Good morning to you…I’m in an awful mood..woke up at 520am to watch Arsenal somehow contrive to toss away a 2-0 lead at home to……s***s! I’ve simply got to get that thought out of my mind so thought I’d write about something that makes me happier. I’m this close (fingers very close together) to giving up on football for the season and focus on music and 18th century Russian literature so you may see a change of tone to the blog in coming weeks. So a bit of Clash related news instead this morning.

If you are in the UK or indeed get your music streams online you are probably fully aware of Xfm (music that rocks – so they say). As you know I’m always up for a list and the station are going to be playing their ‘top 1,000 songs of all time’ between now and the end of the year. Unlike most of these lists they’ve actually revealed which songs are in the mix before kicking off so naturally enough I had to see what songs by The Clash were in contention, having anticipated a more diverse list I thought there would be 4 or 5 songs on the list and yet remarkably there were 12!! On the one hand I thought that was a brilliant total out of 1,000 until I saw some of the less adventurous selections/bias toward newer bands (Arctic Monkeys I mean you). Overall though The Clash were better represented than all of their peers, some of the more interesting totals follow: Arctic Monkeys – 13, Beatles – 14, Big Audio Dynamite – 1, Blur – 19, Buzzcocks – 2, Doves – 7, Echo & Bunnymen – 4, The Jam – 9, James – 5, Joy Division – 4, Libertines – 7, Manic Street Preachers – 12, New Order – 9, Sex Pistols – 3, The Smiths – 12, The Specials – 2, The Stone Roses – 14, The Stranglers – 5 (hah!), Suede – 6. So, nothing in there by Wire or XTC while shite such as The Zutons have two songs. As with all such lists you’ll obviously find holes and they don’t really mean all that much but I do think the representation by The Clash is healthy especially when you look at their contemporaries and number of included songs. As for the twelve Clash songs on the lists there are a good number of obvious selections and a few that I wouldn’t have included – but each to their own I guess. Here’s the dozen:

The Clash London Calling
The Clash Rock The Casbah
The Clash I Fought The Law
The Clash Should I Stay Or Should I Go
The Clash Train In Vain
The Clash Bankrobber
The Clash Complete Control
The Clash Guns Of Brixton
The Clash Tommy Gun
The Clash White Riot
The Clash  Janie Jones
The Clash White Man In Hammersmith Palais

Apparently there’s a book out with all of the 1,000 songs explored which you can purchase here, or attempt to win here by selecting your top 3 songs of all time. It gets me to wondering whether your favourite 20 songs of all time would include a lot of Clash songs or a handful. Maybe something we can try and tackle in 2011 after we eventually finish The Clash Cup (which we will, with the next edition this weekend I hope). Anyway, a moderate thumbs up to Xfm for including what is a healthy representation for our boys! Here’s the link to the list in full of all 1,000 songs.

Also, tonight, very short notice if you happen to be anywhere near Bologna in Italy there’s a Clash night at 9:00pm for just 10 Euros admission. I realise that maybe one person reading that might be able to make it along, but we get lots of visits from Italy so I wanted to share it. Here’s a link to the event…..Teatro Comunale di Dozza (BO)Via XX Settembre, 51 ,Dozza, Italy.

Right, off to go and smack a Spurzzz fan. – Tim  — Comments on the above post are welcomed – I’m getting an echo in here lately!! Also if you want more bits and pieces please check out my other blog…Thanks~

Good evening and welcome back to the blog on this fine sunny Thursday afternoon, I hope wherever you may be that your day went well. I’ve made a vow to myself to not discuss further than Joe Strummer film concept at least until more information is forthcoming as it seems to be quite a prickly topic just bordering on the suburbs of divisive. Hopefully it will either astound me and exceed expectations or be shelved as a project as it’s just not up to snuff. I do watch some interviews with the man asked with the screenplay last night, although he appears to be close to the right vintage pen is indeed London born something tells me you might just focus on idiosyncrasies when it comes to Joe rather than the difference he made to so many people. I’m also fully cognizant of the fact that the community who read this blog and also comment on the associated Facebook page are of a fairly unique calling in terms of our collective appreciation and inspiration often sourced via music in general and The Clash specifically, I’m tempted to write to whoever wins the director’s seat for the film and tell him that we would happily make up a test audience for the project. It might just point them in the right direction, plus I’d be able to share popcorn and assorted chocolatey goods with some of you fine people.

