Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: Big Night In DVD

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones like to do things differently. While the whole music biz has embraced streaming and putting things up on YouTube, they have decided to release a DVD to commemorate the release of their Big Night Out album in 2018. Big Night In collects the quirky videos they made for all the tracks of the album. They ransacked the footage of 60s TV shows (Vikings!, The Thunderbirds!), newsreels and commercials, in grainy B&W and faded colour, had a whale of time putting together off-kilter extras and threw in footage of their The Day John Met Paul 60th Anniversary gig on July 9th 2017 at St. Peters Church in Liverpool, with original Quarrymen drummer Colin Hanton joining them as a special guest.

It is a trip to simpler times, when card games and knitting were considered first rate entertainment, and the police had ample time to indulge in stunt driving - watch the video for You're Looking Good for proof of this. It is a fun watch. The band obviously loved putting it together and it is no problem if your are not able to place all the segments and references they used. Enjoy it as is, with some tea and biscuits or any other combination you prefer for watching the telly, after you have managed to get that DVD-player to do its job again.

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: Rubber Chicken B Sides

For people who are not familiar with the output of Liverpudlian psych pop band Rob Clarke and The Wooltones picking up their Rubber Chicken B Sides can serve as a gateway drug to the rest of their discography, with among others an updated version of classic Merseybeat, a good natured stab at the Monkees, and a throwback to the age before Britain embraced the decimal system and things appeared to be cheaper, but weren't.

They are a group that does not follow trends, but cherishes the past, finding new ways to keep the sound of yesterday safe for anyone who loves an ace melody combined with lyrical wit and melancholy, whether it is their 2015 short and sweet single Brown Paper Bag or their sprawling reimagination of the West Coast sound during the Summer of Love with Love And Haight (from their Putting The L in Wootones album), complete with a Doors-inspired organ part and Byrds-alike guitar.

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: "Free" video

Liverpudlian psych pop band Rob Clarke and The Wooltones have made a video for Free. It is a track from their latest album Putting The L in Wootones: "(They) keep the sound of the past alive, by giving it their all with original material. That is no mean feat among the countless cover bands that keep rehashing the classics, because they can't come up with something new themselves".

The clip was made by Mark Slater.

» Rob Clarke and The Wooltones on Facebook

HCTF review of Putting The L in Wootones.

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: "It's Only You" video

Liverpudlian psych pop band Rob Clarke and The Wooltones have made a video for It's Only You. It is a track from their latest album Putting The L in Wootones: "(They) keep the sound of the past alive, by giving it their all with original material. That is no mean feat among the countless cover bands that keep rehashing the classics, because they can't come up with something new themselves".

» Rob Clarke and The Wooltones on Facebook

HCTF review of Putting The L in Wootones.

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: "The Forecast Near You" video

Liverpudlian psych pop band Rob Clarke and The Wooltones have made a video for The Forecast Near You, using footage from the B&W kitchen sink movies. It is a track from their latest album Putting The L in Wootones: "(They) keep the sound of the past alive, by giving it their all with original material. That is no mean feat among the countless cover bands that keep rehashing the classics, because they can't come up with something new themselves".

» Rob Clarke and The Wooltones on Facebook

HCTF review of Putting The L in Wootones.

Rob Clarke and The Wooltones: Putting The L in Wootones

Liverpudlian psych pop band Rob Clarke and The Wooltones are into vintage Mersey beat and early psychedelica, a genre that peaked when the Beatles released Rubber Soul in 1965. On their new album Putting The L in Wootones they honour the 3 minute single as well as the expanded tracks like Love and Haight and Free that started to make a mark as albums became more important as an artistic statement. It allowed musicains to stretch out and go through various tempos and moods within a track, something they could only get away it in a live setting before that.

Nostalgia is the backbone of their lyrics. Old fashioned rock 'n' roll gets heartfelt tributes with Statue at the Pier Head and Two Lane Blacktop - the latter could be mistaken for a long lost Eddie Cochran song. Countdown is a song about the implemenation of the decimal system for UK currency on February 15, 1971, an event that send shockwaves to the nation. Rob Clarke and The Wooltones keep the sound of the past alive, by giving it their all with original material. That is no mean feat among the countless cover bands that keep rehashing the classics, because they can't come up with something new themselves.