Pure Rock Fury - Clutch

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* Pure Rock Fury *

So very relentless, indeed, you hardly get to catch your breath after the intensity of American Sleep before you get thrown into the absolutely fantastic title track. It opens with a crescendo of distorted guitars and a violent drum roll. A short section of muddied up guitars follows with Neil telling us about his walking habits, which gives you the slightest of chances to catch up before the drums ...
...So there you have it, Pure Rock Fury - anyone out there who likes acts like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or Tomahawk should definitely be checking this CD out right now. People who prefer Busted on the other hand have either wasted their life listening to Busted, or wasted their life reading this review, depending on how you look at it. Either way, don't be getting the impression that Pure Rock Fury is some Weird Al style self consciously funny ... more

Clutch are somewhat like the living reincarnation of Led Zeppelin - but much, much heavier - and much, much, much more Texan (Although they're not actually from Texas). Not an adjective often used to describe a band I know, but trust me - it fits.

Clutch are a four piece rock band comprised of man mountain Tim Sult on guitar, Dan Maines on bass and Jean Paul Gaster on drums. Providing shouts, growls, yells, roars and just about anything a vocal chord or two can reasonably be expected to do is Neil Fallon, who looks like a balding, demonic Ben Folds. Yikes!

If you take a wide view of music then you'd call Clutch rock but if you want a more precise definition as to whether they're Grunge, Hard Rock etc then I'm afraid I'm going to have to admit defeat, invent a new genre and call them 'Very Rock'. They make talent like Busted look like the pop mime artists they secretly want to be, they make acts like the Foo Fighters seem cold and clinical, as if their music is computer generated by the rock equivalent of 'Band in a Box' and they make stuff like Feeder seem very safe.

They achieve this by mixing a relaxed garage band jamming attitude with incredibly tight playing. The guitars are fuzzed up, the bass suitably deep and the drums satisfyingly tub thumping. Meanwhile, the lyrics are sometimes surreal and often downright bizarre, it's almost like Neil has a direct link between his subconscious and the mike. As for the delivery of the lyrics, it defies description, but I shall endeavour to get the feel across.

* American Sleep *

You expect a heavy album when it starts off with not one, but two guitars doing nothing but howling like banshees stuck in a feedback loop. You KNOW you're in for a heavy album when the first batch of guitars that join in on top of the feedback are so heavy you feel pressed down into your seat. This launches Clutch into a cool grinding guitar riff that gets my foot tapping away in a pretty energetic fashion. A brief blusey jam announces one of the main styles of the song before making way to the in your face guitars and loud strangled vocals that comprise the other main sound used in the song. The song then alternates between the two while Neil bangs on about some strange hybrid of mythology and American politics… I think. Damn fine way to start an album, whatever it's about.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "mistress of ices, stygian skater/scribing devices, dancing on sabers/
so very relentless, counting the sheep/electrical fences, Americans leap"

* Pure Rock Fury *

So very relentless, indeed, you hardly get to catch your breath after the intensity of American Sleep before you get thrown into the absolutely fantastic title track. It opens with a crescendo of distorted guitars and a violent drum roll. A short section of muddied up guitars follows with Neil telling us about his walking habits, which gives you the slightest of chances to catch up before the drums kick off into a violent bounce while the guitars play a stop/start riff. But that's not it, oh no - the chorus turns everything up to 11 with a flat out breakneck blues riff that Clapton would have been proud of in his energetic past. It's my favourite song to overtake to while driving, it's the best track on the album, I can't get enough of it. Even if the album just had this repeated 13 times I would still give it five stars. I really like this song!

Most very rock lyrical moment… All of it*

* Open up the Border *

Finally things slow down a bit, as Clutch crank up the blues, texan style - i.e., loud. Using sliding power chords for slower sections and a staccato blues riff for faster sections, the arrival of which is announced by Neil yelling "All right!" in a suitably strangled and OTT very rock fashion. This song is possibly about fair trade with the developing world (As far as it's ever possible to tell what Clutch songs are about anyway), with Neil informing us that he's "Living for the trade" whilst asking for the border to be opened. Not quite as good as the first two tracks but after all that intensity you need a break.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "I have kilo loads of plastic/to trade for pumpkin seeds."

