Not Counting “Cut The Crap” (1985), “Combat Rock” Was The Final Album By The Clash. It Was Produced By Glyn Johns, And It Saw Release In 1982.

This was The Clash’s final album. And no, I haven’t forgotten that thing released by Strummer and Simonon backed by a bunch of scabs in 1985 named “Cut The Crap”. “We Are The Clash”, my ass. That was a tremendous blunder, and the band knew as much – no tracks from it were included on the otherwise career-spanning “The Clash On Broadway” (1991).

“Combat Rock” was conceived as the direct sequel to the ambitious “Sandinista!”, an album that many felt had been weighed down by Strummer’s own aspirations. He clearly wanted to move the band into other styles (with black music topping the list), and Mick Jones wanted to stick to rock & roll. Those differences could not be reconciled, and Jones was to leave the band after touring “Combat Rock” – an experience that included opening for The Who during their whole farewell tour, and playing to highly disinterested audiences at that.

Originally, “Combat Rock” was to be a double album named “Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg”. However, when experienced producer Glyn Johns was called in to oversee the recording he convinced the band to release a single disc.

Everybody hated “Combat Rock” at the time. Shareef didn’t like it, and neither did the punks and the press. The charge was that the band had “sold out”. That only made sense if you looked at the singles that were issued: “Know Your Rights”, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” and “Rock The Casbah”. The first two were simple songs in the worst sense of the word, and the other was a funky number that became their biggest seller in the US. It was a more respectable song than the other two, but the finger-popping melody made for instant criticism by people who wanted the band to stick to their rebellious selves. They once had fought the (unsanctioned) release of the poppy “Complete Control”. Now, they were willingly releasing a radio-made song themselves.

In actuality, “Rock The Casbah” was largely the work of drummer Topper Headon. He played the drums, bass and keyboards on that song. According to the rest of the band, The “Casbah” riff was one he had been toying with for ages. When recording Combat Rock, he went into the studio one morning and put all those instruments down. Strummer came up with the lyrics after reading how people would be lashed on Iran for owning rock records. Much later down the line, he reportedly cried when he learned that American pilots used the expression “rock the casbah” as a euphemism for their bombing missions in Iraq.

The argument that the band was selling out made just no sense when one played the full album. To begin with, there was precious little radio-friendly music there. In fact, there was virtually no rock & roll to be found anywhere.

Don’t spin “Combat Rock” looking for variations of “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” because you are not getting that. You are getting reggae on “Car Jammin’”, the world beats of “Sean Flynn”, the pop of “Inoculated City”, the funk of “Overpowered By Funk” (complete with an impersonation of Tarzan!) and even a collaboration with poet Allen Ginsberg.

The story goes that Ginsberg wanted The Clash to back him on an album he was attempting to put together, but he was to end backing them on “Combat Rock”. He asked them for words and phrases that were associated with punk, and then the beat luminary recited along as the band played “Ghetto Defendant”.

And how often does a band record a sell out album with a track named “Straight To Hell”? A song dealing with US politics and the plight of Amerasians on the wake of Vietnam, “Straight To Hell” will always stand as one of the band’s most forceful compositions. The almost infantile backing (with Strummer hitting the bass drum from the front with a lemonade bottle wrapped in a towel) makes you lower your guard, and before you know the brilliant lyrics have all landed lethally.

In the end, “Combat Rock” was clearly the work of a band that was no longer able to stay united. “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” (Mick Jones’ self-confessed attempt to come up with a classic) and songs like “Straight To Hell” marked a definitive degree of separation. The frontmen of The Clash were no longer able to find an equation that would let them keep working together and do what everybody expected from what was once called “the only band that mattered”.

Once Jones left (or he was kicked by the others – it depends on which version you have read), Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon tried to recapture the band’s zest and failed ignominiously. The Clash city rockers ended right there. The death of Strummer in 2002 closed the story for good, at a time in which a reunion was heavily-rumored. Their inspirational force, however, is something that will never die down. Led by Strummer, they democratized music. They moved from one genre to the other without really losing expressivity or significance. They called out from London and reached the whole world. They fought the law. And they won a victory for just everybody.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sandinista! (1980) Set The Scene For The World Music Genre That Was To Become Common Currency In That Decade

Do you measure how good an album is by looking at how much filler it has, or by looking at the actual number of cuts that are extraordinary? That is the key question many ask themselves when they have to analyze this triple album, issued by The Clash in 1980. The previous release (London Calling, 1979) already had found them pushing boundaries by being a two-record set that included far, far more than the punk offerings that many had already associated with them.

