Music Arcades: The Clientele: A Fading Summer

This month I have stepped up from being just a regular fan of The Clientele to anointing them, in my personal universe, as One of the Most Important Artists/Bands of the Decade (and there's only one other holder of the title at the moment: Mr A Roberts). This change was triggered by an hour spent in their company at The Luminaire.

It was one of those moments when band, audience, venue and music combine to create something remarkable and unique. No one knows quote why and you can't reproduce it to order — though it's more likely to happen at The Luminaire for the reasons listed in The Clientele blog and the attitude they instil in the audience (there are signs on the walls saying, "This is not a pub: if you talk when the bands are on, we'll tell you to shut up"). Anyway, it was immediately clear that this was going to be one of the best gigs of the year. Robert Fripp says that when the muse visits in public, the experience is sufficient to keep you going through lacklustre, tiresome gigs for several years afterwards.

The first impact this had on me was to make up my mind that I would never miss another Clientele gig in London. In fact I saw them again just last Friday at the Buffalo Bar (they were very good, if not as brilliant as earlier). The second impact was that I scoured all the online shops for vinyl copies of the albums I only had from emusic.com — and for old import EPs like this one.

I didn't realise before I ordered this that I already have three of the four songs on the EP as part of The Clientele's first album. Not that I'm bothered, really: this wave of purchases wasn't so much about buying new songs as going through the rite of passage required to induct myself as a Real Fan, not just a casual one.

I assume the versions here are the same as those I already have since both album and EP say "previously released on" the same UK and Japanese 7" single releases, but there seems to be more hiss on the new CD. That's authenticity for you. (And if I was an Uber Fan, instead of just a Real Fan, I'd have those 7" singles.)