Right, consider that topic temporarily closed for the time being although you can go-ahead and comment on either of the last two posts which navigate the same topic in greater depth. Tonight is another example of why I love doing the blog and simply adore the support I get from some many of you, it’s the first time that the blog has been the beneficiary of translation services. In this circumstance the time and skill (and brilliant English) of my friend Silvia was called upon and generously given to translate a lengthy article that unless we speak Italian would simply be beyond our scope to enjoy. You may well remember if you read the blog regularly that Carbon Silicon made a special trip to Italy back in July to appear at a music festival where they were warmly greeted, and even took the time to put together this rather enjoyable video clip (thank goodness Tony James loves gadgets) of the trip down to Italy. Whilst there they also do a little bit of press and conducted this interview that currently appears online in the aforementioned Mediterranean tongue on Freakout Online. Thanks to Silvia who did a bang up job of translating into English we can all now enjoy it. Silvia incidentally speaks and writes better English than many people I know born in the UK or North America, it really is shameful for us! On to the article then which I’m sure you will enjoy.

Even more than Sex Pistols,The Clash have been the most representative of the british punk scene.Working class rebels,musical language innovators and rockers with a strong political view. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were the punk equivalent to what Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were on the previous decade.And then Jones,once the Clash experience ended,has gone through the next 15 years with various embodimentsof B.A.D.,before hitting the headlines again in 2002 as producer of the Libertines. It’s in the same period that Carbon Silicon take shape,the ongoing musical project shared with longtime friend Tony James,himself leading the british punk scene with Generation x first and with Sigue Sigue Sputnik later in the 80′s.

“I’ve never really abandoned the music scene” clarifies Mick,whom i met during the Neapolis Festival’s most recent edition.
“I’ve always been playing music and a few years ago i produced the two Libertines albums.So when i met Tony again we asked each other if we could do something together and the answer was yes!.What came out of this was a song,and then another one followed and another one again…”

The first track composed by the two was called “mp free “and it’s a kind of Carbon Silicon “manifesto” song,a representation of their liberitarian attitude: since the beginning Mick and Tony’s project was based on the gratuitousness of their music,easily downloadable for free on their official website. A choice that followed the Clash’s political approach when for example they used to demand the final selling price of their records to their record label. This happened with London Calling in 1979, a double album sold at the price of a single, and then again with the triple Sandinista! that CBS had to sell at the price of a double.

“it’s the music that counts” say unanimously Mick and Tony. “Since the beginning we found very exciting the fact of being able to make music that we liked and diffuse it directly to the public without having to go through a record company. The great idea is that you can record a track in your own bedroom and the next day a million people have the chance to download it for free from the web. In comparison to the time of the Clash, today there are many more opportunities”

For the young bands though,free download represents not only an opportunity but also a matter of “economical survival” – objection rejected:

“Good groups will always find the way of making money. It depends, if you play for the money (and then you are a banker not an artist) or if you do it for passion with talent. If someone has got something interesting to say,he eventually emerges from the masses and is recognized,economically too”

The same relaxed and upstream approach can also be found at Carbon Silicon’s concerts :

“The great thing about this group (C.S.) is that we can afford to play for our own pleasure,and for the fan’s.We play only where we know that they really want to see our concerts”

The London based band – that also has as a member bass guitarist Jessie Wood,Ron Wood’s son,and drummer Dominic Greensmith – has played this summer only one concert, in Italy,at Neapolis festival to promote their new album” The Carbon Bubble”. Rock tracks that don’t dislike contaminations and don’t hide their melodic qualities, rock and roll for the 21 st century.

“We don’t like to put a label on the kind of music we play : we play and compose freely,a bit like Grateful Dead used to do ” says Jones.

And if The Clash were really good in creating generational anthems that alternated personal stories with political matters,CarbonSsilicon prefer to concentrate on a more intimate aspect and on a message of hope even in times of crisis:

“We believe that positive thinking can influence the change. Our optimism is associated with the search of a deep meaning in our lives.That’s why we write songs about positivity… and then again we always just want to play music and have fun”

That concludes tonight’s translation! What an exceptional job she did and I can only imagine how much time it takes to do well, I speak English and have the vocabulary of a five-year-old French boy who didn’t pay attention in class – so I have great respect for anyone who has mastered second or third languages. Thanks again for taking the time Silvia to transfer over what was a really enjoyable interview, I do hope you good readers will also pay our thanks below in the comments section. Have a great night and I’ll be back tomorrow. Tim

On the other blog I wrote about the situation with the banks in Ireland…if you fancy a read.

