A fine collection of 'b' sides and rarities here. In the pursuit of Clash completism, I have also included in my review a few tracks that were not included on the album. These are definitely worth a mention and the album would have been even better had they been included. The beauty of dogital programming, of course, is that you can add them, creating your own non-albu,m Clash cornucopia.
There was also a 10" novelty mini-album released in 1980 entitled Black Market Clash that pre-dated this album by many years. This release improved on that by far, it has to be said. The cover for this is shown below. On this album were included Capital Radio One; The Prisoner; Pressure Drop; Cheat; City Of The Dead; Time Is Tight; Bank Robber; Robber Dub; Armagideon Tim; Justice Tonight/Kick It Over
1977,
the 'b' side of White Riot, (the single version of which, incidentally,
was better than the one that appeared on the debut album, far more instant,
riffy and confrontational) was taken as a call to arms for the punk
movement, eschewing all rock bands that had been before - “no Elvis,
Beatles or Rolling Stones in 1977” growled Joe Strummer over a choppy,
riff-driven guitar backing. Strange that Mick Jones was a fan of Keith
Richards, and had a lot of Richards about his look at times, and also
that within a couple of years, The Clash would be recording music that
utilised influences from pretty every type of popular music that had
ever been. That said, it was a great track - those drum rolls and the
“danger, danger” refrain.
Listen is actually a pretty convincing, albeit simple instrumental, featuring some good Mick Jones guitar. The original Capital Radio
(not included here but on the original Black Market Clash album) was a classic punk single - riff-dominated, vocals spat out, expressing
a perceived grievance - here with Capitol Radio’s refusal to play punk
records.
Jail Guitar Doors is a Stonesy, riffy rocker that namechecks Keith Richards. The sentiments of “1977” didn’t take long to wear off, it seems.
City Of The Dead,
is a powerful, grinding track that would have been great on the first
album, or on Give ‘Em Enough Rope for that matter. It utilises saxophone
for the first time on a Clash recording, I believe. It is a track that
shows far more musical maturity than you would expect from the group in
this period. It doesn't sound out of place in the company of their
1978-79 material. The Clash were progressing at a pace.
The Prisoner
is a breakneck punk romp with garbled, almost incomprehensible lyrics -
“the prisoner meets the muppet hi-fi north of Watford Junction…”;
”Johnny Too Bad meets Johnny B. Goode on the Charing Cross Road…”.
Despite not knowing what the hell it was about, there is a real vibe to
it and one hell of an atmosphere. I have always loved this one.
Mick Jones’ rare thing, a Clash love song in 1-2 Crush On You, which appeared as the b side to Tommy Gun, is not his best song, to be honest, and the covers of Booker T. & The MGs’ Time Is Tight and Toots & The Maytals’ Pressure Drop (which was the b side to English Civil War) are not convincing, it has to be said.
Also dating from the sessions for the Give 'Em Enough Rope album was One Emotion,
written in Jamaica while they were watching a James Bond film and Mick
Jones said "Roger Moore's only got one emotion..". It is a song that is
clumsy in parts with a harsh vocal from Jones and equally raucous one
from Strummer. It is ok in places but doesn't quite make it for me. Nice
drums on it, though. It wouldn't have fitted well on the album.
In the summer of 1979 we got the release of a four track EP entitled The Cost Of Living. Both Groovy Times and Gates Of The West start to show that the move away from punk to a broader sphere of influence was coming. I Fought The Law (not included here) speaks for itself. Clash power at its very best. For more of the same check out the crashing, aural assault of Capital Radio Two. Magnificent.
From the London Calling sessions came one of the group's most
convincing stabs at genuinely authentic reggae in the 'b' side to London
Calling, Willie Williams' Armagideon Time
(not included here - see Clash Hits Back). It is full of excellent dub rhythms and a haunting vocal. Also included
are two extended, infectious dub variants of the track in Justice Tonight and Kick It Over.
The non-album material from the Sandinista! period included the atmospheric single Bankrobber, with its reggae influences and its dub 'b' side Robber Dub. Also around was Rockers Galore,
an addictive number which utilised the Bankrobber rhythm together with
vocals from roots reggae artist Mikey Dread about touring with the band.
Other 'b' sides were the muffled vaguely jazzy anti-nuclear protest number, Stop The World (from The Call Up), The Cool Out (an enjoyable instrumental version of The Call Up), Radio One (from Hitsville UK), which has Mikey Dread toasting over a dubby beat for six minutes and The Magnificent Dance, a deep, bongo-driven, funky instrumental version of the single The Magnificent Seven.
There was also the experimental dance/hip-hop of the stand alone single This Is Radio Clash,
which had an alternative version of the same song as its 'b' side. The
latter is a minute short and is slightly more funky and urgent. Both of
them are quirkily impressive, though, as the band changed direction
again.
A rarity from 1980 is a cover of the Brenda Holloway song, Every Little Bit Hurts.
It was recorded as Jones liked the song, in two takes. For such a
incongruous song for The Clash to record, it is done surprisingly well,
with Jones on vocals over a nice soulful backing. Heaven knows what
people would have thought if this had been released as a single! Norman
Watt-Roy of The Blockheads plays a sumptuous bass on it. Neither Joe
Strummer or Paul Simonon were involved in its recording.
The non-album material from 1982 and Combat Rock included the evocative, underrated 'b' side of Know Your Rights, Mick Jones' First Night Back In London.
I love this track for its broody, menacing late night urban simplicity
and it is one of my favourite Clash obscurities. It was miles away from
the band's debut album but then so was everything they did in 1982.
There were three other 'b' sides, the lively, modern rockabilly of Long Time Jerk (from Rock The Casbah), the industrially harsh, gritty reggae of Cool Confusion from the 12" release of Should I Stay Or Should I Go and the bongos and bass version of Rock The Casbah in Mustapha Dance, also from that track's single release.
There
were also three tracks from the sessions for the Combat Rock album that were not
used. They were the lazily melodic paean to madcap producer Guy Stevens, Midnight To Stevens, which dated from the pre-Combat Rock sessions in 1981, the oddly jaunty Latin-ish pop of The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too from 1982 and Idle In Kangaroo Court,
which had a staccato, jerky Caribbean beat that was pretty difficult to
categorise. All these songs would not have been out of place on
Sandinista! Actually they would have done ok replacing some of the less
impressive tracks on Combat Rock.
Overall, a bit of a treasure of a listen, particularly the first half.
Comments
Post a Comment