CLEANERS FROM VENUS

When I started Not Lame back in 1994, one of the first batch of CDs that imported for the mail order catalog and web site was from a small label called Tangerine Records, who had a catalog of excellent mod-pop CDs(featuring bands like Squire, the Direct Hits and many others) but it was a compilation from a band called CLEANERS FROM VENUS that captured my attention.  I had read about them a few years earlier after picking up the first solo album from their leader, Martin Newell – “The Greatest Living Englishman”, one of the strongest pop albums of the entire decade of the 90s.  Yes, I wrote…’entire‘. (trust me w/ this one – find it!)

Below are two songs from Cleaners From Venus and I’m going to use the information from the Kool Kat site to enlighten those not familar w/ CFV or Martin Newell.

Cleaners from Venus, the 1980s d.i.y. pop phenomenon. The invention of the English musician and writer, Martin Newell, The Cleaners main currency was songwriting of an unusually high standard. The songs were often recorded in domestic environments using basic equipment and mid-60’s production values. The results over long years have slowly built Newell and the Cleaners a substantial following. Because of much renewed interest, Martin went back into the studio, and using his old methods, made “English Electric” – which many are saying is probably his best album since 1993’s “The Greatest Living Englishman”! “On ‘English Electric’, Martin Newell hasn’t reunited the Cleaners from Venus band but revived the brand. It’s a valid decision since, even working on his own, he’s made his way back home again ‘to when I was young and meant to be a star’, as he sings on the title track. One listen to those captivating chord changes – so uniquely his own, and enriched more frequently here than on his past few solo records with chiming Rickenbacker – and there’s no question that this is his most immediately engaging and consistently catchy collection in quite some time.

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DOWNLOAD – “Wake Up And Dream” – HERE

DOWNLOAD – “I Wanna Stay In” – HERE

(right click and ‘save’)

There’s a new interview with Martin Newell that recently appeared on Bill Kopp’s excellent blog, MUSOSCRIBE(a regular stop for me) – read it HERE

Kool Kat Musik is the best place in the United States to locate any and all ‘in print’ Cleaners From Venus and Martin Newell material, much of it coming with cool bonus CD-rs.

“ENGLISH ELECTRIC” – HERE

“IN A CHIMP WORLD” – HERE

“STOPPING TRAIN” – HERE