Walking With Thee

Spooky Dancehall 70's Rock
by: bill aicher

If it weren't for Radiohead's invitation for Clinic to join them in their European Kid A tour, Clinic may have been sadly relegated to a life of musical obscurity. Thanks to the support of what is arguably the biggest band in the world, however, Clinic has been slowly building a worldwide fanbase.

Their debut album, Internal Wrangler, set many people scratching their heads wondering just what to make of this doctor-costume-wearing ensemble. Sure, it was another take on 60's and 70's style garage rock, but it was a really fucked up take. Featuring a raw, underproduced guitar sound, nearly untillegible lyrics, and (for some strange reason) a healthy dose of harmonica, Internal Wrangler was still somehow unbeliveably catching, not to mention one of the "hip" records of the year.

Now Walking With Thee, on the other hand, finds the band cleaning up their sound (but not making it too clean), keeping the lyrics basically unintelligible, and incorporating a healthy dose of steady dancehall beats. Oh, and there's harmonica too.

The biggest difference this time around though is the lucky coincidence of the recent 70's rock revival. Bands like The Strokes, The Hives, The White Stripes, and so on have been pushing this revival into the foreground, and the even more recent MTV backing of this music is helping to further the cause. But be forewarned, Clinic is none of these bands.

Instead it's eerie as all hell, and it's way f'ing better. Past Clinic fans may argue they've cleaned up a bit too much, or they're just not as orginal as they once were on the rhythm side. The truth of the matter, however, is Walking With Thee is a damn fine album. They're on their way to something big, I'll tell you now.

Consider them garage-rock for the music snob generation. Just get be sure to get into them now - so you can say you were listening to them before they were cool.
08-Sep-2002 9:04 PM