Clutch: Pure Rock Fury

Clutch: Pure Rock Fury

2001

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. American Sleep  2. Pure Rock Fury  3. Open Up the Border  4. Careful with That Mic...  5. Red Horse Rainbow  6. The Great Outdoors!  7. Smoke Banshee  8. Frankenstein  9. Sinkemlow  10. Immortal  11. Brazenhead  12. Drink to the Dead  13. Spacegrass (live)



 Damn, this came out in 2001? I had this on cassette...Was I really still buying cassettes as recently as 2001? Wait,  2001 was, like,  12 years ago...That's not exactly recent, is it? Oh no!!!

I'M AN OLD MAN NOW!!!!!

Actually, I've come to that same conclusion about a hundred times on this blog, now, so screw it...(eats handful of old man candy...)



I don't have the cassette anymore...I have a nifty CD copy with a big "Promotional Use Only" blurb that says that I have to return it upon request...

Yea, right...I'd like to see you pry it from out of my cold dead hands!!!

If I didn't know better, I don't think I would have pegged this as a 2001 album...For a heavy metal recording that was released balls-deep in the Nu-Metal explosion, it walks away remarkably unscathed...It could be because Clutch's connection to "metal" was pretty tenuous at this point...By this point they more closely resemble Black Sabbath or ZZ Top than any back-wards baseball-cap wearing seven-stringer that was whining about his daddy or whatever...Now that I think about it "Careful With That Mic..." is rap-rock...I guess it could be viewed as an olive branch to the younger crowd, although I've always gotten a parody vibe from it...

I remember being slightly puzzled by it when it came out...In my mind this album has always seemed like a turning point in the Clutch discography...They seem to drop a lot of the high-concepts from their previous albums, the lyrics seem slightly less dense (even on "Careful With That Mic..." which is probably their most verbose song...) and there would never really be the WTF? moments(like "Spacegrass," "Tight Like That"  or "Gnome Enthusiast")  ever again...I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is where Clutch dropped all the nonsense and got down to the serious business of rocking...Although, I for one,  miss all the nonsense...

Still, it's all undeniably ass-kicking..."American Sleep" and the title track just punch you in the dang mouth right out of the gate, and I'm also a big, fat fan of "Immortal," which is just as heavy as bricks...

It's actually a partial cover of Moutain's "Baby, I'm Down"....

Who, in turn covered "Immortal"... 

...and the circle of rock is complete...

I also remember thinking at the time, what an odd choice it was to close the album with a live version of "Spacegrass." For one, it points out that there wasn't anything as great as "Spacegrass" on the album, and as much as I like "Drink to the Dead," it felt like a cover-up for "Pure Rock Fury's" lack of a momentous closer...But now I really like its inclusion...It reminds me of the old classic rock and metal albums you used to get where there was a random live version of "Sweet Leaf" or something tacked on at the end...

 I also think it made people aware of how good a live act Clutch was...Nowadays it's kind of taken for granted, but back then I don't think many people (outside of those who had been lucky enough to see the band firsthand) were hip to Clutch legendary live shows...

 ...although, it does kind of piss me off when they fade out what sounds like is going to be a killer live version of "Escape From the Prison Planet."

All in all, I like this album, while I don't think it's as innovative or as revelatory as what came before, it reassured me that Clutch would always be there, solid as a rock, unmoved by fickle trends...Forever devoted to the pursuit of real, pure rock...God bless 'em for that...

Unless of course they put out a polka album next week...

Let's Check out"Pure Polka Fury" by Clutch...Enjoy...

Thanksgiving Post

This is just a Thanksgiving Post...I won't be covering any specific records or anything today... I'm too busy weaving a giant net made of bacon...

 ...and eating prodigious amounts of pie...

But I'm not here to extol the virtues of gluttony (of which there are many), I'm here to involve you in a meaningful dialogue...Last night we were sitting around, pounding beers and knocking ourselves out trying to think of Thanksgiving songs (without actually googling the subject)..

..."Over the River and Through the Wood" is usually the song most strongly associated with the holiday, but I can't see myself getting blasted on cans on Thanksgiving eve and rocking out to this. So here's a list of all the Thanksgiving songs I know of...If you  can think of any others, feel free to chip in and I'll update the list...

"Wishbone" by Clutch was the first one we thought of, mainly because I just did the post for the "The Elephant Riders" album a coupla days ago...It mentions a few other holidays too, but Thanksgiving is the most prominent in my mind...Probably because I strongly associate the wishbone with the Thanksgiving turkey...But I guess we also always ate turkey at Christmas too, but I don't think everyone does...I think a lot of people eat a Christmas Ham or something...But I always associate ham with Easter and so on and so forth...

