Trellick Tower

I know I know, I missed a few days…completely unintended – combination of a lot of work, not feeling too brilliant and the excitement around the Jail Guitar Doors events earlier in the week. Back to the Clash Cup this morning as we seek out (via your educated voting patterns) the best Clash songs of all times. I should really be moving at full speed as round one is nearly over – you’ve got some tough decisions to face in round two – trust me the final 64 is bloody strong !!!   I’ve got 4 new songs under the hammer today and we’ve also got to review results from earlier pairings – so let’s start with that shall we?

Cheat defeats Overpowered by Funk 26  -  17

This Is England defeats Version City 29  -  14

Both results essentially as expected and good support for all four tracks. Not sure how much further either of the winners will progress but we will wait and see. So if you’re new to the blog – all I ask is that you use your Clash expertise (or click on the tracks below) and decide which of these 4 should progress through to the next round:

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

Sean Flynn – You should know me by now, yes the link provided is to the Rat Patrol sessions for Combat Rock. Why? Because I think for the most part those versions are stronger than what eventually surfaced for the final (proper) Clash album. It’s up to you of course but I like this version a lot as it is so much more expansive. As for the song itself, it fits into the Montgomery Clift list of Clash songs motivated by an individual in this case war journalist Sean Flynn.

Mensforth Hill - For me, this  an example of excess from Sandinista! Taking a good song (Something About England) and playing it in reverse doesn’t make for a good time for me. When the Beatles did it I wasn’t impressed and The Clash don’t change my personal feeling on that. I’m sure someone is gonna tell me otherwise but I think there were dozens of better songs by the band that were never recorded.

London’s Burning - Not sure if a better song has ever been written about a part of London I know so well. Strummer’s captures the frustration, boredom and alienation that 1976 West London showed him in a song that will live forever in terms of a perfect snapshot of social observation. Brilliant song…simple as that.

English Civil War - What a difficult choice between this and the above. Some critics were very cynical about The Clash taking a traditional folk song and making it a protest song. I’m not one of them. It was a stretch lyrically but still a really powerful song that I think is full of energy and paranoia – a perfect blend for England circa 1978.

Thanks for your votes – should be fun (especially the 2nd match up) – you have until Tuesday morning…I promise another Clash Cup within 24 hours!!

Tim