Lyrical, blusey rock with a great guitar player

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Album Rock, ROCK: American Underground

Details:
Probably the most obscure, but possibly the best of the underground bands that came out of the punk rock explosion that emerged from New Yorkâs lower east side a quarter of a century ago; the Pet Clams' star-crossed history prevented them from ever receiving the kind of recognition their music deserved. âMy True Storyâ is the first complete work finished by the complete band since the release of âthe Pet Clamsâ in 1981 on CBS.

This is the definitive work by a band who for almost thirty years has contended for the imaginary title of âthe best band you never heard of.â Three very good songwriters, a great guitarist, and the unique voice of Richard Gelbstein combine to produce an unexpectedly powerful recording.

This collection begins with âeight miles lowâ. The Byrdsâ classic it is based on starts with that band leaving LAX for London; here the Clams are coming down in the rain in Newark, New Jersey. You get the impression that they are retreating from some monumental failure, arguing amongst themselves about what might have been. If âeight miles highâ was a drug song (it wasnât) it would have been about acid and amphetamine. If âeight miles lowâ is a drug song itâs about bourbon and burgundy. We do not find out until later just what the band might be escaping from.

The song decays into âI belong to herâ which sets the tone of the record. Musically atmospheric , it lyrically describes an obsessive love. The singer is compelled to remain in an unrewarding affair, but he seems to grow stronger, not weaker, from the pain.

The scene shifts in âthis is not my lifeâ to the dressing room under the stage at CBGB and the monotony of the wait between sound check and performance. We begin to form a picture of an ageing punk rocker going through the motions without really knowing why. The keyboard and guitar work dominate the music over a repeating, thudding bassline. The song finishes with a muddled conversation until Richie Gelbstein bursts out âyou cheated! You Lied! You said that you loved me.â

Thatâs the opening line of âItâs gotta be rock and roll music if you wanna dance with me.â Here we begin to finally get some insight into what this is all about. These men have been trapped by the mysticism of the music; it is rock as religion and the Clams are true believers⦠maybe. There is a secondary story of a quasi-religious search for Elvis weaving through the lyric. The song also laughs at the foolishness of interpreting the past with the morality of the present and chides Frankie Lymon for dieing of a heroin overdose. There are also some comments about flamenco tuning and a vague reference to Van Morrisonâs band, Them.

Next comes âthe ballad of Jello Biafra.â Ostensibly about the injustice of punishing an artist for his art, it is also a stream of consciousness cry against commercialism. Many if not most Clam songs have at least two themes that are only connected occasionally; usually to create a third concept. In âJelloâ we are continually exposed to dark cosmic dust falling from space and flowing through us. In the end we are left (in a reference to an earlier work) on a wobbly world spinning wildly through nothingness.

After this passionate defense of free speech; the band takes a philosophical breather with âYou go ahead.â Here they are content to wait backstage while the newest and flashiest young performers dance rings around them. They intend to remain true to the only music they know. This is a very conservative concept for rock, but an obvious one for true believers. Often classified as a punk band or (early on)"new wave" because they were managed and produced by CBGB founder Hilly Kristal; this is not really an accurate stylistic description of this band. Although they established their musical identity towards the end of New Yorkâs initial punk rebellion, this band was always more of a traditional rock band. If they were rebels; they were roundheads. Theirs was a puritan rebellion, more Cromwell then Thomas Paine. The real force on this cut is Dave Andersonâs guitar work, he delivers two blistering solos.

We get another glimpse of the woman from âI belong to herâ in âYoung woman with a hologram.â She is younger here and blessed with gleaming technology. Once again she captures the narrator in her spell. This song comes with a late sixties psychedelic feel, quite Syd Barrett or âsatanic majesties request.â It ends with the world being caught in a swirling storm and carried away in the last chorus.

That song bleeds into âcruel windâ where we are once again caught in that storm. It now has the power to change everything; to âcarry off the mirrorsâ we âlearn to wearâ. We are never told exactly what it is, but we are given another clue⦠we can hear music on the radio. The long fade of this piece is another fine solo from Anderson.

âBack to Jaurezâ finally hints at what the band was escaping from on the opening track. Could it be their childhood? It is certainly something to do with the 1960s. Or are they fleeing from the modern scene back to the 1960s; back to âbyrd granny glasses and black beatle boots?â The band abandons a metaphorical Saigon, hanging onto allegorical helicopters, trying to find the safety of some Dylanesque Mexico. In real life, the band was at this time abandoning a rapidly changing recording industry for the comfort of a local studio in New Jersey where they could make the music they heard in their heads; even if it was never going to be heard by anyone else.

The inconsistencies of modern religion are at the center of âstill we believe.â The conflict between what we know and what we feel before âscience comes erasingâ is the story here. This is not out place on a recording by true believers. These are not the religions they believe in though; they worship at the church of the beat and the bluenote.

This continues in âGod and Dr. Hawkingâ. It is not the first punk song about Stephan Hawking. Itâs more of a folk song about Stephan Hawking. There comes a time in every musicianâs life when he realizes that itâs all about mathematics. Itâs about numbers that have the power to evoke emotion. Itâs science and religion; science becomes religion. In this song Hawking soars through the universe exploring. Tortured like Job, cast out like Lucifer, he continues to do the work his master has bid him to. Do the persecuted Clams feel that they too are doing the work they were intended to do?

We get our last glance at the girl from âhologramâ in âwoman like a fix.â Here she still has the power to enthrall, but the narrator has resolved that he can never really possess her. We begin to understand that she is the muse, the music, a rock and roll Virgin, appearing angelically just beyond the reach of our aging punk rockers.

Now we are back at the show. Taking a line from Roy Hamilton,(and another from John Cooper Clarke) itâs now âtime to rock.â They emerge from the underground dressing room of âthis is not my lifeâ and do another show. Proclaiming that âthis isnât a list of my strange thoughts,â they disavow all of the concepts that came before. As if to say ânevermindâ, they fade into a parody of Jesse Stoneâs rockabilly classic.

Each of the songs stands on its' own, but together they form a powerful collective. Hearing the Pet Clams for the first time you can get the feeling that you are a little like John Lloyd Stephens, stumbling through the jungles of the Yucatan, among glorious Mayan ruins, and wondering "Why doesn't anyone know about this?" Listen for yourself; see if I havenât told you the truth.

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