Hello again, we’re getting to the very last embers of round one. At that point I’ll build out the page on the site so you can review the remaining 64 so you can assess what’s at stake. I’m looking at a competition to see who can best predict the final 8 Clash songs when all this voting is over. Perhaps giveaway the new Carbon Silicon album to the two best guesses. I’ll work out the details and let you know. For now I just need your votes to get us down to a final 64 best Clash songs of all time. Prior to our new pairings I’ve got a quick results update to provide:

Julie’s Been Working For The Drug Squad defeats Are You Ready 39  -  2

Something About England defeats Rebel Waltz 28  -  14

Two results that I guess went as expected. Are You Ready suffers the 2nd worst defeat of the round. I look forward to seeing what you think of these new four?

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Wrong ‘em Boyo – This is another Clash cover version and even at that it’s a unique take. The original version is somewhat followed until Strummer instructs them to ‘start all over again’ which indeed they do. The original reggae track was by Roland Alphonso, a Cuban born exile who moved to Jamaica at the age of two. Alphonso was at his most active 1960-1974 but continued playing live right up til his death in 1998.

Tommy Gun - This was probably the biggest surprise of the ‘seeding’ votes we had before the tournament started. I thought this was guaranteed to be protected but fell short of the required votes. Topper’s drums and then the loudest E chords you could ask for. Amazing song, full of power and certain (?) to get through to the next round.

1977 – An early early Clash track that was a Joe’s warning song about 77-84 and with hindsight maybe was prophetic. Great lyrics, and something that captures London and England in a non-majestic but really canny snapshot as it stood in the mid 70′s. I wish that the times when I saw The Clash they had played this song, sadly it was not to be.

Dirty Punk - A Clash song…from Mark II. If you’ve more to add let me know.

Thanks in advance for your votes, you have until Saturday morning to make your decisions. Cheers all.

Good Morning Clash Fans….glad it’s the weekend though no idea why I’m awake at this hour. I was looking at doing some lofty writing but it’ll have to wait. Though I do need to get the blog on track this week as there are a series of interviews to orchestrate and announce I’ve found myself a bit buried with other stuff so bear with me. I’ll get through a few batches of The Clash Cup this weekend, I’ve updated the Cut The Crap page and I need to update Global a Go Go as the US/UK battle remains tense! (see above links)

For now though I wanted to write a bit about Facebook and The Clash. Facebook as you surely know is the social media site that allows you to build a profile, add friends, vent about the weather or the government and essentially create an online micro world that for some people can replace their own lives. You have to limit your time on there as it can create a time vacuum that eats an entire evening. That said it’s a good place for music in general and to shout from the treetops that you love The Clash, or Goodfellas, or even Ribena. All options are covered. It’s (naturally) a really good source for current bands and issues etc and I have found it useful for networking for the Clash Blog. I also like it as a ‘free’ way to keep in contact with friends across the world without the formality of email.

I thought I’d quickly focus on some Clash related ‘pages’ and point you toward them if you are a facebooker.

1. TheClashBlog page - coming soon…I’ve delayed this and for the time being you can add me here (as some of you have) but I’ll have the FB profile for the blog up soon.

2. The Clash page – 316,026 Fans.

Overview: Very global is the best thing I can say about it. It’s obviously run by Sony as the profile image (from the thousands available) is the cover of “Live at Shea” - I mean come on, if you have to revert to an album cover at least make it a classic. The page is not well maintained and lacks much useful source information. For example it lists 5 albums, all released this decade so the aim is simply payola. The Clash lists its members as including Rob Harper, Pete Howard, Nick Sheppard, Vince White so while accurate it a bit of a stretch.

Video – nothing special, 5 tracks you’ve all seen before.

Audio - see video. no effort made.

Photos - (usually a strength on facebook) this page offers 4 (four!) photos of the band. I find that appalling

Activity - Naturally enough with 300k plus ‘fans’ the comments section is pretty active but not terribly so considering the population. A very weak FB page especially when you realise what it could/should be.

3. The Clash (unofficial) page – 6,371 fans

This is far more like it, a page that would actually make you think that Facebook has some merit. This is a page run by fans and with fans in mind, the complete opposite of the effort by Sony. Lots of time and effort has been made getting the page up and running and (unlike the former) it’s one I check every now and then. Topics, videos and ideas are all there to be explored; nice job.

Video – 4 videos, one of which is kind of cool a short audio snippet with Joe Strummer sounds like it was taken in a pub and Joe sounds like its getting near closing time.

Stuff - 17 discussion topics ranging from ‘best live show’ to ‘best bass lines’ – worth some time. Wall posts are fairly active – again shows the global appeal of the band.

Audio -nothing found

Photos - 160+ and a fair few worth looking at, some pretty decent stuff.

Activity - Not great but more interesting than the ‘official’ effort and some potential.

4. THE CLASH (French) – 400 fans

I see a good bit of traffic to the blog from France and The Clash enjoyed significant support from across the channel. The facebook page is nice to see and has a few videos and photos. Worth a trip I’d say, nes’t pas.

5. London Calling – 132 fans

This also appears to be French. Nothing more than a track listing, a few (8) videos from the album and not much more. Maybe it’s a new one?

6. Paul Simonon – 2,199 fans

Nice to see a Paul page, and not a bad one at that. A few good photos, a nice bio and an active wall makes it worth a visit.

7. What about Paul Simonon!? – 408 fans

For a small fan base this is a great page. Good bio info, even a bit of Havana 3am and TGTBaTQ for extra depth. Lots of recent activity, discussion topics and a general good level of interactivity. 125 photos including the well dodgy speedo image. (go and see)

Right…there lots more of this to come and needless to say not all of it good! Stay tuned.

Friday afternoon and I’m knackered, supposed to play football in a few hours and it is 104f so I’m not impressed at all. This recent video frenzy I’ve been on isn’t intentional, it’s just that there are a number of things I keep finding coupled with great clips being sent to me (which is much appreciated). I will write more soon, I promise I just tend to remember stories I want to write about but instantly forget video so I have to seize the moment and get this stuff posted.  For this afternoon I wanted to share a video of Billy Bragg performing at the Electric Picnic 5 Sep in Ireland, this hot on the heels of his recent Beethoven inspired trip to Los Angeles. The clip is most notable for both the song but also the Strummer/Jail Guitar Doors guitar that Bragg is playing.

Regular visitors may accuse me of mentioning Billy Bragg too often and I’ve a 2 part answer to that. Yes I do mention him, I’m a huge fan of Bragg and have been for over 25 years. Equally importantly I feel that Billy Bragg comes from the same bloodlines that got the Clash up and running at the dawn of British Punk. From his earliest Bragg plus amp being labeled as a ‘one-man Clash’ right through to the present day and his continued dedication to causes that deserve attention. In conjunction he’s the engine room behind Jail Guitar Doors and will never cease to triumph the impact that The Clash had in terms of both influence on him but also their importance to music history.

Bragg doesn’t seek the easy path, even as he has matured and the issues have changed from Thatcher and supporting striking Coal Miners through to international business practices and the corruption of big oil money. Mixing pop and politics has been his battle for so long and I only wish more artists would mix a little more awareness into their agendas. That said I know there are those who can’t stand Bragg….if you’re one of those don’t worry you’re still welcome round these parts, you can’t help your lack of taste! There’s a lengthy (18 minute) 2 part inverview with Bragg that goes along with the track which I endorse. He now has a 15 year old son who is learning guitar and NOT supporting West Ham (good lad), Billy’s storytelling as usual is hilarious.

Part One -- Billy Bragg Interview

Part Two -- Billy Bragg Interview