Mod-A-Day: Cleaners From Venus

Quirky is the word that comes to mind when I hear someone mention Cleaners From Venus (which is very bloody often). The band, whicha kicked off in 1980 was Martin Newell, Lol Elliott and Giles Smith, and the three of them did things, well differently. Namely, they released cassettes only, not records, and for many years had no label support or distribution surviving by word of mouth in the cassette underground. Their sound was influenced by the very British song writers like Ray Davies and Syd Barrett, while the band's adventerous nature and style was more similar to XTC and the Television Personalities. Their sound was decidedly post-punk, with hints of psychadelia and jangle pop throughout. The song here, "Clara Bow", has a sort of loung vibe when it starts, and the vocals are akin to Blur and other Britpop bands. If you can find it pick up the Golden Cleaners release which has a nice collection of the band's work.

Cleaners From Venus -- Clara Bow