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Martin Newell (musician)

Martin Newell in 2006

Martin Newell (born 1953), also known as "the Wild Man of Wivenhoe", is an English rock musician, poet and author. He grew up in an army family in various parts of England and the Far East. His music is guitar pop with clever lyrics and jangly, upbeat, guitar-centric arrangements.

During the 1980s he led a band called The Cleaners From Venus, who mostly released their work on cassettes (see Cassette culture) outside the traditional music distribution channels. In the 1990s he began working as a solo artist with more conventional production values.

His first solo album, The Greatest Living Englishman, produced by XTC's Andy Partridge, was a critical success. Commercially, it remains his most popular and successful album. It was followed by three more albums (The Off White Album, produced by Louis Philippe, The Spirit Cage and Radio Autumn Attic) and an EP (Songs From the Station Hotel) that continued to explore the same subject matter as Englishman, including the charms of rural or small-town English life and portraits of characters and scenes.

In 2004 Newell released an album of light jazz songs, The Light Programme. This showed his talent for writing with other people in mind and in late 2005 British singer Richard Shelton released a jazz vocal album called Top Cat featuring five Newell compositions.

Newell's songs have also been recorded by Miki Huber, The Jennifers, Kerry Getz, R. Stevie Moore and Alphaville.

He is better known to some as a poet and author; he has released several volumes of poetry (often in collaboration with James Dodds) and a memoir called This Little Ziggy, about his youth and his days in The Mighty Plod, a Colchester-based glam band in the 1970s.

Discography

• Blow Away your Troubles as Cleaners from Venus, 1981 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes) No catalogue number (Cassette release)
• On Any Normal Monday as Cleaners from Venus, 1982 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes) No catalogue number (Cassette release)
• Barricades and Angels as The Stray Trollies, 1982 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes)- catalogue number POW 003 (Cassette release)
• Secret Dreams of a Kitchen Porter, 1982 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes) - catalogue number NOW 004 (Cassette release)
• Midnight Cleaners, 1982 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes)- catalogue number MAO CO5 (Cassette release)
• In the Golden Autumn as Cleaners from Venus, 1983 (Man at the Off-Licence Tapes) - catalogue number FRAU 006 (Cassette release)
• Under Wartime Conditions as Cleaners from Venus, 1984 (Man at the Off-Licence) - catalogue number TAO 008
• Mind How You Go as Cleaners from Venus, 1987 (Jarmusic) (EP)
• Going to England as Cleaners from Venus, 1987 (Ammunition)
• April Fool 1987) (Jarmusic) (EP)
• Town and Country as Cleaners from Venus, 1988 (Man at the Off-Licence)
• Winter as Cleaners from Venus, 1988 (Jarmusic Pink Lemon) (LP)
• Lizardland as Brotherhood of Lizards, 1989 (Deltic), reissue 1995 (Long Play)
• Number Thirteen as Cleaners from Venus, 1990 (Man at the Off-Licence)
• Golden Cleaners as Cleaners from Venus, 1993 (Tangerine)
• The Greatest Living Englishman, 1993, featuring Andy Partridge of XTC, (Humbug, Pipeline) CD and cassette. Reissued with bonus CD of poetry recorded live as The Greatest Living Englishman: Very Limited Edition, 1993 (Humbug); also in 1995 and 1996 (Jarmusic) and 1996 and 2000 (Cherry Red)
• Live 1987 as Cleaners from Venus, 1993 (Jarmusic Pink Lemon)
• Let's Kiosk, 1995 (Humbug) EP
• Live in Japan as Cleaners from Venus, 1995 (Jarmusic Pink Lemon)
• The Legendary 13 as Cleaners from Venus, 1995 (Jarmusic Pink Lemon) (EP)
• Back from the Cleaners as Cleaners from Venus, 1995 (Tangerine)
• The Off White Album, 1995 (Jarmusic)
• Martin Newell, 1996 (Jarmusic) promotional CD
• Box of Old Humbug, 1996 (Humbug) double CD with the content of The Greatest Living Englishman, The Off White Album, and Let's Kiosk
• Don't Step on My Rainbow as Cleaners from Venus, 1996 (Jarmusic) box set of five 7-inch singles
• The Wayward Genius of Martin Newell, as Martin Newell, Cleaners from Venus, and Brotherhood of Lizards, 1999 (Cherry Red) compilation CD
• Mind How You Go / The April Fool 1999 (Jarmusic) cassettes rereleased on CD, with extra material
• Wild Man of Wivenhoe and Black Shuck 1999 the poems recorded
• My Back Wages: A Collection of Cleaners Rarities as Cleaners from Venus, 2000 (Jarmusic)
• The Spirit Cage, 2000
• Barricades and Angels + Secret Dreams of a Kitchen Porter as the Stray Trolleys (Jarmusic)
• Songs From the Station Hotel, 2002 (EP)
• Radio Autumn Attic, 2002
• "Live at the Greyhound", 2003 (vinyl EP, Jarmusic), spoken word
• Living with Victoria Grey': The Very Best of the Cleaners from Venus, 2004 (Cherry Red)
• The Light Programme, 2004
• A Summer Tamarind, 2007 (Cherry Red Records)

