Joe and William Burroughs

Good Morning wherever you may be reading and cheers for visiting the blog. A different sort of day here as its not hot, it rained all night long, I heard a woman screaming outside her boyfriend/husband/lovers house until the police came at 4am and now I’m watching Arsenal. Its like being back in London minus the new bicycle hire program. I think the bike idea is great though the sponsorship is hideous. As for The Clash, the last time we did this it seemed to get a favourable response so we’ll do it again as I scour vimeo, youtube, google video and other shared services for the best and worst new video uploads that hopefully most of you have yet to see before. If you stumble on something especially brilliant that might be good for the blog please contact me via the usual channels. Let’s get cracking then.

Billy Bragg performing Redemption Song on the Jail Guitar Doors road trip: As the Strummerville linked tour continued recently into Scotland and points North Bragg spoke and performed songs in addition to the film screening. The video is from some distance from the stage (no zoom on the camera?) but the audio is good, moreover the cause is tinged with Joe.

Big Audio Dynamite MTV concert from 1992: I’m sure this has been seen by some of you but it’s a new upload and I’ve seen it before it was probably not enjoyed as much as this in the days of dial-up! Mick sports one his nicest hats  as the band perform ‘Can’t Wait’ and ‘Contact’. Crowd sound seems a bit odd but good fun to watch, was Mick’s hair ever really that long? I think we previously determined that the pony tail was fake. The shirt…yes I made the same fashion mistake right around the same era. Clips remind me just how much of a party BAD were as a live proposition, I think I saw them four times in total and they were on form each time.

A cover of London Calling by…two people: Bloody hell…I had to watch this so you should too. I don’t quite know what to say. Is it the semi-operatic vocals she offers, the fact that her mouth doesn’t seem to sing or his ever so laid back delivery? Then just when you think you know what to expect at the very end she turns into Debbie Harry for a few lines. I am trying not to laugh and it’s nice that they covered the song and put it on youtube. If your response is good I may see what other work they’ve done. All I can tell you is she is called Claire….

Police on My Back bass / surgical mask: Do you remember Clinic? You should it was very recent, they used to appear on stage in full surgical gear and perform. I saw them live round about 2004 and I liked the band but the overriding memory was the oddness of not being able to see their faces in full, a bit like seeing the Wombles I would assume? This chap has the surgical mask on (indoors?) but don’t let that be a detriment, his bass work is flowing and competent as he plays Paul’s notes really well on one of my favourite Clash tracks for the bass.

To finish a few honourable mentions. Casey Neill & The Norway Roots perform a decent cover version of ‘Coma Girl’.  Audio only on this one sadly as Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War perform ‘Love Kills’ in Manchester ‘85. This is good and you’ve probably heard it – Camper Van Beethoven doing ‘Kingston Advice’. Doesn’t top the original but it does bring its own flavour to the track.

Must be a Clash ~ there’s no alternative. Thanks for dropping by, please share on facebook below if you can…I’ll be back soonish. Arsenal drew 1-1; shadows of last season already….

Another quick update for you, you’ll have to bear with me as I am finding the energy to type with the brief return to cooler weather. Just ate the nearest thing I’ve had in years to a North London kebab from this new Greek place that has opened nearby. If it were raining and 35 degrees colder I could have squinted and pretended I was walking down to Turnpike Lane tube. His menu I must mention, he was Greek but decided anywhere that bordered the Mediterranean was fair game, Greek food rubbed shoulders with Italian, Turkish, Middle Eastern and Moroccan.  Couldn’t help but think of Joe singing Bhindhi Bhagee as I scanned the menu, welcome stranger to the humble neighbourhood indeed.

Regular readers will remember a lot of the work last year and this Spring that centred around the Jail Guitar Doors project. One of the many special moments was the rare reunion of Mick with Topper Headon as they partnered with Billy Bragg to record a new version of the song that christened the project, the original post was nearly a year ago which is hard to believe.  Since that time the Alan Miles film that chronicled the project has helped raise awareness along with the continued efforts of Bragg plus Wayne Kramer who launched JGD USA.  Following a year spent touring and being an activist for electoral reform in the UK plus his protests against RBS bonuses Billy Bragg is back to help Alan Miles with a Scottish leg of the project. To date only one prison in Scotland has allowed Jail Guitar Doors to donate guitars to inmates but the hope is that may well change soon. Bragg and Miles were in Edinburgh for the Scottish launch of the film Breaking Rocks this week at the Cameo Cinema in the city. After the film Bragg plus two former inmates performed tracks from the cinema stage. I’d like to link you to Reel Scotland.com who have a nice feature on the event in addition to exclusive audio interviews with both Billy Bragg and Alan Miles. Nice work by all!