"The Best Thanksgiving Ever" by Dead Milkmen sprung to mind pretty quick, too...This was originally on the "If I Had a Gun" single, but I couldn't find the full version on youtube with "Bitchin' Camaro" tacked on at the end, and I'm too busy to make my own video this morning, like I said, bacon net...

Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song," was also a no-brainer...

1.  

Oh yea, and Ray Davies' Thanksgiving Day"...

And who can forget listening to all 18 minutes of "Alice's Restaurant" on the radio every Thanksgiving day? I don't know if radio stations still do this, but when I was a kid, they would invariably play this Arlo Guthrie track, and later in the day they'd usually toss in a few Christmas songs to get us pumped for the next holiday...

And that's about all the Thanksgiving songs I can think of! Well, it's about that time to dress like Pilgrims and go hang out at the K-Mart Eatery...Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Clutch: Jam Room

Clutch: Jam Room

1999

Megaforce Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Who Wants to Rock?  2. Big Fat Pig  3. Going to Market  4. One Eye Dollar  5. Raised by Horses  6. Bertha's Big Back Yard  7. Gnome Enthusiast  8. Swampt Boot Upside Down  9. Basket of Eggs  10. Release the Kraken  11. The Drifter  12. I Send Pictures  13. Sink 'Em Low  14. Super Duper  15. Release the Dub




I can remember when the internet was new (to me anyway, I'm sure all you rich kids had it for years before that, but fuck you...) and one day me and Josh went to the Clutch website, only to dicover that "The Elephant Riders" was just released...

We were psyched, but there was also mention of an album called "Jam Room," complete with song titles and lyrics...Wait...There were two new Clutch albums? We went to the record store and found "The Elephant Riders," no problem, but where was "Jam Room"?

I looked high and low for years and couldn't find it...Then sometime around 2004, I was at a Best Buy and finally saw the cover that had eluded me for years....Finally! A re-release of "Jam Room!"

Oddly enough, it sounded exactly like I'd always pictured it...A loose, groovy album that falls somewhere in between "The Elephant Riders" and "Pure Rock Fury."  Although clear and professional-sounding, you definitely get that jam room vibe, complete with drum solos, extra guitar noodling, and off-the-cuff songs, all the while never failing to  Capital "R" ROCK!

In fact, some of the first words you hear is the very pertinent question, "So hands up! Who wants to rock!?" Too bad the song is only a half-minute, but it serves its purpose...Besides you won't be mourning its loss too much, when "Big Fat Pig" comes on...

This is another one of my favorites...I think it's some sort of religious debate set to funky southern rock and it kicks like a damn mule...You hear me? A damn mule!!

 It should have been released on "Kicking Mule Records" along with the John Renbourn Group!! Take my word for it, it's a cool song and probably the most straight-forward thing here. Generally, the further out it goes though, I get more and more drawn into it...For example, what the hell is "Gnome Enthusiast"? A happy  wah-heavy ditty with falsetto vocals? They don't do this too often, and it's awesome!

I also like "Bertha's Big Backyard." It's not much of a song, really...More of a cassette-recorded spoken-word cut-up, like the kind you'd find on Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica." This technique also occurs during the outro on "Super Duper."



(Any excuse to post a picture of this album cover again, I love it...)

Hey! I also have an excuse to post a picture of the Kraken, since there's also a song called "Release the Kraken"!

Yay! This is my big day!! And hey, congratulations on your good song, Mr. Kraken!

There's even a few songs here that appear on their later albums, in more polished forms; "Sink 'Em Low" appears on their next album, the knock-out "One Eyed Dollar" shows up on "From Beale Street to Oblivion" and "I Send Pictures" is very closely related to "Sleestack Lightning" from "Strange Cousins From the West." So compare and contrast to your heart's content....

There's a lot to like here...Maybe not the place to start if you're new to Clutch, but I rate it pretty high in the Clutch discography, for the fun quotient and the chance to hear Clutch let down their beards...

Man, Even I'm tired of hearing myself talk today. Let's listen to "The Drifter" by Clutch...

Press the "Like" button if you like this song...

HA! I fooled you! That's not actually a "like" button...It's just a picture of one! I'm so picture-y!

Clutch: The Elephant Riders

Clutch: The Elephant Riders

1998

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Elephant Riders  2. Ship of Gold  3. Eight Times Over Miss October  4. The Soapmakers  5. The Yeti  6. Muchas Veces  7. Green Buckets  8. Wishbone  9. Crackerjack  10. The Dragonfly


Hooo, yes...I remember this coming out when I was in college...It felt like a hundred years since Clutch had last released an album and they had become one of my all-time favorites since the release of their 1995 self-titled album...I doubled-down on Ramen, saved my quarters and eventually squirreled away enough funds to check this out. Pound for pound, I don't think it's quite as strong as their previous one, but you don't really realize it when 80% of what's here is so mind-blowingly awesome...