Bibliography

By Newell

• I Hank Marvinned... ("Martin Newell, c/o The Essex Festival, Department of Literature, University of Essex"; no publisher or year stated; no ISBN.) 16-page booklet of poems
• Under Milk Float. The Greyhound Press, 1992. Illustrated by Barry Woodcock. ISBN 0-9519100-0-0. 60-page book of poems
• The Illegible Bachelor. Festival Books, 1996. ISBN 0-9519100-5-1. Poems
• Poetic Licence: The Best of 1990-1996. Jardine Press, 1996. ISBN 0-9525594-2-0. Poems
• Wild Man of Wivenhoe. Jardine Press, 1996. Illustrated by James Dodds. ISBN 0-9525594-3-9 Long poem
• New. 1999. ISBN 1-85215-078-5. Poems
• Black Shuck: The Ghost Dog of Eastern England. Jardine Press, 1999. Illustrated by James Dodds. ISBN 0-9525594-8-X. Long poem
• Late Autumn Sunlight: East Anglian Verses. Jardine Press, 2001. Illustrated by James Dodds. ISBN 0-9539472-3-8. Poems
• This Little Ziggy. House of Stratus, 2001. ISBN 0-7551-0267-3. Memoir
• The Song of the Waterlily: The Building of a Boat. 2003. Illustrated by James Dodds. ISBN 0-9539472-4-6. Long poem
• Return to Flanders. Jardine Press, 2004. Illustrated by Andrew Dodds. ISBN 0-9539472-8-9. Long poem.
• Spoke 'n' Word. Jardine Press, 2006. Illustrated by Charlotte Bernays. ISBN 0955203503. 19 poems about Essex. Supposedly inspired by bicycle rides in the county.

With contributions by Newell

• Pioneer: Last of the Skillingers (One poem, "The Ballad of the Pioneer".) 2002. ISBN 0-9539472-5-4 Revised and enlarged ed. Jardine Press, 2004. ISBN 0-9539472-7-0
• Shipshape 2001. ISBN 0-948252-10-3 (hardback) ISBN 0-948252-09-X (paperback)

External links

• Martin Newell a poem by John Cooper Clarke
• martinnewell.co.uk edited by Paul Wilkinson, with news, poems, mp3 files, etc.
• Jangly the Martin Newell mailing list
• Martin Newell discography
• The Mighty Plod yes, a site about the Mighty Plod
• Jardine Press Publisher of a number of Newell's books
• Martin Newell at Cherry Red Publisher of a number of his CDs
• Martin Newell at Falling A Records The DIY years, compilations and rare single.