Meanwhile in the USA you really should follow Wayne Kramer on facebook, lots of information always added plus photographs etc and former MC5 star is a really humble bloke too. Speaking of prison I watched Shawshank Redemption again recently for I don’t know the 30th time, I keep waiting for that film to seem anything less than brilliant and I don’t think it ever will. Just a brilliant film. Lastly….Gorillaz….(sorry) but it seems .5C/G are taking the piss a bit announcing just one date of the US tour in New York’s Madison Square Garden on October 8th. Are they going to announce one venue per day for the next two weeks? Feed Good (inc) not really just a bit of an needless extended wait to find out how far we’re all going to need to drive/fly.

OK I think I’ll wrap it up there and go back to thinking of Greek food and North London.

Well hello again….it’s Saturday night and I’m glad to be back – welcome. The topic tonight is self-explanatory – the return of The Clash Cup! If you’re a regular you know the drill – vote for your favourite track in the quest to find the ultimate Top 10 of Clash songs. If you are a newer arrival we started this magnificent process last Summer (seriously) and I do mean to complete it so you’re very welcome to join in. For the rules and concept please visit this older post where I had clarity in better doses about the method. Speaking of voting I asked over a week ago whether .5C/G (Gorillaz with half of The Clash) should play a Clash song at Glastonbury. Thanks for your votes and there is a decent consensus which you

Police on my back...

can see on the original story. I was happy to see that 63% of you felt it was the ideal tribute, and another 17% felt it depended on the song. So only 20% remain resolutely against the idea of a Clash song ringing around Glastonbury this week – despite the fact that Mick and Paul will be performing it. Don’t really understand your logic if you’re in that minority but I respect it. I also hope the rest of us are fawning over a video this time next week of the other outcome!

Speaking of doubts, I know I’ve dragged my heels on The Clash Cup – but I really think it’s worth continuing as we’ve had some good fun and discussions as a result. That will only heighten as we keep chopping down the number of remaining songs and the decisions become more difficult. If you nothing else about this process know this – all the songs are matched up at random – so you might have to kick out a song you love. Before the next pairing a review of our last result, I’m ashamed to say it was back in March (!!) but I’ve a partial excuse as the blog went to The Shetland Islands for six weeks being rebuilt. The two up for grabs were The Leader versus Every Little Bit Hurts – and The Leader won comfortably with 72.4% of the vote. Sandinista! lovers rejoice. Okay then enough fluff – I’ve visited the random number generator and picked today’s pairing. If I get my life together we’ll try and run the cup twice a week, allowing the players time to recover and train.

So dig into these two: Round Two Match Five

Jail Guitar Doors         versus         Police On My Back

That’s not easy is it? Most of the time I’m quite sure what to vote for and this isn’t one of those times. I’d hate to see either get knocked out here in Round Two – worth noting the best runners up will make the final 64, perhaps this will save the one with fewer votes. How do you pick? Listen to both (below) or maybe study your tea leaves.

Form:

Round 1 – Jail Guitar Doors defeated One Emotion – with an amazing 96% of the vote

Round 1 – Police On My Back defeated Hateful  – picking up 55% of the vote

Odds:

You might not want to trust the ClashBlog bookmaker or a prediction here as I’ve only been correct on 2 out of 4 this round. Considering the ‘fame’ of both tracks and I’m sure it will be very close. Seeing as Police.. beat Hateful I think it might have enough to see off Jail Guitar Doors. Then again earlier Clash songs seem to bring out the voters. I’m going to forecast Police On My Back although at long odds – perhaps by a vote or two.

Stuff:

Jail Guitar Doors isn’t your average early Clash number but has Mick really stamping his authority all over it with guitar. Arguably Joe’s barking 54-46….over the last 25 seconds outro make it one of the best endings to a Clash song. On the other hand Police on my Back has one of my favourite openings to any Clash song, if you ever wondered how powerful Topper was this one is like a machine, download some different live performances of this one.

As ever you can make your mind up in the privacy of your own cubicle but first have a final look at these. Your standard version of JGD is here but you might like the abbreviated (and very blurry) clip from Arms Aloft in Acton in 2007 with Mick Jones which is here. As for Police On My Back it has to be the clip with Joe’s intro and howling and of course his request for people to….STOP YAKKING!

Vote early, just the once and polls close in tandem with England’s World Cup bid…or sooner. Night….!

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