By Mike Stuart
18/06/2007
B-sides albums are a strange beast. Often you can't help but feel you are being conned into buying a bunch of songs which weren't good enough to make it onto a record. And now here's Funf, by indie weirdos Clinic whose previous output has shown them to be a more than capable bunch of musical scamps.
And as you would expect from a collections of b-sides, it's a mixed bag. It starts off strongly with the instrumental opening, 'The Majestic', but this is then followed by the chaotic fuzzy onslaught of 'Nicht', a song I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Thankfully, 'Nicht' is the only one of its kind and after that there are frequent moments which match the quality of their brilliant first two albums, including the dreamy 'Love Is Just a Tool' and the psychedelic organ-drenched 'The Castle'.
Still, a mixed bag by Clinic is a great bag by most standards. If you like the band, Funf offers some much welcome additions to their catalogue. This might not be the best introduction to Clinic's music (get Internal Wrangler) but the fact they're leaving songs like this off their records is a strong testament to their ability.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Funf is released in the UK on June 18th, 2007
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
