The Clash
The Clash, ‘London Calling’, 1979. The thing about lockdown is, it does throw up spare time. I found myself the other day listening to this. To be honest, I hadn’t listened to it in ages. I know every lick and heard it a million times, so, why bother? Know what? It still kills. The difficult third album. For younger readers, third-album-syndrome is where a band makes their debut, (usually their stage set honed to perfection from countless gigs), the second album not so good as they used all the good songs for the first album and they haven’t had time to write more decent tunes. Thus, the third album is make or break. Time to deliver on the promise: you’ve got a fanbase, but you can’t just do same old, same old. ‘London Calling’ is a masterclass. Recorded 3 years after their debut, and certainly compared to their second album, they are evolved beings.
The title song is the one everyone knows, so, that’s a given. I usually skip it. The rest of the album has feckin everything. Roots reggae, funk, Lover’s Rock, anthems, almost Springsteen rock, Spanish tinges, Ska, old skool rock n roll, Stax horns, rock, all with punky energy. Joe Strummer’s on fire with his lyrics: “He who fucks nuns will later join the church” and “No man born with a living soul/Can be working for the clampdown” being personal faves. Mickey Gallagher’s piano fleshing it out. Paul’s bass a million years from his debut-album playing. Mick Jones a guitar hero. And Topper. You can listen to the whole album just following the drums. Topper is Ingredient X. No Topper, no Clash. Guy Stevens, who produced Mott The Hoople (Mick Jones’ fave band), served behind the desk. The production is awesome. Listen to the follow up album, ‘Sandinista’, and you can hear how much of a difference he made.
And THAT cover. Plus, they sold it for a fiver: a double LP for the cost of a single album. They wanted people to hear it at an affordable price. The band pretty much lost money on every copy sold back then. Just think about that for a moment. If you haven’t heard it for a while, do. It’s probably even better than you remember.
The Clash
The Clash, ‘London Calling’, 1979. The thing about lockdown is, it does throw up spare time. I found myself the other day listening to this. To be honest, I hadn’t listened to it in ages. I know every lick and heard it a million times, so, why bother? Know what? It still kills. The difficult third album. For younger readers, third-album-syndrome is where a band makes their debut, (usually their stage set honed to perfection from countless gigs), the second album not so good as they used all the good songs for the first album and they haven’t had time to write more decent tunes. Thus, the third album is make or break. Time to deliver on the promise: you’ve got a fanbase, but you can’t just do same old, same old. ‘London Calling’ is a masterclass. Recorded 3 years after their debut, and certainly compared to their second album, they are evolved beings.
The title song is the one everyone knows, so, that’s a given. I usually skip it. The rest of the album has feckin everything. Roots reggae, funk, Lover’s Rock, anthems, almost Springsteen rock, Spanish tinges, Ska, old skool rock n roll, Stax horns, rock, all with punky energy. Joe Strummer’s on fire with his lyrics: “He who fucks nuns will later join the church” and “No man born with a living soul/Can be working for the clampdown” being personal faves. Mickey Gallagher’s piano fleshing it out. Paul’s bass a million years from his debut-album playing. Mick Jones a guitar hero. And Topper. You can listen to the whole album just following the drums. Topper is Ingredient X. No Topper, no Clash. Guy Stevens, who produced Mott The Hoople (Mick Jones’ fave band), served behind the desk. The production is awesome. Listen to the follow up album, ‘Sandinista’, and you can hear how much of a difference he made.
And THAT cover. Plus, they sold it for a fiver: a double LP for the cost of a single album. They wanted people to hear it at an affordable price. The band pretty much lost money on every copy sold back then. Just think about that for a moment. If you haven’t heard it for a while, do. It’s probably even better than you remember.