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...
Track Listing: 1. This Is Radio Clash 2. Radio Clash 3. Outside Broadcast 4. Radio Five
"This is Radio Clash" was a standalone snigle that never appeared on any of the band's studio albums, although either "This is Radio Clash" or "Radio Clash" will often appear on compilations... "This is Radio Clash" and "Radio Clash" are essentially the same song but with a different lyrics and slightly remixed sound...I'm sure I probably discussed the song before, but if not, "Radio Clash" is a close relative to "Magnificent Seven" or "Lightning Strikes." Another attempt at the burgeoning rap-scene of the (very) early 80's...
I actually like "Radio Clash" better than "Magnificent Seven" because they've further integrated the hip-hop sound into their own, coming up with a very distinct electro-punk hybrid...It's weird to me that nobody has ever duplicated the "Radio Clash" sound...I mean, the Clash has to have been one of the first rock bands to tackle rock, yet no one seems to have been influenced by it...Subsequent rap-rock came from such a different place...I mean, it's possible that some punk somewhere was influenced by the Clash's hip-hop efforts that they did their own take on the genre but if they did, then the end result is much different (or I just haven't run across it)...In a way, it reminds me of how unique the later Clash stuff is...Have you ever heard a song that picks up where "Rock the Casbah" left off? I mean, that was a major hit and no one has emulated the sound...It ultimately makes them more timeless, like the songs are from a future that has yet to come to fruition...
Now, I would have bought this single no matter what, just to have "Radio Clash" and "This is Radio Clash" in one place, but the main reason I picked this up was because there were two songs listed on side two that I had never heard of..."Outside Broadcast"?!?! "Radio Five"?!?!?!?!!!! I knew in my heart of hearts that these were going to be remix/dub versions but a part of me still dared to hope these really were two original Clash compositions that I've never heard...
Nah, no such luck. Remixes. They are slightly interesting..."Outside Broadcast" is just "Radio Clash" with more horn-honking, soul backing vocals and Joe Strummer sporadically rapping in a fake deep voice..."Radio Five" on the other hand, is some deep, side-four-of-"Sandanista!" shit...Endless chasms of echo, record scratching and what seems to be the song being played forwards and backwards simultaneously...I imagine this would be one of those instances where something is more fun to record than to listen to, but if you're interested in pure sonics you might like it...
Anywho, here's "This Is Radio Clash"...Enjoy this bad boy...
The Clash: Rock the Casbah 7" Picture Disc
1982
Epic Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl (Duhhh...ALL CD's are essentially picture discs...)
Track Listing: 1. Rock the Casbah 2. Long Time Jerk
I used to have the standard black vinyl version of this back in the day, which was how I discovered the wonderful "Long Time Jerk"...I still marvel at the fact that pop-fans buying a Top Ten hit single would be subjected to the indescribable "Long Time Jerk" as the B-Side...What is it? Electro-Rockabilly sci-fi drone? But then again, what is "Rock the Casbah?" Middle Eastern Dance Punk? That's what was so great about the Clash at this point...They did whatever they wanted and by following their own indiscriminate muse, they landed squarely into uncharted territory but made it sound so natural that you hardly even notice how weird it really is...
Anyway, I was at the record store and they were selling the picture disc for $2.99. Since it's one of my favorite singles, I went for it...I've come to the conclusion that "Rock the Casbah" is the best of the Clash's three U.S. hits...I used to like "Should I Stay or Should I Go" better but after 10 million plays it kind of goes in one ear and out the other...I somewhat feel the same way about "Train in Vain" but I find that live versions of that song still catch my ear...However, "Rock the Casbah" has retained 100% of its magic for me...So I'm calling it the Clash's greatest hit...
Track Listing: 1. Baba O'Riley (The Who) 2. Sister Disco (The Who) 3. Behind Blue Eyes (The Who) 4. See Me, Feel Me (The Who) 5. The Wait (The Pretenders) 6. Precious (The Pretenders) 7. Tattooed Love Boys (The Pretenders) 8. The Imposter (Elvis Costello & the Attractions 9. Crawling from the Wreckage (Rockpile) 10. Little Sister (Rockpile with Robert Plant) 11. Now I'm Here (Queen) 12. Armagideon Time (The Clash) 13. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (Ian Dury & the Blcokheads) 14. Monkey Man (The Specials) 15. Got to Get You into My Life (Wings) 16. Every Night (Wings) 17. Coming Up (Wings) 18. Lucille (Rockestra) 19. Let it Be (Rockestra) 20. Rockestra Theme (Rockestra)
I picked this up at FYE...I had no idea what it was but my eyes popped out of my head when I saw who was on it..A good number of these bands rank among my all-time favorites, and it only cost 3 bucks, so I figured it would be a safe bet...
