Clover - Clover / Fourty-Niner (Reissue) (1970-71/2012)

Clover are often considered as one of rock's most famous footnotes, earning their modicum of recognition as the backing band on Elvis Costello's 1977 debut My Aim Is True and as the group that provided the seed for Huey Lewis & the News. Long before this -- and long before the pair of albums the group released in 1977, Unavailable and Love on the Wire -- Clover were a San Franciscan roots rock outfit that released a pair of albums for Fantasy Records in the early '70s. Never before seeing reissue, these two records -- 1970's Clover and 1971's Fourty Niner -- finally see the light of day on this 2012 Real Gone two-fer. Both of the albums are very much of their time: lazy, loping, paisley-speckled strolls through roots rock, powered by rhythms that are elastic, not forceful. It is very much hippie music, particularly the debut, which is so shambolic that it threatens to fall apart. The harmonies don't quite mesh up, grooves are flirted with but never established, and the solos are mere noodling, always managing to elude a clear direction. Some of this raggedness has a bit of a period appeal but it's nothing but loose ends that are never tied together. And that may be why Fourty Niner sounds so much better in comparison: it sounds pulled together and produced. Clover are still unkempt, acting as if writing full-fledged songs is a luxury, not a necessity -- there are some here, like "If I Had My Way" and the poppy "Love Is Gone," but they're just as likely to fall back to a hazy idea or stoned jokes -- but the grooves are tighter, the harmonies aren't frayed, and there's some genuine propulsion here. At its best, Fourty Niner shows promise -- the best songs have hooks that dig in, the group has some sepia-toned rootsy charm -- but it's clear why Clover never caught hold in 1971: they were too unfocused to project a clear identity. Such confusion was cleared up when they went to the U.K. in the mid-'70s, carving out a place on the pub rock circuit and getting better through gigs, but the two albums on this two-fer are merely OK period roots rock, of greater interest for what the band did next than what the music actually is.