It’s me again it seems. Posting like a squirrel or something similar that does a lot of posting. A post office perhaps? Bollocks, whatever.

I hope that you managed to see the clip of E=MC2 from the Jimmy Fallon show last night, I’m still blown away but just how strong B.A.D. sounded. In keeping with that the various reports and accounts I’ve been reading from both the Boston and the Brooklyn gigs have been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t put my finger on it exactly but there certainly appears to be a greater swagger about the band now than earlier in the year, I suppose a twenty year hiatus will do that to you. From Mick’s added guitar support (which grants him more space to be Mick) from Davo to Don Letts continuing to carry on like someone in his 20′s (why not) the whole thing looks tight and sounds even better than that. You’ve probably already seen the other video from Fallon last night (the one that went out on the broadcast) of the  new song Rob Peter pay Paul but if not it’s below for your viewing and listening pleasure. It’s great to hear a cleaner version that we’ve seen from various phones and recording devices at concerts in recent weeks and you can really measure the strength of the song. By all definitions I think it is a traditional B.A.D. tune but with a very 21st century hook which borrow a little from some of Mick’s more recent work. I hear a bit of Caesars Palace in there but that could be my imagination.

I’ve got to get back to work but wanted to also point you in the direction of a recently completed reader’s poll from Rolling Stone magazine that asks who the greatest punk band ever were. Although we know the answer I wondered what the readers would do. You start the list at number ten and most of the choices seem pretty valid if a little US centric as you might expect which is fair enough. When I didn’t see The Clash before the final three I assumed top spot was secured. However they managed to choose Green Day!

While I could have stomached The Ramones or even The Sex Pistols (horses for courses) being above The Clash I can’t fathom Green Day being top of that list. If there were no Clash there’d be no Green Day. I think that’s a reasonable statement so how can the latter surpass the former? I know it just reflects the (youngish) readership of the magazine but I still can’t see how a second (third?) generation punk band could possibly top a list for any sussed out reader. I do think Green Day should be in top ten, if only for bringing something back to an audience who never saw earlier punk artists, to say nothing of their own work. Perhaps the part I’m falling down with is expecting too much. Either way you can see the full list and share your thoughts here or preferably just do so here on this site. Incidentally where are Buzzcocks on that list?

Good morning and thanks for stopping in at the blog, now rapidly heading towards the 800th ever post. Blimey! You find me on a Thursday morning with a full mug of coffee and listening to Diamond Dogs by David Bowie, I’m not quite sure why. That midlife crisis thing may actually be sneaking up on me. I have to pack for a few nights away today so I thought a short update prior to a day’s travel through the desert would be in order.

Not much news comes immediately to mind, I image that Big Audio Dynamite must have flown from Heathrow today or yesterday to Tokyo for their Friday night appearance at the Fuji Rock Festival. I know we get an awful lot of readers on the blog from Japan so I’m quietly optimistic that we may receive photos or some notes about the gig from a few of them. Speaking of the festival they have a rather brilliant lineup of bands appearing over the three days although of course I’m not including Coldplay in that description. Arctic Monkeys are also there and I happened to purchase their new album a few weeks ago, yesterday was my first chance to listen to it in full. Let’s just say I’ve heard better lyrics coming from a random search of the dictionary, which based on the album may have been exactly what he did when writing these songs. Does the music make up for the lyrics? No…sorry. As for B.A.D. I’m pleased to see not only will the band not be playing in broad daylight but they will be headlining on the smaller ‘white’ stage. They are also scheduled to play a long set (22:20-23:40) and I’m not even sure that they’ve rehearsed enough songs to fill an 80 minute slot. Expect a lot of asides from Mick Jones on the night.

Remarkably it’s only 6 months short of being thirty years since The Clash first played in Japan at the beginning of 1982 – a period of time that is really well chronicled in the Chris Salewicz biography of Joe Strummer. The response to The Clash from Japanese fans bordered on the obsessive which I can do nothing but applaud and I hope a handful of those same fans will be at the Fuji Rock Festival over the weekend. Just to get some of you in the mood here is a link to an entire Clash concert recorded at the Sun Plaza, Tokyo back on Feb 1, 1982. Thanks to the original KombatBlog - ‘Nuzz Prowlin Wolf’ for the upload.

