Blast Tyrant and Robot Hives are no doubt my two favorite Clutch albums. I don't know which I like more though. They're good in different ways.

yeah, each album has it's own groove to it, i could listen to them all day

On first listen a few years back I wasn't that enamoured with Clutch but every time I hear them I get sucked in more. It's sleek and sexy yet dirty and skanky (I know that doesn't make sense).

This is just so damn good. Want to see them live performing this:

their self titled album is by far their opus....and damn near perfect

damn you jackhammer :).....i think i'm gonna have to go on yet another clutch binge

personal favorite song

"when you're raised with the good, the bad, the ugly....A HOLY TRINITY IN FLAVOR COUNTRY!!!!"

genius :)

It makes perfct sense. Its like those of us who listen to doom. Its just filthy, dirty, no good music that makes you wish you could take a shower. Yet I love it.

I'm sure I'll be blasted for this comment, but I don't really hear other acts like them. I thought they were humorous when I heard "Shogun named Marcus" but since they've hit their Blues/Greek mythology phase I think they've been some of the most unique music out there.

Between Beale Street and Oblivion was the last one I bought but I still love everything I hear.

Edit: Especially

Had Blast Tyrant on my computer forever, and finally got around to listening to it. Damn good band.

Amazing band i am fortunate to have witnessed them 5 times live i reccomend checking them out!

Agreed. I've looked for a few years but no other group really melds the styles the way Clutch does. The most recent album (Strange Cousins from the West) was initially a disappointment to my ears since the direction moves more towards blues rock and away from the surreal mythological aspect but it's grown on me. It's like they replaced the Greek mythology with American political mythology but where the American culture lacks the same historical depth the Greek culture offers the mythological angle of the lyrics aren't able to be nearly as surreal.

Though I wonder how much of their old lyrics were re-written to feature classical mythological creatures and events as a way of appeasing a major label exec.

Best Clutch quote (to my ears): Fate is the idiot's excuse! Freedom, the sucker's dream.

Clutch is one of my favorite groups. I made a list of my top 20 artists that I like in the Introduction section, and now I regret that I didn't think to include Clutch on that list. They're THAT good. Interesting fact about Clutch: when they play in Detroit they send people across the border into Canada to get Labatt's 50 (its a beer). Probably do that at all the border cities. My favorite Clutch albums are 'Clutch' and 'Blast Tyrant'.
Favorite song is 'The House That Peterbilt' - "When I talk talk on the C.B. yeah I scare men!"

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but THE BAKERTON GROUP is basically CLUTCH (all four members) doing bluesy, jazzy instrumental stuff. Pretty goddamned good. Worth checking out.

Clutch - Gravel Road - YouTube

Seeing them Sunday!

I have - my dad and I visited an album store and asked what they recommended, one of them said Clutch. We bought one of their albums and got one for free.

Which ones?

I wasnt aware that Clutch was still making music.. I dont think i have heard anything from them in a good long time. I'll have to look into them. Have they changed much since their first couple albums?

Drastically.

meh there allright to me kinda generic and boring..... if u ask me just good truckin music

Robot Hive/Exodus and Blast Tyrant, the latter had the wrong cover (the cover for Strange Cousins from the West), so we got that one for free.

I'll have to look into them... like i said its been a while since i listened to them, and im sure i have heard them on the radio and didnt even know it!!!!! :O


Is it a good change or a bad one?

I really enjoy the change. Its more musically oriented, rather than abrasive for the sake of being abrasive.

clutch are one of my favourite bands of all time, specifically because they're so generic. i mean, i do find that they have their own sound, but they're kind of calling on the ages to carve it out. they're not breaking any boundaries or anything like that, but i'm okay with that. i like blues and rock, so it's really great to see a band so grounded in their roots. it's like i listen to them when i just feel like smiling and bobbing my head a bit.

i also saw them live in toronto a few years ago at the opera house. on top of it being a kick-ass show, all the fans knew how to have a blast without acting like total morons, which is always nice.

Not to nitpick but why did you add "for the sake of being abrasive"?
Are they now less abrasive for the sake of it? Do you feel that they are more "honest" musicians now or something?
(full disclosure: I rarely ever listen to Clutch but when I do it's the "abrasive" stuff)

I have never heard of the Clutch. Please tell me the more about him.

Did I miss something?

I know this is an old post, but I just have to say that I adore their first album, and the next handful are great too. I was introduced to them with their blues stuff, but I stayed because of "Binge and Purge."

I've never heard that before. Thanks for posting it. Really great track. I'm never a fan of live tracks because the nuance gets lost in bad recordings and reverb but I'm looking up the studio track now.

Any other recommendations?

**** yes I've heard of Clutch. Bumping this thread because MB's straight up sleeping on the greatest rock band of this millennium. Shame!

