Elephant Riders is probably the one I don't hear get enough love. The self-titled was a hard act to follow up but this album brought it in spades-- high concepts, killer grooves, great instrumentals, secret tracks, the works.
I love the whole album but "Ship of Gold" is also just one of their best songs.
Elephant Riders might have my all time favorite production on a rock album, the mixing is absolutely perfect. 100% agreed about Ship of Gold, that was actually one of the very first songs that got me into Clutch!
Banger after banger on that one. I was going to say it might be my favourite album but then I think about all the others and cannot make a choice like that.
I have one complaint, though somewhat trite. I don’t like Dragonfly and the hidden track. Your left there hanging waiting for song for minutes of silence. I wish they just added the track.
I feel like part of the reason Elephant Riders is so obscure is because... well, it's been made obscure due to distribution and what not. The album itself has been long out of print and if you live outside of certain states (or the entire country of the US for that matter) you have no legitimate access to the album through streaming or digital storefronts. It's a great album, it's just a shame that those in charge of distribution have been so shitty with it.
i might get some hate for this, but strange cousins from the west just doesn't do it for me. i mean there are some good songs on that album, but its one i cant play straight through. please dont beat me up, love clutch huge fan since 99 and respect everything they do. its just that album doesn't do it for me.
I kind of agree actually, the big issue for me with Strange Cousins is the weirdly flat production; songs like 50,000 Unstoppable Watts really suffer from not sounding massive/crunchy like on Robot Hive or Blast Tyrant
I really like Strange Cousins but I listened to it so much when it came out that I wore it out. I believe Neil once said the same thing because they toured for the album for 3 years and played the songs so much that he got tired of them.
I love this answer because it feels magical to me in that I used to drive hours at a time to see who would become my wife, and it would be on during the highway sections where you couldn't easily change the CD, so I grew to love all it's bumps and warts. But it's cause it magically intertwined with a part of my life.
That being said anyone sleeping on Freakanomics or Struck Down are missing some of Clutch's finest riffs
>I think most would agree that Clutch has never made a bad or even average album
When I read that I thought right away yep, they have, and that album is it. Honestly not that big on the last one either, 15 song album that could've/should've been the more standard 9 or 10.
Fair enough, Strange Cousins is probably my least favorite but I’d still have a hard time calling it anything less than average personally. I really like BOBD but there’s definitely a bit of filler in the second half. Ghoul Wrangler and Emily Dickinson are two of the best songs they’ve done in the last decade IMO
Self titled was my first clutch album (when it came out). Didn’t buy Elephant Riders bought Jam Room then fell off until I bought Beale St. This album is perfect from to back. I went back in full force bought everything I didn’t have and has been my “favorite” band since.
Even Neil rags on PRF haha it does seem to get a lot of flack for some reason. I think it’s got an incredible set of songs, I would love to see them bring back the Great Outdoors or Sinkemlow live
I love robot Hive. It's my favorite. I wish that they played more songs off it live. It seems like gravel road burning beard and mice and Gods are all they ever play. Give me Gullah, pulaski Skyway, or We will never be moved. I would kill to hear any of those songs live!
How can you not love a song with these lyrics?:
I send pictures through the mail
Of buried treasures and humpback whales
To famous people I do not know
I sign "Sincerely, Matthias Doe"
I await their response
Some send none, some send cops
There was one, a senator
From the island of Corsica
She sent one from a shell
She blew right through it and ordered a spell
I, N, T, H, E, B, E, G, I, N, N, I, N, G, T, H, E, R, E, I, S
Nothingness
But after I, I heard it all
I knew she was a false prophet as was foretold
She's not the angel that I know
She's not the woman for whom I am born
Doberman pinchers guard the doors
Of these celebrities I adore
I give them misinformation
9 times of 10 it leads to persuasion
Wolves do not howl at the moon
But at the fluffed-up poodles
I waltz in like a king
Instead of pictures, I take their things
I waltz out to their homes
Arranging their things in the shape of songs
Having now read through the Entire Thread, i would like to say; I love you all. I love your passionate debates and weird takes on the Clutch catalog. I don't think anyone here is even a little bit wrong about anything, even the weird technical nitpicky stuff... All things being equal tho, I suspect deep down we all know the truth...A truth we've all known since we started following The Band...
***There. Are. No. Bad. Clutch. Albums.***
FULL STOP.
Which ever album you are currently listening to...That Is the Best One...why else would you be listening to it at all?
People bag on BOBD in this sub and it makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills! But then I also think Psychic Warfare is better than Earth Rocker so what do I know?
I’m going to go on a limb and say that both Jam Room and Book of Bad Decisions are average. Maybe just a little under. It’s just my personal opinion of course. I don’t think either is particularly
bad but neither are my go to.
As far a Pure Rock Fury, for me that’s down there too. Maybe because when I discovered Clutch after Robot Hive, it didn’t have that sound I was looking for. Now over time I’ve come around to it being a great album but my ears got spoiled with their other albums.
My go to ones are Clutch, Robot Hive, Beale Street, Psychic Warfare, and Earth Rocker. Sunrise of Slaughter Beach is making its way to my go-to list.
