Hello again and welcome once more to the blog. After a busy few days it will either come to you as a relief or a shock to find that this post isn’t exclusively about Joe Strummer. Indirectly a decision that Joe made in 1983 led to what I’m about to write about, but that would be splitting hairs. I finally got around to getting a copy of the Legacy edition of the Big Audio Dynamite debut “this is Big Audio Dynamite”. Few things scream louder about the passing of years than these special editions that are getting released to celebrate anniversaries of the initial release. I suppose that only cuts to the quick when you have a clear memory of purchasing the album (on vinyl) at the first time of asking. I don’t feel so bad about that knowing that so many of you are in the same boat.

The album was originally released with great anticipation in October of 1985, although you could argue the official 25th anniversary is not for a few months CBS/Sony/Legacy actually released the special edition in April of this year. I don’t quite know why I didn’t pick up it earlier but that’s neither here nor there. I would’ve been 18 when the album was released and that two year spell between what was essentially the dissolution of The Clash and the release of this album was a spell where I found myself listening to some great music but still lamenting the end of the band. After The Clash split you could rely upon the NME and Melody Maker to provide at least occasional gossip about the future of Mick Jones, what was clear from the very earliest days was that he wouldn’t be rejoining The Clash and that Joe and Paul with some new recruits would keep the band name if not the quality. Late in 1983 or early 84 it was reported that Mick was working with Topper and a new plan was being formed, when the rumour fell quiet the next thing I recall reading was that he would be working with Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger from The Beat as a member of the newly formed General Public. That turned out to be far more than a rumour and Mick did indeed work with them on their new material and featured on their debut album “All The Rage” which I believe was released in the summer of 1984.

I get the impression that Mick’s involvement with them may have been more a case of helping out than his next career move. By all accounts simultaneously in 1984 Mick had continued to sow the seeds which were to become Big Audio Dynamite. He had certainly approached Don Letts very early on and the remaining members of the band were in place that same summer. Leo Williams had been playing with Mick since very soon after he left The Clash whilst drummer Greg Roberts was added later during ’84, plus Dan Donovan on keyboards in ’85. Reading the music papers compulsively combined with the fact that I worked in a record shop at that age resulted in me frequently asking our CBS rep if he knew anything about Big Audio Dynamite and when something might be expected. In hindsight it seemed like an awful long time had passed between the rumors of the band working and recording and the actual release late in 1985. Strangely, during that same period of time the new version of The Clash had been equally quiet in terms of recording output but they had played live as a now five piece lineup extensively during 1984. That in itself kept The Clash under the spotlight and while the glare was not on Mick Jones it’s now very clear just who was producing the more worthwhile record.

It’s also interesting that while The Clash with a revamped lineup hit the road in earnest in 1984 some of the tracks that eventually made up the final Clash album were in existence very soon after Mick got the sack. I remember thinking that the delay between Combat Rock and that album seemed almost endless, especially for a band who had released so much material between 77 and 82. If anything the feeling was that the new Clash would get a head start on Mick by releasing some new material first but in a strange twist of fate it was actually Big Audio Dynamite that released their first album about three weeks prior to The Clash. Working in a record shop at the time and knowing a lot of Clash fans it is hard to believe that we used to debate whether the Big Audio Dynamite album could possibly be as good as whatever The Clash did next. I also recall still being pissed off about the way Mick was ousted and had a quiet suspicion that his project would actually turn out to be better. Probably the only time I was ever 100% correct when forecasting events connected to The Clash. It’s a bit hard to relate just how different things were in 1985 perhaps Mick Jones sums it up best in the sleeve notes for the newly released Legacy edition: “What do I remember?… Reagan was president, Thatcher was Prime Minister and we were Big Audio Dynamite”

I will scribble up my review of the Legacy edition later this week focusing on the bonus artwork, the special packaging, the fully remastered first album and the bonus disc which probably drew the most attention. That’s all for now-Tim.

July 20, 1984 story from the 'Ottawa Citizen'

Thanks for dropping back in at the blog – hoping your Saturday went well wherever you may be. I’m trying to keep a number of ongoing series of features active on the site, one of which is Clash landmarks which looks in some detail at venues where The Clash played live or other significant places in the history of the band.  In part one of this post I started to look back at the venue just outside of Denver where The Clash started the US legs of the Combat Rock tour. Beginning a set of dates in Colorado is not typical for a band traveling over from the UK but that was how it was scheduled. 1982 was a year of intense touring for the band and the US dates came just 6 days break after a 22 date UK tour which itself was on the heels of an earlier US tour and dates in Asia. By the time they arrived in Denver they had already played more than 80 dates and it was only early August.

Back to the venue itself…..Red Rocks looks simply brilliant and the thought of a nice summer night there and a good band would be a brilliant mix. The setting itself is not something you will find in London of course as the sloped seating is shielded on both sides by huge limestone walls to create a natural bowl. As I lamented in the prior post its just a shame that ‘Live at Red Rocks’ (or any another venue) wasn’t part of the band’s history, whether that was due to the record company or the band I don’t have inside knowledge of course.

