I just heard the Clientele for the first time

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yeah, appears it never ended up being released :(

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

Poo-faced!

― Dan I., Wednesday, 2 July 2003 03:11 (twenty years ago) link

Well (I suppose predictably) I thought the Clientele were absolutely thrilling last night, but then I don't think there's a guitar band in the world to touch them at the moment. I'm sorry Doomie didn't lke them much. More people than usual seemed to be watching them and listening closely, and a lot of people seemed to enjoy them (incl people who I thopught would react as Doomie did). I wish they were in a position to stop playing these horrible pub back rooms (as they seem to be in the US).

The Tyde were the same as they usually are, which was not terribly interesting to me.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 07:47 (twenty years ago) link

sorry tim, i did try to like them. i wanted to be blown away by them. it just didnt happen!

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 09:38 (twenty years ago) link

I like the new album, very pretty.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 10:49 (twenty years ago) link

they also have a 7" single on elefant, though if you live in australia you will have to mail order it ;-)

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 10:53 (twenty years ago) link

a new 7" on elefant or are you talking about the old one?

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 17:06 (twenty years ago) link

the old one. i've got it, but both sides are on Suburban Light as well

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 22:25 (twenty years ago) link

the new record doesn't seem to have the lazy pace of their older stuff, i need to adjust my ears. first time through seems there are not any drop dead gorgeous new songs, or did i miss one?

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 5 July 2003 21:08 (twenty years ago) link

it seems a bit faster and yet a bit more diffuse at the same time

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 5 July 2003 21:13 (twenty years ago) link

maybe that reynolds "being the drummer in the clientele must be the most demeaning job in the world" quote really stung

― jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 5 July 2003 21:14 (twenty years ago) link

yeah it is tough to get ahold of the individual songs, not that they sound the same but that the atmosphere is all encompassing, everything swirls.

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 5 July 2003 21:35 (twenty years ago) link

and second time through i realize 'voices in the mall' and 'when you and i were young' are both stunning.

― keith (keithmcl), Saturday, 5 July 2003 21:38 (twenty years ago) link

i listened to it about a half a dozen times before it really started clicking. it's brilliant. i like how they seem to opt for getting a bit noisier instead of having a chorus and let the guitar wander off somewhere. from "haunted melody" to the end of the album is just untouchable.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 5 July 2003 23:00 (twenty years ago) link

got it (thx nabisco!!). hasn't left a strong impression after two listenings. but we'll see.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:41 (twenty years ago) link

i wish they would consider some tempo changes in their songs, or a surprise here or there. i agree the end is the strong point. some flab on the record though i would have jettisoned the rhumba, everybody's gone and porcelain, the middle definitely drags and i wish he'd do the falsetto more to break up the monotony of his standard singing voice. near the end there is more falsetto and more vocal effects, probably why it is the best portion of the record. i still think it is lovely but it probably isn't top ten for me.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 6 July 2003 03:57 (twenty years ago) link

i retract my negative thoughts, it is the perfect sunday morning record.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 6 July 2003 16:10 (twenty years ago) link

This is out now, already (I guess merge slips release dates). Picked it up yesterday. Have not stopped playing it. Wonderful!

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 6 July 2003 20:07 (twenty years ago) link

ok, my tentative judgment is that it's much weaker than the previous record. many of the songs have all the textural elements in place but the songwriting doesn't go anymore, they're almost formless. the little instrumental excursions are mostly limp. also whoever said that his vocal shtick is unvaried and ultimately wearing was right on. it'd be nice to bring in some guest singers like on that split seven inch.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 July 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

doesn't go anyWHERE

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 July 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

It goes loads of places: down the hall, to the kitchen for a glass of water, out on the patio for a smoke, downstairs to let in the delivery guy, over to the couch, back down the hall, into the armchair, over to bed, out to the bathroom, back to bed. . . .

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 14 July 2003 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

Is that poetic or sarcastic?

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 July 2003 20:31 (twenty years ago) link

it is definitely a grower, i love it now. i wish he would use the falsetto a bit more and i like the neil halsteadish last track with the female vocals, should be used more, in my ideal world.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 14 July 2003 23:15 (twenty years ago) link

the discussion on this thread is a good thing.

i thought i would chip in to tell keith that there aren't any female vocals on the last track. nor is there any piano (as is mentioned in the other music review).

― marianna, Tuesday, 15 July 2003 07:12 (twenty years ago) link

he thinks that because we secretly replaced keith's clientele album with folger's crystals.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 07:18 (twenty years ago) link

8 minute Clientele songs = good.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

that is so not true.