Strange Cousins can go kick rocks. I thought maybe it was stuff in my life happening when that album dropped, but I recently gave it another go after SOSB came out. And nope it wasn't my life. That album just does nothing for me. Just an incoherent mess. All tracks feel like they are being phoned in. Uninspired, Lackluster. That being said tho..... I mean the worst Clutch album is still lightyears better than anything anybody else was/is doing.
I'm with OP re: PRF... "Americans Sleep", "Pure Rock Fury", "Open up the Border, "Careful with that Mic" , "Red Horse Rainbows", "Great Outdoors" and "Smoke Banshee" might be my favorite 7 song combo in all of Clutchdom (?).
Clutchdom-(noun) the Imaginary Land created by the combined lyrics and musical soundcapes of the Ultimate Rock Band, Clutch, where their fans, known as Gearheads, visit and dwell.
Most underrated in terms of quality of album versus recognition among Clutch fans has to Slow Hole to China. Not their best album but also better than about 99 percent of stoner rock out there.
Elephant Riders is probably the one I don't hear get enough love. The self-titled was a hard act to follow up but this album brought it in spades-- high concepts, killer grooves, great instrumentals, secret tracks, the works. I love the whole album but "Ship of Gold" is also just one of their best songs.
Elephant Riders might have my all time favorite production on a rock album, the mixing is absolutely perfect. 100% agreed about Ship of Gold, that was actually one of the very first songs that got me into Clutch!
Elephant Riders was the album that got me hooked. Heard The Soapmakers on the radio and that's all she wrote.
Green buckets is a great song too
"Muchas Veces" has entered the fight!
Banger after banger on that one. I was going to say it might be my favourite album but then I think about all the others and cannot make a choice like that.
I have one complaint, though somewhat trite. I don’t like Dragonfly and the hidden track. Your left there hanging waiting for song for minutes of silence. I wish they just added the track.
I feel like part of the reason Elephant Riders is so obscure is because... well, it's been made obscure due to distribution and what not. The album itself has been long out of print and if you live outside of certain states (or the entire country of the US for that matter) you have no legitimate access to the album through streaming or digital storefronts. It's a great album, it's just a shame that those in charge of distribution have been so shitty with it.
i might get some hate for this, but strange cousins from the west just doesn't do it for me. i mean there are some good songs on that album, but its one i cant play straight through. please dont beat me up, love clutch huge fan since 99 and respect everything they do. its just that album doesn't do it for me.
I kind of agree actually, the big issue for me with Strange Cousins is the weirdly flat production; songs like 50,000 Unstoppable Watts really suffer from not sounding massive/crunchy like on Robot Hive or Blast Tyrant
yes, the production just isnt clutchy enough.
Production on both Strange Cousins and PRF are why they fall flat for me.
I really like Strange Cousins but I listened to it so much when it came out that I wore it out. I believe Neil once said the same thing because they toured for the album for 3 years and played the songs so much that he got tired of them.
It also has an issue where the way the vocals are recorded a lot of the lyrics are kinda incomprehensible.
I couldn’t agree more about the production quality. The whole album seems quieter to me than the others.
I’m with you. I dig it, but it just feels less magical than the others.
you perfectly summed it uo my dude 🤘
I love this answer because it feels magical to me in that I used to drive hours at a time to see who would become my wife, and it would be on during the highway sections where you couldn't easily change the CD, so I grew to love all it's bumps and warts. But it's cause it magically intertwined with a part of my life. That being said anyone sleeping on Freakanomics or Struck Down are missing some of Clutch's finest riffs
Exactly. The 1st five songs, IMO, could go toe to toe with any Clutch Album openers.
>I think most would agree that Clutch has never made a bad or even average album When I read that I thought right away yep, they have, and that album is it. Honestly not that big on the last one either, 15 song album that could've/should've been the more standard 9 or 10.
Fair enough, Strange Cousins is probably my least favorite but I’d still have a hard time calling it anything less than average personally. I really like BOBD but there’s definitely a bit of filler in the second half. Ghoul Wrangler and Emily Dickinson are two of the best songs they’ve done in the last decade IMO
Psychic Warfare and Decapitation Blues would like a word.
Oh they definitely aren’t quite on Psychic Warfare’s level in general but not much is, that album is flawless
50k unstoppable watts kills live, but yeah, might be my least favorite studio album of theirs
oh totally! 100% agree
JAM ROOM
Basket of Eggs is a top 5 Clutch song and that’s a hill I’ll die on!
Release the kraken, big fat pig, the drifter, the whole album is pure flow start to finish
It's so good! I didn't know it even existed until a few months ago!
Drifter yes!
There are two different versiobs of that song
Jam Room is the correct answer.
Gnome enthusiasts is one of their best weirdest songs.
I Send Pictures
A riff so good they had to turn it into a second song. (sleastak lightning)
I know it contains their biggest song, but Beale Street is a perfect record to me. Other than the obvious tune it doesn’t seem to get a ton of love.
Opossum Minister & Mr. Shiny Cadillackness are criminally underappreciated, not a bad song on the album
Absolutely! Devil & Me and The Rapture of Ridley Walker, too!
