Good morning and welcome back to the blog. Another night of dreams that featured the same song playing over and over again as some sort of insane soundtrack and fully at the wrong volume. Thus I’ve woken up with a headache caused by Josef K – Sorry for Laughing being on repeat throughout my dream all night. A great song and the perfect backing track for my dream which I can’t get into on here. Some excellent comments yesterday about the lengthy post about Strummerville, do go back and read those if you haven’t.

I was looking at a list of the singles released by The Clash the other day and it made me wonder about what could have been, an annoying habit that I’ve fallen into lately. I know that after early battles with CBS that the band for the most part got their way when it came to which singles should be released. Back in the day the later accepted format of pulling 4 or 5 singles from the same album wasn’t in fashion, two singles was far more typical and indeed releasing new (or extra) songs as singles between albums was far more common. It made being a fan of a band far more interesting and the very act of purchasing singles a lot more rewarding and genuinely worthwhile as a collector. Much of this according to whats been said in interviews and books was due to a fierce desire by the band to provide value for money to the fans. What a stunning concept that remains in contrast to how things became a few years later.  Just look at The Clash singles that didn’t feature on studio albums versus what were on the albums and you see my point entirely. (all based on UK releases)

The Clash / Released April 1977 -

2 singles: White Riot (3/77) and Remote Control (5/77) which came out against the bands wishes

Non album singles -

Complete Control (9/77), Clash City Rockers (2/78) and then (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais (6/78)

Give ‘em Enough Rope / Released November 1978 -

Tommy Gun (11/78) and English Civil War (2/79)

Non album singles -

Cost of Living EP (4 tracks including I Fought The Law & Capital Radio) (5/79)

London Calling / Released December 1979 -

London Calling (12/79)

Non album singles -

Bankrobber (12/80)

Sandinista! / Released December 1980 -

The Call Up (11/80) Hitsville UK (1/81) The Magnificent Seven (4/81)

Non album singles -

This is Radio Clash (11/81)

Combat Rock / Released May 1982 -

Know Your Rights (4/82) Should I Stay or Should I Go (6/82) Rock The Casbah (8/82)

With all that written out and before me it makes me exhale and say ‘bloody hell’ aloud for a number of reasons. First of all look at the relative short amount of time between everything that took place. I’ve said it countless times before but when I think of how long most bands since about 1990 take to make music it reinforces what The Clash were getting written and recorded in such a brief amount of time. Then again I know that in the 60′s bands like The Hollies and The Beatles were expected by the studio to hit the studio twice a year and get 12 songs recorded in a week. Things have really changed but with the possible exception of The Smiths, it was The Clash and The Jam and a few peers who were the last bands to have done so much so quickly. Five years and a month between the first album and the last, enough ‘between album’ material to make another double album including some of the finest material that they wrote including 7 singles. In addition 5 studio albums totaling 16 sides of music; the equivalent of 8 albums. Put it all together and The Clash essentially wrote 9 or 10 albums worth of music in just over 5 years which remains inconceivable to me.

It also makes me fall of my chair when you look at what wasn’t released as a single. London Calling only (officially) featured one single in the UK market although Train In Vain obviously became a huge record for them in the US and elsewhere. How many singles would a band twenty years later have pulled from that album? At least four and perhaps as many as six, the first two albums would also have been drained of four singles each I’m sure. Sandinista! is the one perhaps most open to debate and you’ll find people who would vote for perhaps a dozen different songs that would have been successful singles from the 36 tracks on offer. I’d have no problem suggesting four or five others without pausing for breath.

The other change you see though is the music industry changing and that by the time of the last album and the ‘need’ for success three songs were pulled from the last proper Clash album and even then special editions, double A-sides and picture discs started to cloud the picture. During the life of The Clash the 12″ single also came into play and within 5 years every song you could think of featured an extended mix and alternate versions. Worthy of another post is all of the possible singles that should have been released by The Clash in place of or in addition to those that were, particularly in the case of London Calling and Sandinista! Your thoughts please as I’ll surely come back to this.

Next post – as promised part one of a two-part editorial from The Baker writing about being on the road with The Clash. Don’t miss it.

The future is unwritten, so share it

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