Not unlike
Andy Partridge
and
Robyn Hitchcock
,
Martin Newell
has a loyal cult among those who treasure the quirkier side of British pop; however, unlike
Partridge
or
Hitchcock
, he's never gotten much press or a major push from a major label, largely because he's chosen to operate outside the channels of the music industry, releasing most of his music on his own. One of
Newell
's most consistently interesting projects,
the Cleaners from Venus
, distributed the bulk of their catalog on homemade cassettes, and while their later albums received proper releases on vinyl in Europe, in much of the world
Cleaners from Venus
recordings are only slightly more common than Bigfoot. Thankfully,
Captured Tracks
have been working with
to reissue some of the highlights from the
Cleaners
' catalog, and
Vol. 3
is a box set that includes the albums
Living with Victoria Grey
(1987),
Number Thirteen
(1990), and
My Back Wages
(2000), along with a disc of rare and unreleased material titled
Extra Wages
. While all four discs are fine stuff, the real gem here is
, which is a superb set of U.K. jangle pop (with a few solid R&B stompers thrown in) overflowing with great hooks, hummable melodies, top-shelf guitar work, and witty, literate lyrics as well as droll interludes that link the tunes. The fact that
cut the album almost entirely by himself (with some help from
Giles Smith
) is a reminder why he's a true auteur in the U.K. independent scene, blissfully willing to follow his muse wherever it chooses to go, and the production is simple but well-suited to the music. If the other three albums aren't quite as good (and sound a bit more homemade, particularly with the frequent presence of lo-fi drum boxes), they're still inarguably great stuff, and they're remarkably consistent, with one smart, well-crafted basement pop number right after another along with occasional bursts of bitterly witty social commentary -- if
writes bad or uninteresting songs, he hides them well, and his guitar work is satisfying at every turn. Anyone who believes you need an elaborate recording studio and a large bankroll to make great records should be introduced to the work of
, and
is a king-sized example of how
produced pure pop magic with cheap gear and a lot of imagination; while the four albums have also been reissued individually, this box set packs a whole lot of musical value for the money. ~ Mark Deming