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 16:08 (twenty years ago) link

It's definitely grown on me but the songwriting is a bit frustrating; I keep waiting for things to develop a little more.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 July 2003 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

oh, i left my ears at home. it still sounds mojave 3-ish. doesn't it?

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 01:30 (twenty years ago) link

i am listening to policeman getting lost now, it doesn't sound like a girl. what was i hearing. i dunno.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 01:33 (twenty years ago) link

The last three songs are really good. And I like the third song a lot. I like the single version of 'Porcelain' better (even though the recording is worse), but I prefer the album version of 'Haunted Melody.' (They are different, aren't they? I haven't been able to listen to the single for the longest time.) I'm still getting to know the album... And I still can't get over the innocence/experience question with this band because they are so accomplished (a sure hand, the way they reel you in at the end) but what they do appears so simple... but then no one else thinks to do it... To me they don't sound like their influences.

― youn, Friday, 18 July 2003 07:42 (twenty years ago) link

i couldn't even tell you what the clientele's influences are, but surely that has more to do with my basic tastes than the apparentness of their influences, right?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 18 July 2003 07:51 (twenty years ago) link

i described them as "galaxie 500 + love + early bee gees." does that seem apt?

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 18 July 2003 08:30 (twenty years ago) link

You forgot Al Stewart!

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 18 July 2003 08:32 (twenty years ago) link

early bee gees has some al stewart in it.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 18 July 2003 08:42 (twenty years ago) link

No picking on the man who came up with "Year of the Cat"!

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 18 July 2003 10:22 (twenty years ago) link

Is it out yet? I'm ready for another Clientele record now I think!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 18 July 2003 10:30 (twenty years ago) link

i described them as "galaxie 500 + love + early bee gees." does that seem apt?

There's also something in there from the late '50s/ early '60s, though I've never been able to put my finger on it. I think the reverb reminds me of the Flamingos or something.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 18 July 2003 11:54 (twenty years ago) link

bit of felt in there, too, I'd think.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Friday, 18 July 2003 12:27 (twenty years ago) link

perhaps they listen to music from the future. but those bands are just clientele rip-offs of course.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Friday, 18 July 2003 13:53 (twenty years ago) link

I really like the guitar part in the third song. Does anyone else think that Alasdair's guitar sounds different? I don't know if it's the production or what but it just doesn't sound like a stringed instrument: it isn't twangy, just opal or pearly but with more light. I guess some other gem all together. So the surface is polished, but the richness is in the way the light refracts. (Sorry, all these horrible (mixed) metaphors...)

― youn, Friday, 18 July 2003 13:59 (twenty years ago) link

early bee gees *are* early '60s, if you're talking about their australian stuff which i am.

yeah, sure, felt too. but the first clientele album is better than anything by felt.

(ducks)

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 18 July 2003 14:27 (twenty years ago) link

Three terrific articles on the Tangents site. Parabolas - that was the image I was after. Alistair is right - shouldn't let school get you down. Tangents has a great editorial policy to have three articles on the same album. (And what Alistair wrote in his blog about finding directions (and using them, no less!) was cool.) Tim's article - something "made" and "dismantled," craft and "delicacy."

Everybody's Gone 1:18, etc. Is that backwards tape underneath it? (As if you could slap on some paint and run.) And think of how the Sea and Cake would have done Jamaican Rum Rhumba, without the splashes of color and the skittering underneath, or much more heavyhanded. Porcelain should be sinister, even with beauty, like The Conformist, which has both the scene with the leaves in the driveway and all that horizontal white in the scene at the hospital(?).

― youn, Saturday, 26 July 2003 01:46 (twenty years ago) link

What else does this band have besides their new album? They put out a bunch of singles right? Are they collected on a singles comp? Should I seek that out before the new album? Is there a big difference between the two?

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:00 (twenty years ago) link

1) a number of singles and a couple of EPs
2) yes
3) yes it's called "suburban light". i think you want the US version rather than the UK version (one of them is missing tracks from singles but has most of a US-released EP on it that is still separately available)
4) not necessarily
5) not really "big" per se

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:08 (twenty years ago) link

Is the new album in tune?

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:18 (twenty years ago) link

if that helps

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:23 (twenty years ago) link

melissa do you know about this mysterious thing called "a human soul"?

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:39 (twenty years ago) link

thanks electric jim. you're a peach.

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Saturday, 26 July 2003 03:56 (twenty years ago) link

melissa do you know about this mysterious thing called "a human soul"?

Does it involve being out of tune?

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Saturday, 26 July 2003 04:08 (twenty years ago) link

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