CLUTCH — Clutch

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4.17 | 17 ratings | 3 reviews

Album · 1995

Filed under Stoner Rock
By CLUTCH

Tracklist

1. Big News I (5:13)
2. Big News II (2:23)
3. Rock N' Roll Outlaw (2:59)
4. Texan Book of the Dead (2:57)
5. Escape From the Prison Planet (4:53)
6. Spacegrass (6:32)
7. I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth (4:27)
8. Tight Like That (4:49)
9. Animal Farm (2:01)
10. Droid (4:43)
11. The House That Peterbilt (3:32)
12. 7 Jam (6:18)
13. Tim Sult vs. The Greys (4:11)

Total Time: 55:05

Line-up/Musicians

- Neil Fallon / Vocals
- Tim Sult / Guitar
- Dan Maines / Bass
- Jean-Paul Gaster / Drums

Guest/session:
- Richard Morel / Organ (on tracks 5, 7, 12 & 13)

About this release

Eastwest Records, May 9, 1995

Recorded: Uncle Punchy's Studios, Silver Spring, MD, December 1994 - January 1995

Producer: Clutch and Larry Packer

The Japanese release of the album contains bonus track: "Apache"

Thanks to UMUR, Unitron, 666sharon666 for the updates

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Unitron

Clutch's self-titled album is a fantastic album and great transition from the aggressive sludge metal of their debut to the southern blues metal of The Elephant Riders, mixing both sounds and perfecting both. There's also psychedelic vibes and some great funky rhythms, it basically uses all elements of what Clutch's music has done and would do. Neil Fallon's vocals are still raw and gravelly, yet will sing melodic lines with those vocals as well sometimes a hip hop lyrical flow (Not quite rapping, but it's easy to hear the influence on a song like Texan Book of the Dead). The abstract lyrics are more easily heard, and are just as fantastic as the debut.

Songs like Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw, the bursting with energy Texan Book of the Dead, Escape from the Prison Planet, psychedelic Spacegrass, awesomely titled I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth, the funky and bluesy swagger of Tight Like That, and sludgy Animal Farm are all absolute favorite Clutch tracks of mine and show off how varied the album is.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #312747

UMUR

"Clutch" is the self-titled 2nd full-length studio album by US hard/stoner rock act Clutch. The album was released through Eastwest Records in May 1995. Clutch started out as a hardcore band, and their debut album "Transnational Speedway League: Anthems, Anecdotes, and Undeniable Truths (1993)" still featured quite a few hardcore traits although it´s mostly a hard rock/stoner rock album.

The hardcore elements are now completely gone from the band´s sound, and "Clutch" is a hard rock/stoner rock album through and through. There are still some badass attitude moments on the album, that might have been born in their hardcore youth, but we´re predominantly treated to southern influenced bluesy hard rock with a psychadelic stoner rock edge. It´s quite heavy at times, but the album is overall quite dynamic with both vers/chorus structured hard rockers, and more experimental/psychadelic tinged tracks.

The material on the 13 track, 55:05 minutes long album (the Japanese version of the album feautures the bonus track "Apache") are generally of a good compositional quality, and several tracks are really strong. It´s not all tracks that are equally remarkable, and if you ask me, I think the album overstays it´s welcome by a couple of tracks, but then again if you take each track and listen to them one by one, they are all quite entertaining, so maybe it´s the overall flow of the album that doesn´t always work that well.

The musicianship are as always one of the great assets when listening to a Clutch album. Neil Fallon is an incredibly skilled vocalist with a strong voice and a passionate delivery, and his performance on this album is even a bit more varied than on later releases, because he still occasionally sings more raw vocal styles here. The rest of the band are also very well playing. A tight yet organic sounding unit. The instrumentation is guitars, bass, drums and vocals, but there are a few tracks featuring organ, courtesy of session player Richard Morel.

The album is packed in a well sounding, powerful, and organic sound production, which suits the music perfectly. So overall this sophomore album is another high quality release by Clutch and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #343329

Kingcrimsonprog

Clutch’s eponymous, second full length studio album, was the first album by the band to fully sound like Clutch all the way through and is an unquestionable classic record and must have for fans. Released back in 1995, the record picked up some considerable stoner influences to add into the band’s sound and has went on to become one of the public’s favourite and most celebrated albums by the band.

The band themselves are all gifted musicians and unique songwriters full of weird ideas, with some absolutely remarkable and creative lyrics and vocal performances courtesy of the amazing front man Neil Fallon. Put simply, Clutch are an astonishingly enjoyable band to listen to and the sort of band who put an amused smile on your face as often as they impress you musically.

In terms of production, this self-titled record was a big improvement over their earlier material and the band have managed to capture the feel of the band sound great from beginning to end.

Musically; this is almost a fifty-fifty split between fairly energetic oddball rock songs and impressive, muso-friendly jamming; the sort of hypnotic, use-a-whole-bunch-of-guitar-effects music that Tim Sult is so skilled at making sound like a fun jam rather than a giant extended guitar solo.

Stand out tracks include the absolutely storming `Animal Farm,’ which is powerful and rousing, as well as the engaging `I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth,’ ‘Texan Book Of The Dead,’ and the very heavy and unusual `Tight Like That.’

Overall; this record is an essential Clutch release that no fan should be without an fairly representative of the band and their intentions as a whole. Every Clutch album since has added something new or different to the formula but always held a core set of goalposts based on this record so theoretically, if you like anything else the band have done, you’ll like this.