“Well, High Coin is pretty psychotic, it’s as if some mad record company exec has locked up a very early version of the Teardrop Explodes and Gene Pitney in a room and told them to be nice to each other.”
“Well, High Coin is pretty psychotic, it’s as if some mad record company exec has locked up a very early version of the Teardrop Explodes and Gene Pitney in a room and told them to be nice to each other.”
Clinic – Do It!
http://www.dominorecordco.com/ http://www.munichrecords.com/
Ah Clinic, where would Heads like us be without their restless take on 60’s Garage, Girl Pop and Psychedelia? This band has always been good at shaking up their influences and ruthlessly blending them into new, strange and very accessible hybrids. Do It! is no different. If you love the stuff Clinic does then you’re always going to enjoy their releases, come what may.
Do It! starts with the slobby, Beefheart-ian stomp of Memories; a track which seems in two minds whether to embrace Van Vliet’s muse or spend a bit of time worshipping at the altar of sixties Kitsch. Tomorrow is quieter, more pastoral, but no less deranged; it sounds like a drunken Traffic outtake circa ’67. The Witch (great title, maybe nodding to the Rattles, let’s hope so), is an RnB two-step ornamented by a reedy guitar line and strange humming sounds. Things go mellow once again with the dreamy Free not Free which, true to type, to contains some menacing fuzz guitar breaks. Shopping Bag cuts off the supply of schmooze abruptly with a remedial display of musicianship that is, as ever with this lot, very affecting.
Corpus Christi is a maudlin stroll, Suzuki-style through an abandoned landscape whereas Emotions lays down some love vibes, Pat Boon style. Oh there’s a lovely RP voice for added effect. What else? Well, High Coin is pretty psychotic, it’s as if some mad record company exec has locked up a very early version of the Teardrop Explodes and Gene Pitney in a room and told them to be nice to each other. And if you think that sounded like a strange pair of bedfellows, there’s stranger to come. Mary and Eddie is a harmonium-led track with (seemingly) an ocean liner for company. Not that that’s any sort of problem, it’s just a bit weird. Picking the pace up a bit, Winged Wheel comes over all 13th Floor on us with a hypnotic and very basic work out. Rounding things up, Coda is a fantastic drunken stumble through a sunlit field. And a little information thrown in about the Bristol Charter. It’s the tops.
What more can I say?
Words: Richard Foster