I failed both history and especially geography, so I wasn't especially sure what Kampuchea was...Actually, I still don't really know...Let me look it up...
Oh yea! Pol Pot! Screw that guy! What an evil asshole...I think I'll draw all over his face spitefully...
There! Now I feel a little better...Now that I look at the record again, there is an explanation of the cause on the inside gatefold, but I usually avoid looking at it because...God, there's no way to talk about this without sounding incredibly shallow, but here goes...I hate looking at pictures of starving children while I have one hand in a bag of Doritos and a beer in the other..It makes me feel helpless and guilty...Alright, I said it! Let's get down to the record...
I kinda wish the ratios were a little better on this...Some bands only get one song while others get an entire side to themselves...Let's break this sucka down side by side...
Side One:
This one is all Who...Don't get me wrong, I love the Who, but I kinda wish Rockpile or the Specials would have gotten an entire side instead...Mainly because there's already a million live Who records out there...And besides, this is Kenney Jones era Who...I might be singing a different tune if this was prime Keith Moon Who...Really, I like Kenney Jones just fine...I always liked this era when they would play the songs off their later albums...They seem more at home on them for some reason. As a result "Sister Disco" is the most interesting thing for me here, despite its dissonant beginning (or maybe because of its dissonant beginning....I like dissonance!).
Side Two:
See this is what I mean by the ratios being off...I'm sure everybody on Planet Earth would disagree with me, but I would have much rather had one Pretenders songs and three Elvis Costello songs instead of vice-versa...It freakin' kills me to listen to the Attractions rip through a blazing version of "The Imposter" and then it's over...Again, the Pretenders are fine and all, but c'mon...
...Hey, waitasecond...I think I just heard the Pretenders toss off a Howard the Duck reference in "Precious"...
Alright...They've earned their three songs....
It's cool that we at least get two Rockpile songs. Their take on "Crawling Through the Wreckage" is a rollicking good time, but to be totally honest I don't especially care that much about the Robert Plant guest spot on "Little Sister." I know he's more famous than everybody else so blah, blah, blah, but I would have rather had another Dave Edmunds or Nick Lowe vocal...Maybe some "Teacher Teacher" or "A Knife and a Fork" or something... Not exactly sure what their setlist was that night, so...
Side Three:
This is probably my favorite side...Each band only gets one song, but what bands and what songs!
It starts a little rough for me...A lot of people can't understand this, but I'm not a very big Queen fan. Even though I greatly admire his mustache, I find Freddie Mercury's vocals to be a little too "musical theater" for my tastes... I do find their imagery and camp sense of humor somewhat appealing though, and I do have a tremendous nostalgic connection to their Flash Gordon soundtrack...
That said, it's weird that Queen only gets one song...From what I remember Queen was just as big as the Who and Paul McCartney back then...Then again they might have only been that popular in my household...I didn't exactly have my finger on the pulse of the nation back in 1981...I was too busy watching Captain Kangaroo...
...but at least they get a long song, with an extended crowd solo...
To me, this side is all about the other three bands...We get scorchers from the Clash, the Specials and Ian Dury and the Blockheads!
I can remember seeing Ian Dury and the Blockheads for the first time on an old videotape I bought back in the 90's called "British Rock: The Legends of Punk & New Wave" that I used to watch non-stop all the time...
I'll never forget watching Ian walk out, all stiff gait and grimy suit, with a voice that sounded like he smoked every cigarette in existence, barking out "HIT ME WIFF YOUR RHYTHM STICK!" Oh yea, I remember also being blown away that their sax player played two saxes at the same time...Damn!
They do "Hit me With Your Rhythm Stick" here, too...Kind of smooth and disco-y except for Ian's gruff shout (but of course I love it for exactly that gruff shout)...Anyway, side three is where it's at, Dad...
