Clinic live...

...Manchester University

Dave Simpson
Tuesday July 27, 2004
The Guardian

Since the days of Jerry Lee Lewis and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Britain has had an enduring affection for colourful eccentric rockers from exotic parts of America that has not always been reciprocated across the pond. Perhaps English pop's more eccentric characters are seen as slightly tame in the land famous for such phenomena as serial killers and elected politicians who are plainly not all there.

All this makes the US success of Liverpool's Clinic all the more curious. They are a cult item in the UK, made up of Can/Velvet Underground obsessives. Americans took to the strange-vocalled Walking With Thee album (2002) to the point where Clinic received a Grammy nomination and a slot on David Letterman. Then the eerie The Second Line was picked up by Levi's.

Titling their forthcoming album Winchester Cathedral seems significant of both a refocusing on the UK and continuing commitment to charming Americans. Preparing for another push, their eccentricity has been slightly toned down. The heart monitors that once nestled on their amps have gone - presumably back to the NHS. However, they still wear surgical masks and gowns and a psychedelic light-show makes Clinic resemble a cross between a 1967 Pink Floyd show and an episode of Casualty.

Clinic are a melange of haunting, reggae melodica, dark shadows and twanging Fall-type riffs. Vocalist Ade Blackburn's panting, panicked lyrics sound like a man who has glimpsed the superbug. But they have lost the element of surprise. The very few new numbers don't sound discernably different from the old ones, although the excellent Country Mile shows that they can channel their energies into something resembling a pop song.

After the unexpected success of the old, warped Clinic, it will be interesting to see how the new, ever so slightly more straightforward version goes down.

· At Lemon Tree, Aberdeen (01224 642230), tonight. Then touring.