Clutch: Psychic Warfare

Clutch: Psychic Warfare

2015

Weathermaker Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1.  The Affidavit  2. X-Ray Visions  3. Firebirds!  4. A Quick Death in Texas  5. Sucker for the Witch  6. Your Love Is Incarceration  7. Doom Saloon  8. Our Lady of Electric Light  9. Noble Savage  10. Behold the Colossus  11. Decapitation Blues  12. Son of Virginia



I love this one. My favorite Clutch album since "From Beale Street to Oblivion." "Strange Cousins from the West" seemed a bit routine and "Earth Rocker" was exciting as hell but the songwriting felt a bit hollow to me...But "Psychic Warfare" is perfect. 

From the awesome conspiracy-minded opener "X-Ray Visions" it's apparent what Clutch has done. They've taken the raw speed and energy from "Earth Rocker" and melded it to their bluesier, wordier side. The best of all possible worlds. This is one of those albums where there's just no way you can pick a favorite song. Everything's great. I think the only ones that I would consider a smidgen lesser would be "Decapitation Blues" or maybe "Our Lady of Electric Light." The rest is all frosting.

I'll try to pick some favorites, though...I love "Firebirds!" and "Noble Savage" which are full-throttle Earth-Rocker types that blow away anything from that album (except maybe "D.C. Sound Attack"). Super fast and catchy. And there's a three-song run in the first half ("A Quick Death in Texas," "Sucker for the Witch" and "Your Love is Incarceration") that squarely hits that classic-rock loving sweet-spot for me. I honestly can't think of a modern band that can do classic-style rock as convincingly as Clutch...Again, it's a sad thing that classic rock radio playlists petrified in the early 90's (save for the odd active-rock yarler) cos these songs would be shoo-ins...I also have to give a thumbs-up to "Behold the Colossus" for featuring Tim Sult's most subtle and well-composed guitar solo...Plus the lyrics (drenched in Greek mythology) make me want to hang out with a clockwork owl...

The best though, and possibly up there in the pantheon of all-time great Clutch songs (along with "Spacegrass," "Elephant Riders" and "Electric Worry") is the album closer, "Son of Virginia" which is by far Clutch's most successful attempt at a slow, bluesy rocker. Oh, my God, this song is perfect. The surreal lyrics (featuring a sarcophagus and a talking, smoking dog) set against the grand, surging ROCK is unexpectedly powerful...Perfecting the sepia-tone they pioneered way back on "Elephant Riders," the track starts slowly with a dusty, twangy riff but ends as the most majestic, earth-shaking motherfucker ever recorded...There's no way this doesn't become their standard set-closer...

 For extra head-spinning effect, put on "Transnational Speedway League" directly after you finish this album...I did that the other day at work, and it struck me that back when that album first came out I don't think I could have predicted that Clutch would still be rocking it 20 years later or that they would ever end up sounding quite like this...These guys have progressed so far beyond their initial promise that it's mind-boggling...Easily one of my favorite bands on the planet...

Here's "Son of Virginia" by Clutch...Enjoy...

Clutch: Impetus

Clutch: Impetus

1997

Earache Reccords

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Impetus (Demo)  2. Pile Driver  3. Passive Restraints  4. Impetus  5. High Caliber Consecrator


Essentially, this is just a reissue of 1992's "Passive Restraints" EP with two additional tracks tacked onto the beginning...This seems to be the only way to find the "Passive Restraints" EP these days...See, when I was growing up, the cassette copy I had looked like this...

 I love love looooove this EP....For a scant three songs and a running time that falls short of 15 minutes, "Passive Restraints" has always felt like such a well-rounded and satisfying release....Very much in the heavier, Helmet-ier, less-blues rock vein of "Transnational Speedway League"... Everything you need to know about early Clutch is right here:

The song "Passive Restraints" showcases their always brilliant deep-woods poetry ("My Father was black, My Mother was Decker... " still stands as one of my favorite opening lines), " "Impetus" shows what it sounds like when they unleash their thrashing churn at maximum speed, and the epic 7-minute "High Caliber Consecrator" still stands as one of their finest moments...Slow, crushing, and ominously restrained until you get to the blow-out "Too Little, Too Late" section when suddenly the whole structure is leveled in a righteous display of pure rock fury...Definitely feels like the blueprint for the later "Binge and Purge"...

As for the bonus tracks, we have an early take of "Impetus" that sounds fairly close to the final version, despite some more dramatic vocal separation in the speakers. There's also a song called "Pile Driver" that I was disappointed to discover was not a cover of the Koko B. Ware classic of the same name...

