Clientele - Minotaur

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 13 / 9 / 2010

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If you have been browsing my earlier contributions to this website (I can’t imagine that you have, though), you might have stumbled upon a very enthusiastic live review of a gig that the Clientele did in Växjö, Sweden back in late 2002. That was the first time I saw them play, and since then I have had the pleasure to do so again on two more occasions, both in Gothenburg, and every time I love them even more. Sadly, I was a little bit disappointed when they released their second “proper” album 'Strange Geometry' in 2005, which also meant that I really didn’t bother to check out their next two albums, 'God Save the Clientele' and 'Bonfires on the Heath' (released in 2007 and 2009) when they came out, and even though I have listened to them a little afterwards, I think they are far from the glorious days of the early singles and the first album, 'Violet Hour'. Maybe you can guess that I wasn’t expecting a new masterpiece when I got the new eight track album of unreleased songs, mostly recorded during the sessions for the last album, but as soon as I checked out the track list on the back I got a big smile on my face: they had finally recorded my old live favourite, 'Jerry', a song that they always played in concert in the early days, but never recorded in a studio version. Until now, then. And I must say that it’s still as good as I remember it to be! Most of songs on 'Minotaur' are very much like those early songs that I love to much, so it feels good to have the “good old Clientele” back, if only for this release. But I could easily have done without 'The Green Man', a track where Alasdair MacLean (singer and guitarist) reads a story over a background of various city sounds, very similar to 'Losing Haringey' on the 'Strange Geometry' album. Sure, I’m sure the story is good, but when I listen to music, I want to listen to music. Maybe he could do an album of spoken-word instead? The rumour tells me that the band had announced that they would stop touring earlier this year, but since they are apparently supporting this release with some live dates, I hope that I will be able to see them for a fourth time…

Track Listing:-

1 Minotaur
2 Jerry
3 As the World Rises and Falls
4 Paul Verlaine
5 Strange Town
6 No. 33
7 The Green Man
8 Nothing Here Is What It Seems

Band Links:-

http://www.theclientele.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/theclienteleofficial
https://twitter.com/theclientele
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clientele

Label Links:-

http://www.pointyrecords.co.uk/

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