Strummer & Co. were always the kind to stick to the “nothing ventured, nothing gained” ethos, and it was only natural they would continue taking steps forward. This particular step forward is what John Alroy calls an “anything goes” mentality. I think it is best to term it an “anything that speaks to us goes” mentality. Just listen to the single “Hitsville UK”, about a band that does not necessarily succeed but makes people happy for doing what it does (IE, playing music), and the terms of the gamble The Clash had taken this time around become all the more understandable.

The range of styles across the 6 sides of Sandinista! is as encompassing as you can imagine. Note that there are few rock songs around, and the ones available do not necessarily deliver. The one exception is their cover of Eddie Grant’s “Police On My Back”. I do like “Up In Heaven (Not Only Here)” if only because it showcases the band’s ability to tackle important issues (in this case, the tower blocks that blighted England and the living conditions therein), and I can say the same about “Somebody Got Murdered”. But the latter song highlights how far gone Topper was on heroin. He was to take a permanent leave after the next album – in hindsight, the other members of The Clash have equaled his departure with the beginning of the end for them all.

But when Sandinista! was issued, it must have been a time of celebration for them all. The singles bombed. So what? The three-disc set was quickly hailed as something ahead of its time in terms of scope. It even included two rap songs at a time in which rap was something new even among black audiences.

It also had dub versions of some songs, gospel on “The Sound Of Sinners”, versions of older Clash standards sung by children (“Career Opportunities” and “The Guns Of Brixton” received that treatment)… there was even a waltz – and an excellent one at that. It was named “Rebel Waltz”, and I find it an interesting change of tack lyrically-speaking – the rebels described on the song are defeated. They know that will be the outcome, and they still soldier on and head to battle. At the end, their battle song resounds in the air. Is that another message regarding success and failure in the world of music, and even in life as a whole? It is too good a question not to be asked.

Sandinista! also has what might be Strummer’s most realized political compositions. These are “Washington Bullets”, “The Equalizer”, “The Call Up” and the flawless “Something About England”. In “Washington Bullets”, Joe studies the political landscape from pole to pole and the role leftist governments are playing – sometimes he sides with them, and sometimes he criticizes the way they are headed. And in “Something About England” he casts the most accurate look he ever cast on his own soil, creating a dialogue between a war veteran and a youngster who is just unaware of what has gone before. Strummer sings the veteran’s part, and Jones assumes the role of the young man. The result is my favorite song by The Clash, and the one I recommend as a true exponent of what the band was all about when people start on “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” and “Rock The Casbah”.

Calypso, funk, reggae, folk, disco… there is so much to listen to here. Describing each track would be laborious and also a little fruitless. There are 36 tracks to go through. You are going to come across filler. Maybe the filler will be the one songs I adore, and some of the songs I have mentioned above. And maybe you will love them, and dislike the ones I dislike. In any case, listening to Sandinista! is similar to leaving your home town for the first time and heading to the big city. Some things will click with you at first. Others will take some time. Others will take a lifetime. But there is a world out there. In the end, sitting through Sandinista! resembles learning to make the unfamiliar familiar more than listening to a mere collection of songs. Success? Failure? Filler? Hits? There comes a point these things no longer matter. I think they never really mattered as far as The Clash went. And on Sandinista!, the band made that all too clear. If music could talk? It did.

Rating: 8.5/10

London Calling's Cover Was Shot By Pennie Smith. The Photo Would Eventually Be Voted The Best Rock & Roll Image Ever By Q Magazine.

A single, seemingly innocuous event might modify the way people approach something forever.That is something nobody could avoid thinking when reviewing “London Calling”, The Clash’s third album. As everybody knows, this album was named the greatest record of the ’80s by Rolling Stone magazine. That is all the more interesting if only because it came out in 1979, not 1980. But that is a different story…

The fact is that there are many people who swear by it owing to that. That couldn’t be avoided, but fans of The Clash are constantly irked by such a situation. It gives their best-loved band popularity alright, but not the kind of popularity that could conduce to a critical analysis of their music and its true merits.

