As promised…the Clash Cup is back, sadly I can’t same for Arsenal as we were dismantled by a Manchester United team who were far more efficient with their attacks and aided by some extremely naive defending by my club. It cast a shadow over the entire day and was only remedied when I dragged my 42 year old legs down to the park this afternoon to play some football myself. Ah well…you’re not here to learn of my malaise but to get back into The Clash Cup – our own unofficial quest to determine the best 16,8 and finally top 4 Clash songs of all time. I dusted off my spreadsheet this afternoon and learned we have one final Round One match to make our votes heard on and then this week we’ll dive into round two. The songs that remain in round two are for the most part all exceptionally good so the voting will be frantic and important.

A brief explanation if you’re new to the blog – we originally listed all know Clash songs and then took a few weeks to ‘seed’ 16 of the best Clash songs. The remaining songs (142 of them) all went into the bucket and a random number generator selected songs to be paired off and voted for. The online poll allows one vote per user and we closed the polls typically 72 hours after the posting went live. The response was great and not everyone could be happy with every result (myself included) but with one vote remaining we are now just about ready to move onto Round 2. First though that final battle -

Protex Blue versus The Magnificent Dance

Two well known tracks on the final slate so please give careful consideration. I’ll close the polls on Wednesday and plan to start Round 2 on Weds or Thursday of this week.

Protex Blue - I believe this is one of the very oldest existing songs that The Clash recorded, the original version dating back to 1975 when Mick Jones wrote it during his brief spell as London SS. Musically its one of the most raw of Clash recordings and a basic chord progression and bridge it has a real garage sound feel. Even the subject matter is a bit fifth form (condoms) but it remains a fun song. Who would have guessed that 35 years later Mick and Tony James would be a band once more writing and recording as Carbon Silicon.

The Magnificent Dance – 12″ records were as much a part of the early 1980′s as being impacted by the cold hand of Margaret Thatcher. The 12″ single evolved for the disco scene initially and became a place for bonus B sides, alternate versions, instrumental versions and the ‘remix’. I’ve always loved this remix of The Mag 7 – probably because my early excellent efforts to make mix tapes always ended with a version of this track faded out at the perfect length to finish side one of my TDK AD 90. If you’re less than 30 years old you probably wonder just what I’m on about.

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Good Evening, I’m more than a bit tense about the football tomorrow ~ I was told today that my club (Arsenal) mattered more to me than people that I know, that wasn’t fair – they matter more than most people I know but not all of them. I’ve got to take my mind off of that until tomorrow and have been able to do so the last 30 minutes as I’m about halfway through listening to a recording of a concert that marked one of the most symbolic nights of the career of  Joe Strummer especially where Clash fans are concerned. Most of you have already read about the folklore of events of November 15, 2002 where Joe Strummer was joined on stage for the last few songs by Mick Jones. It turned out to be one of the last concerts Joe ever played and the fact that Jones jumping up on stage was completely unexpected (to all but Mick – and he even has said it was a spur of the moment decision). It didn’t seem possible to me at the time I learned about this at the time that almost 20 years had passed since they previously played together but the calendar doesn’t lie.

The show took place at Acton Town Hall in West London just a stones throw West of the house where the band were first formerly introduced to each other 26 years prior. While Strummer and Jones friendship had gone from cold to cordial as rapidly as the second Big Audio Dynamite album the idea of the two playing together again had been kicked around in terms of a Clash reunion but never taken shape. I’ve read a few accounts of the FBU benefit concert in the years since (Strummernews has some here) and seen a little bit of video footage but hearing the whole concert gives the event a sense of completeness. Of course there is also the film footage captured by Alan Miles of the night.

As for the venue, Acton Town Hall is a meeting hall, not a concert venue and as such might squeeze in 500-550 people on a good night – I’ve never been able to find an official headcount of people who were there – I bet more than 550 have since claimed to have been there. I can simply say that I’m sickened to this day that I wasn’t there as by 2002 I had moved to the States, moreover at one point in my 20′s I lived about a five minute walk from Acton Town Hall so if I had stayed in London of course I would have been there. What an idiot I am! So as for the recording, its brilliant the sound quality of the mix is better than I would have dared hope. I think that (not sure of the record company legalities) if the show can somehow be released as a live document of Joe and The Mescaleros it should be post haste. There have been rumours of a live album by the band to eventually see the light of day and I can’t think of a more appropriate option.

