Hello again, I hope you found some solace and happiness in the anniversary of Joe’s death yesterday. Its quite nice that the two little ones in this house are used to The Clash blaring out of my office but yesterday they might have been wondering about the overload. Lots of really nice things were written on Facebook yesterday about Joe and I think people are generally making a good fist out of a pretty crap anniversary.

Some nice Joe tributes I saw appear over at Planet Forward , Zani E-Zine , Consequence of Sound, Ickmusic (with a nice bootleg of the Montego Bay show from 1982), and Run Dangerously. If you have time they are each worth a read, especially the first two.

I’ll do my best to wrap up some more of these for you tomorrow. I really enjoy seeing people taking the time to remember seven years on and it fills me with hope that the influence of Joe Strummer / The Clash will last well into this century. Watching music history unfurl as we live is really a strange experience, at Christmas in 1979 I got my copy of London Calling and naturally as a kid you never consider where the album will stand in the pages of music history thirty years later. The aged anniversaries for Clash concerts, events and records keep becoming almost a relic in some senses. With that said the internet with you tube, websites, blogs and social media has become a place to not only keep alive the video and audio that exists but also to further the debate, share ideas and create some sort of unity and community.

Kirsty with The Pogues

Two short other things for you right now, if (like me) you live in a household where Christmas music is preferred this week over your normal indie and punk you could do  a lot worse than check out the free mp3s (no download needed) over at the Indie Rock Cafe. There are well over 140 songs from XTC, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, The Ramones, Belle and Sebastian and many more. It certainly beats Perry Como and Band Aid.

Finally a quick thumbs up to Billy Bragg who (with Florence and The Machine) ambitiously covers one of the best Christmas songs of all time – ‘A Fairytale of New York’. It’s nice to listen to but you can’t replace dear Kirsty MacColl no matter how hard you try, amazingly nine years have passed since we lost one of the sweetest voices I’ve ever heard. Still I get my Strummer references in with the Pogues plus check the acoustic guitars used in the video below.

Tim

Good Morning, The Clash Cup is back! I know it’s a long time coming like someone you just assumed had lost your number who suddenly calls. Ever done that? Assumed you wouldn’t hear from someone you liked and moved on with your life and met someone else fairly quickly only to have the one you’d given up on suddenly contact you? Life can be so cruel when you’re a teenager!!

Right then – The Clash Cup – Round One is nearly over so lets get back to it. The rules are simple but if you’re new to the blog – I list pairings of Clash songs and you dear reader have to weigh them up and cast your informed vote. The most votes sees the song through to round two (starting in a few days) and so on. Polls remain open for about 2.5 days and your participation is both encouraged but also warmly appreciated. Round 2 is going to be tasty as its safe to say the vast majority of the match ups for that stage will be difficult at best – and then we have today’s tracks to vote for.

Match 52 -              Jail Guitar Doors versus One Emotion

Match 53 -              Know Your Rights versus Midnight Log

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

Before you click away I’ll do my usual link so you can refresh (in case) or just enjoy my meanderings about the songs in question – but don’t forget to click afterwards!

Take a right for Portobello Road

Jail Guitar Doors – This song has taken on a life of it’s own the last couple of years hasn’t it and the blog has mentioned it many times due to the Billy Bragg / Mick Jones backed project to provide guitars as a rehabilitation tool for prison inmates. Can’t let that distract from one of the more enjoyable (I know – shite adjective) Clash singalongs. When I first heard this as 13 year old I played it loud and in the intervening years that remains the only way to listen to it. Originally just a b-side (Clash City Rockers) it’s also one of the rare holdovers from the 101′ers – well the chorus was anyway as Mick Jones rebuilt the verses. Great fun and fairly sure it will defeat:

One Emotion - In the early Summer of ’78 The Clash spent a lot of time in Basing Street Studios (just 100 yards from the location of today’s photograph from the Westway) and recorded primal versions of much of what to become Give ‘em Enough Rope. From those sessions came the track One Emotion and while its a song I’ve always had a soft spot for a cleaner recording of it would have been welcome. The song itself has a bit of a traditional feel and is apparently the band’s take on wooden actor Roger Moore and his ‘one emotion’ portrayed throughout Bond films. Based on my research the inspiration was probably The Spy Who Loved Me or The Man With Golden Gun. Clash trivia…which band that supported The Clash mentioned both of those films in one of their songs? (easy one for you!)

Know Your Rights – I loved this when I first heard it, I still love it now. At the time it was as a ‘return to form’ by the music press who wanted a punchier Clash than they’d been chewing the prior 18 months. In truth it was a rockabilly riff and Strummer barking out a call to action aimed at anyone who’d listen. It has aged well (in my opinion) and demonstrates that much of what the band were doing in their dying days was still vital, angry and worthwhile. Funnily enough (until I remind myself of the status Combat Rock afforded the band in the States) it is still a song I’ll hear on the radio and jukeboxes alike. It also opened my ears to a whole rockabilly/psychobilly scene I’d previously ignored in London. (ahhh…the Klubfoot!)

Midnight Log – Off we go to another amazing example of the dexterity that was abundant throughout Sandinista! For some reason this was one of the few songs my sister approved off by The Clash. Let me see that was 1981 or 1982 so she was enthused with Antmusic or Dexy’s so I suppose it all adds up. Topper just could play anything eh?

Get voting, polls will close Thursday PM.

Tim

Just a quick follow up from yesterday as a few people had emailed me to ask more about the Damien Hirst / Joe Strummer history,connection and

Damien Hirst (and a cow)

relationship. I thought I’d so some additional scouring to see what promotional activity went hand in hand with the current auction that I covered yesterday and it seems Damien has been doing the rounds with the UK press  and giving some really informative interviews about his art, the charity and his relationship with Joe(not the tabloids) so rather than reinvent the wheel and explain more about their past and Hirst’ current place in the Art world – it’s better for me to link out to these interviews. Incidentally, I’m waiting to learn what the Strummer piece covered yesterday raised at the auction. Lots of good information and some Strummer tidbits are included therein so have a quick look at the links below.

Interview with the Guardian – Nov 14

A great interview in The Times – Nov 13 (much Joe commentary including this beneath)

“I think Joe taught me the most fundamental things, such as that who you are and what you represent are equally important”

Interview with the Independent Nov 13

Also tonight – more Jail Guitar Doors news from Billy Bragg as the Bard of Barking interviews with metronews.ca and explains that the US chapter may also be getting some competition from Canada. Good old Billy can always be counted on to further a cause and take it global. I’ve actually got some unconfirmed rumours that you can expect to see Mick Jones and Billy Bragg together stateside in the Spring, more on that as I get confirmation.

Finally – use your social media skills and help promote the fact that Carbon Silicon are giving away their new album via their official site. If you twitter – send a tweet, if you use facebook – make an update with the link. It’s a great way to share their music with your existing connections and it takes a few seconds. I’ll be back with part 2 of the track-by-track review of the album tomorrow.

Tim