Scroll down for reviews of the latest from Clinic, Ben Kweller, The Mooney Suzuki and Kenny Howes and The Yeah. Click here for the reviews of the latest from Toothpaste 2000, Brendan Benson, Gomez and Shy Nobleman.

XTC
A Coat Of Many Cupboards

(Virgin)

xtcidearecords.co.uk

If you're looking for the definitive box set for XTC, the one that you can buy for friends as an aural explanation for why they are one of the best bands ever, this ain't it. In fact, it is not entirely clear who this box set was designed for. When the original reports trickled in about an XTC box set, rumor had it that the four disc set would have one disc of Andy's favorites, one of Colin's favorites, one disc of live material and one disc of outtakes and demos. Instead, this box is chronological mishmash of live material, demos and released versions of XTC songs.

So the set never quite tells the story it could have told, though the outstanding liner note essay from fan Harrison Sherwood does a good job of explaining the band's twists and turns throughout the years. Therefore, for the uninitiated or somewhat interested (own a couple albums or something), this box set really isn't worth your greenbacks. What about hardcore fans? Well, I suspect many of them have the bulk of this material already. (I'm a step or two below the hardcore designation and I already own almost every track on the fourth disc). And some of the demos on this collection will likely end up on the Fuzzy Warblings demos box that's on the horizon.

The end result is a box set that tries to split the difference between rarity laden and career overview, not quite doing the full job in either department. I've basically decided that the purpose of this box set is for Virgin to squeeze the last few drops of blood out of the XTC stone. Why not? Virgin fucked with XTC's career from nearly the outset, so they might as well do it one more time. Nevertheless, this is XTC, and so this box is teeming with terrific and/or interesting material.

The bulk of the tracks here are either alternate unreleased recordings or demos. Once Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding got their own four-track recorders in the early-80's, they made pretty damn complete demos. If the typical demo is a mere rough image of the end product, Moulding's are in-depth pencil sketches and Partridge's are schematic diagrams. Which isn't to say that they don't hold any interest, but they aren't as revealing as other artist's demos can be. I wish there were more ‘work tapes'. One selection on this box has Partridge working out an embryonic version of "The Mayor of Simpleton". Both the melody and lyrics are not quite in recognizable form yet. This peek into the Swindonian Shed creative process is fascinating. Of course, the demos of material that never made XTC albums are a different matter – the more, the better.

One of the biggest scores for early XTC fans is the sundry Barry Andrews songs that didn't make Go 2 – in the track-by-track liners, Partridge concedes that his professional jealousy led him to make sure these fine new wave buzzers didn't make the cut. Andrews chimes in that it was all for the best – he formed Shriekback after the second album rebuff. Other notable early tracks include a clunky demo for CBS of "Science Friction" (too slow), a splendid live version of "Traffic Light Rock", the cool single version of "This is Pop", an unused take of "Life Begins at the Hop" and the demo version of "Making Plans for Nigel", which drummer Terry Chambers gives more of a disco accent.

The second disc highlights some great live material – a medley of "Into the Atom Age", "Hang on to the Night" and "Neon Shuffle", Black Sea rocker "Paper and Iron" and a rare performance of "Snowman". There are a stack of unused single re-recordings – "Life Begins at the Hop", "Reel by Reel", "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty" and "Towers of London" – while none of these cut their best known versions, they are all pretty cool. Coolest of all is a Partridge work tape of the band's biggest hit in England, "Senses Working Overtime".

Demos make up the bulk of the third disc, which makes sense, as the band was no longer touring. Hearing how Colin Moulding had already worked out the ‘echoed' guitar part of "Wake Up" makes you really appreciate his skill. For fun, try to pretend you're Terry Chambers hearing Andy's demo of "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" (Terry left the band – he speculated that his frenzied drumming would no longer be suitable for XTC). For even more fun, bliss out to demos of classic Skylarking tracks such as "Meeting Place" and "Dear God"(a full band demo).