Turns out it's an original...Would have sounded right at home on "Passive Restratins" but would have undoubtedly been the weakest track on the album...They were probably right in not using it...

Ultimately, Clutch fans abso-fuckin'-lutely need the original 3"Passive Restraints" tracks...But if you already own that EP, then I don't think the two bonus material is vital enough for a re-purchase...But if you see both at your local record store (which is probably unlikely since "Passive Restraints" has been outta print for years) go for the "Impetus" version, cos "Piledriver" is still worth a listen...

Here's "High Caliber Consecrator" by Clutch...

Clutch: Earth Rocker

Clutch: Earth Rocker

2013

Weathermaker Music

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Earth Rocker  2. Crucial Velocity  3. Mr. Freedom  4. D.C. Sound Attack!  5. Unto the Breach  6. Gone Cold  7. The Face  8. Book, Saddle, & Go  9. Cyborg Bette  10. Oh, Isabella  11. The Wolf Man Kindly Requests…




Earth Rocker?!?  Hey! Earth! That's where I'm from too!

I don't live there anymore, but I usually end up using a coupla weeks of  vacation time to make it back there once a year...I like visiting Earth because it's the only place you can get Koegel's...

Anyway, I like this "Earth Rocker" album...I didn't know what to make of the title track at first...The lyrics seemed so sparse and plainspoken...They still had the sense of humor, but it really wasn't until I heard Neil's "BLOOOO-AAH-AAH-AH-AH-AH-AHHH!!!!!" that everything snapped into place for me...

The album's goal seems to be stripping away all the excess jamming, goosing the tempos and putting the excitement back into Clutch...Although, I liked "Strange Cousins from the West" very much, a feeling of comfortable routine started to set in...Especially on some of the slower and more ponderous stuff like "Abraham Lincoln," but "Earth Rocker" is sharp and concise.  If songs like "Crucial Velocity" aren't necessarily the best songs they've ever written, at least they're the most slammin'...

And boy, do I love "DC Sound Attack," it's probably the song that most resembles their last couple of albums, but it's like the ultimate version of that heavy blues style...Honking harmonica, dense guitar and a nice catchy shout-along...

"Unto the Breach" is right up there, too, but mostly cos it has a bunch of Doctor Who references that are almost up there with "Big News'" Greedo shout-out...

(Okay, I might have to wrap up this entry pretty quick...Looking at that old "Five Doctors" videotape artwork really makes me watch that episode with every fiber of my being...)

Really, the only song that doesn't rage full-tilt is "Gone Cold," which still kinda rocks in its own way...This song kind of reminds me of the mellower moments on "Blast Tyrant."

I'm handing it to Clutch...They were a heavy band that navigated a couple of the most potentially hazardous eras for heavy bands and never made a mistake...Never added that seventh string, never turned into wrestling rock,  never did screamo shrieks, never teamed up with Skrillex...

Bottom line, they've never released a shitty record...Every square inch of their discography rocks, so let's salute Clutch, and listen to "Crucial Velocity"...

Clutch: Strange Cousins from the West

Clutch: Strange Cousins from the West

2009


Weathermaker Music

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Motherless Child  2. Struck Down  3. 50,000 Unstoppable Watts  4. Abraham Lincoln  5. Minotaur  6. The Amazing Kreskin  7. Witchdoctor  8. Let a Poor Man Be  9. Freakonomics  10. Algo Ha Cambiado  11.  Sleestak Lightning



The album cover on this is very cool...It comes in a beautiful slipcase with a big fold out/map kind of thing, but all that pales in comparison to the little cork that keeps the CD in place...

I like that there are still people trying to keep the physical album around by means of thoughtful packaging...That's good work...

I don't spin this one much for some reason, but whenever I play it I always kind of forget how much I like it...I really, really miss the keyboard player, though...It suddenly sounds a bit empty without him and I have to readjust my ears a bit...However if I would have jumped straight from "Blast Tyrant" to this, it probably wouldn't have been so jarring...

"Struck Down" is my jam on this one...What a heavy-ass strut! Listening to it again, it's interesting to realize they've almost completely dropped any lingering vestiges of metal...It's just Southern-Flavored classic rock with extra-thick riffs at this point, and I think they've become one of the all-time greats in that category.

"50,000 Unstoppable Watts" also rocks so much...According to Neil Fallon, the "Anthrax" in question, isn't the band...