Probably my second favorite Clutch album...The first half is a sort of Sepia-toned classic-rock outlining such 19th century concerns as...

 ...hardtack...

...rail lines...

 ...and fighting the Civil War on Elephants...Wha...? 

Again, the lyrics are outstanding...Less concerned with outer space and beyond as the entire history of wonders right here on planet Earth...Check out these lines from "The Yeti":

"The author looms above his page,
And thinks it strange that at his age,
He cannot find the proper words,
To describe his only world.
One would think that in a life,
Where no two snowflakes are alike,
One would have a brilliant rhyme,
For each and every bit of time..."

Always gets me...And Neil's just keeps singing better and better...Listening to his mighty roar, there's no way he's not 10 feet tall and 1,000 pounds.... And Tim Sult has a way with big bearded riffs..."Eight Times Over Miss October" is lumbering, yet nimble and even 15 years down the line, it still gets me going...

It seems during the second half, things they modernize things, a bit...There's the conspiratorial trash-collection story in "Green Buckets"...

...and the shoulda-been-a-hit "Wishbone" outlines the various meals you make on different holidays...

For example, he eats Turkey, 'tatas, succotash and rutabagas for Thanksgiving...(Which is this Thursday, btw)...

...a glazed ham for Christmas (hmmm, maybe he was stopping at Bronner's yesterday...

...For St. Patrick's it's cabbage, corned beef stew, and egg salad sandwiches...Damn, I'm getting hungry...

Best of all, is "Muchas Veces,"  which hammers home how great the rhythm section truly is...A globe-spanning story of love and intrigue that starts at the local five and dime and ends with the narrator waking up in  a coffin underneath an altar to the east of Machu Pichu...

...It's hard not to be sold when the delivery is so great...Easily, my second favorite Clutch song...

Things wane a bit towards the end, and the two or three minutes of feedback isn't the rousing finale the album deserves, but when all is said and done "The Elephant Riders" was another good album in a long line of many...

Oh yea, I should mention there's three different versions of the album...The differences lie in the hidden track...My particular version has "05"...

"Which version do you have, kids?"

 "Ohhhh, that nice...Let's check out "Wishbone" by Clutch....SKREEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

Clutch: Clutch

Clutch: Clutch

1995

Eastwest Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Big News I  2.Big News II  3. Rock n' Roll Outlaw  4. Texan Book of the Dead  5. Escape from the Prison Planet  6. Spacegrass  7. I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth  8. Tight Like That  9. Animal Farm  10. Droid  11. The House That Peterbilt  12. 7 Jam  13. Tim Sult vs. The Greys



I can remember going to the record store and looking though the new releases and being surprised to find this tape...Y'know, That's a weird feeling I don't get anymore...Looking through the new releases and saying, Oh my God! I didn't know they were putting out a new album!"

 I'm sure I could easily regain this excitement again, by not going online every week and looking at the upcoming releases, but I like doing that, too, so I guess I can't bitch too much...

Anyway,  this was a big one...After falling in love with "Transnational Speedway League," me and my friends worked our way back to the "Passive Restraints" ep and our obsession with Clutch only grew more and more...



Needless to say, I bought the cassette, no questions asked, from one of those Tape Stores in the Mall...Probably Camelot Music or Tape World or something...

...I probably paid $16.99 for it...and I probably didn't even get the sampler with America and .38 Special on it...

I took the tape home and with great anticipation I popped it in the tape deck...

That spacy, grooving bassline and jazzy drumming on "Big News I" was not what I was expecting...But it was undeniably funky, and despite the lack of blaring guitars, I was inexplicably drawn in...

"The fog is rolling in, the tide is high
Diane's as fat can be, aye Captain aye..."

Hmmm, a hard rock sea shanty? And just who was Diane? It didn't take me long to recognize I was listening to an intriguing puzzle that I was aching to solve...

The  big rock comes soon enough on "Big News II," still this wasn't the hardcore raging of "Transnational Speedway League," this had more of a classic rock feel...Think Mountain at their sweatiest...

...and that's saying something!  Tim Sult's riffs are more monolithic...Immovably heavy...He also adds plenty of wah-wah to his arsenal, and in the process discovers his own distinct style...Although, what ultimately won me over was Neil Fallon's shout-out to Greedo...

