The Clash: Black Market Clash

The Clash: Black Market Clash

1980

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: Capital Radio One  2. The Prisoner  3.  Pressure Drop  4. Cheat  5. City Of The Dead  6.  Time Is Tight  7. Bankrobber / Robber Dub  8.  Armagideon Time  9.  Justice Tonight / Kick It Over

I actually just picked this up last weekend...I was excited to find this cos normally I only see the 10-inch Nu-Disk version...

... but I've never run across the 12-inch version, so that made me pull the trigger and finally pick this up...Even though there are zero differences between the 12-inch and 10-inch versions...

 I already had the CD reissue, "Super Black Market Clash, which I covered here... but unfortunately, the reissue was missing a few key tracks (huh?! Yea, the Clash's CD discography is a messy bitch unless you're willing to drop a few hundred on a box set)...

 

...and even then it's still missing some items...Sigh...Okay, so into my cart goes "Black Market Clash"...Just in case you're not familiar with it, "Black Market Clash" was a mini-album (even though it's only 2 minutes shorter than either of their first two albums) featuring non-US singles, EP's, B-Sides, etc...It's nowhere near comprehensive (for example, why is "Cheat' on here,  but not say. "48 Hours" or "Deny"?) but it is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, especially if you're into dub...

Here are the reasons I bought it...

1. It has regular, ol' "Capital Radio One" on it..."Super Black Market Clash" only had "Capital Radio Two"...Growing up, I liked "One" better, because it fits in more cleanly with the lean, mean, stripped-down first album...Slashing, bilious, to the point...I hadn't heard this version in a long, long time but listening to it now is still a jolt, although I think over the years I've grown a deeper appreciation of the velocity and satire of "Two"...I dunno which I prefer at this point...Guess it depends on the kind of day I'm having...

2. It has the regular version of "Bankrobber" on it...Kind of...It's the regular version but with a bit of the dub version tacked on at the end...A hybrid-take...Still, this is better than "Super Black Market Clash" which only had the dub version...

and last but not least...

3. The regular single version of "Armagideon Time"...Their beyond-classic, white-hot, downright apocalyptic cover of an old "Real Rock"-based reggae song...It still has one of my all-time favorite, off the cuff moments in rock history...Where Kosmo Vinyl interrupts the band after the song hits its designated single-length (as he was requested to do) and Joe Strummer replies, "Okay! Okay! Don't push us when we're HOT!!!"..They make the most of the situation and Joe's reply gets the echo-y dub treatment...A case of a fuck-up enhancing the song...So freakin' great...

Alright, that's it fer today...Thanks for taking another trawl through "Black Market Clash" with me...It's always a treat to revisit the Clash's work and I always end up falling in love all over again...

Here's "Armagideon Time" by the Clash...Enjoy...