Which Clutch record should I buy?

pearljam0000

I'm starting to get into Clutch and I wanna know what you guys think would be the best record to buy. Thanks.

The Vacant

If you have the cash, go with these three at the same time:

Self titled - Heavy music that grooves. Neil still had a bit of a Cookie Monster vibe on his vox, but it works with most of the tunes. Both Big News tracks, Prison Planet and Spacegrass are pretty well know. The ending pair of 7 Jam and Tim Sult vs. The Greys is a great jam piece with some phenominal guitar tones. Everything inbetween is pretty cool too.

Blast Tyrant - More lean and mean, and the begining of the more polished Clutch sound. I picked this and the self titled album up on the same day and have been hooked ever since. Very sharp song writing here. More great tones from Mr. Sult. It's almost like a blend of early Zappa lyrics and music from the Dio era of Sabbath.

Beale Street To Oblivion - Take the above sound and throw in a healthy dose of RL Burnside to the mix. Lots of boogie in here. Maybe it's just because it's the freshest disc, but I'm really digging this one.

After those look into Elephant Riders and Slow Hole To China. The later is/was only available at shows and through the band's website. It's a collection of outtakes, but rocks much harder than Pure Rock Fury. Guild of Mute Assassins, Sea of Destruction, Willie Nelson, and the title track more than make this disc a must have. ER sounds like a logical progression from the S/T album. Neil's vocals continue to shy away from the Cookie Monster sound. Lots of groove on this one. After Dragonfly there is one of three hidden bonus tracks. You never know which one you are getting though.

Transnational is more of a hardcore album, and is much different than what would come later. Got to admit I have a hard time getting into this one and some of the other early things. Although Impetus is a killer early tune.

Jam Room is an oddity. Seems more for the big time fan than the casual fan. It lives up to it's title, as most of the songs seem more like fragments and ideas.

Robot Hive/Exodus and Pure Rock Fury have some decent tracks a piece. RH/E feels like the "Son of Blast Tyrant", in that it covers little new ground and the songwriting wasn't up to par with the albums on either side of it. Still, 10001110101 and Gravel Road are cool. Lots of folks seem to dig Burning Beard as well. Pure Rock Fury has some of the worst production values on any Clutch album. How a lot of these tunes got released instead of the Slow Hole tracks is beyond me. Open Up The Border, the title track, and Red Horse Rainbow are all you need from that one. The rest is dreck.

patrickredeyes

pearljam0000 wrote:

I'm starting to get into Clutch and I wanna know what you guys think would be the best record to buy. Thanks.

PURE ROCK FURY


That one really got me into them.

Anon

The Vacant wrote:

If you have the cash, go with these three at the same time:

Self titled - Heavy music that grooves. Neil still had a bit of a Cookie Monster vibe on his vox, but it works with most of the tunes. Both Big News tracks, Prison Planet and Spacegrass are pretty well know. The ending pair of 7 Jam and Tim Sult vs. The Greys is a great jam piece with some phenominal guitar tones. Everything inbetween is pretty cool too.

Blast Tyrant - More lean and mean, and the begining of the more polished Clutch sound. I picked this and the self titled album up on the same day and have been hooked ever since. Very sharp song writing here. More great tones from Mr. Sult. It's almost like a blend of early Zappa lyrics and music from the Dio era of Sabbath.

Beale Street To Oblivion - Take the above sound and throw in a healthy dose of RL Burnside to the mix. Lots of boogie in here. Maybe it's just because it's the freshest disc, but I'm really digging this one.

After those look into Elephant Riders and Slow Hole To China. The later is/was only available at shows and through the band's website. It's a collection of outtakes, but rocks much harder than Pure Rock Fury. Guild of Mute Assassins, Sea of Destruction, Willie Nelson, and the title track more than make this disc a must have. ER sounds like a logical progression from the S/T album. Neil's vocals continue to shy away from the Cookie Monster sound. Lots of groove on this one. After Dragonfly there is one of three hidden bonus tracks. You never know which one you are getting though.

Transnational is more of a hardcore album, and is much different than what would come later. Got to admit I have a hard time getting into this one and some of the other early things. Although Impetus is a killer early tune.

Jam Room is an oddity. Seems more for the big time fan than the casual fan. It lives up to it's title, as most of the songs seem more like fragments and ideas.

Robot Hive/Exodus and Pure Rock Fury have some decent tracks a piece. RH/E feels like the "Son of Blast Tyrant", in that it covers little new ground and the songwriting wasn't up to par with the albums on either side of it. Still, 10001110101 and Gravel Road are cool. Lots of folks seem to dig Burning Beard as well. Pure Rock Fury has some of the worst production values on any Clutch album. How a lot of these tunes got released instead of the Slow Hole tracks is beyond me. Open Up The Border, the title track, and Red Horse Rainbow are all you need from that one. The rest is dreck.

could NOT have said it better myself. don't forget Pitchfork and Lost Needles which is a comp of their first EP plus some old unreleased/demo tracks, plus two new songs from the Robot Hive sessions (those are worth the disc). also the Live From Flint 2 disc set which is available through their webstore i believe. AMAZING set from the Blast Tyrant tour. if you come across the Live At The Googleplex skip it, it's terrible. the Flint set eclipses it in more ways than one. oh, and the Impetus EP is good too!

i think they're going to start writting the next record in October!!! such kindred spirits to PJ. tour forever and put out consistantly amazing records. plus, ever show is different. their website is http://www.pro-rock.com go there and get lost!!

pjl44

The Vacant wrote:

If you have the cash, go with these three at the same time:

Self titled - Heavy music that grooves. Neil still had a bit of a Cookie Monster vibe on his vox, but it works with most of the tunes. Both Big News tracks, Prison Planet and Spacegrass are pretty well know. The ending pair of 7 Jam and Tim Sult vs. The Greys is a great jam piece with some phenominal guitar tones. Everything inbetween is pretty cool too.