And the music found on London Calling deserves as much of an objective overview as possible. The album (which was a two-record set that retailed at the price of one) marked the moment The Clash started experimenting and letting in more influences into their basic sound.

In actuality, there is only one “punk” song, and that is the title track. It is a masterpiece of sustained tension – the bass is apocalyptic, the guitars emulate a siren near the end, Joe wails his head off… It is one of their better-known songs, and deservedly so.

At the other end of the spectre we have the closing number (which is not listed on the sleeve), a song penned by Mick named “Train In Vain”. It is a (good) poppy tune that still gets airplay today. It was one of the two songs the local station where I live played when Joe passed away a couple of years back, along with “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” (yuck!). As much as I enjoy it, whether such a song deserves to be played over others like “Complete Control” or “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” is debatable. And you know which side I am on by now.

The rest of the album includes classic rock (“Brand New Cadillac”, “Lovers’ Rock”), pop (Mick Jones’ poignant “Lost In The Supermarket”) and an excellent dose of reggae (“Wrong’em Boyo”, “Revolution Rock” and Simonon’s “The Guns Of Brixton”). With the exception of “Lovers’ Rock”, these are all standout tunes. I am very keen on “Lost In The Supermarket”, a song that deals with something which falls in the category Morrissey once termed “the riches of the poor”.  It is a startling song as it depicts reality for different social groups very vividly – something as mundane as shopping is a whole adventure for one of them. If that is so pivotal, what role does music occupy? How is it appreciated? Must you have little in order to feel a lot?

But the two songs that reach the highest are the politically-charged “Spanish Bombs” and “Clampdown”. The latter in particular is one of their most direct and radical songs about “evil presidentes” and systems that want to rob you “the best years of your life”. And the song has a stop-and-start structure that makes it very noticeable the first time around.

The thin line which separates youth from adulthood (and music from reality, by extension) is analyzed on the powerful “Death Or Glory”, including the timeless lines “but I believe in this and it’s been proven by research/he who fucks nuns will later join the Church”. Ha.

This leaves us with a couple of songs that are either despised or revered. They are “The Right Profile” (about Montgomery Cliff), “Jimmy Jazz” and the layered, ambitious “The Card Trick” with Micky Gallagher on piano (a role he would reprise in “Sandinista!“). These songs constitute the contingent that strays the farthest from their classic sound, and that might be the reason why they are a bit disconcerting upon first listens. But once you have given “Sandinista!” a try it is all the more supple.

The songs that don’t really work include “Four Horsemen” (filler at its best) and the short and slight “Koka Kola”, but I must admit that the sound effects of the latter make me smile a couple of times.

Does “London Calling” deserve all the hype it usually elicits? No. Not because it is “bad” (it is not), but simply because no album should be put on a pedestal and revered blindly. Not even “Who’s Next“, not even “Dark Side Of The Moon”. Not even the Beatles “Sgt. Peppers’”. But what London Calling deserves (because it earns it right away) is the most comprehensive listen you can give it. I am sure you will arrive at the conclusion it is the most balanced and realized work a band that was seldom matched and never equaled produced. But arrive at that conclusion. Don’t repeat it because you read that somewhere.

Rating: 8.5/10

Give'em Enough Rope's Cover

It is amazing how wrong both the critics and the public can perceive an album when it is first released. The Clash’s second record is a case in point. The album was released in 1978, and it was largely panned. Most of the criticisms I have read focus on the producer that was chosen, a Sandy Pearlman (famous for his work with harder-rocking outfits). The truth is that the album is the most natural evolution of the sound The Clash had presented on their first offering you could ever picture.

In actuality, it is hard to imagine how an album that starts up with “Safe European Home” could cause a bad impression on the listener. The song is one of their best style explorations, melding a call-and-response lyric with a bestial wall of riffage that eventually gives way to a reggae excursion. You know what? That song alone justifies buying the album, especially since it is omitted on “best of” packages. The album as a whole has never got the recognition it deserves. In fact, when the “From Here To Eternity” live CD was issued in 1999, not a single song from “Give’em Enough Rope” was included. Not even “Tommy Gun” (the third track here) was featured. That song showcases that the political vision of the band was advancing both at a steady rhythm and in a focused way. It was Strummer’s homage to mercenaries, and a study on violent types and their motivations. The drums emulate a machine gun all the way through, and the sudden ending makes it all feel as if a grenade had been lodged into the brain of the listener through the song, only to explode at the song’s conclusion.

