Hello all – hope you had a chance to look at the video on yesterday’s post – very cool and equally strange to see Paul Simonon and Mick Jones playing and recording together in 2010. I wish I were a fly on the wall when they went for a pint as reported afterward, as it must have been equally strange for them. Mick has (from my vantage point) made a huge transition in the last decade in terms of now working on a variety of projects in different roles. It seemed to stem from his work with The Libertines as a producer at the start of the decade just ended and then evolved onto his work with Tony James / Carbon Silicon. More recently he has partnered up with other for benefit concerts and taken an active role in Strummerville related projects as well. Coupled with that is the music media and the press in general now see members of The Clash as elder statesman with a lot to offer and stories to tell….its all a million miles from where Mick was in the mid-late 90′s after Big Audio Dynamite came to an end. Throw in the Rock and Roll Library and it’s just a thrill that he has been so public and giving in raw terms.

As a fan I’m thrilled that his influence is both more widely recognised but also more widely felt – it’s more than overdue for him along with Topper and Paul. I don’t want this to lead to simple speculation as to why things have ebbed and flowed but I am pleased that the pendulum of higher regard has swung in the right direction for The Clash. Still crossing my fingers that someone with the creative passion and the finances/studio backing tackles the gaping hole where a proper Clash film needs to be made. I genuinely feel that the surviving members would give the right project the support it merits, until such time I’ll just hope it can happen.

Mojo had an interesting piece today about Bernie Rhodes in a list of ‘The Worst Rock n Roll Management Decisions in History”. For his involvement with The Clash Bernard ranks 5th on their list for the issues that tainted the last year or so of the band’s (proper) existence and of course the Clash MK II. From what I know and have researched the complexity of the last months of the band are as tangled as they are multi-layered, apportioning blame to only one individual I think is akin to saying that The Clash made a definitive album. The implosion of the band was just not as simple as that and to this day a proper and frank account has never been put forward by all parties concerned, while in this case of Joe indeed it is already too late. For my money I think Rhodes’ story does need to be told if only to display the critical piece he played in the formation and original path that the band took.

Over the years it has been easy and quick to blame the end of The Clash on Mick and Bernard/Joe and the revamped band seen as a revolting blot on the copybook created by the ego of a manager who wanted to be the band, but is that entirely fair or accurate? I’m not sure to this day and unless more information is provided it has become accepted wisdom – folklore if you will. I’ve offered the ClashBlog as a forum to Bernard Rhodes a few times during 2009 and while we’ve never agreed on a format for the discussion I think it only fair to remark that he has been polite and considerate with his responses to me. In truth I’d most like to discuss the early years of The Clash with him and not those that are trotted out to his detriment concerning the later stages of the band.  Mr. Rhodes has edged towards talking about today and the future which I respect – at some point perhaps he’ll engage with the blog as I think we have a great audience and community that is open to hearing recollections and ideas, thoughts and concerns, even if (especially if) they go against the accepted truth we’ve been fed all these years. Anyway….that rambled on longer than I intended but the offer is still on the table Bernard. Back to Mojo – 1. Credit the blog for the photo of Mr Rhodes please (but thanks for finding us) 2. They think it was as simple as this “Like the USSR, Bernie has been left behind by history” I beg to differ.

That’ll be me done for the day then…cheers

Hello all – I’ve only time for a short post today but it stands to reason that it’s a short video clip to go with it. I’ve got a few other little bits and pieces also so stick around after the video if you’d be so kind.

This video isn’t earth shattering (I wish it were)  – it’s no longer than a 25 second clip but there is more than a bit of a buzz for me knowing the two of them were putting down their guitar parts at the same place at the same time. It is something I’m sure Damon Albarn (who is my age) was very quietly and secretly just getting heaps of pleasure from, I mean he’s only human. Of course I refer to the Gorillaz new album on which they will feature and the fact that Damon’s project take video/music as art to the highest extreme it’s exciting to know a cameraman was there that day – i.e. we can almost surely count on seeing more in the weeks ahead when the album gets released. The clip is below -

In other news – I’m cold today for no apparent reason and pissed off that Arsenal bought no new players.

Otherwise a few short snippets so your trip today was worth more than a 20 second video clip:

Most Def blog gives us his take on The Clash and more specifically the relative importance of London Calling. No updates from the Carbon Silicon site since before Christmas after promises of more contact from TJ – hoping we’re not slipping back into a silent spell lads? Quick moment of silence please as today marks the 15th anniversary of the disappearance (and presumed passing) of Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers. One of those strange sad tales that never will provide a conclusion to be understood. I will say that from 1992-1995 the band provided some of the greatest music of that decade and were amazing to see perform live, if you’ve never invested time with them I encourage you to do so when you can.

Speaking of anniversaries North London’s own John Lydon turned 54 – if you feel like spending some time with him and his videos here’s an easy link to save on typing. One of these days I’m going to write about him at length…I just need to find the right tact.

Finally – song of the day that I felt like sharing – Spoon “Sister Jack” - a reason to like Texas….now how often do I write that?

Sorry for hasty post and somewhat over dramatic blog post title- talk soon I hope!

As promised…the Clash Cup is back, sadly I can’t same for Arsenal as we were dismantled by a Manchester United team who were far more efficient with their attacks and aided by some extremely naive defending by my club. It cast a shadow over the entire day and was only remedied when I dragged my 42 year old legs down to the park this afternoon to play some football myself. Ah well…you’re not here to learn of my malaise but to get back into The Clash Cup – our own unofficial quest to determine the best 16,8 and finally top 4 Clash songs of all time. I dusted off my spreadsheet this afternoon and learned we have one final Round One match to make our votes heard on and then this week we’ll dive into round two. The songs that remain in round two are for the most part all exceptionally good so the voting will be frantic and important.

A brief explanation if you’re new to the blog – we originally listed all know Clash songs and then took a few weeks to ‘seed’ 16 of the best Clash songs. The remaining songs (142 of them) all went into the bucket and a random number generator selected songs to be paired off and voted for. The online poll allows one vote per user and we closed the polls typically 72 hours after the posting went live. The response was great and not everyone could be happy with every result (myself included) but with one vote remaining we are now just about ready to move onto Round 2. First though that final battle -

Protex Blue versus The Magnificent Dance

Two well known tracks on the final slate so please give careful consideration. I’ll close the polls on Wednesday and plan to start Round 2 on Weds or Thursday of this week.

Protex Blue - I believe this is one of the very oldest existing songs that The Clash recorded, the original version dating back to 1975 when Mick Jones wrote it during his brief spell as London SS. Musically its one of the most raw of Clash recordings and a basic chord progression and bridge it has a real garage sound feel. Even the subject matter is a bit fifth form (condoms) but it remains a fun song. Who would have guessed that 35 years later Mick and Tony James would be a band once more writing and recording as Carbon Silicon.

The Magnificent Dance – 12″ records were as much a part of the early 1980′s as being impacted by the cold hand of Margaret Thatcher. The 12″ single evolved for the disco scene initially and became a place for bonus B sides, alternate versions, instrumental versions and the ‘remix’. I’ve always loved this remix of The Mag 7 – probably because my early excellent efforts to make mix tapes always ended with a version of this track faded out at the perfect length to finish side one of my TDK AD 90. If you’re less than 30 years old you probably wonder just what I’m on about.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Get voting and thanks!