As I said the sound is above average and Joe is engaging the audience throughout – naturally enjoying playing on what was essentially home turf. The fact that Mick Jones was in the audience was made clear to the crowd early in the setlist when Joe makes mention of his presence and congratulates him on the birth of his daughter Stella – and then plays ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ in tribute to her. As for the rest of the audio – its far more interesting to listen to it than hear me ramble on and Mick’s appearance for the encores is just perfect. If you don’t get the sniffles when you are finished I’ll be shocked. Please visit ‘And I Try to Harmonize with Songs’ blog and listen away – or you can download the whole thing. I know there will be a number of you reading who have already heard this gig – I’d semi-consciously avoided doing so as I thought it might make me quite sad, but I’ve just finished listening and the impact was the opposite. Thanks again Joe and Mick (and the Mescaleros!)…that was amazing.

A wolf moon tonight….very nice indeed it is too. If you read this tomorrow (Saturday) you’ll wish you had noticed the moon last night, a killing moon indeed. So what is on the agenda tonight then? The Clash Cup – you have been very patient with me on this and I’ve got a semblance of a schedule back so I’m committing to at least two ‘ties’ per week – round two will begin Sunday. If you’re a newer visitor to the blog we whiled away many hours on the blog last Autumn trying to the best Clash songs of all time. It’s all good fun so do come and participate – we need your votes. I thought Sunday would be a good day as dependent on how a certain football match goes earlier that day I’ll be either elated or morose, so be gentle if need be.

A Cuban in London is a great title for a blog and its also home to a post that I suggest you have a look at. The subject matter is The Clash and the theme of the posts are ‘killer opening songs’ (if he’s in London they should be ‘brilliant opening songs’ but I digress). I’m tempted to agree with his choice – does any album kick off with a better opening track than London Calling from the double album of the same name? I can’t think of any album that opens with a song that sets the stage quite as emphatically, it acts as a call to arms, a warning and a statement of intent – all at the same time. It has everything you want in a Clash song, Joe sounding as fixated as at any time, guitar that chops you in half and Paul with a bassline that should be forever taught in school. Weaving all that magic together was Topper on drums truly making the song a siren to the new decade that was about to begin. It’s a great question – is there a better opening track on any album – the only thing that I think sets up the album to follow with comparable lustre is Joyriders by Pulp which slowly teases you into the world of Jarvis Cocker and the detached brilliance of His ‘n’ Hers their 1994 masterpiece. I’d love to hear your suggestions…

When I think of early English punk  besides The Clash I always associate it with one band above all the other contenders. We all have our own choices and for many its The Sex Pistols, or The Damned (I’d guess they would make the big 3 list for most people) but for myself it would be Buzzcocks. I also think in addition to the Clash the band that most influenced what music I liked most from 1979 onwards would again be Manchester’s entry to the best of British punk. If you have any gaps in your record collection I recommend without reservation that you take advantage of what Mute Records are doing next month! Each of the first three Buzzcocks albums are being reissued as special two disc editions – the amount of extra tracks from John Peel Sessions / Demos / Singles & B-Sides plus live tracks is beyond fantastic. I can’t wait for these and will be replacing my well worn early CDs which in turn replaced my well knackered vinyl. If you don’t purchase any other reissues this year please give these a try. Also, the only live show I show for them in the States this year is next month in Orange County.

Well off track but worthy – a friend of mine runs a site where comic artists (comic book art) sell their private pieces and its more affordable than you’d imagine. If you have a friend, kid, or relative who would appreciate some exclusive art – they are currently holding a special auction of pieces where all proceeds benefit Haiti. Better still he has managed to get his company to match the bids…so have a look here for the details. Thanks. (The auction closes soon..but email me or him if interested).

Finally – sent in a link to a Rancid video (The cover of “Cheat”) via the comments section the other night – in case you missed it I’ve added it below. The first part of the video is what you want to wathc with Joe Strummer giving us all a message.

Cheers all