The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope

The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope

1978

CBS/Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Safe European Home  2. English Civil War  3. Tommy Gun  4. Julie's in the Drug Squad 5. Last Gang in Town  6. Guns on the Roof  7. Drug-Stabbing Time  8. Stay Free  9. Cheapskates  10. All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)





The Clash's Second album, produced by Sandy Pearlman who did all those great 70's Blue Oyster Cult and Dictators records I like so much...

The US Vinyl version had three different covers that I'm aware of...

..The first had the logo in big, block letters...

 Then it was released with a thicker oriental font, which is the version I own...

 ..and then finally with the thinner  oriental letters that matched the UK Version...


 Although I rank this a few notches below their debut it's hard not to get swept up in the sheer power of the recording...The first album was scrappy and trebly, whereas this is big, polished arena punk, but is it just me or is Joe Strummer mixed a bit low? Which is kind of a weird approach since Joe's lyrics and vocals are a large part of what makes the Clash so special...

You always get the feeling that he truly appreciated the logic-knot that is punk rock philosophy...What does it mean to have no barriers with an audience? Where does a punk fit in once they join the establishment (in their case: signing to a Major Label)?  Where do you go once the new way of thinking begins to feel as constrictive as the  strict rules and tired old sound you left behind?  Why sing about problems when you  have no solutions?  The easy answer was evident in the way other punk vocalists responded to these challenges set down by a new audience that was always ready to take them to task...Get defensive...Nihilistic...More rigid...But he seemingly never (or rarely) succumbs and tackles these issues head on, and that's why keeping him so low in the mix hurts the album...But ultimately "Give 'Em Enougb Rope" pulls through on the power of the players and the strength of the songs...

The album kicks off with one of their all-time great songs, "Safe European Home," a quick snap of a snare drum and the roaring guitars take over as Joe tells us about a bad trip to Jamaica...and Mick's backing vocals are where it's at...Probably the coolest backing vocals in their catalog...Mick's high, keening tone sounds great against Joe's gutter growl, and that skanking guitar break? So great! This whole track is just so perfectly arranged and the sound is absolutely thrilling...



In a way the song might set the expectations a bit too high...It's a lot to live up, and although I actually enjoy all of the songs on here, some of them seem slightly secondary to the towering high-points...

"Stay Free" is absolutely one of those high-points ...Mick takes lead vocals on this one as he sings a song so loving that the first time I heard it I fully expected it to end with the friend's death, but it never happens..

"Cos years have passed and days have changed,
and I move anyway i wanna go,
I'll never forget the feeling i got,
when i heard that you'd got home,
an' I'll never forget the smile on my face,
'cos I knew where you would be,
an' if you're in the crown tonight,
have a drink on me..."

The guy lives! It struck me how infrequently you hear such an affectionate song written for a friend that's still alive...What a nice thing to do!



I love the closing track "All the Young Punks (New Boots and Contracts)." To me, it's one of the most underrated Clash songs, and it's in a style that really only appears on "Give 'Em Enough Rope": the grand, self-mythologizing anthem..."All the Young Dudes" updated for 1978, as Joe sings the story of the band and ponders their position as "professional" musicians", eventually coming to the conclusion that it's  better than the factory... This is the kind of stuff you don't get anymore...

Anyway, I don't wanna bore you guys to death, talking about "Give 'Em Enough Rope," I'm a man of action...Let's listen to some "Give "Em Enough Rope!"

Wait, is listening "action"?

Anyway, here's "Safe European Home" by the Clash...