Not only does he have the mad grammar skills to call me out on this here blog for my (extremely rare) vocab gaffes, he’s also one of the most all-around talented musician/songwriters out there.

This morning, I finally listened to Neil’s new effort, I Was Thinking About You the Whole Time, all the way through. What a saucy little record! It’s something of a “concept piece,” from the perspective of a partially repentant Lothario who drags around a sack o’ broken lady hearts. It could be the most narcissistic thing I’ve ever heard outside of hip-hop. But it totally works.

And hey, you gotta write what you know. Kidding. I hope.

Here’s a cut from the disc, which is currently being “shopped around,” as we say in the biz:

Neil Cleary — “The Go-Ahead Girl”

What a fine opening track. Neil, feel free to sue me for posting this MP3.

Speaking of new music from self-absorbed neurotics, I have a tune that I’ve been dicking around on lately. I’ll put it up later tonight.

Got something to say?

Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!

Casey Rea was the Seven Days music editor from 2004 until 2007. He won the 2005 John D. Donoghue award for arts criticism from the Vermont Press Association.

7 replies on “Neil Cleary rules.”

  2. Casey, I can’t believe you didn’t call your post “The Go-Ahead Critic is giving Neil the green light”.Here’s hoping this is the album that finally catapults Mr. Cleary to his rightful place in America’s heart.

  3. I can’t believe you didn’t call it:Neil Cleary “Rules.”Oh, wait, I forgot. Neil HATES quotation marks…

  4. Everyone’s a critic. Which is why I’m hoping to get into the exciting field of fry cookery.

  5. I’m gonna go ahead and hijack this fascinating conversation about me to say what my original email to Casey meant to emphasize, which is that the entire The Pants catalog is now available via an online store at The Pants MySpace page. The 1st S/T album, Fred Sex, and the reunion comp Viva Los Pants are all there. Eat Crow is available at the iTunes store.In other news: glad you like the album, Casey! I think I’m gonna include “the most narcissistic thing I’ve heard outside of hip-hop” in every press release from here on out. That really nails it. Still looking for suggestions of cool small labels… Who should I send it to?

  6. No, no, no. The original e-mail you sent said this:”Dear music industry professional:Having recently completed a new album, I was curious as to your advice on how to promote my new “work” to a label. Here, feel free to download it in its entirety:[URL removed for security reasons]I look forward with great excitement to your reactions!”Why a small label? I hear the majors treat their talent real nice. And weren’t you already on a small label? We should be asking you questions.But yeah — The Pants. They rule, too.

  7. Whatever: we could argue all day long on interpretation. You see Neil album, I see Pants online. To each his own, I guess. Can’t we all just get along?I figure small label because when I hear the words “major label” I just flash back to that closing scene in Raiders Of The Lost Ark where they finally have the Ark of the Covenant and they pack it in a crate and you watch a forklift carry it away into a warehouse of a million identical crates.And yeah, the last album was licensed to a small label but it’s kinda no longer functioning as such plus it wouldn’t fit the style of the new one.

Comments are closed.