Side Four:
This is the Paul McCartney side...Three songs with Wings and three with Rockestra...After alright-ish versions of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Every Night" we get to the real highlight of this side...I love "Coming Up" so much, and this is my favorite version...Whenever I put this on I'm forced to put on my boogie shoes...Impossibly upbeat, funky, stiff-disco and a simple and effective chorus...Yes, yes, yes...
The other three songs feature Paul fronting a 20-man band consisting of about a gazillion other superstars, most of whom appear earlier on the record (Pete Townsend, Kenney Jones, Bruce Thomas, etc)...The Rockestra photo inside the album cover never fails to crack me up...13 guitarists on stage staring at one another...
The experiment is mostly useful for proving that your ears can only distinguish between so many instruments at one time...If I didn't see the pictures I would have probably guessed there's about 8 musicians playing....I bet it was awesome to see, though...However, I do feel a little gypped that Ian Dury doesn't get to do lead vocals on "Let It Be." Now that would have been a night to remember...
So, if you find yourself digging through the crates at your local used record store and run across the "Concerts for the People of Kampuchea," I'd check it out for sure...There's a ton of great music and the entire thing is a hell of a good time. It's hard to believe they've never released this on CD...Tell me an extended version with 15 or so discs featuring the complete sets (and an extra disc with the movie) wouldn't rock your world...So get it on, Atlantic records (or whoever owns the rights) and make it happen...Do I have to think of everything around here?
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."
Track Listing: 1. 1977 2. Listen 3. Jail Guitar Doors 4. City of the Dead 5. The Prisoner 6. Pressure Drop 7. 1-2 Crush on You 8. Groovy Times 9. Gates of the West 10. Capital Radio 2 11.Time is Tight 12. Justice Tonight/Kick It Over 13. Robber Dub 14. The Cool Out 15. Stop the World 16. The Magnificent Dance 17. Radio Clash 18. First Night Back in London 19. Long Time Jerk 20. Cool Confusion 21. Mustapha Dance
A 1993 reissue of the "Black Market Clash" EP, that features only some of "Black Market Clash"?
What?
Despite the lack of "Capital Radio One" and "BankRobber," this is a good compilation...More Clash is always better, right? I don't feel like holding you up too long on a Friday Night, so I'm just gonna do a quick rundown of what's on here and maybe a couple notes on each one, then we'll get down to the serious bidness of beer-drankin'...
From the "White Riot" single, there's "1977," which is a pretty crucial Clash track, where they draw the line in the sand, "No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones in 1977." The band at their rawest and most fun...
A half-minute snippet of "Listen" originally appeared on the 1977 "Capital Radio" single, which was a free giveaway if you cut out a coupon from the NME and sent in two proofs of purchase from specially-marked boxes of Cap'n Crunch or something... But on "Super Black Market Clash" you get the entire thing! It's a pretty cool song too, with one of Paul Simonon's most memorable basslines...Doo doo da doodoo, da doodoo, da doodoo, da do danna doo do danna...You know how it goes...
"Jail Guitar Doors" first appeared on the 1978 "Clash City Rockers" single, a great stomper and a classic to be sure, but it's a bit redundant if you have the US version of the debut album...Still, always a pleasure to hear it...
We also get "City of the Dead" which was the B-side of the legendary "Complete Control" single...Dig that crazy saxophone, man... Features the signature Clash lyric, "You should get to know your town, just like I know mine..."
Alright, now we're talking..."The Prisoner" is the b-side to the Clash's best single, "White Man in Hammersmith Palais." Holy hell, I love this song so much...Mick does a bag-up job on the vocals, nailing hook after hook all while delivering an idiosyncratic and poignant melody... The lyric "Johnny Too Bad meets Johnny B Good," hits the nail on the head...For God's sake, if you've somehow overlooked this track, find yourself a copy at all costs...
I always kind of forget "English Civil War" was released as a single...Anyway, the B-Side "Pressure Drop" is on here...There's no topping the Maytals original, but the Clash come pretty damn close...The addition of that happy harmonica is inspired though...
"1-2 Crush On You" (from the 1979 "Tommy Gun" single) isn't my favorite Clash song or anything but it's an alright toe-tapper...Doing a straightforward love song at this point was probably pretty unexpected...
