The Elephant Riders

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.^[5]

The Elephant Riders
Studio album by Clutch
Released	April 14, 1998 (1998-04-14)
Recorded	1997
Studio	Electric Lady Studios (New York City) Manhattan Center Studios (New York City) Stonewall Studios (West Virginia)
Genre	Stoner rock, hard rock, blues rock, funk metal
Length	51:03
Label	Columbia
Producer	Jack Douglas
Clutch chronology
Impetus (1997) The Elephant Riders (1998) Jam Room (1999)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	9/10^[2]
MusicHound Rock	^[3]
Wall of Sound	77/100^[4]

Recording and release

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.

Background

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 post-hardcore, punk rock & hard rock 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 era (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:

"...maybe in the distant future [it] will revert to us, just because the terms of the contract will expire, but that’s not on our to-do list, because trying to talk to Sony’s lawyers is like launching a spacecraft."^[6][7]

Commercial performance

The Elephant Riders debuted at #104 on the Billboard 200, the first time a Clutch album had charted on the main chart, staying on the chart for one week.^[8]

As of 2001, the album has sold 88,377 copies in the US.^[9]

Track listing

All songs written by Clutch. Published © 1998 Freon Justice Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Elephant Riders"	3:50
2.	"Ship of Gold"	4:22
3.	"Eight Times Over Miss October"	4:21
4.	"The Soapmakers"	2:57
5.	"The Yeti"	4:59
6.	"Muchas Veces"	5:44
7.	"Green Buckets"	3:52
8.	"Wishbone"	3:43
9.	"Crackerjack"	5:10
10.	"The Dragonfly"	12:01
Total length:		51:03

The last track, "The Dragonfly", runs to 12:01 on the album itself; this is because each copy of the album contains one hidden track, which is after a few minutes silence, though it is not known which song you will get by the album cover itself. This gives most versions a run time of 51:03, instead of 45:21 minutes without the extra track (as the song itself fades out at the 6:19 mark). The Japanese version of the album, however, contains all three bonus tracks, separate of the last song and gives an even longer run time of 57:01.

No.	Title	Length
11.	"David Rose"	4:30
12.	"Gifted & Talented"	2:41
13.	"05"	4:28
Total length:		57:01

The tracks listed below are unofficial bootlegs recorded during the album's sessions. They appear on an unofficial compilation called "Clutch: Rarities and B-Sides", alongside early hard-to-come-by Clutch songs. Its cover is a 'Clutch Cavalry - Pro-Rock' label.^{[citation needed]} It is a precursor to the Slow Hole to China: Rare and Unreleased album the band would later release in 2003 under their own label, though it didn't have all of the bootlegged tracks from this unofficial release.^[10][11]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Big News III"	4:00
2.	"Earth Years"	4:08

Personnel

• Neil Fallon - vocals
• Tim Sult - guitar
• Dan Maines - bass
• Jean-Paul Gaster - drums
• Delfeayo Marsalis - trombone on "Crackerjack" & "Muchas Veces"

Production

• Produced by Jack Douglas
• Engineered & mixed by Jason Corsaro; except "Eight Times Over Miss October" which is mixed by Jack Joseph Puig
• Recorded at Electric Lady Studios and Manhattan Center Studios, New York City
• "Muchas Veces" & "Crackerjack" recorded by Larry Packer at Stonewall Studios, West Virginia
• Mixed at Avatar Studios, New York City, and Ocean Way Studios & Jack's Kingdom, Los Angeles
• Assistant engineers: Andy Salas, Kurt Garrison, Barbara Lipke, Jim Champagne
• Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York City
• Art direction: Sean Evans & Clutch
• Photography by Dan Winters

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1998	The Billboard 200	#104
1998	Top Heatseekers	#1

References

1. AllMusic review
2. Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
3. Fuoco, Christina (1999). "Clutch". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 247. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
4. Gulla, Bob. . Wall of Sound. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
5. "Pro Rock". www.pro-rock.com. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
6. "Interview with Neil Fallon of Clutch | DCHeavyMetal.com". December 20, 2012.
7. "CLUTCH : Discography". www.pro-rock.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
8. "Clutch". Billboard. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
9. Sludge, Metal. "Sludge Scans For February 2001 | Metal Sludge". Retrieved February 12, 2022.
10. "CLUTCH : Discography". www.pro-rock.com. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
11. . Vibestar Media. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016.