Sandwiched between “Safe European Home” and “Tommy Gun” is their take on the traditional song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” (renamed “English Civil War” by The Clash), with enough lyrical changes to make a victory song turn into a lament of futility. What was it F. Scott Fitzgerald once said? “The victor belongs to the spoils”. This song makes the same point, and it acts as true reminder of the humanity that was rooted at the very heart of the original punk movement. Life is cheap, death is cheap. Is there a way to turn that on its head? How many barriers must be blown away until conscience has a clear way to go forward?

The album, then, opens with a killer hat-trick. And the rest of the disc (while not up to that standard) does not feel that much of a let down. “Last Gang In Town” is a tale of “territorial pissings” to quote the late Kurt Cobain, and one that bears a measured melody and arrangement which lets you focus on the story itself. On the other hand, Mick Jones sings “Stay Free” and salutes a former acquaintance of wilder days who ended doing time. The song is hard in the sense that this fellow has regained his freedom, and Jones virtually implores him “go easy…step lightly…stay free” at the end of the song before launching into the guitar solo of the album. What makes that moment all the more poignant is that both band and listener know how that story will end all too well.

That is something about this album. They all were leaving their teen years behind, and seeing more of the world. “Safe European Home” was inspired by a near-fatal trip to Jamaica, and the loud “Cheapskates” (the penultimate song) showcases that the game of fame is a game where the rules are so clearly written down than even a blind one can see them and enforce them. And the closing “All The Young Punk” has one of the best melodies on the whole record, and ends up painting a picture of the punk scene so accurate at the time that one can but wonder how the band had developed that insight in just over a year. To me, the answer might be that they were ahead of the curve all along.

By my admission, only three songs do lower the appeal of the album. “Guns On The Roof” was a telltale sign that not every band member should sing, whereas “Drug Stabbin’ Time” was too slight in the context of the record to make a strong impression. It would have fitted better on the debut. For its part, “Julie’s Been Working For The Drug Squad” is a goofy tune that predicts some of the least effective music on their forthcoming LPs.

So, there you have it. The least popular Clash record is a very satisfying album on the whole. It is also considered their last “punk” record, so that if you like their louder side you will be in cloud number nine. And it has enough lyrical and structural substance to let you understand the musical adventures that were around the corner.

Rating: 8/10

Rocking The Town To The Clash City Rockers

In the same way that the first albums released by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were revamped and even drastically modified for US release, The Clash’s eponymous album underwent the cut-and-paste treatment when it was released in the States in the year 1979.

Every person who has listened to the original album (released in 1977, obviously) arrives at the same conclusion: the original has a more organic flow, whereas the American edition features better individual songs. That is nothing surprising – the US edition ended up resembling a sort of mini compilation of their best songs up to that point. Songs that were added to the American release (which boasted 15 songs, as opposed to the 14 the British release included) featured the hits “Clash City Rockers”, “Complete Control”, “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” and “I Fought The Law”, a song which stuck out like a sore thumb because the production values were so much higher. That is something to take into account – the original LP was recorded in a dilapidated warehouse, and it sounded like that. You put something like “I Fought The Law” in the middle, and it feels like placing a scene from “I Am Legend” into “The Omega Man”.

Leaving aside production values and whether or not such an approach is valid, the fact remains that this is a great introduction to one of the bands that helped define a movement, and which then followed a unique artistic vision . The “original” songs reflected the ennui that caused the punk explosion in the first place: “Career opportunities”, “Janie Jones” and “London’s Burning” dealt with the lack of prospects and (ultimately) the lack of adrenaline the youth of Britain felt at the time.

Janie Jones:

This is “Career Opportunities” performed at a much later date:

For its part, “I’m So Bored With The USA” made it all too clear that the outlook on life they were looking for was something that reflected who they were, and not a fabricated image from a culture they deemed as extraneous, and which they partly blamed for the stagnated state of music.

