Search - David Clement :: Your Free Gift

In 1998, Mercury Records had scheduled a fall release for David Clement's second CD. At that time they were calling it "Hard Candy." Recording that CD was a long story for David. He started in a gritty little recording studio in New York City's Meat Packing District, and finished in one of the plushest mastering facilities in Midtown. After hearing a review copy of the CD, "epulse" (Tower Records Online magazine) told its readers to "Watch for this record." Their review said: "...the CD becomes more compelling with each play. Clement's songs are revealing but not in the 'confessional' cliché sense; he leaves out as much as he puts in, painting a vivid picture on some songs and leaving others in shadow...With hypnotic R.E.M.-ish guitar chords and fills (and) a skilled band behind him, Clement can bring enough hooks to keep (his songs) catchy and smart." Around that same time, Liz Phair got a pre-release copy of the CD and called David to tell him that he'd "achieved something." Phair said, "These are some very non-commercial ideas wrapped up in a very listenable package." But you almost couldn't hear this music. It's a long and predictable story involving corporate takeovers and music-business politics, a story that almost ended when Clement was dropped by the label and his CD release was postponed indefinitely. It looked like those songs were lost forever in legal limbo. Some Bootleg copies have been traded around for the last 4 years, and we've heard that it's been played on college and community radio stations in Woodstock, Atlanta, Bloomington, Austin, Denver, Seattle, Santa Cruz, and more. Recently, Clement felt the need to revisit his his ill-fated 2nd CD, and has exercised his right to re-record those songs. "Your Free Gift" features 12 souped-up rerecordings of the 14 songs on that lost sophomore CD.