Clutch – “Strange Cousins From The West”
released July 14, 2009 on Weathermaker Music
No other heavy rock band is as fiercely independent and consistently satisfying as Clutch. This is the Maryland band’s first new material on their own imprint (unless you count The Bakerton Group’s El Rojo earlier this year), and you can tell they wanted to impress.
From their thought-provoking lyrics and artwork (with beautiful die-cut layout) to their venerable blues-based execution, they intrigue the senses with every turn. Good times, sharp hooks and tasty grooves are guaranteed, whether they sing of rebel radio (“50,000 Unstoppable Watts”), The Great Emancipator (“Abraham Lincoln”), scorned love (“Let A Poor Man Be”), or mythical beasts inspired by Greek mythology (“Minotaur”) and even Land of the Lost (“Sleestak Lightning”).
This is the band’s fourth outing with producer J. Robbins (again, counting TBG), and the first album in five years to not feature Hammond organ player Mick Schauer, streamlining back to their original, unmodified foursome. If their label’s first few releases were warning shots, this album is their battle cry…Clutch proves again that they are a peerless and fearless force of nature.
10 is a cover of a Norberto “Pappo” Napolitano tune, and sung entirely in Spanish.
A Best of 2009 pick!
FCC OK
Try 1, 3, *4*, 5, 8, 11
01. Motherless Child
02. Struck Down
03. 50,000 Unstoppable Watts
04. Abraham Lincoln
05. Minotaur
06. The Amazing Kreskin
07. Witchdoctor
08. Let a Poor Man Be
09. Freakonomics
10. Algo Ha Cambiado
11. Sleestak Lightning
[xrr rating=4/5]
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