Yes! "The Cost of Living" Ep! What a striking cover! That's what album covers are all about in my mind...The songs aren't so bad either! We have "Groovy Times," "Gates of the West" and "Capital Radio Two." I love love love "Capital Radio Two." It's a decked-out, full-speed update of the original, complete with a delicate acoustic intro and a disco coda...We're also treated to some of Joe's funniest ad-libs, as he schemes to make it to the top of the pop charts...
Hey! It's the actual Black Market Clash! Complete with future B.A.D sideman Don Letts on the cover facing down some bobbies! He's got to be so proud of this photo...How many people can say they have a picture of themselves having a showdown with a battalion of cops? As I mentioned before, some of the tracks are missing...We don't get "Armagideon Time" but we get the "Justice Tonight/Kick It Over" dub, same goes for the "Robber Dub." Their groovy cover of Booker T & the MG's "Time is Tight" is also present...Come to think of it "Groovy Times" was also on the original...as was a different version of "Pressure Drop"...
The final half of the album is very dub heavy...Not quite as thrilling as the highlight-filled first half of the disc, but there's some nice stuff to daze out to...For later in the evening, after you're well and duly buzzed-out...There's dub versions of "The Call Up" ("The Cool Out"), "The Magnificent Seven" ("The Magnificent Dance"), and "Rock the Casbah" ("Mustapha Dance).
For some unknown reason, "Long Time Jerk" is one of my favorite Clash songs...This sparse, jerky, repetitive tune, seems an unlikely candidate for that honor, but I can't help it! It's so damn catchy!
The other non-dubs are "First Night Back in London" and "Cool Confusion." Actually these are still pretty dubby...I think I touched on these the other day, while I was discussing "Combat Rock." They're outtakes from the "Rat Patrol at Fort Bragg" project, and they both have this empty, wide-open space vibe that I like...
Well, I'm about done here, so let's crack a couple of golden boys and listen to some Clash! Here's "The Prisoner." Turn it up!
Track Listing: 1. Dictator 2. Dirty Punk 3. We Are the Clash 4. Are You Red..Y 5. Cool Under Heat 6. Movers and Shakers 7. This is England 8. Three Card Trick 9. Play to Win 10. Fingerpoppin 11. North and South 12. Life Is Wild 13. Do It Now
To this day I'll never understand why someone would make a crappy album and then call it "Cut the Crap." You're just asking for it...But I hate to be the 10 billionth person to heap abuse on "Cut the Crap" so I'm only going to say positive things about it...Here goes...
1. It's really innovative that "Dictator" sound like 10 songs playing at once! I think I hear a punk song buried in there somewhere, but there's a radio playing over the entire thing so it's hard to tell...And oh, yea, ff you're a big fan of fake synth horn "BRAAPS" and fake synth pan flute "TOONKS" there's a lot of 'em and they're mixed 10 times louder than any other instrument or vocals, so it has that going for it...
2. Everybody mentions this, but "This is England" is a truly great song that's absolutely worthy of the band name..No amount of boxy drum machines or poorly mixed synths can mute its melancholy glory...
3. You wouldn't know it from the album, but if you take out the drum
machines, obnoxious synths and even more obnoxious gang chants, there's
some good songs in here...If you don't beleive me look up the live
versions or demos from this timeframe...
Listen to "The Pouring Rain"...
or this particularly excellent live take of "North and South"...
...and who would have thought that "We Are the Clash" wasn't their worst song? This live version rules! I'd always read Joe's claims that "Cut the Crap" was supposed to be some return to punk form, but that always confused me when I listened to the actual end product... Listening to the live take, I finally know what he's talking about!
This is what "Dictator" sounds like when 10 other songs aren't playing over it...
I could sit here and post videos all day, but I think I've made my point..."Cut the Crap" should have only been a minor disappointment and not a disaster in the same league as Velvet Underground's "Squeeze"...
It's too bad it's been so maligned...I honestly think if someone sat down with these master tapes, stripped things down, laid some real drums over it, and give the thing a professional mix, it'd probably finally find an audience,...So howzabout it? Something along the lines of "Let it Be...Naked."
