Internal Wrangler was Clinic’s first album proper,after several brilliantly warped pop e.p.‘s.Released in 2000,it expanded massively on that early premise.The result was somewhere between the Velvets 1st,Faust tapes and the Elevators.There’s a niggling disconcerting feel that runs throughout,matched by a ridiculous surrealist humour.
After the tribalised inst. intro of ‘Voodoo Wop’,the album really kicks off with ‘The Return of Evil Bill’.Absolutely everything is drowned in reverb and quite faultless.A melodica hook line gives an overall mix of ‘The Psychedelic Sounds Of…’ and Augustus Pablo.Not quite Steve Lamacq’s idea of indie.
The reverbed out wall of sound becomes their signature throughout,along
with a fucked up fuzzy keyboard straight off ‘Sister Ray’.Singer Ade Blackburn sounds as equally deranged as the music,mostly adopting a Gysin cut-up approach to the lyrics.Hidden amongst the weirdness though are some genuinely affecting slow songs.‘Earth Angel’ and ‘Goodnight Georgie’ are reminiscent of Tim Hardin,in their dissection of the human condition.These ballads and the use of electronics and rhythms,balance the lp and show a real depth of imagination for a debut.
At the time Clinic were lazily lumped in with the garage rock ‘revolution’.Utter crap like the D4,Datsuns et al gained all the plaudits whilst ‘Internal Wrangler’ went relatively unsung​.Business as usual then in the myopic world of the music industry.