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THE CLARKS
Strikes And Gutters (King Mouse)
Reviewed by Melanie Campbell
You know how pissed off you get when a band puts out a CD full of "outtakes", and all the songs are utter crap, and it just looks like the band and/or their label is just trying to gouge the shit out of the music-buying public? Well here's proof that the concept doesn't have to have the bad reputation it's gotten in the last decade or so. Some bands put out really great music on a fairly consistent basis, but only so much of it makes the final cut of any given release. And so it is for the Clarks. It would've been sooooo much fun to have been a fly on the wall, listening to the gab sessions about which songs made the grade for Let It Go (Razor & Tie) and which ones didn't. One can only imagine how tough the choices must have been, but the band has resolved this little dilemma for the rest of us rather nicely with the release of Strikes And Gutters, bless their hearts (and their record company's generosity).
Contained for your listening pleasure, here are 13 -- count 'em, 13 -- fine tracks. Some are songs that have turned up elsewhere, such as the r&b-flavored "Lock And Key" and the really-bluesy "Apartment Song" (found also on the Clarks live cd of 1998). Some are Clark-ified reworkings of acoustic numbers, like the straight-forward rocker "Does Your Harbor Light Still Shine", and the country- tinged "Little Sanctuary" (both appeared on vocalist Scott Blasey's solo CD of a few years back). Some heretofore have never seen the light of day, and it's simply amazing that it's taken this long. Better late than never, though, that we should get to hear "Roses & Diesel". Good grief, given all this, we can't imagine what these guys call a "bad song".
The only thing they have to do now (other than record some new tunes, of course) is to release their smokin' cover of the Marvin Gaye classic "Let's Get It On" somewhere besides on their website. That is not found on this disc, much to our chagrin, but if you look hard enough elsewhere online (nudge- nudge, wink-wink), you can probably find it.
Strikes And Gutters is in extremely limited release through www.starpolish.com, if it isn't sold out already. So aim thine mouse pointer in that direction if you wanna try and get your hands on one. We'll even forgive you if ya click that link now, and come back to Cosmik Debris when you're done looking for it and/or buying it. It's that good.
Track List:
Roses & Diesel * Talk Of The Town * The Deal * Lock And Key * Apartment Song * Does Your Harbor Light Still Shine? * Little Sanctuary * Over Me * Reves Arabesque * Mother's Only Son * Tonight * The Blizzard * Give Me Tonight
© 2001 - Melanie Campbell