My taste in music is ever-changing. I’d be hard pressed to name more than a few albums that hold my interest as intently today as when I first heard them. Robot Hive/Exodus is one of those albums. This is the first album that saw Clutch adding the Hammond Organ into the mix. I wouldn’t normally describe Clutch as being a very experimental band, every now and then they do something off-kilter like adding horns and flirting with jazz on their instrumental “Crackerjack”, but they have a style and they seem to stick with it. However, this album’s mantra is best summarized by the song “Never Be Moved”, which compels the listener to “Get your evolution on.”
The album starts off with “The Incomparable Mr. Flannery”. A song that outlines what appears to be a couple running from the law in the worst possible getaway vehicle. The groove that they tapped into on this song is so undeniably infectious it’s hard to resist the urge to dance awkwardly to it; couple that with Fallon’s lyrics and the use of the Hammond organ to accentuate the riffs and you have a top-notch way to start an album.
“Burning Beard” was the single from this album, which surprisingly placed fairly high on an end of year vote of the top “metal” music videos on Fuse. I like this song for two reasons. The drum work is just phenomenal, it’s hard not to attempt to drum along to it and look like an idiot. Secondly, the vocals sound like Fallon is a crazed prophet, preaching madly for anyone that will enter the nondenominational house of Clutch. His surreal lyrics really force this message home “every time I look out my window, same three dogs looking back at me” “every time I open my window cranes fly in to terrorize me” “the power of the holy ghost (woof woof woof), the power of the holy ghost, pas auf” The music video really captures this as it shows the band playing in front of a congregation of robots in an idyllic country church.
The third track is “Gullah” and this is where the gospel influence really starts to shine through. This is the point of the album where the addition of an organ player really starts to shine through. The bass line in this song is so fluid and really lays a strong foundation for the song. Again, as is the case for every track on this album, the lyrics are just on another level of amazing. Mentions of Jesus, American Bandstand, and yellow cake seem to paint an interesting picture of American culture and the line “scaling up the heights of folly” always appeared to be a succinct way of describing American foreign policy at the time. I don’t know if Fallon meant this song to be a criticism of sorts and that’s the beauty of it.
“Mice and Gods”, another song another handful of lyrics I can’t help but love. “Silver women on the Omni magazine, they got the future laid out precisely as I need”. OMNI magazine was a swcifi/science magazine that ran from the 70’s into the 90’s based on the covers alone (www.omnimagazineonline.com) it’s definitely something I would have enjoyed reading. The line “engineer the future now, damn tomorrow, future now, throw the switched, prime the charge, yesterday’s for mice and gods.” Is just so insanely catchy to me, and who can’t help but feel like that at times.
Pulaski Skyway is the fifth track, and one that I love to listen to. This was one of the first songs I learned in full on bass, and one of a handful of songs that I was able to cover in full with a “band” even if it was just for ourselves in a garage. The opening guitar lick is just perfect. Lyrics such as “art class for the bourgeoisie, lab rats for the cat” and mentions of mole people, Jimmy Hoffa, Andy Warhol and CBGBs are nice pop-culture references.
“Never Be Moved” this is the song that I feel best sums up the album, it feels like some weird religious after-party. You can hear the gospel influence in full effect, the bluesy groove of the song is ever apparent, and just enough Clutch quirkiness is thrown in for good measure. Charles Darwin is dubbed a saint and references to Sleestack are thrown in for good measure. “Aint no tellin’ how much longer, but we will never, we will never be moved” I can’t help but identify with that lyric at times.
“10001110101” Yes, that is the title of the song. If “Never Be Moved” is a party after Clutch was done preaching the gospel of groove, this song is the audio of the sermon that went down moments before. This is the song that got me into Clutch when I heard it on the MusicChoice cable channel. “Ribonucleic acid freak outs, possible references to Hello-Kitty, and the most unlikely catchy chorus ever make this song a stand-out. Go ahead and read some of the interpretations of this song (www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/35308221078548482/2/ASC/#comment)
The next 3 songs “Small Upsetters”, “Circus Maximus”, and “Tripping the Alarm” flow into each other so neatly and so organically it’s hard not to get lost in them. Mentions of Cthulhu, paparazzi, and the beast with two backs are lyrical highlights in Circus Maximus.
If previous songs flirted with their gospel influence, “10,000 Witnesses” is where the band fully embraces it. It appears to be the tale of a man that had recently escaped execution and stumbles upon a big tent religious revival where snake handling is practiced.
The last three songs are fairly hit or miss for me, Land of Pleasant Living doesn’t do too much for me, Gravel Road is an amazing delta blues cover and the midpoint of the song is jaw-dropping to experience live. Who’s Been Talking is another blues cover which I have never really enjoyed and usually end the album at Gravel Road.
Needless to say I can't wait to see them next month.
Enjoy "Never Be Moved" my favorite song off of Robot Hive/Exodus at the moment.
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