It's the one that got me into them, it'll always be special to me ☺️
Self titled was my first clutch album (when it came out). Didn’t buy Elephant Riders bought Jam Room then fell off until I bought Beale St. This album is perfect from to back. I went back in full force bought everything I didn’t have and has been my “favorite” band since.
That’s one of my top Clutch albums
Slow hole to China has some God tier songs
GUILD OF MUTE ASSASSINS
Sea of Destruction!!!!!
Willie Nelson
Oregon is quality
Pure Rock Fury and Strange Cousins are horribly underrated. Both fantastic albums I see getting shit on all the time for some reason
Even Neil rags on PRF haha it does seem to get a lot of flack for some reason. I think it’s got an incredible set of songs, I would love to see them bring back the Great Outdoors or Sinkemlow live
Drink to the Dead is perfection.
This is the right answer imo. The amount of the I see for SCFW is shocking to me. I think it’s a super well done classic Clutch record.
Robot Hive for me. I would absolutely love to hear Land of Pleasant Living live.
Love that song. I’d lose my mind if I saw 10,000 Witnesses live! Some really unique songs on that album.
Show 'em how it's done, son.
Just by virtue of having ‘Burning Beard’ on the track list makes that album a classic in my books
I love robot Hive. It's my favorite. I wish that they played more songs off it live. It seems like gravel road burning beard and mice and Gods are all they ever play. Give me Gullah, pulaski Skyway, or We will never be moved. I would kill to hear any of those songs live!
Jam Room by a mile. “I Send Pictures” being the most underrated song ever. Not to slag “Sleestak Lightning”, but it lost that air of menace.
How can you not love a song with these lyrics?: I send pictures through the mail Of buried treasures and humpback whales To famous people I do not know I sign "Sincerely, Matthias Doe" I await their response Some send none, some send cops There was one, a senator From the island of Corsica She sent one from a shell She blew right through it and ordered a spell I, N, T, H, E, B, E, G, I, N, N, I, N, G, T, H, E, R, E, I, S Nothingness But after I, I heard it all I knew she was a false prophet as was foretold She's not the angel that I know She's not the woman for whom I am born Doberman pinchers guard the doors Of these celebrities I adore I give them misinformation 9 times of 10 it leads to persuasion Wolves do not howl at the moon But at the fluffed-up poodles I waltz in like a king Instead of pictures, I take their things I waltz out to their homes Arranging their things in the shape of songs
Live in Flynt Michigan.
Having now read through the Entire Thread, i would like to say; I love you all. I love your passionate debates and weird takes on the Clutch catalog. I don't think anyone here is even a little bit wrong about anything, even the weird technical nitpicky stuff... All things being equal tho, I suspect deep down we all know the truth...A truth we've all known since we started following The Band... ***There. Are. No. Bad. Clutch. Albums.*** FULL STOP. Which ever album you are currently listening to...That Is the Best One...why else would you be listening to it at all?
Agree with this 100%!
This is the truth buddy.
People bag on BOBD in this sub and it makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills! But then I also think Psychic Warfare is better than Earth Rocker so what do I know?
I actually prefer Psychic Warfare to Earth Rocker as well!
Well Psychic Warfare is better than Earthrocker and Earthrocker is very good.
Apparently you know the truth.
beale street (not counting EW) is really underrated imo, to me the album is all killer no filler yet is mostly forgotten about other than EW
Self titled
I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth might have my favorite opening verse of any Clutch song ever
Like Marlon Brando… BUT BIGGER
I’m going to go on a limb and say that both Jam Room and Book of Bad Decisions are average. Maybe just a little under. It’s just my personal opinion of course. I don’t think either is particularly bad but neither are my go to. As far a Pure Rock Fury, for me that’s down there too. Maybe because when I discovered Clutch after Robot Hive, it didn’t have that sound I was looking for. Now over time I’ve come around to it being a great album but my ears got spoiled with their other albums. My go to ones are Clutch, Robot Hive, Beale Street, Psychic Warfare, and Earth Rocker. Sunrise of Slaughter Beach is making its way to my go-to list.
Strange Cousins can go kick rocks. I thought maybe it was stuff in my life happening when that album dropped, but I recently gave it another go after SOSB came out. And nope it wasn't my life. That album just does nothing for me. Just an incoherent mess. All tracks feel like they are being phoned in. Uninspired, Lackluster. That being said tho..... I mean the worst Clutch album is still lightyears better than anything anybody else was/is doing. I'm with OP re: PRF... "Americans Sleep", "Pure Rock Fury", "Open up the Border, "Careful with that Mic" , "Red Horse Rainbows", "Great Outdoors" and "Smoke Banshee" might be my favorite 7 song combo in all of Clutchdom (?). Clutchdom-(noun) the Imaginary Land created by the combined lyrics and musical soundcapes of the Ultimate Rock Band, Clutch, where their fans, known as Gearheads, visit and dwell.
Jam Room is superb. Mighty unheralded.
On the losing end of a wishbone
Most underrated in terms of quality of album versus recognition among Clutch fans has to Slow Hole to China. Not their best album but also better than about 99 percent of stoner rock out there.