THE 39 CLOCKS – “Next Dimension Transfer” Box Set (5 CDs / LPs, Booklet) will be released on March 22nd at Tapete Records
The 39 Clocks are one of the most magnificent bands ever to have emerged from Germany; Diedrich Diederichsen, German pop boffin, considers them to be the nation’s best band of the 1980s. The legendary duo from Hanover broke every rule in the music business, without exception. And – above all – with attitude.
The box set contains: 5 album box set: two regular studio albums, two collections of outtakes, leftovers and rarities (one of them renamed, edited and updated by The 39 Clocks exclusively for this box set) plus a previously unreleased live LP from 1981 Furthermore: includes comprehensive deluxe booklet (“Revelations”) featuring mind-blowing new trivia and secrets (vinyl: 28 pages, CD: 44 pages)
The “Next Dimension Transfer” box set, authorised by the band, provides the ultimate overview of the Clocks’ output – a phantom of the German music underground, enshrouded in myth.IThe 39 Clocks are one of the most magnificent bands ever to have emerged from Germany; Diedrich Diederichsen, German pop boffin, considers them to be the nation’s best band of the 1980s. The legendary duo from Hanover broke every rule in the music business, without exception. And – above all – with attitude. The very appearance of the Clocks was beyond compare: the odd grainy black and white photograph reveals two wiry figures in Beatnik attire and sunglasses. They are elusive, incapable of being categorized, unless the category is a little bit weird. Their real names have been eradicated (“never had one” – Clocks), replaced by cryptic initials (CH-39, JG-39), less than randomly reminiscent of molecular chains like LSD-25. The weirdness is reflected in their music: sizzling irradiated, repetitive.
The outrageous rumours surrounding the duo are the stuff of legend: strung out live performances with vacuum cleaners instead of guitars, frequently facing a throng of concertgoers with a tendency to boo, flee the venue or threaten them with physical violence. Sometimes exasperated promoters simply pulled the plug (literally). So many stories.
The Clocks project really began to take shape in 1979 when they turned away from punk and created “psycho beat”, positioning themselves as the antithesis of the emerging NDW/German New Wave movement. Their music is a futuristic, definitively urban, evolution of American garage punk from the 1960s. Their stylistic modus operandi: expressionless voice, English lyrics with an intentionally heavy German accent, dirty sound, cool monochrome image.
Those lacking in imagination might identify touches of the Velvet Underground and stop right there, but many other influences were also at work: from Salvador Dali via the Troggs, Suicide, Peter Handke’s Offending The Audience, Antoine to Tiny Tim, Kurt Schwitters, Can and NEU! The Clocks themselves spoke of “at least 123” sources of inspiration. In early 1980s Germany, the 39 Clocks were, at one and the same time, a panoply of discernible influences and a singular phenomenon with a clear, inimitable sonic identity. Time and again, the 39 Clocks succeeded in pushing back the borders of experimentation a little further: barely tolerable, protracted live improvisations, atonal passages, background noises, extreme lo-fi and a tinny beatbox test the listener’s receptivity to the limit.
And yet: the Clocks’ radicalism earned them worldwide acclaim. Their records were sought after in such far- flung countries as England, Greece and the USA. And their sonic experiments popped up in various film soundtracks, including “Nightfall”, “23 – Nichts ist so, wie es scheint” and television series like “Halt and Catch Fire” in the US.
The “Next Dimension Transfer” box set, authorised by the band, provides the ultimate overview of the Clocks’ output – a phantom of the German music underground, enshrouded in myth.
Contains: 5 album box set: two regular studio albums, two collections of outtakes, leftovers and rarities (one of them renamed, edited and updated by The 39 Clocks exclusively for this box set) plus a previously unreleased live LP from 1981 Furthermore: includes comprehensive deluxe booklet (“Revelations”) featuring mind-blowing new trivia and secrets (vinyl: 28 pages, CD: 44 pages)
LP/CD 1 „Pain It Dark“
1 Shake The Hippie
2 DNS
3 78 Soldier Dead
4 Out Of Sight
5 Stupid Art
6 Test The Beat
7 Psycho Beat
8 Twisted & Shouts
9 Radical Student in Satin Boots
10 A Look Into You
LP/CD 2 „Subnarcotic“
1 Heat Of Violence
2 DOM (Electricity Elects The Rain)
3 Psychotic Louie Louie
4 Past Tense Hopes & Insant Fears On 42nd Street
5 Virtuous Girl
6 Three Floors Down
7 Rainy Night Insanities
8 A Touch Of Rot
9 Aspettando Godot
LP/CD 3 „A 39 Clocks Performance“
1 DNS (live)
2 Past Tense Hopes & Instant Fears On 42nd Street (live)
3 Shake The Hippie (live)
4 Three Floors Down (live)
5 A Look Into You (live)
LP/CD 4 „Reality Is A State Of Mind“
1 Realities Are A State Of Mind
2 39 Progress Of A Psychotic
3 New Crime Appeal
4 The Great Chomeini
5 DNS (45 version)
6 Twisted & Shouts (45 version)
7 Fast Cars
8 Your Prick Makes Me Sick
9 Art Minus Idiots
10 I Love A Girl
11 Signs & Toys
12 Psycho Beat
13 Beat Your Brain Out
LP/CD 5 “13 More Protest Songs”
1 Eternal Yesterdays
2 What Never Happened
3 Eve Of Destruction
4 You Can’t Count The Bombs (It’s zero)
5 But You Know
6 Mr. Diamond
7 My Tears Will Drown The World
8 Shake Gaddafi’s Blues
9 I’m Not Alone With You (ce n’est pas pervers)
10 (they don’t dance much) The Violet One
Source: https://www.tapeterecords.de
