Getaway

Getaway
- Shrink-wrapped
2001â€™s Getaway may be the best illustration of whatever mercurial, inexplicable musical power animates The Clean. After the bandâ€™s initial rush of activity between 1978 and 1982, the trio lay dormant until the end of the â€™80s, when a string of reunion shows inspired the Kilgours and Scott to start recording again. After three well-received albums in the first half of the ninetiesâ€”1990â€™s Vehicle, 1994â€™s Modern Rock, and 1996â€™s Unknown Countryâ€”The Clean disappeared again until the end of the decade, when another tour inspired another record. While playing gigs across New Zealand in celebration of their original label Flying Nun, David says they brought along a TEAC 4-track quarter-inch tape machine. â€œAs usual, we started jamming and recording, and before you know, we thought we may be onto an LP.â€ Speed and spontaneity ended up defining Getaway. Robert says, â€œI remember writing â€˜Silence or Something Elseâ€™ while the others went for a long walk. It was done by the time they got back. I probably would have gone for a straighter version, but I still like it.â€ David remembers, â€œHamish wrote the instrumental â€˜Jala' in about five minutes in a motel outside of Turangi.â€ At one point in the process, Yo La Tengoâ€™s Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley were visiting from America, and they ended up on the record too. Getaway came out in August of 2001, with cover art by Hamish who says that his original artwork was the actual size of a compact disc case. After that, The Clean set out on another tourâ€”including in New York City, where they happened to be during the terrorist attacks on 9/11. They coped with the tragedy by playing gigs with their American friends, and staying in the same creative space theyâ€™d been in since before they started working on the album. â€œI remember we did some great gigs on the New Zealand tour, debuting some of the new material,â€ Hamish says. â€œâ€˜Starsâ€™ was a favorite for the big 12-string sound.â€ A live version of the pulsing, soaring â€œStarsâ€â€”along with a couple of other Getaway songs and Clean classics like â€œFish,â€ â€œSide On,â€ â€œQuickstep,â€ and â€œPoint That Thing Somewhere Elseâ€â€”appear on the rare 2003 album Sydâ€™s Pink Wiring System. That record is included with the Getaway reissue, along with the more experimental, piano-driven EP Slush Fund, from the same era. These bonus tracks reinforce the idea of the Getaway-era Clean as especially plugged in, generating inspired and beautiful music almost on instinct. Indeed, theyâ€™ve done justice to a key album in The Clean discographyâ€”a record that honors the bandâ€™s origins as garage-rock-loving New Zealand kids, excited just by the hum of a good, cheap amplifier. Songs like the twangy, easygoing â€œCrazy,â€ the jaunty acoustic snippet â€œCell Block No. 5,â€ and the trance-inducing â€œCircle Canyonâ€ are more fine examples of Scott and the Kilgoursâ€™ interest in immediacy and a strong vibe, applied to catchy melodies. â€œEach album is a completely different beast,â€ Robert says. â€œWe all change in different ways between each one, bringing different things to the table, and sometimes bringing nothing much at all.â€ But if Getaway proves anything, so long as all three members of The Clean are in the same space at the same time, anything can happen.
Country USA
Brand MERGE
Manufacturer Merge Records
Binding Audio CD
ReleaseDate 2016-12-02
UnitCount 1
UPCs 673855018829
EANs 0673855018829

Country	USA
Brand	MERGE
Manufacturer	Merge Records
Binding	Audio CD
ReleaseDate	2016-12-02
UnitCount	1
UPCs	673855018829
EANs	0673855018829

You might also like...