From Beale Street to Oblivion
| From Beale Street to Oblivion | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 27, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | September – October 2006 at Sound City in Van Nuys, California | |||
| Genre | Stoner rock, blues rock, alternative metal | |||
| Length | 48:18 | |||
| Label | DRT Entertainment | |||
| Producer | Joe Barresi | |||
| Clutch chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| TheEndlessFeed |   link |
| Glidemagazine | [1] |
From Beale Street to Oblivion is the eighth full-length studio album by rock band Clutch. It was produced by Joe Barresi (whose credits include The Melvins, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and Coheed and Cambria), and released on the DRT Entertainment label. The album was released on March 27, 2007 and was the second of two Clutch albums to feature keyboardist Mick Schauer.
A reissue of the album was released on July 20, 2010 and Clutch re-released the album as a 2-LP set on purple vinyl, limited to 1,000 copies, for Record Store Day 2015.[2][3][4]
Album
The album title comes from a line in the song "The Devil & Me", and is named after the real Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. The song "One Eye Dollar" is a remake of the same track from Jam Room. The track "Electric Worry" is a partial cover of the Muddy Waters song "Trouble No More" [5] and features Eric Oblander of Five Horse Johnson on harmonica. It also shares a striking similarity to "Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker, even including the "Bang Bang Bang Bang" variation he would do live. A music video was produced for the track as well.
In popular culture
"Electric Worry" is used as the goal song for National Hockey League team the Vancouver Canucks as well as for the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League. "Electric Worry" was also featured in commercials for the TV show Memphis Beat and the video game Left 4 Dead 2. Various songs including "Power Player" and "You Can't Stop Progress" have been used in the TV show, Sons of Anarchy.
Track listing
All tracks written by Clutch, except where noted.
Original album
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You Can't Stop Progress" | 2:40 | |
| 2. | "Power Player" | 3:06 | |
| 3. | "The Devil & Me" | 3:57 | |
| 4. | "White's Ferry" | 5:24 | |
| 5. | "Child of the City" | 3:53 | |
| 6. | "Electric Worry" | Partially written by Mississippi Fred McDowell | 5:14 |
| 7. | "One Eye Dollar" | 1:23 | |
| 8. | "Rapture of Riddley Walker" | 4:09 | |
| 9. | "When Vegans Attack" | 4:56 | |
| 10. | "Opossum Minister" | 4:28 | |
| 11. | "Black Umbrella" | 4:05 | |
| 12. | "Mr. Shiny Cadillackness" | 5:11 | |
| Total length: | 48:18 | ||
2010 Deluxe Reissue Bonus CD listing
All tracks written by Clutch, except where noted.
Tracks 1–5 were recorded live at the BBC Maida Vale Studios on November 11, 2006 and tracks 6–9 were recorded on December 13, 2007 in Melbourne, Australia during the tour for this album.[6]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Politician" | Pete Brown | 4:25 |
| 2. | "Electric Worry" | Partially written by Mississippi Fred McDowell | 5:16 |
| 3. | "One Eye Dollar" | 1:22 | |
| 4. | "Mr. Shiny Cadillackness" | 5:05 | |
| 5. | "Cypress Grove" | 4:27 | |
| 6. | "The Devil & Me" | 3:47 | |
| 7. | "Child of the City" | 3:32 | |
| 8. | "You Gonna Wreck my Life" | Chester Burnett | 5:20 |
| 9. | "White's Ferry" | 5:42 | |
| Total length: | 38:57 | ||
Song meanings
 |
You Can't Stop Progress
Though it's the opening track, You Can't Stop Progress is one of the last songs we wrote for Beale Street. It is sort of a preface to the next track, Power Player. We happened to perform it one night before Power Player, and it became apparent that the two were joined at the hip. We first heard Bad Brains 20 years ago and in this tune it's obvious that they're still influencing us.
— Fallon
Power Player
This is the first song we wrote for the record. The idea for these lyrics came about while we were doing a lot of international flying. We even had the rare luxury of flying first class once [once being the operative word]. It's a whole different scene up there, hot towels and cheese trays. The rock band definitely came across as a booze soaked horde of barbarians. That, coupled with some late night notes taken in the lobby of the Hotel Ukraine in Moscow brought about this tune.
— Fallon
The Devil & Me
These lyrics are imagined from two viewpoints. The first is God as he sits on his front porch giving his old buddy Lucifer a hard time for double-crossing him. The other is from the dark lord himself. He realizes that he fucked up, and he's got to hit the road. Oscar Hernandez and Lee Brintnall provided clap track. Killer claps... the best.
