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$25.99 CDx3
$24.99 MP3
Blow Away Your Troubles
$22.99 LPx2+MP3
$9.99 MP3
On Any Normal Monday
$13.99 LP+MP3
$9.99 MP3
Midnight Cleaners
$13.99 LP+MP3
$9.99 MP3
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THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS
Volume One CD Box Set
(Captured Tracks)
 "Swinging London"
"Winter in the Country"
One of Captured Tracks' most ambitious and important reissue projects, finally some of the greatest songs of the post-punk era (maybe of any era if you ask me) are re-mastered and archived properly, a godsend to fans throughout the world who have long ago worn out their original cassettes, and an invitation to the many who are as yet uninitiated into the wonders of Martin Newell and the Cleaners from Venus. Here we get the first three albums by the Cleaners from Venus (following a cassette under the Stray Trolleys moniker, and another split tape with the Cleaners, which is the precursor to the first album in this edition) collected together in a triple-CD box set or available individually as LPs. After fronting the glam group Plod in the '70s and making a solo single entitled "Young Jobless" in 1980, Newell immersed himself in the D.I.Y. cassette underground and between the years of 1981 and 1986 he released half a dozen cassette albums, including a solo outing (reissued early last year), utilizing an array of six- and twelve-string guitars, bass, minimal use of synthesizers, and a clattering mixture of live drums, percussion, and analog drum machines.
Blow Away Your Troubles outlines the early Cleaners vision and then some; a double LP divided into "Straight Side" and "Bent Side" (as per the original tape), and for the second LP, "Kerb Side" and "Road Side," this exhibits the sound of the Cleaners playing and recording every Monday from autumn 1980 to spring of 1981. The live drums of Lol Elliott colored-in CFV's sound and provided the proper foundation for their songs to take upon any shape Newell could imagine; they set out to record two completely new creations from start to finish at each meeting, covering a range of styles from pop and psychedelic rock to dub. Newell and Elliott worked quite well together, and the end results of their collaboration captured here, in all their varied lo-fi glory, possess charm, verve, and an alternative to the "idiot popstars" Martin would explore as subject matter in the near future. This version differs slightly from the original cassette; "Hey Dreamer" is absent, added are "The Trevor Rutter Experience," "A Personal Issue," "A Weekend in Subordia" (which bears a striking resemblance to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti), and "The Artichoke That Loved Me," plus an alternate version of "Marilyn on a Train" and an added second version of "Marathon." This is a veritable treasure trove of well-crafted songs and joyful noise from the Cleaners' first wave of creativity.
Recorded on a newly-acquired 4-track Portastudio in a ramshackle Victorian rooming house, while in the midst of a break-up with his girlfriend, and faced with the decision of drummer Lol to move 200 miles west to be with his own girl, Martin assembled 1982's On Any Normal Monday with pre-recorded drum tracks and a borrowed drum machine when his bandmate was not available. Divided into "Light" and "Dark" sides (with the song that originally closed side B, "Spirit of Youth in Flames," curiously omitted and replaced with another version of "Marilyn on a Train"), this record is full of songs about loss and change, delivered with an acceptance of what had gone, and a clear vision of the future he was to face, going it alone on the next album.
Midnight Cleaners found Martin impatiently pressing on without Lol and recording this gem of an album with drum machines, home-made percussion and borrowed cymbals for the rhythm tracks. On the "Pop Side," "Only a Shadow" is the stand-out song here with live drums and a gorgeous repeating chorus of "only a shadow, but she looks like you," followed by another influential track in "Corridor of Dreams," which can again be heard echoed in the music of Ariel Pink. On the "Art Side" we have more drum machine-driven experimentation and insight into Martin's world, the dominant themes of England, Russia, aliens, factories, the country, pop stars, TV, madness, joy, and letting go. He would go on to record another trio of highly creative full-length albums (In the Golden Autumn, Under Wartime Conditions, and Living with Victoria Grey) before re-recording the latter for his major-label RCA debut in 1987. [ACo]
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