the clean: oddities

It's interesting to note that by the time most folks in the northern hemisphere got their first taste of The Clean (circa 1985), they all but packed it in. Yep, tis true. '85 was the year of the first great Kiwi invasion (vinyl wise) with the Flying Nun roster leading the way. And there was nary a dud to be found. And such wonderful and unusual names: Tall Dwarfs, Sneaky Feelings, The Puddle, Scorched Earth Policy and of course, The Clean. Their trio of 12" EP's were rabidly devoured by a curious and enthusiastic cognoscenti. You didn't buy one, you bought 'em all. Same goes for the 7-inchers. And there just wasn't enough. Not only of Clean records, but Clean material! Then one day in some long forgotten order came a copy of the Odditties cassette. The sales rep had included it as a promo, claiming he couldn't shift 'em (cassette love being at something of a nadir back then). 'I'll take whatever you got' was my reply. And I hadn't even played it yet. But I knew that even though it had gotten 'runted' out on to tape only format, there was no doubt it contained a treasure trove of aural gems. You couldn't help but think that Odditties was to The Clean what Whatever Happens Next was to Swell Maps. Which, more or less, is what it is. Recorded between 1980-82 Odditties is a thorough compendium of alternate takes, addled miscues, riffing zoners and back burner gems. Never easy to come by, even the CD version had scant distro through the 90's. This bunch of songs has been tagged as 'the ones that got away'. But hold on there pard, this story ain't done. Cut to 2012 and the inimitable Austin label, Five Four O, has taken up the call and wrangled this behemoth of slippery southern psychedelia into the format it has always so richly deserved: the double LP. Housed in fetching and historical gatefold sleeve to boot.