He's actually referring to the bacteria...and did you know a  Ham Radio isn't a radio made from a honey-glazed ham?

...and those yellow things aren't dials? In reality they're pieces of pineapple! Turns out the actual ham radio is some form of amateur radio or something...

(See! No pineapples!)

Back to the album..."Let a Poor Man Be" gets added to my shortlist of Clutch favorites. Greazy blues with some of the album's funniest lyrics:

"I'm gonna build a castle out of Goodyear tires,
Cinder block and busted doors, that's where I'll retire,
Gonna dig a moat, fill it up with ale,
Not much of a defense I know but the supply never fails..."

That actually sounds kind of nice right about now...Just building a fort in the middle of nowhere out of old tires...I could write my blog every morning on a piece of bark and tie it to a bird's leg and hope it makes it to y'all...

Just me and my jug with the three big X's on it...

I could hang out all day and listen to "Strange Cousins from the West" all day and I wouldn't have to worry about no nosy neighbors or pesky Sleestaks comin' 'round to tell me to turn it down...

Y'know what? Let's do that! I've read somewhere that you only live once, so let's crank up "Struck Down" by Clutch...

Clutch: From Beale Street to Oblivion

Clutch: From Beale Street to Oblivion

2007

DRT Entertainment

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. You Can't Stop Progress  2. Power Player  3. The Devil & Me  4. White's Ferry  5. Child of the City  6. Electric Worry  7. One Eye Dollar  8. Rapture of Riddley Walker  9. When Vegans Attack  10. Opossum Minister  11. Black Umbrella  12. Mr. Shiny Cadillackness



Man, Clutch was on a roll at this point...Again, I put this on par with "Blast Tyrant" and "Robot Hive/Exodus." Those three albums were so consistent, it's hard for me not to view them as one monumental work...To me this is the pinnacle of their classic rock style, a good deal of it closely resembling the blues covers that ended "Robot Hive"... 

The best song here is "Electric Worry," which is just big-balled power blues...Seriously, has anyone rocked the blues this hard?  And I know the band has used harmonica before but not like this. This is  staggering...Oh yea, I should probably look up who plays harmonica on this...They deserve some of those mad, mad props...

(Apparently it's a gentleman named Eric Oblander, who is the harmonica player for the band Five Horse Johnson...I had never heard them before, but I listened to a couple of the songs online  a minute ago...Heavy blues-rock, sounds a lot like "From Beale Street..." actually...A little more traditional and less monstrous than Clutch though...)

I can remember picking up this album for the first time and looking at the song title, "When Vegans Attack" and cringing a little...I was kinda afraid to hear it...Turns out it's another one of my favorite songs on this album...That slide guitar playing is so cool and catchy and it turns out the lyrics are pretty amusing too...In retrospect I should have remembered that this was a band that had previously pulled off a song entitled "Army of Bono" with little difficulty.  I think my Vegan food pyramid would probably look like this...

 Doritos are vegan food, right?

They also toss in a re-do of "One Eye Dollar." I guess, there's no real point to this, since it doesn't vary that greatly from the original, but dammit, I like the song...It's so jivey and happy...I'd be okay with them  putting it on every album...Hell, they could even put out an album called "Forty One Eye Dollars for the Price of One" consisting of of nothing but  various versions of "One Eye Dollar" and there's a fair chance I might pick it up...

I don't really feel like going on and on all day about this album, I'm really craving some Doritos right now, so to sum things up, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock...

Here's "Electric Worry" by Clutch....Did I mention "rock"?

Clutch: Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch: Robot Hive/Exodus

2005

DRT Entertainment

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Incomparable Mr. Flannery  2. Burning Beard  3. Gullah  4. Mice and Gods 5. Pulaski Skyway  6. Never Be Moved  7. 10001110101  8. Small Upsetters  9. Circus Maximus  10. Tripping the Alarm  11. 10,000 Witnesses  12. Land of Pleasant Living  13. Gravel Road  14. Who's Been Talking?


Previously, there had been a long wait between Clutch albums, but "Robot Hive" was released a mere year after "Blast Tyrant," which was startling at the time...The big innovation here, is that the band adds new member Mick Schauer to play the keys, and his inclusion is a brilliant move...

After listening to this again, I'm putting it right on par with "Blast Tyrant." It's maybe not quite as consistent, but on the other hand,  the best songs on "Robot Hive/Exodus" eclipse anything on "Blast Tyrant."...Two of my favorite Clutch songs appear here...

