Flashback Friday - The Clean

I am a huge fan of New Zealand indie rock in general and of the group that could be considered one of the pioneers of that genre, The Clean (along with Split Enz of course). Their version of melodic, guitar heavy songs really hits home. The 2003 release of Anthology finally gathered together most of their best songs, which were often hard to find here in the US. It includes the full EPs Boodle Boodle Boodle (1981) and Great Sounds (1982), so it it a treasure trove of early New Zealand post-punk music. And it remains in heavy rotation, for there is always time for New Zealand indie rock!

Here’s Anything Could Happen:

In December of 2016, Merge Records came out with a new, remastered “deluxe” version of 2001’s Getaway, which includes an additional CD of live sets from Slush Fund and Syd’s Pink Wiring. And wow, I could just listen to this on constant rotation.

Here’s the remastered version of the album opener, Stars:

And here’s an epic version of Point That Things Somewhere Else from the Slush Fund session, which tosses in some keyboards to add a real full sound to the whole thing:

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