Clutch - Full Fathom Five Review
Posted by Dan Marsicano on 08.16.2008
Clutch has just released a live album, Full Fathom Five, which is a collection of material from the band's last year on tour. Does the collection of live tracks form a cohesive package or just a bunch of random songs put on one CD?
The Band
Neil Fallon-Vocals, Guitar
Tim Sult-Guitar
Dan Maines-Bass
Jean-Paul Gaster-Drums
The Track Listing
1. The Dragonfly-5:58
2. Child Of The City-3:31
3. The Devil & Me-3:42
4. Texan Book Of The Dead-2:53
5. Animal Farm-2:06
6. The Mob Goes Wild-3:33
7. Cypress Grove-5:57
8. The Elephant Riders-3:44
9. Ship Of Gold-4:12
10. The Yeti-6:01
11. Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes)-3:07
12. 10001110101-4:54
13. Mr. Shiny Cadillackness-5:15
14. Electric Worry-5:51
15. One Eye Dollar-1:48
The Review
(Note: I will be just be reviewing the CD version of the package. There is a DVD as well with five extra tracks included)
Live albums can be a different feat to accomplish for many bands. Some bands sound better in the studio than in a live setting (Dragonforce, Trivium) and other albums suffer from poor production or a bad performance from the band (Black Sabbath’s Live Evil, The Rolling Stones’ Love You Live). Full Fathom Five, Clutch’s first live CD/DVD package, takes material from the last year of touring Clutch has done. While taking fifteen songs from four different live shows can seem like a clusterfuck of a live album, Full Fathom Five sounds like a cohesive package and one that has the band firing on all cylinders, showing why they are one of the most underrated bands in metal today.
The shows included on the CD version of Full Fathom Five are Pittsburgh, PA (March 20th, 2008), Sydney, Australia (December 15th, 2007) and Sayreville, NJ (December 28th and 29th, 2007). Most of the tracks are from the Pittsburgh show, with Sayreville only getting four tracks and Sydney contributing five tracks. All of these tracks are blended together to sound like one live show, instead of pieces from different tour stops.
The material is culled from all eight of the band’s studio albums, with a good portion dedicated to Clutch’s recent album, 2007’s From Beale Street To Oblivion. The production is fantastic, with the instruments taking center-stage, sounding clean, but not too clean, as to allude to studio-tinkering. The band sounds tight, even with the new material, and the crowd is lively enough to give off the feeling of a live show.
Clutch doesn’t expand too much on the original songs, only adding in a few instrumental sections here and there, most noticeably in the phenomenal jam interlude in “Cypress Grove,” doubling the length of the original studio version. Frontman Neil Fallon doesn’t interact with the crowd too much, which is disappointing, but that doesn’t distract too much from the overall presentation. The band sounds great with the new material and more confident with the older tracks, such as “The Dragonfly” and “The Yeti.”
I haven’t heard much of the new material from Clutch, only recently becoming a fan with The Elephant Riders. However, what I heard sounded like Clutch and nobody else. Personally, I found the one-two punch of “Electric Worry” and “One Eye Dollar” to be the highlight, ending the album on a high-octane note.
Full Fathom Five is a must-have for diehard Clutch fans and those who have been waiting for over 15 years for an official live DVD to be released. My score is based on just the CD portion of the package, which is solid enough. The band puts on an inspired performance, one full of energy and intensity. The album is being released on the band’s own label, Weathermaker Music, so it can’t be found at most local retailers. In case you want to go searching for it, the best bet is to go to Clutch’s official website, pro-rock.com, in order to find where Full Fathom Five is available.
The 411: Full Fathom Five is a solid collection of live songs that show the fiery energy Clutch displays. The fact that it actually sounds like one show, just pieced together from mulitple locations, is definitely a plus. I would probably add about another point or so to my score if you get the DVD with it. For an abbreviated version of the DVD, the CD does enough justice to Clutch's live show to warrant a purchase for fans.
