Hello there, thanks for visiting the blog again or indeed for finding it for the first time. I’m glad you found it if that’s the case. A story from Clash Blog towers this morning with a direct connection back to 1980/81. Those of you of similar vintage will remember and perhaps agree that 80/81 was nearly the bookend (at the end of) one of the best five year spells for music we’ve ever seen either before or since. Whilst punk seemed to fold in on itself almost as quickly as it began the resulting rise of independent labels and post punk artists created a vast assortment of great music. The more versatile punk bands including The Clash, XTC or John Lydon via Public Image reinvented their sounds almost completely to move with the times. At the same time as The Clash changed direction to the dismay of some they also seemed to find their most prolific groove releasing the 19 tracks of London Calling at the end of 1979 only to confound everyone by then releasing a triple album just a year later.

Sandinista! is many things to many people but above all else its the sound of a band finding out what they were capable of. That path that was begun with London Calling splintered even more ambitiously with Sandinista! though many were heard to say it was over ambitious. Whether the ultimate reason for the band’s 1980 release becoming festooned with 36 songs over six sides of vinyl was a hopeful move to exit the contract from CBS Records has long been suggested, but we were left with the most diverse, experimental and at times brilliant Clash album to date. Guest musicians, guest vocalists and dub versions all featured for the first time as did a chance for Topper and small children to take lead vocals. Songs like Magnificent Seven remain amongst my favourites ever while shards of jazz, gospel, reggae and calypso are shattered across the terrain. The album was called too long and overblown by many and even when reissued on CD required 2 discs to take on it’s full roster. I also had the cassette, which was two tapes in a cardboard sleeve which I still possess.

Overall, though it was often suggested Sandinista! would have made an excellent double album and a stunning single one (in my opinion if you took the 11 best tracks on it you’d have the best Clash album by a nose) we were given and learned to cherish the polar ice station/oil rig version as Mick Jones one put it. At the time I was too young to appreciate Sandinista! in full, as the sounds were too expansive, the changes in direction too confusing to my then 13 year old tastes. All these years later it has become the album I perhaps play the most frequently and certainly the one that I think is the most rewarding and resistant to time.

So it was an exciting day some two years ago that we learned the Sony Music would be reissuing a special 30th anniversary edition of Sandinista! as a Legacy edition. Initially it seemed far fetched, when a band throws three dozen songs on an album how much could be left in the vault. Demo versions and out takes of songs that at times felt gloriously unfinished anyway perhaps? Alternate versions and more covers to warm the band up? The rumours took off for over a year as the promise of live tracks being offered, perhaps an entire concert from that era. A DVD with extras, footage that hadn’t been seen before also made the gossip rounds. Amazon even loaded a listing for a Japanese version of the reissue for an outrageous price which seemed to be further proof. An interview or two alluded to the 30th anniversary edition and it was confirmed to be forthcoming. Then the autumn of 2010 turned to winter and no release date was offered, discussion began to dry up. As the calendar changed to a new year I had serious doubts about the reissue as I didn’t think it would be easy to market a 31st Anniversary edition of anything, unless you were a Tottenham fan looking to honour each passing year (40 n0w) since you last won the league.

This week I learned from a very reliable source at Sony Music that the Sandinista! Legacy edition plans have officially been scrapped, indeed it won’t be happening according to the label and that was a global decision. I suppose there is a chance we might see a reprise of the idea later but the speculation can at least now end. I’ll assume the contact I had was 100% correct, it does make sense as the window to get the release out as an anniversary has now closed.

I wonder if perhaps that is for the best. Sandinista! may be best left exactly as it is, full of brave lyrics and fantastic compositions it doesn’t quite achieve perfection but always is powerful and inspiring opening your minds and ears to sounds and concerns that may otherwise have passed you by. From the call to arms of the title itself to the brilliance of Charlie Don’t Surf and The Call Up asking why we keep fighting in the wrong places for the wrong things.

If the album was slightly flawed and too ambitious I don’t care, as it reflects exactly what The Clash were and hopefully what many of us still remain.

Perhaps leave it as it is. What do you think? Tim

Hello again everyone, I trust you had an excellent weekend filled with pleasant moments and lack of unwanted drama. I’ve been away from the computer for a few days but didn’t want today to pass by without acknowledging the fact that today is a special one in that Nicky “Topper” Headon celebrates his 56th Birthday today. As it happens I’m already 20 hours into that fact but better late than never. I was listening to The Clash over the weekend and the ability of Headon as ever reminded me how he could do whatever he wanted with a drum kit. I was this time listening to some tracks from London Calling and Sandinista!, next time you do the same just try and isolate the drumming in your ears. He could play any style and with the precision and power that just doesn’t come along on a regular basis.