...I had to call my friends and tell them, "Dude! You've gotta check out this new Clutch tape! They namedrop GREEDO!"

Greedo was just the tip of the iceberg...This was a thematically dense album...Countless allusions to astronomy, astrology, mythology and pop culture abound...We get everything from Pharisees...

...to the Planet of the Apes...

Lyrically speaking, one of my favorite albums...

Usually, whenever I'm trying to pinpoint my favorite Clutch song, most of the top contenders originate here...

It's pretty hard not to  single out "Spacegrass" as their crowning achievement...Vast, unknowable, and funny as hell...The lyrics take your standard hot-rod travelogue and push it into interstellar overdrive...For example...

...is he going to the M83 galaxy...

...or is he on his way to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland?

The answer is probably both...

The holy-rolling funk of "Tight Like That" is another favorite of mine...It's so odd and quacking...Something they've never even attempted again, which is odd because they pull it off so well...

"Don't try to sell me your New Age guru troubles.
'Cause I'm already reeling doing that good time gospel shuffle.
And all your thumpings about some Armageddon,
Ain't no big deal, 'cause I already hang with Him..."

 Is this white metal?  Or merely white funk?  White funk-metal?  Nahh, it's just playing with archetypes...The gonzo imagery works its way into your mind because it's always been there...

I could really go on all day...Every song has so much going for it... To me this is still one of the most overlooked albums of the 90's...

My list of overlooked 90's albums gets smaller and smaller as time goes on, as music lovers keep digging for the decade's lost treasure, but I still don't see this one getting the the accolades it deserves, outside of Clutch's usual cult-like fanbase...To me, it's up there the "Nevermind," "Loveless," "Slanted and Enchanted" and all the other flannel-era classics...Although, its lack of canonization makes it still feel fresh...People haven't ground its influence into the ground by means of overexposure and weak mimicry...

Either way, it's time to spark up some spacegrass and listen to Clutch...Enjoy...

Clutch: Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths

Clutch: Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths

1993

Eastwest Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. A Shogun Named Marcus  2. El Jefe Speaks  3. Binge and Purge  4. 12 Ounce Epilogue  5. Bacchanal  6. Milk of Human Kindness  7. Rats  8. Earthworm  9. Heirloom 13  10. Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks  11. Effigy



This was a huge album for me back in 1993...I think I had initially heard "A Shogun Named Marcus" on Headbanger's Ball or 120 minutes, or Friday Night Videos or something...

 ...Probably not Friday Night Videos,  but you get my point...one way or another I heard the song and had to find the tape...I remember thinking that it kind of reminded me of a red-neckier  Helmet...

  ...and really my initial assessment wasn't too far off..."Transnational Speedway League" is kind of a strange album in the Clutch discography. It's a lot more metal than their other albums...They hadn't hit upon their bluesier classic rock-influenced style yet...You can clearly imagine some shirtless '93 kid, with anger management issues,  throwing punches in the mosh pit while shouting, "C'mon, Motherfucker! C'mon, Motherfucker! C'mon Motherfucker let's  throw down!" with a straight face...

 And honestly, I can't blame the kid...That's pretty much what drew me in at first, too...But that's not what keeps me coming back to it 20 years later (OMG! 20 YEARS?!?!)...

 After a few listens the record started to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack...There was an appealing sense of absurdity to the record. Both in the exaggerated aggression of the instruments and especially in the Neil Fallon's pop-culture Sasquatch performance...Usually, when I spin metal records I tend to lower my expectations lyrically...

Usually it's Dio-esque fantasy lyrics (note: I put Slayer/Venom/King Diamond Satan lyrics in the "fantasy" category...)...

...or Pantera-style "Mr. Tuffy" lyrics...

...or Nu-Metal style "molested goatee" lyrics...

...I guess you could add a fourth category...Brutal-Fuckin'-Reality/Horrors of War/ Murder-Viscera-Gore-Death-Guts lyrics...

...but Clutch was different...More closely related to witty, hyper-aware indie rock school of lyrics... A skilled mish-mash of non-sequiturs, backwoods threats, commercial jingles, and whatever else pops into Neil Fallon's head...And it all works...I think his lyrics provide most of the hooks, like his "Beebopalloobopawopshamboo and Domo Arigato if I got to..." in "Shogun," or his growling delivery of "I Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle..." in "Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks."

I always feel weird about recommending this one...If you're a metal fan, this is absolutely the place to start, but if you're coming into this from any other angle, I'd skip ahead an album...Still this holds up,  "Binge and Purge" and "...Monster Trucks"  are still a coupe of their best songs, so let's check out "Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks" by Clutch...Enjoy the shit out of it...