* Careful with that Mic… *

Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger, Clutch do a hip-hop pastiche. The music takes a bit of a back seat to the vocals, as you'd expect really - hip hop is hardly renowned for it's musical virtuosos. The guitars and drums plod through the verse while Neil pontificates at breakneck speed in words of as many syllables as possible. This song is a delight for anyone who, like me, doesn't really see the point of hip hop. Neil really lays into it, leaving hardly any area of the generic rappers ego unscathed. "Me Cray, You Abacus." he blurts out in-between more convoluted, detailed and often surreal insults, all neatly delivered in the form of rhyming couplets.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "Mmmm… this is really good ice cream! you want some of it?/oh, my bad I didn't know you were lactose intolerant./makes you pass gas, frightens all the girls away"

* Red Horse Rainbow *

This song positively reeks of B-Movie mythology atmospherics. Switching between moody sections with restrained wah wah guitars to outright spooky howling guitars before ending up at a full on rocking chorus. Neil gets all dramatic to warn us that "Within the ruins against the firth/The salamander has given birth." Before informing us that "Only Red Horse Rainbows Can Save Us". What planet are this lot from? Not that the high levels of insanity in the lyrics spoil the song, the opposite in fact. The overly dramatic words marry well with the music. It's like a nightmarish kids cartoon. Complete with bugs altered by some kind of experiment and a hero who gets his powers from drinking milk.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "pan-amoebic algebra breed bizarre bacteria/what to do? oh what to do?/africanized killer bees, alabaster deities,/milk from spoons, sip milk from spoons."

* The Great Outdoors *

A full on slow blues romp, seemingly about moving house and reverting to nature. Starting off with a drum beat and drunken mumbling, bar room blues guitars join in before the song proper starts. Neil changes vocal styles for this track, leaving behind the strangling and moving on to what can only be described as layers of gargling with gravel. The lyrics are a tale of drunken ramblings (About being a Samurai for example) and half remembered, alcohol fuelled bad decisions.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "I'd be a richer man today if it weren't for physics./if I could levitate I would sell lots of tickets/and maybe do an interview with larry king/while floating."

* Smoke Banshee *

Groovin' heavy blues blasts the song off and then carries it along. Neil starts off vocalising about possibly workers rights before heading off into a strange place where "plum been running, buck a doz.
ooh, smoke banshee's honey bee sting buzz.". Despite some shimmering guitar work and powerful vocal delivery, Smoke Banshee seems a bit anonymous amongst the rest of the album. Not a bad song by any means, just not as distinct as the highlights of the album.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "medicine of modern miracles, voodoo to those out of focus./experts explain experience - "hocus pocus/hocus pocus!"/ mouthfuls down in a floating locus most of us deny"

* Frankenstein *

Groovin' even more than the previous song, fuzzed up bass, spaced out guitar and rock steady drums fill out the songs intro. Neil begins singing the quieter verse sections as the guitar busies up a touch before breaking loose into the chorus, as tens of Neils perform a strange, almost harmonic yell. The sheer visceral power of which is hard to express in the form of words, you just have to feel it reverberate through your chest. Top it all off with a couple of smooth bluesy solos complete with bongo backing tracks and you've got a cracking song.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "how would you like to go bobbing for apples the shape of fish?"

* Sinkemlow *

The very first Clutch song I ever heard, incomprehensible, of (at the time) unknown origins but downright entertaining. Opening up with a short guitar lick, the song proper opens up in an almost confusingly gentle fashion. It swings along nicely enough as Neil sings about geology, but then as a volcano goes off the pace picks up as he describes the escape (Although it's not specified, you just know it's in an American muscle car) - his vocals moving up from gargling gravel to gargling boulders. It reprises with a chant of "oh no oh no" underneath, before all hell kicks off as Neil takes the final step and starts gargling entire continents. He describes how a deity comes down and saves the day (Honestly, you couldn't make this up) while the guitar underneath goes into blues overdrive. Great to the point of insanity.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "the ash turned to confetti, alleluia!/ outside them great tri-cities, alleluia!"