I think "Never Be Moved" is their most authentic classic-metal moment...Listen to that swirling hammond organ and tell me it wouldn't have fit in just fine on "Machine Head"...

                         

The other stone-cold classic is  the binary rock of "10001110101." Somehow Neil manages to turn that string of code into one of their catchiest choruses. Again, the hammond organ shines here, and I like it when Neil shouts, "SMILE TASTE KITTENS!"

So those are the big guns, in my opinion, but there's a ton of other good stuff..."Burning Beard" whoops plenty of ass and we also get a shout-out to Dokken in "The Incomparable Mr. Flannery." I have a lot of respect for Dokken...At a time when most other bands were turning a blind eye to the plight of children, Dokken were the only band brave enough to speak out against the Freddy Krueger epidemic that had cost the precious lives of so many teenagers during the 80's...

Oh yea, there's a couple of cover songs at the end of the album too...The band tries on a pair of old blues numbers...The big winner here would be "Gravel Road"...I don't know what I like more, the acoustic section at the beginning or when they go into a full-tilt electric boogie about 2 minutes into the track...This shit cooks. The album-closing cover of "Who's Been Talking?" is pretty laid back in comparison, but Neil does a pretty good approximation of Howlin' Wolf's gruff roar...He's actually a little roaring-er than Howlin' Wolf even....

 Alright, let's git right down to it...Here's "10001110101" by Clutch...Remember to rock responsibly...

Clutch: Blast Tyrant

Clutch: Blast Tyrant's Atlas of the Invisible World Including Illustrations of Strange Beasts And Phantoms.

2004

DRT Entertainment

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Mercury  2. Profits of Doom  3. The Mob Goes Wild  4. Cypress Grove  5. Promoter (of Earthbound Causes)  6. The Regulator  7. Worm Drink  8. Army of Bono  9. Spleen Merchant  10. (In the Wake of) The Swollen Goat  11. Weathermaker  12. Subtle Hustle  13. Ghost  14. (Notes from the Trial of) La Curandera  15. WYSIWYG




Wow, that's an ugly album cover...It's so shabbily done that it almost circles back around to "charming" for me...I also couldn't believe my eyes when I first opened it and there she was...

It's Sage from X-Men!! Yes!!!

Yea, that's right, I own the X-Men encyclopedia...And I can explain to you the difference between Psylocke and Revanche/Kwannon. So eat it...



The reissue cover looks a little classier...

...although I wonder if it wouldn't look cooler on a black background and maybe make the octopus-goblin-king thing a metallic color...Maybe a silver or gold...

The music however is a whole 'nother story...I love "Blast Tyrant"! Back in 2004, for some reason I was under the impression that after "Pure Rock Fury," Clutch was a band that peaked early with their 2nd and 3rd albums. When I got around to picking it up, and played it for the first time I couldn't have been happier...

(Although its elevated stature in my mind may come from the fact that on that same trip to the record store I purchased a copy of "Viking" by Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards..



Yeesh! What a shitty record...It didn't take long for that album to find its final destination at the used record shop, on the other hand, Clutch's "Blast Tyrant" sounded so sweet....)

We're now in the period where Clutch's southern rock/blues influences come to the forefront...If it wasn't for their ironic lyrical bent and the political/sociological commentary, it wouldn't be too hard to imagine hot-rodding rockers like "Cypress Grove,""Spleen Merchant"  or "Subtle Hustle" on the radio next to Foghat...In reality, the only Clutch song I've ever heard on the radio was "The Mob Goes Wild," but that probably has less to do with the songs strength (although it is a hell of a song!) and more to do with Ryan Dunn's video...

...since the whole Viva La Bam thing was in full swing at the time...

 "The The Regulator" and "Ghost" also mark the first appearances of acoustic guitar on Clutch songs, and you'll want to hoist that lighter high on these sensitive Bon Jovi-esque power ballads...

...Nah, I'm just kidding...There's no chance of the mushy stuff here..."The Regulator" is just old-fashioned acoustic blues and in "Ghost" its used for the sake of dynamics...There's a lot of drama in the moment where that mournful acoustic guitar line comes back in after the rocking chorus...Doesn't slow the album down at all...

 "Blast Tyrant" is just an all-round perfect hard rock album, full of the kind of dinosaur riffs and fist-pumping songs you just don't find much anymore. I'd probably rank this in third place in my list of favorite Clutch albums, right below the self-titled album and "The Elephant Riders" and a half-inch above "Jam Room"...Which is a good place to be...

So let's check out "Spleen Merchant" by Clutch...

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...

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!