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The Clash what can you say? Whatever is probably said now following the death of Joe Strummer will seem too late, though for many the Clash hold a corner in the hearts of so many people, a corner that will never wane or wither, for some a memory of a first love, exciting, lasting and above all an experience to cherish. The cynics may scream that this is another cheapened cash in on a tragedy, but in all honesty plans for the collection had been laid well before Strummers passing.
Punk was essentially a young kids movement, it’s whole selling point was the undoing of everything before, it laughed at it’s elders and tore up the rule book with it’s can do, will do attitude. Because of it’s seeming hitting upon the teen culture, for many the music, ideas, philosophies, styles were the first that they could embrace and truly call their own outside their parents record collection and the conservative chart pop orientated staidness of national radio. Don’t forget this was the pre internet age no chance to experiment in the comfort of your own home with new sounds, you’d be forgiven for thinking that all music was middle of the road bland granddad pop judging by the shelves of many of the record shops at the time. Even T.V. hadn’t truly exploited the teen angle as vociferously as it pretends to do these days.
Unlike the Sex Pistols, the Clash represented street credibility; they spoke of life, politicised and outspoken (anti racism ‘White man in Hammersmith Palais’ for me the best thing they ever did), telling the tale as it was without the need for invention or theatrics, their sound and imagery directly descended from Gene Vincent, there was never any doubt that the Clash were rockers, yet they were also movers and shakers mixing varying genres to their street strut sound. In the early days it was reggae which slowly transgressed to dub then after ‘London Calling’ the sounds of New York underground, the Clash were never afraid to experiment and tinker with new sounds just check out the diversity found on the hit and miss antics of the triple disc platter ‘Sandinista’ if you need further evidence. Such passion for experimenting with styles and sounds would of course resurface in the future works of both Strummer and Jones.
From a personal point of view, I’d always been aware of the Clash, however in all honesty it took the release of ‘Tommy Gun’ to set my instincts buzzing, released at the tail end of 1978 and appearing in the pre Xmas charts along with Boney M, Billy Joel and the likes, ‘Tommy Gun’ sounded like something from another planet, brutal, aggressive, fast, unrelenting, a searing carnage of break neck violence crammed within 3 minutes and without the slightest notion of any of the seasonal festivities quickly ascending on us. I suppose ultimately that’s what the Clash were, outsiders refusing to go with the flow or play to the masses. The mere fact that in little over 4 years the band would be selling out Shea stadium and shortly after that, in the main due to exhaustion, the core nucleus of the band would implode. Even now listening to ‘Give em enough rope’ (the bands second album), the hairs on the back of the neck still stand on end, and from which nearly all the tracks bar four are featured here. Then there’s the Elvis pastiche sleeve for ‘London Calling’ itself containing the classic apocalyptic title track which prior to the Levi’s use of ‘Should I stay or should I go’, had provided the Clash with their biggest chart hit. Pretty much all the singles are featured with the exception of ‘Remote Control’ at the time providing the band with their first head on war of words with their label paymasters, more curious though is the absence of ‘The Call Up’ one of the essential listening moments on ‘Sandinista’ though the inclusion of the equally ahead of the game ‘The Magnificent Seven’ goes some way to soften the blow. ‘Cut the crap’ the much-maligned final studio album is pitifully represented by the token inclusion of ‘This is England’
As a document, Essential serves well, a chronological serving up of some of the bands choicest cuts, yet to coin the oft used saying ‘you can please some of the people some of the time…’ this collection omits several glaring nuggets notably ‘Pressure Drop’, ‘Charlie don’t surf’, ‘Brand new Cadillac’ and ‘Armagideon time’ to name but four whose remaining on the cutting room floor may have more to do with copyright mechanics than hasty oversight. That said despite it’s uneven selection, overall it manages to hit all the buttons and goes a long way to defining what the Clash were all about.
Greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever is for your own judgement to decide and ponder on, for myself I couldn’t immediately recall a band that would come near them.
MARK BARTON
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