False idol raiser, play the town.
Count up your blessings and melt it down.
All your money now, kid. All your money now, kid.
All your money now, kid. All your money.
06 Electric Worry (05:14)
Well you made me weep and you made me moan
When you caused me to leave, child, my happy home.
But someday, baby, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore.
I get satisfaction everywhere I go.
Where I lay my head - that's where I call home.
Whether barren pines, or the mission stare,
Take tomorrow's collar and give 'em back the glare.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos.
Bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos.
You told everybody in the neighborhood
what a dirty mistreater. That I was no good.
But someday, baby, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore.
Doctor or lawyer, I'll never be.
Life of a drifter - only life for me,
You can have your riches, all the gold you saved.
Cause' ain't room for one thing in everybody's grave.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos!
Bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos!
If I had money, like Henry Ford,
Lord, I'd have me a woman, yeah on every road.
But Someday, baby, you ain't gonna worry my life any more.
Invocation of the dummies, requiem for a head,
Cash in at the corner, piles of street cred.
I get satisfaction everywhere I go.
One day baby you'll worry me no more.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos!
Bang, bang, bang! Vamanos, vamanos!
07 One Eye Dollar (01:24)
I been working, one eye dollar, by and by, Lord, by and by.
I got the plans to the Oval office, by and by, Lord, by and by.
In the inner chambers of the president
You will find no crosses only pentagrams.
1600, all the way! That's right brother, all the way!
1600, today's our day!
I been working, one eye dollar, by and by, Lord, by and by.
I got the plans in my front pocket, by and by, Lord, by and by.
I been working like a pack mule every day.
And to think that some of it ends up that way.
1600, all the way! That's right brother, all the way!
1600, today's our day!
08 Rapture of Riddley Walker (04:08)
Went to the doctor
to see what could be given
he said "sorry son, you got to do your own livin'"
Went to the pastor
to hear what he would say
he said "sorry son, come back later. Sometime after judgement day."
There is no safe way out of here
No passage below the dungeon
No mothership will save you
So goes the rapture of Riddley Walker
Church yard was empty
School yard was bare
wind in the streets
wind in the air
pockets of diamonds
and nothing to buy
scream out hello
and get no reply
Victims of zombies
convene in the park
for any man with dignity
makes an easy mark
heaven is a long ways away
heaven is a long long long long ways away
There is no safe way out of here
No passage below the dungeon
No mothership will save you
The rapture of Riddley Walker
How many-cools of Addom?
Party cools of stone?
Hart of the wood shatter.
Eusa roam.
Drop-John been climbing on Riddley’s back.
Follow the power, a natural fact.
Orfing & Ardship, hardship is plain.
Hardly Goodparley is ever the same.
Shadows and phantom’s convene in the snow.
Among the low whispers are voices you know.
Heaven is a long ways away. Heaven is a long, long, long, long ways away.
There is no safe way out of here
No passage below the dungeon
No mothership will save you
The rapture of Riddley Walker
How many-cools of Addom?
Party cools of stone?
Hart of the wood shatter.
Eusa roam.
09 When Vegans Attack (04:54)
How's that hardcore fanzine? Still take the piss?
Y and T got records, demos on cassette.
Summer of the seven inch. Too cool for school.
Manifestoes at Kinko's, pinko commies play no fools.
I feel the spirit moving over me.
There are clouds beneath my feet.
When vegans attack on ten speed bikes.
Tattoos with meaning, American Spirit Lights.
It's hard to smoke 'em when you got to be runnin'
Congressional and D.C.P.D.
Lafayette Park undercovers,
The saddest sight you ever see, ever see.
Tear gas electric! You know I can't quit this riot.
Strictly professional insurrectionist kid, and I can't deny it.
I feel the spirit moving over me.
There are clouds beneath my feet.
When vegans attack on ten speed bikes.
Tattoos with meaning, American Spirit Lights .
Freshmen in fatigues. You know he's fighting for his right.
Copious note taker. American Spirit Lights.
I feel the spirit moving over me.
I feel the spirit moving over me.
