Anne Clark
Country of origin:
England
Type of music generally:
Ectronica experimental spoken word/alternative pop
Status:
Most recent release, Homage: The Silence Inside (with Thomas Rückoldt, 2018)
See also:
Anne Clark's site
Comparisons:
Even the All Music Guide calls her unique
Covers/own material:
Own, co-written, covers
General comments:
Actually Anne Clark is more poet than lyricist, more spoken word than songs. (relph@presto.ig.com)I can only take her in small doses. (lombaeg@donald.interpac.be)
I liked her in the early eighties and wanted to see if she stood the test of time; she does not. For those of you who don't remember her, she's the British girl who shouted poetry in a lower-class (nearly Cockney) accent over a synthesizer track. Well, my memory betrayed me: Her poetry is nearly—but not quite—bad enough to have camp value ['the night is for the hunters / the hunted are you and me / hunted for just HAVing / some ind'viduALity']; and the synthesizer is as cheesy as they come. Her delivery is interesting, though; nothing at all like rap. Not that she's unaware of the rhythm; more like, though she's not singing, she's emulating a melodic instrument, rather than percussion, as rappers do. She's as aware of her voice's tonalities as Martin Luther King was. I just wish she were a better poet. (lissener@wwa.com)
Recommended first album:
One of the compilations would probably be the best place to start
Recordings:
- The Sitting Room (1982)
- Changing Places (1983)
- Joined Up Writing (EP, 1984)
- Pressure Points (1985)
- True Love Tales
- An Ordinary Life (compilation, 1986)
- Trilogy (compilation, 1986)
- Terra Incognita (compilation, 1986)
- Hopeless Cases (1987)
- R.S.V.P. (live, 1988)
- Unstill Life (1991)
- The Last Emotion (3-CD box set: compilation, 1991)
- The Haunted Road (single, 1993)
- The Law Is An Anagram Of Wealth (1993)
- Anne Clark and friends: Psychometry (live, 1994)
- The Best of Anne Clark (compilation, 1994)
- To Love And Be Loved (1995)
- Anne Clark: Nineties—a Fine Collection (compilation, 1996)
- Wordprocessing: The Remix Project (remixes, 1997)
- Just After Sunset—The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (with Martyn Bates, 1998)
- From the HeartLive in Bratislava (2003)
- Dream Made Real (compilation, 2003)
- Notes Taken, Traces Left (audiobook, 2004)
- Remix Collection (remix compilation, 2007)
- The Smallest Acts of Kindness (2008)
- Past and Future Tense (EP, 2010)
- Past & Future Tense Chapter One (compilation, 2010)
- Die Künstlichen Paradiese (compilation, 2011)
- Enough—Anne Clark & Murat Parlak Live in Zurich (live, with Murat Parlak, 2012)
- Fairytales From The Underground (EP with herrB 2013)
- Life Wires (with herrB, 2014)
- Ludwig.London (2017)
- Homage: The Silence Inside (with Thomas Rückoldt, 2018)
True Love Tales
Release info:
1986—Ink
Availability:
Unknown
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Comments:
i rather like it. "true love tales" is a rather cynical piece, no? (woj@smoe.org)
Hopeless Cases
Release info:
1987—Virgin
Availability:
Wide on release
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Produced by:
Anne Clark, David Harrow
Comments:
Hopeless Cases is definitely Anne Clark's best effort to date. It includes the underground classic "Hope Road", which apparently got some airplay. She's got some other good material as well, but I find I don't listen very often. Hopeless Cases gets on the turntable, so to speak, every so often. (relph@presto.ig.com)
The Last Emotion
Release info:
1986
Availability:
Europe
Ecto priority:
Recommended for spoken word fans
Comments:
3-CD box set of The Sitting Room, Changing Places, and Joined Up Writing.I wish there were more than just one track backed with piano, rather than synthesizers that sound like her little brother cobbled them together with alarm-clock parts. "Our Darkness" is still good, though; later synths and louder: her lyrics are mercifully unintelligible. Includes three mixes of "Our Darkness." (lissener@wwa.com)
The Haunted Road
Release info:
1993
Availability:
Germany
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Group members:
Anne Clark—vocals
Guest artists:
Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza)—vocals
Comments:
A four-track single with three versions of "The Haunted Road" plus a cover of Michel le Grand's "The Windmills of Your Mind."She does an an absolutly amazing, beautifully haunting duet with Martyn Bates called "Windmills of your mind." (jeffw@smoe.org)
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