The Clash: Sandanista!
1980
CBS/Epic Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. The Magnificent Seven 2. Hitsville U.K. 3. Junco Partner 4. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe 5. The Leader 6. Something About England 7. Rebel Waltz 8. Look Here 9. The Crooked Beat 10. Somebody Got Murdered 11. One More Time 12. One More Dub 13. Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice) 14. Up in Heaven (Not Only Here) 15. Corner Soul 16. Let's Go Crazy 17. If Music Could Talk 18. The Sound of Sinners 19. Police on My Back 20. Midnight Log 21. The Equaliser 22. The Call Up 23. Washington Bullets 24. Broadway 26. Guns of Brixton 27. Lose This Skin 28. Charlie Don't Surf" 29. Mensforth Hill 30. Junkie Slip 31. Kingston Advice 32. The Street Parade 33. Version City 34. Living in Fame 35. Silicone on Sapphire 36. Version Pardner 37. Career Opportunities 38. Shepherds Delight
Geezopete, this is a monster album...How else do you follow up the double-album epic "London Calling," but with a triple-record set that costs the same as a single album...I originally bought this on CD and I literally could not make heads or tails of it...Whenever I played it all I could hear was "Magnificent Seven," "Washington Bullets" and especially "Police On My Back." The rest sounded like a disco-y, echo-y mess...I didn't have it long...I eventually sold it and bought some dead Milkmen CD's or something...
During the late 90's I was kicking myself for selling it because I was dying to hear "Police On My Back" again, so I picked up the fancy-schmancy reissue, and I'm so happy I did...You see, this version included a lyric sheet...In fact, it's a smaller replica of the humongous "Armagideon Times" newspaper that came with the original vinyl, and I'm telling you, that made all the difference in the world...
I remember sitting alone in my room that day, with a bottle of Peachtree ...
(I swear to God if I attempted to drink that much Peachtree now I would instantly get diabetes...)
...and listened to "Sandinista!" in its entirety, reading along with the lyrics...And take my word, that's the only way to listen to this album...It's not a Friday Night Record, it's more of a "Take the Day Off of Work and Just Immerse Yourself" kind of album...I'm pretty sure the band walked into the studio with zero ideas and just wrote and recorded whatever the fuck struck their fancy...That's the only way to come up with a hodge-podge like this...And as someone who has done this type of recording, I don't blame them...The most enjoyable sessions are the ones where you just write and record on the fly...However, using this approach usually means you don't walk away with the most listener-friendly music...Looking back I have no idea how they convinced their record company to release such a thing...I can't really imagine this coming out now, which is weird, since we're essentially living in a post-record company world, so it seems like band's should be doing stuff like this all the time, but the opposite seems to be happening...
Anyway, Let's break this down into sides...
When I put on a Clash record I expect to hear some white-hot punk rock, but the album kicks off with "The Magnificent Seven" and it's rap!?!?!
"Uh...uh...Check it out...Uh...Clash bringin' it to a whole new level in 1980...uh...uh...Up in da club spendin' Ben Franks...uh..."
Now that I think about it, the Clash are from England, right? Their money probably doesn't have Benjamin Franklin on it...Alright, let me revise it...
"Uh...uh...Check it out...Uh...Joe-Muthafuckin' Strummer brinin' it to a whole new level in 1980....uh..uh...Up in da Pub spendin' Liz Lexies...Buyin' a Lexus...Uh..."
Nah, it's not that kind of rap...Think "Rapper's Delight" or "Another One Bites the Dust"...and the lyrics couldn't be more entertaining as Joe runs down the day's events..."Vaccuum Cleaner sucks up Budgie...Twee-eeet!!"
Step 2: Make sure you feed him a balanced diet of seed and fresh fruit...
Step 3: Don't suck him up up in the vacuum cleaner...
Step 4: Don't buy any of his albums after "Impeckable"...
Alright, let's get back to Side One of "Sandanista!" The second song, "Hitsville U.K." reminds me a lot of the Jam...Uptempo motown-style punk, Although Ellen Foley is mixed so loud you can hardly hear Mick...I mean I like :"Night Court" and all, but I would have turned her down a bit or better yet put Joe on the mic for the second vocal...
.Joe's reggae take on the blues standard "Junco Partner" on the other hand is fantastic...You can really tell he relishes playing the druggie, outlaw title role...
