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Clive Product (born Clive Snowden in Chalfont St Giles, UK 1963) is a "new wave-folk-pop" performer. Since 1990 he has lived in Berlin, Germany.[1]
Clive's early career was with groups such as The Mysterons (1979), The Interferons (1980) and Introducing Dragons (1981). Clive played his first solo gig in 1980[2] and after that he self-released his early recordings to limited success. Reviewing Songs From An Untidy Bedroom, Graham Larkby wrote that some tracks "call to mind an acoustic Smiths: some are better than that suggests, while others veer into bedsit singer/songwriter territory..."[3]
A collaboration with Lora Logic in 1988 led to some rough demo recordings, but no commercial release. However, when Billy Bragg stood in for John Peel on BBC Radio 1, he ended the show with "...And for those of you who have written to me asking for The Smiths, who are a bit worried about what records you're going to take away to college with you when you go away for the first time, this is my candidate for your turntables. Singing a song that also expresses a lot of my sentiments: Clive Product, Songs From An Untidy Bedroom"[4]. Thus it was that Clive Product became the second artist after Billy Bragg to appear on Utility Records. Billy’s 1983 album Life’s A Riot with Spy vs Spy had been the label’s first release (UTIL 1), but there wasn’t a UTIL 2 until Financial Suicide in 1989. By then Utility was owned by Billy and Peter Jenner and they were trying to showcase independent acts which had tried hard, but so far failed, to break through. Clive fitted the bill perfectly, having already released four albums, to no appreciable commercial success.[5]
Financial Suicide was released on 13 March 1989. It was a six track compilation mini-album, taking tracks off Clive’s earlier LPs. It was notable for featuring a photograph of Clive's very own tea pot on the cover. The compilation includes Shoddy Body and Songs From An Untidy Bedroom (from Songs From An Untidy Bedroom (1986)), Everyone Sees What I See and The Man Who Thought He Was a Steam Train (from The Care Assistant (1987)), Penguins (from Village Tours Start Here (1983)) and a track that Clive released as a single, There Goes The Floor Again. The CD of this mini-album added Two Fat Girls (also from The Care Assistant).
In 1990 Clive relocated to Berlin and produced one more LP (Fate On A Plate) in 1992. Between 1993 and 1997 he wrote and edited the fanzine Big Untidy[6] (with key collaborator Barry O'Brien), which eventually led to the publication of a book in 1999, Beautiful Extremes: Conversations with Kevin Coyne. Clive was a close friend of Kevin and after Kevin's death in December 2004 he contributed A Loving Hand for Whispers From The Offing – A Tribute to Kevin Coyne. Clive also features on Nikki Sudden's contribution to Whispers From The Offing and following Nikki's death he played at the Nikki Sudden Tribute Night in Berlin on 31 August 2006 and also contributed to Road of Broken Dreams tribute EP.
It appears that Clive has recorded several albums worth of unreleased new material, including Shooting Stars (2000) and Skeleton Songs (2002). An acoustic EP, Broken Pieces, was released on 9pm Records in 2004.[7] Clive has also toured and recorded as part of The Anglo-German Low Stars. Their film soundtrack album The Night of The Amazon was released on 9pm Records in 2001 and they recorded an EP (The Dead Grandmas of Potsdam (2005)).
Clive has appeared with or supporting several artists over the years, notably TV Smith, Nikki Sudden, Jowe Head, Harry Coltello, Barry O'Brien (in their occasional band The Tea Thieves), and Grae J Wall, with whom he recorded No One Should Drink Alone in 2006.[8] His most recent album is the poignant Like The Tide Coming In, which was privately released in 2009.[9] A live version of Dissolved (a track originally featured on Like The Tide Coming In) was included on the Meyer Records Sampler Vol.4, released in 2014. Clive is featured in Einige Abenteuer und seltsame Begegnungen im Leben des Stillen Kommandeurs[10] by H.F. Cotello (aka Harry Coltello) and was name-checked in Mark Ellen's book, Rock Stars Stole My Life[11].
Clive currently spends much of his time working in music therapy, as well as drawing and writing the occasional song.
Discography
[edit]LPs
Village Tours Start Here (1983)
Stretching Arms & Legs (with Gary Williams) (1985)
Songs From An Untidy Bedroom (1986)
The Care Assistant (1987)
Financial Suicide (compilation) (1988)
Fate On A Plate (1992)
No One Should Drink Alone (with Grae J Wall) (2006)
Like The Tide Coming In (2009)
EPs and Singles
Honest! It's Product! (EP) (1982)
Everyone Sees What I See (1987)
There Goes The Floor Again (1988)
Broken Pieces (EP) (2004)
References
[edit]- ^ http://www.justlistenedto.co.uk/
- ^ https://clive-product.band-findr.com/
- ^ Larkbey, Graham (February 1987). "Review". Folk Roots (44).
- ^ Radio 1, September 3rd, 1987.
- ^ http://www.justlistenedto.co.uk/
- ^ http://wombletonrecords.com/?p=1360
- ^ http://www.disagreement.net/reviews/cliveproduct_brokenpieces.html
- ^ http://www.trailer-trash.co.uk/localstore.htm
- ^ http://www.justlistenedto.co.uk/2017/10/clive-product-financial-suicide.html
- ^ Coltello, HF (2012). Einige Abenteuer und seltsame Begegnungen im Leben des Stillen Kommandeurs. Salis.
- ^ Ellen, Mark (2014). Rock Stars Stole my Life!: A Big Bad Love Affair with Music. Coronet. ISBN 1444775499.