The fourth disc has the least in the way of riches. Only two Dukes Of Stratosphear tracks, neither from their EP debut – what gives? There is a very cool Partridge outtake, "The Troubles" and a fine live version of "Books Are Burning" – a fitting ending, as Dave Gregory plays explosive guitar in what became his XTC swansong.
My initial griping aside, XTC really deserves two box sets – one to concentrate solely on the amazing legacy of their released music and another to focus on the substantive flotsam and jetsam that never saw the light of vinyl and aluminum. Even in this ragged display, you can discern what makes XTC one of the few bands that can withstand comparisons to The Beatles without it seeming totally outlandish. Even during the band's early caffeinated days, they had classic songwriting skills. Their early history is greatness borne out of their willingness to challenge the classic forms of the ‘60s with more jarring forms of music, from dub to Captain Beefheart inspired dissonance to disco to raving fury. The later years found the band turning the difficult trick of maturing and honing its classicism, while never complete losing touch with their prickly and clangorous selves, while never fearing throwing new things in the mix. With all due respect to The Fall, XTC is the greatest post-Sex Pistols band ever.

Clinic
Walking With Thee

(Domino)

dominorecordsco.com

Believe the hype. Kid tested, Radiohead-approved, I tentatively approached Clinic at my favorite record store (which, by the way, is Laurie's Planet of Sound on the 4600 North block of Lincoln – the closest thing to the fictional Championship Vinyl in Chicago), with the timidity of a freshman trying to ask a major crush to a homecoming dance. I had fears of artiness and impenetrability. OK – I was aware these Liverpudlians took the stage in surgical outfits (Clinic – get it?), which only triggered visions of Rainbow's Difficult To Cure album – this showed a sense of humor, but how can anything that reminds me of Rainbow be any good?

But this is quite good, though Liverpool doesn't come to mind as often as another big Brit music city, Manchester. Clinic mixes in cool garage/psych tunesmithing with Madchesterish dance beats, coating them with all sorts of arty whimsy, with vocals emerging from the frothy miasma with a ghostly mystery that suggests a gene splicing of Mark E. Smith and Thom Yorke. Clinic casts a spell that binds, bounces and intoxicates in equal amounts, with the periodic spine tingle thrown in – but a spine tingle of the EC Comics variety – the murkiness comes with a wink and a nod, none of that Pornography-era Cure primal-whine crap.

What is really impressive is how the band manages to pull out sounds from the past 35 years of pop music, primarily blues based rock stuff, record them in a retro manner (while the fidelity is close to hi, everything is compressed in a manner that suggests some aural antiquing has occurred), creating an assemblage of sounds that could only have been done here and now. It's not exactly becoming immortal and then dying, but to be so backward-looking and simutaneously so forward thinking is amazing.

And the splendid songs make this more than clever soundscapes. "Harmony" features a mix of a haunting bluesy harmonica that fits hand in glove with the foreboding keyboard line (some variation on Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells"), while Ade Blackhorn warbles in Thom Yorkeish fashion (and can be understood, which isn't always the case on this disc). "Come into Our Room" uses a similar keyboard line, and Blackhorn tremelously sings the lyrics, whilst the drummer works a strange disco ‘pea soup' rhythm on the hi-hat. The title cut and "The Equaliser" both have dance floor potential – remember when you could dance to rock music? "Walking with Thee" stomps in on a fat 4/4 beat, with overmodulated organ (shades of Inspiral Carpets) carrying the melody, the bass line interlocking, and the song's chorus being a mere stop-start of the song's constant rhythm that is as dramatic as it is simple. "The Equaliser" has some "Magic Bus" percussion, as the keyboard is stuck on the ‘Middle Eastern bagpipe' setting, and the whole result is reminiscent of a tinny Happy Mondays mantra sans the ‘X'.

Then there's the Moroccan spy movie feel to "The Vulture", while "Mr. Moonlight" is an insistent blues tune, which has very little low end, the keyboards and a jazzy guitar moving the song along, the band bringing it home at the conclusion. "Pet Eunuch" is a screaming rocker, that puts the moody restraint in context and either adds to or relieves the inviting tension that snakes through the proceedings.

The more I listen, the more I hear the influence of trip hop on a lot of what's going on here. But there's none of the characteristic trip hop cool – Clinic's world is nervous and shaking. The album weakens a bit towards the end (though "For the Wars" is quite a pretty and effective closer), but the strength of the first seven or eight tracks still makes this one of the best releases of 2002.

