The Clash: From Here to Eternity/Live at Shea Stadium

The Clash: From Here to Eternity

1999

Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Complete Control  2. London's Burning  3. What's My Name  4. Clash City Rockers  5. Career Opportunities  6. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais  7. Capital Radio  8. City of the Dead  9. I Fought the Law  10. London Calling  11. Armagideon Time  12. Train in Vain  13. The Guns of Brixton  14. The Magnificent Seven  15. Know Your Rights  16. Should I Stay or Should I Go  17. Straight to Hell 



I'm doing both of the live Clash albums in one post...So nyahhh!

For some unknown reason, until 1999, no one thought to release a live Clash album...You couldn't go on youtube back then and listen to the wealth of recorded live performances, so if you wanted a live Clash fix, you had to hit the bootlegs, which was always a dicey proposition...It was often rumored that the Clash were a bad live band, that they couldn't live up to their incendiary albums, but there was no easy way to prove someone wrong...

So when I caught wind of the upcoming "From Here to Eternity" disc, I was stoked...I remember opening it up on Christmas Eve 1999 and putting it into the stereo and turning them shits up...

And boy,  it stayed in that stereo for a good year...This thing is spectacular...I'm usually a bigger fan of the straight "all-from-the-same-concert" live albums, but this makes a pretty strong case for the compilation method...Sort of a "Dream Setlist," the songs are sequenced in chronological order from the date of release, even though some of the earliest songs were done during later shows...This gives the album a natural flow, despite its piecemeal background...

                                                                ("Capital Radio")

So much good stuff here, I particularly love hearing raw performances of the later, more slick "Sandinista!" and Combat Rock" stuff...But to me the performance that steals the show is their unbelievably poppy and upbeat take on "Career Opportunities."  You can tell they had anticipated taking heat for singing a song about their limited career options when they were playing Shea Stadium, so they retaliated by turning the furious punk of the original into a smooth, Top 40 style...It works so well...And this version also appeared on...




The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium

2008

Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Kosmo Vinyl Introduction  2.  London Calling  3. Police on My Back  4. The Guns of Brixton  5. Tommy Gun  6. The Magnificent Seven  7.Armagideon Time  8. The Magnificent Seven (Return)  9. Rock the Casbah  10. Train in Vain  11. Career Opportunities  12. Spanish Bombs  13. Clampdown  14. English Civil War  15. Should I Stay or Should I Go  16. I Fought the Law



A live recording of their famous Shea Stadium show, where the band opened for the Who...

I would easily have given my left nut to go to this show (but not the right nut, I'm using that one...). Sure, the Who were quite a few years past their prime at this point, but that doesn't bother me..I would have gladly slapped down my $16.00 (or does that ticket say $18.00?) bucks and watch two of my favorite bands share the stage...Wow, it just struck me that you used to be able to see the Who for under 20 bucks...How much does it cost to see them now? A couple hundred? To this day I won't pay more than $35.00 to see a show...I might splurge and pay $50.00 if the Beatles reunited after rescuing George and John from the cold realms of death, but that's about it...So my cheapness means I don't get to go to many shows anymore...(Thank God for punk rock bands who are still out there providing cheap entertainment...Salute...)   That "Magnificent Seven/Armagideon Time" medley makes my day...Now that's how you do arena punk!  So few punk bands ever made it to the arenas...Most of them broke up, O.D'ed or faded away before they ever got to that point, that's why this album is so fascinating to me...It shows that it totally could have and should have happened...There's probably people out there with mohawks and permanent sneers  bristling at the mere thought of seeing the Adverts up on the Jumbotron, with a Budweiser logo in the background,  but I say phooey...I think it would have been interesting to hear how the music and ideology would have evolved on that level... Listening to the Clash tear into an audience-pleasing "Rock the Casbah" makes it easy to imagine the band rocking stadiums forever...It doesn't sound like a band about to split up...They sound as lively and vital as they ever did, in fact, they sound like the greatest band in the world... So if you only can afford one of the Clash's live albums, I'd recommend selling some blood and picking up both...Both albums are a potent reminder of what made the band so great...Storming songs played with passion and intelligence...Punk was no dead end to the Clash...They kept turning new corners with every record, I only wish they would have stuck around to turn a few more...So let's throw on some "Career Opportunities." Long live the Clash...