The Clash: Combat Rock - 1982

"Their biggest seller - but the beginning of the end" - Q Magazine

 

Released in 1982, this was the last proper Clash album, and, to be honest, the one to which I return to least frequently. It was the one that people who knew little about the group's first album bought, attracted by the big hit single that it contained. It has never convinced me as an album, unfortunately. I find it lacks cohesion and intent. Let me try and explain why as the review progresses. 

At this point it is also relevant to say that, initially, the album was intended as a double album follow up to the triple Sandinista! bloater - titled Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg - but internal bickering within the band meant they eventually settled on the single album compromise, produced by ex-Who man Glyn Johns, all much to Mick Jones's chagrin. This pretty much finished him with The Clash. It must have felt to him that they had all collectively rejected his painstakingly-created ideas. Those good old musical differences, eh?

 

The tracks that were omitted were quirky and unusual in the tradition of the triple behemoth. They included the the oddly jaunty Latin-ish pop of The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too (The Fulham Connection), the staccato, once more calypso-influenced Idle In Kangaroo Court, the lazily melodic paean to madcap producer Guy Stevens in Midnight To Stevens, the guest rap of Futura 2000, Mikey Dread's attractively dubby six-minute toast Radio One, the industrially harsh, gritty reggae of Cool Confusion, the lively, modern rockabilly of Long Time Jerk, an edgy alternative version of Radio Clash and a groovy instrumental in He Who Dares Or Is Tired. I won't divert too much away from the Combat Rock album here other than to say that the genuine inventive variety of these atypical numbers would have made it a most interesting double album.

Anyway, should I stay or should I go..... 

Know Your Rights is a visceral, confrontational, politically-motivated minimalist opener that sort of harked back to the Give 'Em Enough Rope days, as opposed to London Calling or Sandinista! There was a starkness about it, though, that differentiated it from the sound of 1978. It was the first single from the album and had a great 'b' side in First Night Back In London. 

The drum-driven, quirky and infectious Car Jamming has always been my favourite from the album. I love the Strummer interjection "hey fellas - Lauren Bacall!" that comes after the legendary actress is mentioned in the lyrics. Its sound is fuller than some of the Sandinista! material, puncher and warmer. The Clash - 1982 style. 

Regarding Should I Stay Or Should I Go, unlike many, I have never particularly liked this Stonesy and incredibly popular song, one that won the band many new fans, lots of whom knew nothing about the debut album, including a girl I met at a party who claimed she was a big Clash fan yet only really knew this song and the rest of this album, along with The Magnificent Seven. She was up for it too, but her obvious non-bona fide Clash credentials meant that it was never going to happen. Silly me. Anyway, enough of that, the song was made popular by its use on a TV advert, for Wrangler jeans, I think, and it gave the band a number one hit. Who would believed it? The hit singles kept coming.

Rock The Casbah was largely written by drummer Topper Headon and I have to say that this was an absolutely great single, with a killer chorus and catchy piano riff. Lyrically, it dabbled in middle-Eastern references, with its accompanying video (they were fast becoming "the thing") showing several characters dancing around in Arab sheiks' gear. 

Red Angel Dragnet is obviously a Paul Simonon song, has a gritty, bassy appeal. Half reggae, half funk, it has a mysterious allure to it added to by Simonon's decidedly odd semi-spoken vocal, assisted by rapper Kosmo Vinyl (no, me neither). He had a strange manner of diction, did Simonon.

Now for a true Clash classic. Straight To Hell is a monumental, evocative Vietnam-inspired behemoth of a song, with an intoxicating South East Asian percussion sound and moving narrative. There is a case for this being one of The Clash's finest ever tracks, it builds up superbly and is packed full of atmosphere, both musically and lyrically. Topper Headon's South-East Asian-style drumming is completely captivating. 

Overpowered By Funk bravely tries to continue where The Magnificent Seven left off, with its frantic rhythm, but doesn’t quite get there, for me, despite having good points, such as being packed full of witty lyrics. The guest vocalist is another rapper who I have only heard of due to his appearance here - Futura 2000.  

Atom Tan, however, saw the point where the album starts to definitely tail off. The accusations of sloppiness and laziness can be levelled at this slightly messy song, which is ok, but doesn't really get anywhere with its slightly clumsy vocals and grating sound.

I have always quite liked the Vietnam mystery and romanticism of the unusual semi-instrumental, Sean Flynn, with its Eastern-sounding soundscape - Joe Strummer was always fascinated by Vietnam and this is also reflected in the "Vietnam chic" of the SE Asian-tropical front cover. Sean Flynn, incidentally, was the son of movie legend Errol Flynn, who disappeared in the Vietnamese jungle during the conflict. 

Ghetto Defendant is very beguiling, with its spoken lyric part about Jean Arthur Rimbaud and the Paris commune. This is quite a typical track for this album - apparently full of meaning, portent and importance - full of lyrics about nineteenth century Paris and so on, but maybe just full of pretentious guff, something exacerbated by the presence of legendary sixties beat poet Allen Ginsberg. I do like it, though. It is side two's best track. However, the material so far on this side is acceptable, but, previous to this, The Clash hadn't done simply acceptable, had they? 

So, while there was some commercial stuff on here, there was also, as I have highlighted, some sloppy, half-baked material too. Here is where it gets bad. As side two progresses, the songs have become increasingly lazy and unappealing - particularly the melodic but strangely incoherent Inoculated City.  

 

Even worse is the rambling, jazzy Lou Reed's Berlin-esque number, Death Is A Star. These latter two tracks tried, but failed, to summon up a post-apocalyptic Diamond Dogs-style urban nightmare. I know where they were trying to go, but they never got there, for me. They remind me of the final batch of comparatively patchy compositions from Sandinista!. That said, further listening has found me appreciating these quite unique tracks much more. It is often the way, isn't it? It certainly is for me.

 

The band were seemingly imploding behind the scenes - Strummer and Jones constantly rowing, Headon taking more drugs. These sub-standard songs stand as examples of that, for me. The half-formed, experimental Sean Flynn could also fall into that category, but it has a sort of atmospheric appeal to it. Unfortunately, by the end of the album, I can't help feeling that it had become a patchy one overall. It just seemed to ebb away, losing energy and commitment with each track. 

Look - all things considered, it is not a bad album, but only a “good in parts” one - a bit like The Jam's last album, The Gift. You could somehow feel the lack of cohesion within the band's dynamic, though. It definitely comes across in the songs and their running order. The first side of the album is definitely the superior. 

Not long after this The Clash, as we knew them, were no more. That was no surprise, really. However, let it not be forgotten that it had been five simply great years. Thanks for the memories and the music.