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Ben Kweller
Sha Sha

(ATO)

benkweller.com

The former leader of Radish is still not out of his teens and remains a precocious son-of-a-gun, crafting an album that bridges the gap between Ben Folds and Weezer. Like those acts, Kweller is a clever bastard who pens witty lyrics. Musically, he balances slower piano based tunes with blasts of crunchy guitar pop.
While Fountains Of Wayne would not be an entirely accurate comparison, Kweller shares that band's facility for careening from softer pop to buzzing rock, and also show that his intelligence does not mean he is incapable of tender meaningful moments – there's some heart to go along with the brains. Like Fountains and moreso like Ben Folds, Kweller can also be a tad glib, which gives a couple tunes an unwanted veneer of cutesiness. This slight flaw can be tolerated amongst the many fine moments.

"Commerce, TX" breezes with the effervescence of prime Jason Falkner, though the song is a bit more basic and rocking. The melody in the chorus is as inventive as any Falkner has come up with as of late (high praise, folks), Kweller singing a lengthy couplet where the melody ascends before reaching a plateau and going down the scale just a bit. Kweller rocks even more on "No Reason", the big guitars kicking in dynamically on this slacker anthem with a fist waving refrain.

Kweller gives musical props to indie poppers, with songs like "Family Tree", with its twisty bass playing and its drawling melodic variation on The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping". Periodically, Kweller sings "bop bop" in a lazy manner that fits this low key slouch of a tune. The opening cut, one of the piano drive tunes, also has indie charm, like a perkier Son Ambulance or a hipper Ben Folds.
When the maturity of Kweller's observations matches the wisdom of his lyrics, the considerable nature of Kweller's potential comes to the fore. "Trees fall/and so do men" is just one brilliant snap from the pretty disc closer "Falling". Rarely has self-denial seemed so appealing, as this song just embraces you while Kweller (with his best vocal) intones "I don't feel like I'm falling down/just say ‘hello' to the ground." The dramatic "Walk on Me" is a number that old fans of Todd Rundgren and Elton John could cotton to, though lines like "love is supposed to be this bad/make you cry mega-ultra sad" give away the singer's young age. Who cares – when the pedal steel kicks in, you'll wallow along.

This is the rare album to have enough cred for the college kiddies but many veteran pop fans will appreciate a lot of the goings on here. With youth on his side, and then some, Kweller has a chance to be one of the most important voices in pop-rock. This is an invigorating start.

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The Mooney Suzuki
Electric Sweat

(Gammon)

themooneysuzuki.com

You can't fake soul. In a world that is becoming increasingly plasticized, corporatized and blanded beyond belief, soul and guts and energy are needed more than ever. It's this notion that propelled the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou to the top of the charts. Humans playing instruments and singing and making sounds from the heart.

While the amplification and the style may be different, The Mooney Suzuki comes from the same place. There will be some folks who scoff at these modern garage rockers and find contrivance, mocking their basic rock and roll as artifice. One listen to "The Broken Heart" should be enough to dispel such cynicism. A smoldering slab of soul, singer Sammy James Jr. sounds like he's halfway on the Billy Jack scale to truly exploding – passionate, but in control, his voice sounds like a cross between the MC5's Rob Younger and Jimi Hendrix. This song is simply a Solomon Burke or Otis Redding worthy slab o' dixie fried sadness, and when the organ hums in during the instrumental break, you'll just sway in sympathy. One of the best songs of the year.

The Mooney Suzuki is telling proof that one doesn't have to simply go balls to the wall to really rock. In fact, a little bit less can be more (a/k/a The Al Green Theory), and when you're playing music with a blues/R & B base, deft rhythm work means more than the ability to turn the amps up as loud as possible. The mid-tempo "Oh Sweet Susanna" chugs along so smoothly – Augie Wilson's snare work alone is sublime, the chorus has a slight but enduring melody, this is laid back garage rock – maybe porch rock would be a better term.

Sometimes their R & B prowess combined with their heaviness potential comes off like some sublime alt-universe where The Small Faces and Humble Pie combined forces – "It's not Easy" mixes the slinky, snarky pop-R & B of the teeny mods with a screaming guitar workout (Graham Tyler, take a bow) in the middle – it's all rock and roll to The Mooney Suzuki, and why not, since they are all rock and roll.

