Clark, Hutchinson - Retribution (Deram 1970) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

By the time they cut Retribution in 1970, the British duo had expanded into a fully-fledged band with Steve Amazing on bass and Del Coverley on drums. I must confess that this album was my proper introduction to Clark Hutchinson. I was 13 in 1970, steeped in Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and the early Led Zeppelin recordings. Sadly I only ever got to listen to this album on borrowed copies. I had no means then of recording it, and I could never find a copy in the second hand record shops I browsed on Saturday afternoons. I even knew someone who, with his brother, had two copies, but he wouldn’t sell me one.
At this point I must add that Retribution contains "Best Suit" – the best song ever as far as I’m concerned. It comes in at just over ten minutes long. "Best Suit" was recorded live for Radio 1’s Sounds of the Seventies programme in January 1971. It encapsulates everything I believe music should be. This extended musical apology perfectly matched my emotional state as a teenager. Listening to this track now, I have an acute sense of four men in a room together wrestling emotion from their instruments. You can feel the space they occupy, the interaction between them. They are in this together, and it is real. Andy Clark’s vocal is honest, sincere. When he says "I really did try for you" you don’t doubt him. Every word, every note on this recording is absolutely genuine. There is nothing spare, nothing superfluous. "Best Suit" is one of those songs which just gets better the further you get into it. It’s one of those songs you really don’t ever want to finish. It still makes me want to kick the furniture over like a truculent teenager.
Retribution begins with "Free To Be Stoned" – described on the Repertoire website as "emphasising an IQ-reducing bluntage of blues guitar destruction", whatever that means. This is probably their best-known track. Undoubtedly the sentiment "I wanna be king of my own chemistry" appeals to a sizeable portion of the population. It’s infectious, high-octane stuff. Listen: you’ll be hooked.
One of the interesting things about rediscovering music after a long absence is just how selective your memory can be. I clearly remember "Free To Be Stoned", I’ve had "Best Suit" coursing through my sub-conscious for thirty years, but I must confess I’d mentally skipped "After Hours", a fairly standard blues excursion, and the blues-rock number "In Another Way". And somehow I’d forgotten just how hysterical in every sense of the word the last track, "Death, The Lover" is. Somehow trying to write about this track seems superfluous. Over a pounding bass line that sounds like it was left over from the Doors’ 1969 album L.A. Woman the band take us on a wailing Hammer House of Horror nightmare bad acid trip. It’s the aural equivalent of a candlelit visit to inspect Dorian Grey’s portrait in the attic. Well it scares the crap out of me! Simon Smith, beefheart.com

Tracklisting:

A1. Free To Be Stoned

A2. After Hours

B1. In Another Way

B2. Best Suit

B3. Death, The Lover

Andy Clark: Vocals and keyboards
Mick Hutchinson: Lead guitar
Amazing Stephen Amazing: Bass
Del Coverley: Percussion
Produced by: Clark Hutchinson