Been spinning Blast Tyrant a lot lately. So much swagger that my dick grew 3 inches bringing me up to a respectable 4 and a half. Saying how godly they are live is a cliche at this point but I'll throw it out there again in case you're uninformed.

Can’t say I’ve heard of them but a cursory listen reminds me of a cross between Sabbath and Deep Purple fronted by a cross between Beefheart and Zappa. None of which is a bad thing. Not especially hyped but I will certainly delve into their catalogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3XEIOqWtnA

I love Clutch but I hear they don't play anything off their first like 4 albums anymore which really sucks cause those are some of their best

A decade later and I'm pretty ashamed of this statement :shycouch:

Maybe there's less aggression in my life. Time does funny things. I still wouldn't call PRF their best album but it certainly has more going for it than the title track.

As for the evolution of the band, when asked what's Clutch - my answer is Blues. Not blues rock / white-guy-wanking-a-guitar-in-Eminor. The Blues. Man screaming about the ills of the world he's forced to face.

Yes, they have some straight rock albums - Earth Rocker is solid rock start to finish. But Psychic Warfare and most recently The Book of Bad Decisions are very much a return to form to the bluesy jam based reflections on the world. I don't think Neil and the boys have really peaked in this current phase either. The next one should be really good.

They're one of the only bands where I will purchase a new album without hearing anything first.

Pure Rock Fury was a great album, it had several classic Clutch greats on it. Ive seen them 15 times and theyre going to be in a town about 45 minutes from me next thursday, and thall make 16 times ive seen em ;)

physchic warfare is an incredible album and it is definitely blues with some splashes of somewhat harder rock thrown in for good measure.

i wasnt a fan of earth rocker, even tho i have a wolfman hoodie ;)

book of bad decisions is decent, but not their best offering

I do eagerly await their new release slated to come out pretty soon, they just dropped a single on youtube

It's a ZZ Top cover... hmmm...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RvJt7MGziM

That's a good choice for Clutch imo. Holding off until the album release before I listen though.

It's decent, but Tim falls a bit short in the comparative groove with that Leslie effect in the solo, imo. That tune was def tailor made for Clutch though.

i found it to be lacking Tims usual emotive styling that i have become so accustomed to over the decades of listening to them

Lucky. I've seen them 0 times. It also seems that we're on opposite sides of the coin when it comes to preferred albums but I also think that's one of the big reasons that they're a great band. It might just be due to how and when I got around to listening to specific discs. I owned Psychic Warfare for a long time but actually listened to Book of Bad Decisions first. CD-rom was busted and couldn't rip to my iPod for the longest time hahaha

Either way regardless of what album anyone prefers I think we can all agree Clutch is awesome.

And their double live in Flint, Michigan is quite possibly the greatest live album I've ever heard.

Clutch is incredible. First band i went and saw on my own without any influence from my friends. You know the "hey, so and so is gonna be in town, like 9 of us are going!!" and in your mind, you say "well, i guess i have nothing else going on that night and maybe they put on a good show, so why not?" I also saw their MTV world premier video the night it was played for the very first time. Transitional speedway was their only album they had out at the time and the self titled was just about to drop. PRF gave me a good attitude on their freshman effort and seemed solid for the time, and seems to have held up pretty well. Skip several years ahead and Beale St was announced and i was working at a guitar center where a coworker got his hands on an early issue that is mixed differently than the final cut and my mind was completely blown. By this time i had seen them around 10 times and was a tried and true fan, but Beale St is amazeballs. Earth Rocker came out and i was disappointed. Not to say that its a bad album (this is Clutch we are talking about afterall), but it just wasnt my taste. Psychic Warfare came out and i was again amazed! I was even fortunate enough to be able to blast that album whilst driving around in Romania for a total of 6 weeks over 2 different trips, which really helped to let the album cure like epoxy in my mind. Book of bad decisions has a few excellent tracks on it, but it felt a bit slap-dash produced despite them having completely secluding themselves in the woods for the recording process. I anxiously await the release of their next album to see what the boys have in store for us next.

or course, this skipped a few seminal albums of theirs such as blast tyrant, robot hive/exodus and The Elephant Riders specifically. The last of which has one of my favorite songs of all time, The Soapmakers. I just love that riff and groove. But i cant imagine who likes Clutch and doesnt like PRF, if not just for the timeless "Drink to the Dead". That song alone could have redeemed the rest of the album even it Brittney Spears cameo'd on the rest of the songs :D :D

Drink to the Dead is so epic it could redeem anyone.

For the poor people who've been missing out all this time -

i cant tell you how many times ive played this song whilst pouring one out for my lost family members, homies and acquaintances.

Last night was my 16th time seeing them and they were excellent again, as expected. They even played Willy Nelson, which was hilarious because it was an outdoor show and people were definitely cheefing in the crowd LOL!!!!