Yea! I think it's a fine idea! "Cut the Crap...Naked!" Boy, that sounds bad...But it's a fine idear! Let's restore Joe's legacy!Here's "This is England." Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Know Your Rights 2. Car Jamming 3. Should I Stay or Should I Go? 4. Rock the Casbah 5.Red Angel Dragnet 6. Straight to Hell 7. Overpowered by Funk 8. Atom Tan 9. Sean Flynn 10. Ghetto Defendant 11. Inoculated City 12. Death Is a Star
Yes! I finally get to copy and paste myself! I actually touched on "Combat Rock" a coupla weeks ago... I'll re-post what I said there, real quick:
"I guess technically an old 8-Track of "Combat Rock" would have been my
first punk album, but I wasn't really aware it was supposed to be
punk...To me, "Rock the Casbah" wasn't part of some anarchic musical
upheaval, it was simply the song that came on the radio after 'Hungry
Like the Wolf.'"
Yea, this album was huge when I was a kid..."Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go" where all over the radio in '82...I can remember not quite grasping what was being said on "Rock the Casbah" but singing along anyway...That's pop...But the 8-track came and went and to be honest I just kind of forgot about it...You hear the singles a lot on the radio now, but there was a good decade there after its release that radio didn't play them...Not in my neck of the woods anyway (my neck of the woods being more of an armpit...).
But yea, I was later getting into punk and had read that the Clash was like, an awesome punk band or something, and bought a copy of "Combat Rock" at the K-Mart in West Branch...
(Note: This is not the K-Mart in West Branch.....But it looks sufficiently 70's-like...)
Imagine my surprise when I got home, tossed it into my high-tech CD player and heard the opening riff of "Know Your Rights"..."Oh yea! It's this album," I shouted while violently spanking my monkey...
To this day I still love "Combat Rock" to death...Sometimes I listen to it and it seems like a tight pop record, and others times I listen to it and it seems extremely experimental...I finally fully understood this dichotomy when I listened to "Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg," which is the original double-album version of "Combat Rock."
Apparently, "Combat Rock" was originally intended to be another boundary-pushing multi-disc affair, micked by Mix Jones, err...Mixed by Mick Jones, but the rest of the band wasn't thrilled with his extended, effects-heavy versions, so they shipped it off to Glyn Johns, where half the tacks were cut and those that survived the judicious culling were edited down to more-manageable lengths...
If you guys haven't checked out "Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg," I can't recommend it enough if you're a Clash fan...You can find it easy enough online or on youtube. Quite a few of the outtakes ended up as B-sides, and a couple released for the first time on this years "Soundsystem" boxset...
I always figured that, judging from the previously released outtakes ("Cool Confusion," and "First Night Back in London") that they must have cut only the most non-commercial material, but they actually axed a couple of pop songs, like...
"Kill Time"...
...and "Beautiful People Are Ugly Too."
So it's not quite accurate to say that they were strictly going for a commercial album, since they had the option to make "Combat Rock" even poppier...And as much as I long for an official version of "Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg," I have to say they made all the right choices...There's really no other album like "Combat Rock," that I can think of...I can only explain it as poetic world-punk...Listening to this, I just can't process the fact that there's only five years separating "White Riot" and "Sean Flynn." I mean, check out "Straight to Hell," it's absolutely amazing...and Joe is at his lyrical peak...One of the few albums out there where you could just read the lyric sheet without ever once listening to the songs and still be blown away...
So sad this is their final album, unless you count "Cut the Crap," which the group apparently doesn't, but we'll get to that tomorrow...I wonder what the album after this would have sounded like if the band hadn't splintered apart? Would they have gone for a quadruple cassette that only cost as much as a cassingle? How would the Clash have handled grunge? How would the Clash survive the disembodied brain that invaded Earth in the year 2025?
Who knows? But it's safe to say that they went out on top...That's right, I said it..."Combat Rock" is tops in my book! Oh yea, I should probably mention that there were two different versions of this album...
The original pressing had a red and black label and had an extended version of "Inoculated City" that included a "2000 Flushes" commercial, that ran 2:43...
My copy has the more common blue/black Epic label and even though it says "Inoculated City" is 2:43, it actually has the commercial edited out and the running time is only 2:11...The unedited version is rare, and the extended version has only recently reappeared on the 2000 CD reissue...You can usually tell it's a 2000 reissue if it doesn't have that big ol' "Nice Price" sticker on it...Lol...RFMLOALOAL...
So let's listen to the unedited Inoculated City"...Enjoy.,..