There are clouds beneath my feet.
When vegans attack on ten speed bikes.
Tattoos with meaning, American Spirit Lights .
Freshmen in fatigues. You know he's fighting for his right.
Copious note taker. American Spirit Lights.
10 Opossum Minister (04:26)
I met a lady down in Prathertown, two rocking chairs.
She said take a seat boy and I'll treat you fair.
Snake charmers cold infidels, get a running start.
Pick up the pieces in the graveyard and unbury my heart.
The wolf howls at midnight, the rooster at the dawn
Opossum minister where you been so long?
Montgomery Village kids, you just look like the type.
You sure you want to know the mysteries? You're but a trifling height.
Families in their den, staring at the box
Opossum minister hen done killed the fox.
Eyes like clouds know you stare.
Count the minutes by the rocking of chairs.
Prathertown unincorporated,
May you stay far unrelated to the wicked ways of Montgomery Village.
There's a darkness deep in their eyes, as if the sun don't rise.
Those poor afflicted people of Montgomery Village
Fake farmers, straight jezebels, you know the score.
Pick up the pieces in the graveyard and leave 'em at the door.
The master-plan unfolds, silent sinister
Is there any hope left Opossum Minister?
Eyes like clouds know you stare.
Count the minutes by the rocking of chairs.
Prathertown unincorporated,
May you stay far unrelated to the wicked ways of Montgomery Village.
There's a darkness deep in their eyes, as if the sun don't rise.
Those poor afflicted people of Montgomery Village
Prathertown unincorporated,
May you stay far unrelated to the wicked ways of Montgomery Village.
There's a darkness deep in their eyes, as if the sun don't rise.
Those poor afflicted people of Montgomery Village
11 Black Umbrella (04:04)
Money Mike, Pistol Pete
both went running down the street.
Police and snitches, lover's lane.
Hot summer. Hot rain.
Hit the bricks.
The girl got her tricks.
She's the Mississippi terror,
and there's none the fairer.
O.T.B. was jammed.
Paper changing hands.
Nothing left but smoke and cellar
And a Woman with a black umbrella.
Little Lewis lost his shit.
10 to 1, couldn't collect.
Fish Head Phil, Itchy Ike…
say they never got home that night.
Shake the breaker.
That girl ain't no money maker.
She's come to cook all the books,
and flaunt her good looks.
O.T.B. was jammed.
Paper changing hands.
Nothing left but smoke and cellar.
And a Woman with a black umbrella.
12 Mr. Shiny Cadillackness (05:10)
Has your child completed his or her suspicious activity booklet?
Don’t let this summer go to waste.
The enemy is preparing their children are you?
Time to show them who’s boss.
Moloch demands fresh blood to maintain the appetite of his mechanical heart.
Will you sacrifice your first born like Abraham would his Isaac?
Will you sacrifice your first born like Abraham would his Isaac?
Tell me, why Dick Cheney underneath my bed?
Hell no that ain’t cool!
Tendin’ to the lips of a shrunken head.
No sir, that ain’t cool.
Come on now take one for the team.
Stick it to the man, stick it to the man.
Raise the dagger high above Isaac
and drive down as hard as you can.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
Stand fast, upset the system, so many tomorrows to sell.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
Stand fast, upset the system, so many tomorrows to sell.
Mother, mother, don’t want to work on the farm no more.
Father, father, don’t want to wear your uniform.
Mary, Mary, keep me safe and comforted.
Father, father, raise that dagger above your head.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
All goes exactly as planned so many tomorrows to sell.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
Stand fast, upset the system, so many tomorrows to sell.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
All goes exactly as planned so many tomorrows to sell.
Shiny Master Caddylackness, haloes suit you well.
Stand fast, upset the system, so many tomorrows to sell.
All you ready to prove your love to the Lord?
I said are you willing to prove your love to the Lord?
As Abraham handed down his first born on a stone.
Do you wonder what is right and what is wrong?
Shiny Master Caddylackness
Shiny Master Caddylackness
Shiny Master Caddylackness
Shiny Master Caddylackness
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