And the album had so much more to offer. “Hate & War” acted as a foreword to the more politic and societal numbers that were imminent, and in that specific context (a time when racial riots and revolts were becoming just a little too tangible) it reminded everybody that the concept of England as an empire was feebler than ever. Speaking of which, “Police & Thieves” was an excellent cover that had a superb bass line and which (placed in this light) also reflected urban insecurity.

One of the “new” songs is directly linked to one of the “original” compositions: the fierce “Complete Control” was born after their record company released the poppy (yet excellent) “Remote Control” as a single without their consent. Punks walked the way they talked it. And if you doubt it, just listen to “Complete Control”. It was a vivid statement of independence, and I am sure it endeared them to even more people.

Complete Control:

Finally, both the US and UK editions ended with “Garageland”, their best take on the contemporary music scene they ever penned as far as I am concerned. While songs like “All The Young Punks” and “Cheapskates” were better-recorded and richer instrumentally, this one benefited from the rawer sound and the lyrics were funny, daft and veritable at the same time. A remarkable achievement indeed, and one that showcased they had the fuel and the passion for going as far as they could, and (more importantly) as far as we as the public needed them to go. To remind us that there is always more than meets the eye, and that some doors are meant to be kicked down.

Rating: 8.5/10

I Fought The Law...

There are many misconceptions surrounding The Clash. Regarding them as nothing more than punk rockers frequently tops the list. This happens because they started as that, and because one of their most successful songs from later on is a very loud number (you know which one – the one posing the existential dilemma).

Out of the six albums they were to release, only the first two ones deserve a “punk” label. They are the self-titled record (1977) and the one named “Give ‘Em Enough Rope” (1978). The third one (“London Calling”, 1979) had them diversifying their sound notably, until they experimented as much (or even more) than the Beatles in their triple album “Sandinista!” (released in 1980). The final album by the classic lineup was “Combat Rock” (1982), and it yielded two major American hits: the banal “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” and the so-so “Rock The Casbah”. These are the two songs most people associate with the band, and it is a bit shameful because they were capable of so much more than misconceptions arise and it is difficult to set things to right sometimes, even when you are talking to people who are music-educated.

The creative section of the band comprised Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. They both sang lead vocals, and while Strummer provided rhythm guitar Jones mostly took care of the lead. The bassist was Paul Simonon, and the drummer was either Terry Crimes or Topper Headon (they replaced each other several times). And from a certain point onwards all band members began singing, with varying results.

Their first single, “White Riot”:

Strummer (1952 – 2002) was the son of diplomats (he was actually born in Angola, as he sang in “Junco Pardner”), and he was the oldest member of the band. Owing to that he had a somehow more developed grasp on world politics and the standing of the British Empire, and the band was to become renowned for the political charge (and discharge) that permeated their songs relentlessly. A quick listen to “Spanish Bombs”, “Washington Bullets” and the monumental “Something About England” exemplifies that.

As I said above, experimentation played a big part in the history of The Clash. This is particularly evident in the albums “London Calling” and “Sandinista!”. Traditionally speaking, the former is praised (Rolling Stone voted it the best album of the 80’s) whereas the latter comes under scrutiny. I am making a case they are equally enjoyable, and that the best songs in “Sandinista!” do match (and even surpass) the best songs making up “London Calling”.

Note that there was also an album named “Cut The Crap” whcih was released in 1985, after Mick Jones had left the group. Only Strummer and Simonon were around by that point, and they quickly disowned it.

Personally speaking, I consider The Clash a very significant band. The Pistols/Clash comparison is a recurrent one, but it is not really spot-on or even fair for that matter. The Sex Pistols released just one album, and The Clash released six. We do not have enough elements to draw a comparison. The Pistols are the best punk band I ever listened to. The Clash are something else. That is, they had the chance to show us they could be something else. And they make listeners realize that in life as in art labels and tags sometimes are pointless. The soul is what matters, and that is something a mere label will never capture. All I can tell you is that they made music that often defied (and still defies) translation, and that listening to them is a truly broadening experience. They were once marketed as “The Only Band That Matters”. If we change that to something along the lines of “The Only Band That Matters When You Have To Learn What Matters” we have the one and only apt definition of The Clash I could come with, and the one which does them justice – as people, as a band, and as motivators of inner and external action.