Blast Tyrant - More lean and mean, and the begining of the more polished Clutch sound. I picked this and the self titled album up on the same day and have been hooked ever since. Very sharp song writing here. More great tones from Mr. Sult. It's almost like a blend of early Zappa lyrics and music from the Dio era of Sabbath.

Beale Street To Oblivion - Take the above sound and throw in a healthy dose of RL Burnside to the mix. Lots of boogie in here. Maybe it's just because it's the freshest disc, but I'm really digging this one.

After those look into Elephant Riders and Slow Hole To China. The later is/was only available at shows and through the band's website. It's a collection of outtakes, but rocks much harder than Pure Rock Fury. Guild of Mute Assassins, Sea of Destruction, Willie Nelson, and the title track more than make this disc a must have. ER sounds like a logical progression from the S/T album. Neil's vocals continue to shy away from the Cookie Monster sound. Lots of groove on this one. After Dragonfly there is one of three hidden bonus tracks. You never know which one you are getting though.

Transnational is more of a hardcore album, and is much different than what would come later. Got to admit I have a hard time getting into this one and some of the other early things. Although Impetus is a killer early tune.

Jam Room is an oddity. Seems more for the big time fan than the casual fan. It lives up to it's title, as most of the songs seem more like fragments and ideas.

Robot Hive/Exodus and Pure Rock Fury have some decent tracks a piece. RH/E feels like the "Son of Blast Tyrant", in that it covers little new ground and the songwriting wasn't up to par with the albums on either side of it. Still, 10001110101 and Gravel Road are cool. Lots of folks seem to dig Burning Beard as well. Pure Rock Fury has some of the worst production values on any Clutch album. How a lot of these tunes got released instead of the Slow Hole tracks is beyond me. Open Up The Border, the title track, and Red Horse Rainbow are all you need from that one. The rest is dreck.

The Vacant pretty much nailed it. My only disagreement would be with Robot Hive/Exodus...I put it right below The Elephant Riders. I do agree that Pure Rock Fury is their weakest album.

CHANGEinWAVES

Elephant Riders......to the northwest!

Anon

after hearing the self titiled record from a friend and burning it i asked what the next record i should by, he told me The Elephant Riders. i was so blown away by just how different it was. i was expecting the self titled record Part 2. this was my first exposure to the diversity of each Clutch record.

i rank the records:
Jam Room
Blast Tyrant
Clutch
Elephant Riders
From Beale Street To Oblivion
Robot Hive/Exodus
Transnational Speedway League
Pure Rock Fury

Brisk.

wow, awesome thread

yeah i have seen them twice, quite a big fan.

Listen to pure rock fury or blast tyrant...

however their new album from beale street to oblivon is awesome, its got such a good groove, so go with any of the three i mentioned

All Those Yesterdays

Blast Tyrant would be the first I'd recommend. After that it doesn't matter, they are all awesome. Maybe Elephant Riders, Robot Hives Exodus then Pure Rock Furry.

Inkdaub

Katie did nothing but shiver and cry...as did the dragonfly.

patrickredeyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab6lr2b66Ig


Seeing them next week for the second time. I can't wait.

Anon

they're playing Philly on Saturday but i can't go because i'm building a retaining wall at my house. sweating my balls off with some Yuengling and pizza.

The Vacant

Mushmouthmatt wrote:

they're playing Philly on Saturday but i can't go because i'm building a retaining wall at my house. sweating my balls off with some Yuengling and pizza.

You missed a good one. Highlights were three Slow Hole tunes in the set (Easy Breeze, Slow Hole To China, and Oregon), Regulator, White's Ferry, Mr. Shiny Cadillackness, and the encore of Elephant Riders and Gravel Road. Some trippy jams, some heavy jams, and a whole lot of rock to go around. Oh yeah, and a rare airing of Animal Farm to boot.

pjl44

The Vacant wrote:

You missed a good one. Highlights were three Slow Hole tunes in the set (Easy Breeze, Slow Hole To China, and Oregon), Regulator, White's Ferry, Mr. Shiny Cadillackness, and the encore of Elephant Riders and Gravel Road. Some trippy jams, some heavy jams, and a whole lot of rock to go around. Oh yeah, and a rare airing of Animal Farm to boot.

Animal Farm!!

Planes...drop...from the sky...people disappear and bullets fly!

CHANGEinWAVES

Inkdaub wrote:

Katie did nothing but shiver and cry...as did the dragonfly.

One of my favorite lines!! that and "You can shake it, break it, or glue it whole, but there's no two ways about it with a broke wishbone on the losing end

patrickredeyes

The Vacant wrote:

You missed a good one. Highlights were three Slow Hole tunes in the set (Easy Breeze, Slow Hole To China, and Oregon), Regulator, White's Ferry, Mr. Shiny Cadillackness, and the encore of Elephant Riders and Gravel Road. Some trippy jams, some heavy jams, and a whole lot of rock to go around. Oh yeah, and a rare airing of Animal Farm to boot.

Oh I can't wait for this Wednesday's show.