While many of us tend to know more about and reflect more upon Joe, Paul and Mick when we discuss The Clash I don’t think its unreasonable to suggest that Topper might have been the cement between the bricks that made the band at their finest completely unbreakable. Its been written by many and stated by Joe Strummer that the biggest mistake he ever made (and the one that began the implosion of The Clash) was the sacking of Topper Headon. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult that decision was, surely they all knew it was the riskiest of propositions. So it was. I’ll make a note to write more about Topper soon, but as we’ve discussed before it has been one of the high points of the last five or six years to see Topper so healthy, happy and on form. Long may it continue.

In the days ahead I also want to write some thoughts about the very sad death of Gil Scott-Heron at the weekend at just 62 years of age. If I had a short list of perhaps lesser known musicians  (to some) that I feel everyone should be aware of Gil would always rank high on such a list. His loss is tragic for reasons beyond his relative early demise but also for the fact that we was back recording and touring and somehow was all too often overlooked for being as punk as any of our 1976/7 icons, albeit in a different field. He was the very definition of a visionary in music, so many paths of modern hip hop and counter-culture/protest music will either go right to his name or alongside it. Like Topper he struggled with many of the same bouts with serious drug addiction and served jail time. Like Topper he made it almost all the way back and was back in the limelight and active again. Unlike Topper he never enjoyed an extended time sailing clean again, his ‘comeback’ such as it was ended just as it was getting started. If you aren’t familiar with his craft and you love The Clash, I implore you to find out more.

I’m off to see Gruff Rhys tonight, so I’m sorry for the shortish post. More soon, see you below in the comments. Tim

Yawn…..I’d make that a big 22 point ‘Tahoma’ yawn if I could but it wouldn’t look particularly good on the blog. How is it where you are then – I hope well. Sorry for the gap between posts this week, best intentions have been overridden by the need to catch up on sleep these last few days. I’ve been looking at my old vinyl the last few days and it struck me as quite remarkable that there’s nothing else in my life that I’ve owned for 20,25 even 30 years that is in better condition. No clothes, books, collectable items from my pre-teens and early teens have made that journey with me to probably a dozen homes in 5 cities on two continents. Not sure whether that signifies just how important my old records are to me or how little I’ve invested in other things. I was just holding some records and it dawned on me that they’ve been ‘in my house’ for so many years when so much else has come and gone. Odd…in a rambling sort of way, I’ve yet to have coffee and this is how much focus I exude before caffeine gets me on track.

I wanted to point you in the direction of Strummerville this morning as they have added something rather special and very limited to their online shop that I wanted make certain you are aware of. These new shirts have a very a limited run of just 101(‘er) in each size so when they’re gone they’re gone (I sound like a car dealer). Here’s the official blurb:

The designs of each T-Shirt have been based on original artefacts from Joe Strummer’s personal items (Set lists, scrawled guitar string packs and other personal notes). Each design will be very limited to 101 shirts in each size, (S, M, L, XL) in reference to one of Joe’s early bands – The 101’ers.

After these initial run of 101 tees are sold, they will not be available or reprinted again, making these tee shirts very ltd and ‘a soon to be,’ collectors item for any fan.

The site now boasts a growing selection of merchandise in the Strummerville shop, each item helping to fund the foundation. Recently added are some rather nice polo shirts and what is apparently a ‘distressed’ hoody. What could a hoody possibly have to worry about it’s either ‘up’ or ‘down’ right? Please have a look at the new items over at the Strummerville shop when you can, especially those t-shirts.

Also worth noting if you ‘live by the river’ is the 2nd annual (I think) River Rat Pack which is supported by Strummerville. It features Beans on Toast, Bastille, The Joker & The Thief plus others traveling on barges performing plus playing at riverside pubs as they navigate the Thames from London to Oxford. Unfortunately this already kicked off earlier in the week but continues until Sunday. Full details are on the Strummerville site or via the official site here. I was convinced that this year’s event wasn’t until next week so apologies for the late notice on this. I wish we had something similar here but we’d actually need a river to manage that and this is about as near as we get in this part of the world.

Right with that said I’m going to brew some beans but I do plan to be back this evening, have a terrific Thursday and see you in the comments I hope. Tim