* Immortal *

As the album begins to approach the end the guitars begin to get heavier again, started off by the deep swagger of Immortals opening bars. The vocals step back to merely having a rough edge as Neil launches into what must be the most far out ego trip known to man. Everything from stealing fire from the gods to asking questions with no answers, Neil is your man. Several times the song threatens to throw itself into the surreal, chanted chorus, only to tease you by returning to the opening swagger. Powerfully toe tapping stuff, one of the best on the album.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "I am immortal… In dog years"

* Brasenhead *

This track the most obvious example of the philosophy behind the recording of the album, being a hybrid of a live recording and studio work. It opens with Neil whipping the crowd up into a frenzy worthy of the opening guitar part. It carries on in the form of a cross eyed wah wah guitar, soul backing vocaled, cowbell sprinkled tale of going on an intergalactic trip. One that somehow involves wood work. Slow, heavy and full of groove. There's a great sense of build as we approach the solo, announced by a particularly full throated "oh!" from Neil. It's then not long till the song bows out on a guitar and bongo jam. Nice!

Most very rock lyrical moment… "indigenous life/must be in agreement/like one, meaning some, and zero meaning nothing"

* Drink to the Dead *

Starting off as a slowed down blues death march, the pace picks up as Neil discusses the benefits of hearing whispering in boxes and swinging from rafters amongst other things in the verses before twisting everything to a lilting, anthemic drinking song for the chorus. Not the strongest song on the album or the best way to end it either. Happily there's a bonus live track!

Most very rock lyrical moment… "if knee deep in catnip at the old ice box/I recommend you whistle and give the box three knocks."

* Spacegrass (Live) *

Opening with distant crowd noise and a foreboding fuzzed up bass, a guitar shimmers through as Neil begins intoning a bizarre story of going cruising around the galaxy in a selection of classic American cars, using stars as traffic lights. The band let rip for the chorus as Neil yells out "Jesus on the dashboard!" before looping the lyric "Whenever it feels right" over and over while the band howl and crash underneath. An extended foreboding bass section allows Neil to put some extra energy into his intonation, culminating in a pinched cry of "Dodge Swingaaa!", his vehicle of choice for that part of the song. Spacegrass is powerfully intoxicating, utterly confusing but an absolutely rocking way to finish off the album, plus it's better than the studio version off Clutch's self titled album.

Most very rock lyrical moment… "Hit neutral in the tail of a comet./Let the vortex pull my weight./ Push the seat back a little lower./ Watch light bend in the blower"

So there you have it, Pure Rock Fury - anyone out there who likes acts like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or Tomahawk should definitely be checking this CD out right now. People who prefer Busted on the other hand have either wasted their life listening to Busted, or wasted their life reading this review, depending on how you look at it. Either way, don't be getting the impression that Pure Rock Fury is some Weird Al style self consciously funny garbage, it's not. It's shooting straight from the hip, flat out rock and roll, it just happens to be written and performed by people who inhabit a different mental sphere to the rest of us. Despite (Or perhaps because of…) that though, you can't help but think that David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, Derek Smalls and their multitude of drummers would approve.

* "Pure Rock Fury" in all its glory

I walk wherever the weather provides
Because everybody needs some time outside
Give me no lip and I tell you no lie.

Hands down the illest ventriloquist this side of the mississippi river
That's right operator smoother than faders on an automated sound board
Andretti's never raced me but if he wants to oh I'm ready
Coordination of the eye and hand is not my strong point but I make due with what i have.

Pure rock fury the solution is so clear
Calling all humans and able volunteers.

I walk wherever the weather provides because everybody needs some time outside
I've seen them boxes with peliculas one time stands out in particular
I saw you dance in the arena all in makeup dressed up like a ballerina
I got to wonder what's got into you or just what you got into.

Pure rock fury the solution is so clear
Calling all humans and able volunteers.

Hotter than Abba in Nevada sun in a real small car with the windows rolled up
No super trooper because you pooped your pants and you're screaming oh please just give me one more chance
Not one to shrink from helping humankind brother one other thing that you might keep in mind
Coordination of the eye and hand is not my strong point but I make due with what I have.

Pure rock fury the solution is so clear
Calling all humans and able volunteers.

http://www.pro-rock.com - Clutch's Official website, how's that for a very rock URL? Worth checking out for the lyrics section alone!
 

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