Midnight Cleaners

While all sorts of music is readily available in the 21st century, that wasn\'t the case back in the \'80s when The Cleaners from Venus were releasing cassettes of their home-recorded music by mail order. It\'s not an exaggeration to compare seeking out this intriguing music with combing an archeological site. Back then, hundreds of musicians released their music on cassettes, and much of it was either bizarre or of substandard quality. Finding the truly talented was like finding a proverbial needle in the haystack. Word of mouth, however, did get around that Martin Newell was doing something special here, and his Cleaners became a cult item with a loyal fanbase. The title track is high weirdness, but \"Factory Boy,\" \"This Rainy Decade,\" and \"Time in Vain\" are jangle-pop that recall the works of The Soft Boys and early Robyn Hitchcock with a dash of XTC and Ray Davies in the literate lyrics. This would be the third and final album with drummer Lol Elliott. There\'s a dreamlike quality to this material that was inevitably lost in Newell\'s later professional recordings.

Cleaners From Venus, the lo-fi pop project of the English musician Martin Newell, offered a mix of rough edges, distanced vocals, definite hooks, and unexpected mixing choices. This box set features the first three 1980s cassette-only efforts with liner notes, flyers, buttons, and unreleased tracks and photos.

Discover Midnight Cleaners by Cleaners from Venus released in 1982. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.