Clutch

Live at the Googolplex (Megaforce)
by Martin Popoff

Clutch is my kind of jam band: Loud, eccentric, grinding, distorted, jamming within the song, not in contempt of it. So a visit to the hoary world of Fallon and (consistent) crew actually makes you cool, smarter by the end of it, consciousness topped and frothed with a reassurance that you’ve seen jazz. But, of course, the medium is a woodsy sort of smoke signal stoner rock, a sound hard fought and hard won that rocks and rollicks outside of time, just like The Band, The Grateful Dead, and probably no one else.

This crisp, non-indulgent live (digi)pack – offering a brisk 15 anthems – gargles through the hits and fits of Fallon and the three guys (yes, three) that comprise the rhythm section. Recorded at four stops around North America (hence the absurd title), Live at the Googolplex is the product of a road-hardened band of warriors that plays in the spaces as much as in the deftly distorted bulldozer rock chords around them. Great separation helps the fact that everybody sounds cranked slightly past the capabilities of their equipment (Gaster is the uber-Bonham), with Fallon loud and clear upfront, dishing the ironies and smart talk as if his lips were wobbling like half-filled bike tires.
(PO Box 1955 New York, NY 10113)