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Dec 29, 2021 Web Exclusive By Matthew Berlyant

Merge has been slowly but surely reissuing the back catalog of Dunedin, New Zealand’s incredible The Clean since the 2003 release of the two-CD Anthology compilation introduced American indie rockers to the weird, wonderful world of the brothers David and Hamish Kilgour (on vocals/guitar and drums, respectively) and bassist Robert Scott, who would later go on to start The Bats, another crucial and important Flying Nun band.

Following their full-length reissues of 1996’s Unknown Country and 2009’s Mister Pop (their most recent album) earlier this year are these reissues of their very first releases from back in 1981. Although commonly thought of as Flying Nun’s very first release (it’s actually their second), “Tally Ho” not only introduced The Clean to the world, but by extension, introduced the so-called “Dunedin Sound” to the world as well. Marked by one-note ’60s garage-rock organ (played The Chills’ Martin Phillipps) not a million miles from “96 Tears” and the massive influence of The Velvet Underground and early Modern Lovers, this unexpected New Zealand Top 20 hit effectively helped start indie-pop as we know it, influencing prominent ’90s indie-rock acts like Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Superchunk greatly. The B-side is a live rendition, jammier, more repetitive, and more indicative of where The Clean was going. (www.mergerecords.com/artist/the_clean)

Author rating: 8.5/10