‘Anthology’ cleans up New Zealand band’s catalog

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 8:43 a.m.

For years, tracking down the Clean's recorded output might as well have been the 13th labor of Hercules.

From the New Zealand band's earliest 1980s vinyl EPs through its 1990s full-length CDs, the Clean's music was notorious for going out of print almost as soon as it was released.

As a result, fans of the influential post-punk, pre-indie rock outfit were left to scour online auction houses and used record stories, praying for a miracle.

Then last year, quite unexpectedly, long-delinquent New Zealand label Flying Nun gave the world "Anthology," a two-disc collection that fills in most of the gaping holes in the Clean's catalog.

Disc 1 rounds up the band's best-known early sides, seminal tracks from such lost releases as 1981's "Boodle, Boodle, Boodle" and 1982's "Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-So Sounds So-So, Bad Sounds Bad and Rotten Sounds Rotten."

Two decades later the music still brims with the raw, lo-fi energy that helped usher in the modern indie movement. Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices and Pavement are just three of the bands that have long sung the Clean's praises and covered their tunes.

Even if you haven't heard the early cuts before, it shouldn't take long before you find yourself grooving along. Most of the first disc's 22 tracks are modern rock must-haves, among them the poppy "Tally Ho," the rocked-out "Getting Older" and "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" and instrumentals "Fish" and "At the Bottom."

The core lineup of Robert Scott and brothers David and Hamish Kilgour, along with sometime member Peter Gutteridge, infuse every number with a punch lacking from so much music produced during the '80s. Hooks are everywhere, but never repeat to the point of growing tiresome.

The second disc presents 24 compositions from the Clean's latter period, which kicked off with 1990 comeback album "Vehicle." Though less essential, Disc 2 is a fun listen in its own right, and includes a half-dozen or so of the band's greatest hits.

If you're a Clean fan from way back, "Anthology" should finally signal an end to your frustration. And if you're new to the band, consider yourself lucky to be getting so much great stuff in one easy-to-find package. Seek it out at independent local stores or online.

Artist: The Clean.

Title: "Anthology."

Year of release: 2002 (Flying Nun Records).

Tracklisting: Disc 1: "Tally Ho," "Platypus," "Billy Two," "Thumbs Off," "Anything Could Happen," "Sad Eyed Lady," "Point That Thing Somewhere Else," "Fish," "Flowers," "Side On," "Slug Song," "Beatnik," "End of My Dream," "On Again/Off Again," "At the Bottom," "Getting Older," "Scrap Music," "Whatever I Do It's Right," "Two Fat Sisters" (live), "Oddity," "Quickstep" (live), "At the Bottom" (live). Disc 2: "Drawing to a Hole," "I'll Wait Around," "The Blue," "Someone," "Big Soft Punch," "Diamond Shine," "Big Cat," "Outside the Cage," "Safe in the Rain," "Secret Place," "Do Your Thing," "Linger Longer," "Too Much Violence," "Trapped in Amber," "Psychedelic Ranger," "Late Last Night," "Ludwig," "Wipe Me, I'm Lucky," "Franz Kafka at the Zoo," "Clutch," "Balkans," "Indigo Blue," "Chumpy," "Twist Top."