If you just want your head ripped off, just program your disc player to the opening salvos, two songs forged in Detroit steel – but for the recording quality (recorded in the Motor City by knob ace Jim "Diamond Jim" Diamond), you might be able to fool friends into thinking this is some band that opened for The MC5 and the Bob Seger System at some Down With The Pigs rally in a park in ‘68. The title cut just radiates "Kick Out The Jams" heat, though it's more streamlined than its proto-metal influence. James sings one of the best quatrains I've ever heard on "In a Young Man's Mind": "In a young man's mind/it's a simple world/there's a little room for music/and the rest is girls". Let me tell you that this song captures both the excitement of rock and roll and the about-to-burst sexuality that those lines encapsulate, it's all build up and release, controlled frenzy, it's shouting, screaming – FUCK!!!
Throw in two shit hot instrumentals and the only folks who will be immune to this puppy are either snobs ("oh, it's not original") or pussies ("must they rock so much?"). I not only thank The Mooney Suzuki for such a great album, but thank them in advance for the hundreds of teens who will decide to pick up an instrument after hearing rock the way it's meant to be played.

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Kenny Howes and the Yeah!
Kenny Howes and the Yeah!

(Royal Fuzz)

royalfuzz.com

It would be a shame if this disc got lost in the cracks, as this is Howes's most mature effort yet, and shows him adding rocking depth to his already well established ability to pen and perform some of the sharpest Southern power pop that I've ever heard. If you are unfamiliar with Howes and the Yeah, let's just say that they are the only band that could seriously challenge The Shazam for the title of ‘Cheap Trick of the South'. Melodic tunes played on loud guitars with a rhythm section in the tradition of The Move and The Who – these guys do that very well. Not that everything was big pop city – you could hear The Beatles, Todd Rundgren, The Raspberries and others when the volume was lowered a bit.
On this album, the band takes more forays into straight rock songs – which isn't to say that they have skimped on melodies and catchiness, but some songs clearly deviate from typical three minute structures. And the results make me wonder why the band hadn't showed off this side before. If anything, this disc makes the band more relevant than ever, as the songs are powerful – not just musically, but emotionally – you can feel some of these songs, and more importantly, Howes does.

There's the searing "Diary Queen", which comes off like a cross between Material Issue and The Who, with concise lyrics, a rocking performance by the band, and distinct movements within the song that bring it to an exhilarating climax. Howes tops this with "Strangers", which opens with a mournful piano that is soon counterpointed by a slicing lead guitar line (angry jangle?); while this song has its own melodic base, it mixes the heft and power of "Layla" with power pop. The music serves as an effective vehicle for Howes' ruminations on why we as individuals are so alienated from each other. Howes deploys simple two-line examples of the contradictions that fill our lives and create distance.

Not every track spills over with fury. The mid-tempo "Down to Earth" is a sweet track with dollops of lead guitar – the song is a Southern variation on Matthew Sweet/Cliff Hillis tuneage, both tender and joyful. Howes slows down the tempo even further on a cover of Kirsty MacColl's classic (and Tracey Ullman's big hit) "They Don't Know". By slowing the number down and taking out the bravado, the song suggests different interpretations – is the protagonist extremely relaxed and confident in the relationship, or is he beaten down and full of resignation, and thus half-heartedly trying to convince himself this love is still good? I've heard this track both ways.

Long time Howes fans should not fear. The Yeah still kicks out some straight pop tunes that are all happiness and hooks. "You Make Me Feel Like I'm not Crazy" proves that when life gives you slight paranoia, look to your lover, and turn it into sunshine. Kelly Shane's drumming is particularly creative on this track. The single "Sheila, She" is textbook pop writing – short and sharp, stringing together three pithy melodic ideas into one terrific whole. And "Go There" is a great rock and roll kiss off tune, in the mold of Cheap Trick and the Jeff Lynne edition of The Move. Let's just say that you can really do the Brontosaurus to it.

The only misstep on the album comes with the closer, "Few & Far Between", which ends with an endless repetition of the same guitar chords over and over. No variation in tempo, no embellishment, just the repetition. This is a technique that rarely, if ever, is effective.

However, this is another example of Kenny Howes and the Yeah not being satisfied with cranking out the three minute pop numbers that they have mastered a long time ago. Howes and crew obviously understand that so many of the best rock bands balanced light and dark sides, and the added dimension shown on this effort makes them only more formidable.

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