ROBOTS & ELECTRONIC BRAINS

Various, God save The Clean (Flying Nun/b.net) CD

"God save The Clean" is a tribute album to one of New Zealand's greatest bands, The Clean. Hailing from Dunedin in the early 80s The Clean made a big impact with their first single "Tally ho" which made it on to the New Zealand charts. Throughout the 80s and into the 90s The Clean continued to be one of the most influential bands to come out of New Zealand. The idea for a tribute album came from Auckland Student Radio station BFM's manager Adam Hyde and was supported by the student radio network (b.net) and Flying Nun Records. Although this is a tribute album for a New Zealand band, overseas bands such as Pavement, Guided By Voices and Barbara Manning and Calexico have also provided tracks. Highlights of the album include Head Like A Hole's version of "Beatnik", Salmonella Dub ("Side on"), Rotor ("Franz Kafka at the zoo"), HDU and Peter Gutteridge ("Point that thing somewhere else") and, surprisingly, country artist Gray Bartlett's version of "Fish". Actually---in all honesty---the whole album was a highlight for me, as a Clean fan and a hater of tribute albums I was wary but I have been pleasantly surprised. The mix of artists and musical styles makes this far more interesting than other similar compilations; some tracks, Rotor's for example, are unrecognisable from the original. "God save The Clean" not only highlights the work of one of the best bands to come out of this side of the world but also shows the musical diversity of New Zealand musicians at the moment. For more info www.rdu.org.nz/cleantribute (SK)
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