It’s been pouring with rain the better part of 24 hours, weather like this makes me long for a ride on a double decker down to my local pub. The Sunday papers to read all about the football and have a nice flaky sausage roll. If you’ve always lived in England and bemoan the clouds and rain just trust me when you live in the sunniest place imaginable you do miss the rain. So I’ve been happy as can be this wet winter while the locals can’t stop complaining about the weekly rains.

I’ve been reading (again) the excellent Chris Salewicz bio of Joe Strummer recently, nothing certifies a great book as much as being able to read it again and still find a lot to enjoy. The complexities of Strummer are something to behold but the sincerity and dedication of the man can’t be questioned. If you haven’t read it – it is a book that will at times make you recoil at times as you learn about Joe up close from those who knew him, and while it’s not a book that seeks to put a halo above Strummer’s head it is still a book that needed to be written. I mention this as I was reading about how Joe was perfectly happy as a late teen (and again in his 40’s) to visit a 3-4 day music festival or even an extended country party. It might involve just a sleeping bag on the grass somewhere but his borderline nomadic tendencies probably made being in a band that was constantly touring that much easier to adjust to. Much of it was also possibly because he moved so often before the age of ten (and from country to country) and then felt that he was ‘discarded’ into a boarding school. If that represents the first seventeen years of your life it is fairly easy to understand that Joe probably never felt settled anywhere/felt at home anywhere depending on your point of view. I went the long way round to get there, but knowing and wet and gloomy the English weather can be, how did he manage to rough it when needed? Was the weather that much better in the late 60’s? From my memory (1974 onwards) the only summer England has ever had that was very warm and dry was 1976 which was also the summer that punk germinated in London. Just a coincidence? It does make you wonder. Incidentally there are 10 signed copies of Salewicz’ book Redemption Song – The Ballad of Joe Strummer being given away in a drawing via his site – so drop on by.

I’ve only one other short thing this evening (Clash Cup tomorrow) and it’s something definitely worth a read. The blog ‘Ariff Minds The Gap’ has written a good article about ‘Cut The Crap’. He has more of an opinion on the album than I can compose at present, well at the very least he explores some of the legend behind the making of the final ‘Clash’ album. I’ve got to be honest, if I was introducing someone to The Clash I’d most probably suggest they stop their historic education with Combat Rock. Am I being unfair?

Finally, I found myself in the mood to at last tackle the film ‘Control’ this weekend by Anton Corbijn. As you are no doubt aware the film focuses on the last 7 or 8 years of Ian Curtis and the formation of Warsaw who were to become Joy Division. I read a great deal about the film when it was released in 2007 and then partly by intent never saw the film. I’m pleased I waited, it gave me distance from all the reviews and recommendations and I was able to watch it with my knowledge of Curtis and Joy Division as it previously was – fairly in keeping with the film. I must say I thought it was incredibly creative in it’s production and the major character of Ian, his wife and his mistress were all superbly cast. The film has a brutal starkness to it and the use of Black and White only adds to the desolation of the story itself and the settings of Manchester and Macclesfield in the mid-late 70’s. My only complaint was the minor characters (example, the rest of Joy Division!) were somewhat shallow and bordered on cliched but that scarcely detracted from a stunning film, my comment is tempered by the fact that the film was truly about Ian Curtis after all. The palpable sense of despair and confusion circling his life almost brings you to frustration, but the final feeling is one I’ve had since I first heard he died when I was just a kid – what a tragically brief life. You almost sense that Curtis was dying as soon as he joined the band. Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as his wife Debbie are simply remarkable. I hope you’ve had the chance to see the film, if not you should.

Yes it was thirty years ago today that Strummer/Jones taught the world to play…..

Jan 5, 1980 heralded the  US release of London Calling which considering the debut album never got a proper US release and Give Em Enough Rope was far from a huge success in America was probably much smaller news then than the anniversary of the event all these years later. London Calling was received to universal critical acclaim in the States; most notably within the pages of Rolling Stone and sat on the the cliff edge linking the 1980’s to what had been happening in the UK for the previous 3-4 years. London Calling bridged the decades because it was ultimately one of the most diverse Rock and Roll records of the era, perhaps ever. For a Clash fan it merely hastened the journey that the next two albums (and singles that were released during that time) would provide to send us bouncing around with the musical experimentation that the band were embracing, some fans bailed after the debut and many more after London Calling and Sandinista!. Perhaps more clearly it showed a growing love of the US and especially New York City which influenced the band far more than any of their British contemporaries up to that point.

London Calling was the record that paved the way for so many other British bands to succeed in the US and tightened up the links between punk and rock as opposed to Punk Rock. The English version of Punk was (in my opinion) something that was more in tune with the British market,  boredom over the Westway, dole queues and the riots in Notting Hill were always going to lose something in the translation. The US merited (and had) its own unique punk bands/scenes and I think this is why London Calling crossed over so effectively. It had much broader horizons, with lyrics and songs that resonated whether you were in Des Moines or Dundee. According to the critics it was The Clash at their very best, according to sales it was another rung on the ladder of success that peaked with Combat Rock, according to me it was simply the soundtrack to being 13,14,15,16 and it has never left my side since.

If someone knocked on my door tomorrow who had lived in a cave for their entire life but wanted to understand music from the last 50 years this would be one of the 5 albums I would hand them…and also tell them to play it first. Enough from me – have a look at what the New York Post had to say on this anniversary. It would also be neglectful of me not to link ‘that review’ from Rolling Stone.

For all its first-take scrappiness and guerrilla production, this two-LP set–which, at the group’s insistence, sells for not much more than the price of one–is music that means to endure. It’s so rich and far-reaching that it leaves you not just exhilarated but exalted and triumphantly alive.              (Rolling Stone, January 1980)

On which format did you first own London Calling?

• Cassette (7%, 4 Votes)
• CD (original issue) (18%, 10 Votes)
• CD (25th Anniversary) (7%, 4 Votes)
• Double Album Vinyl (68%, 38 Votes)
• I never owned it (0%, 0 Votes)
• 8 Track (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 56

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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

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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