The Elephant Riders
| The Elephant Riders | ||||
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| Studio album by Clutch | ||||
| Released | April 14, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1997 | |||
| Genre | Stoner rock, punk rock, heavy metal, hardcore punk, funk metal | |||
| Length | 51:03 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Jack Douglas | |||
| Clutch chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
The Elephant Riders is the third full-length album by the band Clutch, released April 14, 1998 on Columbia Records, the only album Clutch made for the label.
It was produced by Jack Douglas (whose other credits include The Who, Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult, John Lennon, James Gang and Mountain). The band convened in a 100-year-old house in West Virginia which they lodged in while making the album. Several incidents the band members experienced during their residence there became inspirations for some of the songs, notably in "The Soapmakers" and "Wishbone". Bassist Dan Maines had set up a BMX track in the yard surrounding the house.
The original concept for the title track and what became the title for the album, according to the bonus multimedia pack which came bundled with the original CD pressings, was an alternate history version of the Civil War in which airships were used for reconnaissance and the cavalry rode elephants rather than horses. The album has some of the band's live staples on it and has a different musical angle from the previous work. There is some very noticeable trombone on some tracks, which is keeping with the band's preference to alter their previous musical 'style' somewhat each album. They have the Stoner Rock efforts that the previous album had started to create, but stay true to their original Punk / Metal roots as well, and continues with some Funk metal undertones. It also contains some more mellow songs as well.
It is an album that has a hidden track (one of three different ones) on the end of the song "The Dragonfly", and quite a few unreleased songs from the ear (that are heavily bootlegged). Each print of the album has a different hidden track but you cannot tell from the album cover itself which one it is. The Japanese version has all three as separate tracks.
As of 2015, The Elephant Riders is out-of-print by Columbia Records and when asked about a possible reissue in 2012, vocalist Neil Fallon stated it was unlikely any time soon, saying:
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