Side one finishes strong with "The Leader," which is a brief rockabilly style ode to tabloids and naughty politicians, and the chorus is catchy as hell and the grand "Something About England" is memorable for Mick and Joe playing different roles with their vocals, Mick the young man and Joe as an old codger...Prog-punk...
Oh man, I love "Rebel Waltz," Bizarre and bleak, but that guitar riff is so addictive, although my favorite song on side two is Paul's deeep-dub "Crooked Beat." Imagine "Guns of Brixton" stripped down to its raw nerves...Oddly enough I've never been that fond of "Somebody Got Murdered," I like it alright, but it's nowhere near a highlight...That fluttery keyboard drains the song of its menace and the chorus is kind of weak...meh..."Look Here" is also a candidate for skip-hood..."One More Time" is a reggae knockout though...And what's even better is you don't even have to hit the "rewind" button on this one, since it's immediately followed by the dub version, so you're left with seven full minutes of "One More Time"...I'm cool with that!
Side Three houses one of the album's best tracks, in my opinion..."Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)" is possibly the only song on "Sandinista!" that sounds like it could have fit on "London Calling"...A great, big four-on-the floor rocker with Mick's typically great council-flat lyrics...Oh yea, this side also has "The Sound of the Sinners" where the Clash play gospel music! So good! It's got that deep echo, and Joe really sounds like he has the power of the Lord in his dancing feet!
"After all this time
To believe in Jesus
After all those drugs
I thought I was Him...
Pass the hubcap, please!"
And the best part is Tim Curry is in the song playing the part of the preacher at the end...But wait a minute, Tim Curry, isn't he...
"...THE GODDAMN DEVIL!!! YAHHHHHHHHHHHHH (Rob Halford scream)!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
YES! "Police On My Back"!!! Easily the best song on the album, even though it's a cover of an old Equals song, which was Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant's old band, but man, were they a cool group...Listen to them, if you don't believe me...
As good as the original is...
...the Clash version is even better with its police siren guitars...Check it out if you haven't had the chance..
We also get "Washington Bullets" which is neck-in-neck with "Straight to Hell" as the group's finest political song...Political lyrics can sometimes leave me cold, but these are beautiful...
"As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again..."
Even though the lyrics may be a bit grim the steel drum makes me so happy!
Tonky tonk tonk... "Undah the Seeeeaaaaa..."
I should probably mention that "The Call Up" is on Side 4...
Eyyyyaaaagh! What's this? "Lose This Skin" is a horrible song! Tymon Dogg's vocals sound somewhere between Johnny Rotten and the wicked witch!
Worst Clash song...Worse than anything on "Cut the Crap"...Skip. skip, skip, a thousand skips...Luckily he next song is "Charlie Don't Surf." It starts off with a scary vortexy, synth intro but it eventually blooms into a gorgeous surf-rock song tackling American Imperialism...
"The reign of the super powers must be over
So many armies can't free the earth
Soon the rock will roll over
Africa is choking on their Coca Cola
It's a one a way street in a one horse town
One way people starting to brag around
You can laugh, put them down
These one way people gonna blow us down..."
"Version City" opens with the most monstrous drum groove I've ever heard in my entire life...How did they make it sound do groovy and massive?! I feel like I shouldn't love this song so much but I do! It's sort of a R&B disco song...Very out of character, but at this point in the album where they've attempted every genre of music known to Man (and maybe invented a few new ones on the way) it seems weird to say that...But it's true...It sounds so normal in the midst of all the murky sounds and canyons of echo..One of my faves on the album...
Oh yea, I hope you remembered to maintain your buzz...You're going to need it for the rest of Side Six...It's mostly head-nodding dub versions...I happen to like dub versions, so this works for me, but I can see how someone could level the "filler" accusation at a lot of this...And by the end I'd have to agree...The record ends with a kid singing "Career Opportunites" and a dub version of "Police and Theives" with a bunch of sheep on vocals?
Huh, a barnstorming final track would have been nice, but in the end, I'll say the two and a half hours I played "Sandanista!" today was time well-spent...To this day, I don't think there's been an album as ambitious or far-reaching as this...Public reception still seems divided, but I'm telling you, as someone who once doubted the album, it does grow on you...
So let's check out "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)" by the Clash...Enjoy...
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