Martin Newell - C/D S/D

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The Hitchcock thread influenced me to do this.

This guy's material is extremely hard to find, but I am trying to check out some of it, and I have loved everything I hear so far. It seems he is some kind of XTC protege, which is clearly to be heard from his output. Anyway, some of it may even be better than XTC at their best.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 7 October 2004 09:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Heard a little of him, recently, think it's pretty cool/catchy. I'll probably get around to him eventually, but at the time I just decided I wasn't in the mood for latter day XTC type stuff. I'm sorry to hear his stuff is so hard to find. It seems to me if worse came to worse you could just order it direct from cherryred.co.uk - I just checked and they are still selling it there.

― Bimble (bimble), Thursday, 7 October 2004 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I found The Greatest Living Englishman for $1 at a local mall chainstore, and it is one of my favorite albums ever. Creepy chiming English pop with cunning melodies and clever/naive/cynical lyrics, great production/drumming from Andy Partridge, and on the best track ("Green-Gold Girl of the Summer"?) an absolutely apocalyptic guitar solo by Captain Sensible.

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

geir, have you read 'lost in music' by giles smith??

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 7 October 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Check out "Living with Victoria Grey" by Newell's band Cleaners from Venus--excellent.

― jeremiah (jeremiah), Thursday, 7 October 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

"Anyway, some of it may even be better than XTC at their best"

Totally true - he was better than XTC, and the Cleaners are one of the most underappreciated bands of their era. I recently dug up their albums again and they still sound fantastic.
By the way: Paul Roland, anyone?

― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 29 March 2007 10:14 (eighteen years ago)

LOVE Newell! the several Cleaners comps on CD barely scratch the surface of his rich catalog. a decent box set is Urgent and Key!

when Paul Roland is good, he is very very good. but when he's bad, he's unbearable (most of Roaring Boys. yech.)

― Mr. Hal Jam, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

love "Straight to You Boy" from GLE, though it sounds so much like a Partridge track, I wonder who is doing what

― Dominique, Thursday, 29 March 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

I just finished re-reading "Lost In Music" yesterday. What a brilliant book it is. Funny, poignant and all those other things that good English books usually are. The author was in the Cleaners From Venus for about 4 years so there's a lot about Newell, though he was active for years prior to that (and afterwards). There's a fair bit about Newell recording with Partridge (causing the author to explode with jealousy since XTC is his all-time favourite musical crush and he'd left the band by then). He describes being invited to hang out at the sessions for a day and Partridge laying down a killer guitar solo.

― everything, Thursday, 29 March 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

I have the two Cleaners From Venus compilation CDs and have always wondered if I should spring for the albums, all of which have been transferred from cassette to CD by some nice guy in Germany. But my gut feeling is that their output will be akin to Guided By Voices - gems amongst a lot of half-baked or second-rate material. Can someone who's heard the albums comment?

― Mr. Odd, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:57 (eighteen years ago)

"when Paul Roland is good, he is very very good. but when he's bad, he's unbearable (most of Roaring Boys. yech.)"

yes, that's true too.
Walter The Occultist will always have a special place in my heart, anyway.

― Marco Damiani, Friday, 30 March 2007 10:37 (eighteen years ago)

xpost - I've got the Under Wartime Conditions album and it's kinda patchy. There's always this:

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/Large/17/711817.jpg

― everything, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:52 (eighteen years ago)

Does anyone know who's who on that cover - I'm guessing L-R it's Giles, Lol, Nelson, Martin. Or are they all Martin?

― everything, Friday, 30 March 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

In answer to the who's who speculation about the Victoria Grey compilation, the answers are (L to R ) Martin at Dingwalls, Camden London in 1987 / Giles at Tin Pan Alley Studio. Denmark Street, London in 1987/ Martin at The Greyhound pub in Wivenhoe, Essex September 1985/ and Martin at The May Fair Wivenhoe in 1988 ( probably). Wanna know how I know this? Cos this is is Martin. Oh and I'm busy making a new album for Cherry Red right now for release, ( I hope) this summer.Have a nice day.

― Martin Newell, Sunday, 1 April 2007 18:13 (eighteen years ago)

five months pass...

Huh, I missed Martin's entry here!

The new album, _A Summer Tamarind_ is out and it follows in the same footsteps as the last few albums - pleasant pastoral pop, very nice but not nearly as compelling as _Greatest Living Englishman_ or _The Off White Album_. I'm glad I've got it because there are some gems but I'll probably end up making a best of from the last 4 albums.

Due respect, Martin, just calling it as I hear it.

― Mr. Odd, Monday, 17 September 2007 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

Sometimes Google has its advantages too ;)

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 10:24 (eighteen years ago)

four years pass...

Would drinkers kindly bring their glasses back to the bar now please.

― meisenfek, Tuesday, 4 October 2011 13:40 (fourteen years ago)

To be filled with some Martin brew?

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 4 October 2011 14:22 (fourteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

Given my love of The Greatest Living Englishman, don't know why I waited so long to listen to The Off White Album, which might be just as great. What a treasure this guy is

― Paul Ponzi, Sunday, 31 March 2024 12:44 (one year ago)

I love the recent Cleaners albums, all of them. Don't know which one is my favorite, probably Dolly Birds and Spies or That London.

― timellison, Monday, 1 April 2024 20:54 (one year ago)

one year passes...

Martin Newell Oddcaste #234 out now

https://www.mixcloud.com/martinnewelloddcaste/

― meisenfek, Tuesday, 6 May 2025 23:48 (eight months ago)

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