On a local level I’m cautiously optimistic about this dusty desert town as not one, not two but three new live music venues have opened here in Phoenix over the last few months. I’m going to need to campaign hard to try and get the owners/promoters of said venues to get in some of the British/European bands to add this town to the itinerary as they have all too often skipped it. On the plus side though after a few years of various closures it is a good sign that perhaps live music is making some inroads – especially in venues that hold between 300-900 people that we are painfully lacking in. So good luck to ‘The Foundry on 1st‘ – ‘The Crescent Ballroom‘ and another whose name escapes me.

Do you ever use/listen to last.fm? The online streaming music software that does offer a wide selection whilst simultaneously performing an appalling job of ‘predicting’ the bands you might like? As a lazy resort I sometimes use it and just found that you can look up the most listened to songs by any artists. So of course I plugged in ‘The Clash’. You should too as the results will surprise and then fill you with dismay, above all else it shows you what we’re up against. Tracks 1 & 2 (SISoSIG and Rock the Casbah) are exactly as you might fear but tracks 3 & 4 might cheer you up. An alarming lack of ‘listening’ on last.fm to earlier material it would seem. They are close to being banned as a result due to this and the fact that I’ve finally got Spotify but I’ll make a decision next week. When you work from home and spend 6-12 hours a day writing, blogging, building blogs and websites the companionship and rhythm of music is crucial so I take this far too seriously.

Have a splendid Thursday, please share/tweet/comment as you wish. Best -Tim

Hello, how are you? Thanks for dropping in to the blog, all of a sudden Monday arrived and sort of knocked me over I must confess. A very weird weekend and the distraction/emotions from horrific events in Norway and a sad end to another person fully consumed by addiction gave the weekend some surreal aspects which I didn’t really navigate. Most importantly I hope any blog readers or your families in Norway were not impacted by the tragic events on Friday, although of course the whole country is at some level. As for Amy Winehouse, it’s very sad but I simultaneously saw a lot of people forget any sense of humanity and suggest/comment it was somehow fair game. In which case I suggest you’ve never known an addict and/or forget just how bloody hard Topper Headon had to work to overcome his troubles. I thought this piece by Russell Brand (love him or hate him) about Amy Winehouse was one of the better things I read at the weekend. I’ve no words for what happened in Norway, extremely troubled people fueled by fury, fear and hatred are a constant risk and we remain in a world where intolerance will lead to such events. Terrorism comes in all shapes and colours.

Mick Jones at the Royal Festival Hall, image courtesy Peter Stevens

We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense.   – Russell Brand

On to brighter thoughts then, by all accounts the performance by Big Audio Dynamite at the Royal Festival Hall at the weekend was quite something. Apparently many are saying their best live gig yet since the reunion (being indoors after festivals perhaps!?) or the venue and the charge from the audience in London? I don’t know the facts but the positive words I’m reading everywhere are very encouraging. I’ll hopefully have a series of photos from Pete to share with you soon, in the meantime I wanted to try a new toy on the blog and share some of the videos taken during the gig. Apart from looking like everyone was having a brilliant time the quality of the audio and video is really good as well. My thanks to ’00liadon’ (and one from ‘fergaiq’ for his youtube uploads. Hope you enjoy these as it looked like a great gig, even greater photographs to follow.

B.A.D. “Medicine Show”

B.A.D. “The Bottom Line”

B.A.D. “E=MC2″

B.A.D. “Just Play Music”

B.A.D. “Rush”

I realise the above would look nicer if I had a sixth video but I’ll sacrifice aesthetics for some good videos. Looks like a really good night and if I’m not being unfair (and certainly don’t intend to be) the sound is bigger and better with the change in personnel? I’ll be back soon, hoping you have a good Tuesday. More to follow, please do all you can to share the blog via Twitter, Facebook shares or word of mouth. Thanks – Tim