Remarkably a stage has stood and concerts were first held at Red Rocks over a century ago when entrepreneur John Walker (I know…coincidence!!)  saw the potential of the location.  He held a few concerts there in the early 1900′s and eventually in 1927 the city of Denver and the parks authority bought the site from Walker. The site was improved in the 1940′s and has held a regular concert series every summer since 1947. The Beatles even played there in 1964 as the venue began to host rock events which it did until 1971 when a riot took place at a Jethro Tull concert. (Jethro Tull get their first and only mention on the blog). Less risky acts were only brought in for a few years and later (1976) it returned to being an active rock venue. While the list of bands that have played Red Rocks is really impressive we’re focused on The Clash and the show in ’82.

The band were tight by all accounts and a set of more than 20 songs wasn’t over dependent on the new material from Combat Rock but pulled from a library that now stood at over a hundred possible songs. Allen Ginsberg also appeared onstage for his recital. Were you there? If so would love to hear your recollections. In addition this series will be greatly enhanced in general by any concert memories you have so I’ll always welcome your input if you have. I recommend you have a look at the official Red Rocks site for more images and audio, video and other goodies.

More soon…gotta run around in the heat for a while. – Tim *(thanks for dropping in)

Hello all – welcome to the weekend and a new season for Arsenal. A lack of activity in the transfer market leaves Arsenal supporters.…..ahhh….no, wrong blog, you really don’t want to hear all that do you? I will boldly predict the premier league table this weekend if you want to chime in…but for now The Clash!

Image courtesy Hank O'Neal - Mick Jones NYC 1982

I had something on tap for this evening until the video beneath came to my attention (thanks Simon & Brenda). There is a part one to the video but its essentially 6 minutes of very little to watch although Joe is funny towards the end, part two is what is of interest. This has been on youtube for quite some time so apologies if you have already seen it – it isn’t tagged in an obvious fashion so hopefully I’m not the last Clash fan in the world to have seen this. Thanks to Brenda again who can shed extra light on the specifics – the film was captured in Dec 1981 at Electric Lady Studios in New York. The video captures some conversation with Mick and Joe as they’ve been working on mixing Know Your Rights from the last Clash album (well..next to last) which wasn’t to see a release for another six months or so. Joe is really funny if not entirely convinced by the unfinished track but seems to loosen up when the playback starts, Mick explains ‘it hasn’t been mixed yet’ . The video captures a full version with fairly decent audio of the playback of the song with the original rough mix, a very different sounding song in tone and lyrics from what eventually found its way onto Combat Rock after Mick was removed from production duties. A lot has been written about ‘Rat Patrol’ mixes of the album when Mick headed production which not only featured at times radically different versions of songs that remained on the album but also a number of tracks that were then scrapped at a fairly advanced stage. Production was handed over to Glyn Johns who shortened tracks in length and ‘polished’ (I wouldn’t use that adjective) the songs to something that was more palatable to CBS or other members of the band depending on whose account is correct. Sadly while CBS saw fit to release one greatest hits album after another we’ve yet to have a full version of the Rat Patrol mixes from The earlier sessions so they can be compared side by side. Perhaps for the 30th anniversary?

The video is interesting  for a number of reasons, the energy in the studio, the demeanour of Joe who seems gradually satisfied with the track and the focus of Mick. The reaction to the song being played back is priceless in itself and leaves me wondering if Mick’s removal from production duties had far more to do with the label or management than Joe (or Paul/Topper).

I actually debated whether this video is even a good fit for the blog as due to the circumstances a lot might be read into what you see. Its really worth remembering everyone is very aware of it being filmed (not a daily event when cutting an album) and react in accordance to some extent. I don’t know more than most of you – and some of you know a lot more than I about the later days of The Clash. As I’ve expressed numerous times I think about 50 things went wrong over those last 18 months and you can argue that pulling Mick off of production was yet another one. It’s so simplistic to put it down to a single event, simplistic and almost certainly wrong. As a fan of the band and especially the music I’d like to have heard the original mixes of that album but not as bootlegs as they seemed to be pushing sounds into far bolder shapes than what was to then become Combat Rock. Regardless its on youtube anyway so I thought you’d find it worth a few minutes of your time.

Still – hope you enjoy it…..it made my evening a level more challenging (yes I argue with myself about the blog….how normal is that?).  Back soon ~

Mixing ‘Know Your Rights’, New York Dec ’81

PS – My thanks to our friend Alan Miles who posted this video to our facebook page, please have a look at this splendid cover version of ‘Straight To Hell’

PPS – Keep an eye on the EVENTS page (top tool bar) as I’ll keep adding reminders for upcoming stuff !!