— Fallon
White's Ferry
Every once in a while I go out on a drive through some old country roads in Maryland and Virginia. One of these routes goes over the Potomac via White's Ferry. This song is about some of the sights and experiences of one particular drive in September 2006. Bryan Hinkley from Never Got Caught does the duel lead with Tim on this one, as well as wee tasty bits throughout.
— Fallon
Child of the City
Some say Johannes Trithemius was a magician. Others believe he disguised his science and steganography inside a magical guise as an example of its practical application. Whatever the case, it's good material for rock and roll lyrics.
— Fallon
Electric Worry
This song is one part cover song, one part original. Half of each verse is taken from Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Fred's Worried Life Blues." The rest is our own concoction. When we wrote the upbeat part of the song, I couldn't hear the typical blues sentiment. Instead, it kind of became a motivational speaker slapping himself out of a stupor. The chorus "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Vamanos! Vamanos!" has nothing to do with guns. It got its start long ago when Tim, and I can't recall why, said, "Vamanos! Bang! Bang!" Add a bit of John Lee Hooker and there you go. The ripping harp solo is none other than Five Horse Johnson's Eric Oblander.
— Fallon
One Eye Dollar
When we were touring we got in the habit of jamming Electric Worry straight into One Eye Dollar. We tried to write a new tune that would do the same trick, but nothing was as good. So we said screw it, let's just track it again. I was never happy with the lyrics on the original version, so this was a good opportunity to do some editing.
— Fallon
Rapture of Riddley Walker
Read Russel Hoban's Riddley Walker. It'll explain everything.
— Fallon
When Vegans Attack
I got no problems with vegans. Let's be clear on that. But have you ever met someone who has concocted his or her own convenient first-world philosophy? Cherry picked all those bits of radicalism that appealed to them and threw out the ugly bits? Someone who thinks they're enlightened but are really just a victim of the own peer driven self-congratulatory bullshit? I have. There's lots of those types in Washington D.C.
— Fallon
Opossum Minister
In the early 1980s' my family lived in a typically terrible pre-planned suburban development called Montgomery Village. Our house bordered a historical town called Prathertown. Prathertown was a freetown and I went to school with some Prathers. In the back end of Prathertown there was a lady who lived in a dilapidated home. She had cut outs of wild boars with bloody tusks on her roof, two impossibly colossal rocking chairs, and a collection of saints in her front yard. It was the house we all walked by a bit quicker.
— Fallon
Black Umbrella
In Sauget, Illinois there is a club called Pop's. It's on a lawless piece of land with 24-hour strip bars and an O.T.B. I once went into the O.T.B. facility and saw the strangest collection of people one could imagine. It was Mos Eisley spaceport. A woman dressed like she had come straight from a jazz funeral walked in and no one seemed to notice her but myself. I guess anomaly is typical in Sauget. Eric plays on this track as well.
— Fallon
Mr. Shiny Cadillackness
Some people don't like politics in their songs. I don't either. But some characters loom so large in our lives that they are fair game to be used as fodder for creating fictions. Both Bryan and Eric strong-armed themselves onto tape yet again.
— Fallon
Personnel
- Neil Fallon – vocals, guitar
- Tim Sult – guitar
- Dan Maines – bass
- Jean-Paul Gaster – drums, percussion
- Mick Schauer – Hammond B3, piano, Hohner Clavinet
- Bryan Hinkley – guitar on tracks 4 and 12
- Eric Oblander – Hohner harmonica's on tracks 6, 11 and 12
Production
- Produced, Recorded and Mixed by 'Evil' Joe Barresi at Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA and Bay 7, Valley Village, CA
- Additional Engineering by Pete Martinez
- Assistant Engineering at Bay 7 by Glen Pittman
- Art and Design by Nick Lakiotes
- Photography by Louis Rivera
Charting positions
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Billboard 200 | #52 |
| 2007 | Top Independent Albums | #4 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Electric Worry" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | #38 |
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Reissue's news
- ^ "Clutch announces vinyl/digital reissues, DVD". lambgoat.com. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ^ "Clutch From Beale Street to Oblivion (Vinyl 2LP) at Music Direct". www.musicdirect.com. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 435.
- ^ "CLUTCH's 'Beale Street' To Be Reissued With Bonus Material, Updated Artwork And Packaging". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. June 6, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2016.