(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Martin Newell was for years one of the most isolated musicians in British pop. His brand of kitsch artistry anticipated Britpop, but it was hidden behind the persona of an eccentric dandy.
In the 1980s he released about a dozen cassettes and several albums under the name Cleaners From Venus, through which he revealed himself as a bizarre reviser of 1960s commercial music: Blow Away Your Troubles (1981), On Any Normal Monday (1982), Midnight Cleaners (1982), In The Golden Autumn (1983), Under Wartime Conditions (1984), Living With Victoria Grey (1986), Going To England (1987), Town & Country (1988), Number Thirteen (1990).
Under Wartime Conditions (Acid Tapes, 1984), Going To England (Ammunition, 1987), and Town And Country (RCA, 1988) are the three works on vinyl (all recorded years before their release) through which he reached the more refined pop of his maturity, making him a worthy disciple of XTC. Golden Cleaners (Tangerine, 1993) contains their best songs: Girl On A Swing, Living With Victoria Grey, Julie Profumo, Drowning Butterflies.
The Brotherhood Of Lizards album, Lizardland (Deltic, 1989), is in fact nothing more than the vinyl edition of another Cleaners cassette. It nonetheless remains an exquisite example of slightly old-fashioned British pop, with songs like The Day After Yesterday, It Could Have Been Cheryl, The Happening Guy, enough to make even The Church and Robyn Hitchcock envious.
One of his masterpieces is the album released in 1989 by Captain Sensible (the former Damned member who became a star in the early 1980s with Wot and Happy Talk), Revolution Now (Deltic): the title track, Missing The Boat, The Toys Take Over, and Phone In rank among Newells most perfect creations.
After a few years hiatus, his career was revived in 1993 with Greatest Living Englishman (Humbug).
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
After a long hiatus (during which he focused on his poetry books),
Newell's career restarted with
Greatest Living Englishman (Humbug, 1993), a collection of mostly
joyful pop songs inspired by XTC (Jangling Man).
Off White Album (Pink Lemon, 1996) is perhaps his most elegant and
poetic work ever,
particularly nostalgic (a` la Kinks) in Arcadian Boys and
reminiscent of Brian Wilson's lush arrangements
(Miss Van Houten's Coffee Shoppe).
While hardly revolutionary, this album finally established Newell among
the bards of English rock.
His career is best summed up by the anthology
The Wayward Genius Of Martin Newell (Cherry Red, 1999).
After another long hiatus, Newell returned with a far less interesting album,
Spirit Cage (Cherry Red, 2000), whose mood is even more nostalgic
(My Old School, My Funeral).