Good evening how are things with you then? I trust well…I just got back from playing football and for once it was below 75f but was still like running around on concrete. The ‘grass’ in Arizona is typically about as lush as the rocks on the mountains around here and the bumps and grooves in the hard dry surface leave you yelling out ‘bad bounce’ every 5 or 10 minutes to deter any sentiments that you are completely hopeless at the beautiful game. I may have moaned about the weather in England but there was almost always a nice spot of grass for a kickabout. Anyway that’s not why you visited the blog is it? Let’s get to some Clash related stuff.

Topper at Wessex during the recording of London Calling

The Clash had a pretty unique career in that in just over 5 years (of recording) they managed a two single albums, then a double, then a triple and finished (essentially) with a another single – Combat Rock in 1982. If you’re younger than a certain age (30?) then the concept of double and triple albums is probably essentially lost on you. Since the advent of CDs most ‘double’ vinyl albums will happily fit on single CD, such is the case with London Calling where 19 tracks and over 60 minutes of music fit on just one disc. Even Sandinista! made it on to two cds. I still remember getting that on CD and finding it odd that disc one ended at the end of side three, which totally changed the impact of the disc oddly. In the digital age do we even notice when a double album comes out? I’m not sure of the last really notable release that was 20-24 tracks long? That of course was your golden (unwritten) rule 25 years ago – a single album better have at least 8 tracks and ideally 10 or more, when you got beyond 14 tracks you were heading into the realms of a double album unless it was early Ramones and everything clocked in at about 2:10. Thinking back I believe London Calling was the first double album I ever bought and there haven’t been that many others from the vinyl era. Two other extremely popular double albums were releaed near the time of London Calling – Pink Floyd’s The Wall (which interestingly came out just 2 weeks before The Clash released their double album) and Bruce Springsteen’s The River which arrived about 10 months later in the Autumn of 1980. Perhaps where was something in the water in 1979, but I doubt 3 double albums as historical as that trio were ever released in a 12 month spell. There is a lot of rumour and theory attached to why The Clash suddenly released 10 sides of music from late ’79 to late ’80 – much of it concerning the collective goal of hastening the end to their contract with CBS records. However forensic work from authors and analysts have shown that this simply was wishful thinking, the CBS contract tied the Clash down to optional additional albums so that wasn’t the main catalyst.

Original sketch ideas for London Calling sleeve by Ray Lowry

I think the reality is that by the Spring of 1979 the band were really gelling as a unit with a lot to prove (backs against the wall will do that to you), taking more collective influences from one another and writing/experimenting almost constantly. Don’t forget too that a number of tracks never made it onto London Calling and songs as good as Bankrobber and Armagideon Time were completed just after and whilst finishing London Calling respectively. While 1980 offered more of the same, the early goal of releasing a single each month never made it to fruition but the year still ended with a triple album spanning 36 tracks this time with Sandinista! I constantly hear those who complain that the triple album was too ambitious and there was too much noodling, dub, throwaway tracks and filler – but I can’t imagine the album any other way. I’ll even put my neck out and say that 30 years later its the album that I find most interesting and fresh (but only on some days I’ll quickly add to cover my arse). Critics and fans alike have debated for years that S! could have made a fantastic double album or an earth shattering single, but again how can you efficiently decide and edit what songs shouldn’t have made it. One More Time needs One More Dub to compliment it and you can battle long and hard for inclusion and exclusion based on personal preference. As I said I’ve heard this discussion many times – but on the Pop Matters site today I came across a debate I’ve never heard before – “Was London Calling too long as a double album?” Pop Matters regularly run the debate sessions and they are often good fun.

My answer is the same as for Sandinista! NO -  but even more so, how on earth can you elect to pull 3,4 or 5 songs from London Calling and have anything less than a culled version of a classic? To mean the excellence of London Calling is the 19 tracks that comprise it – take away any piece and it has lost far more than 5% of what makes it so special. The Pop Matters debate is linked here and while its somewhat tongue in cheek its worth a quick read. One suggests it would be like trimming an entire scene or two from The Godfather, you’d be left with a very different film. While I was much less satisfied about events when they were happening (1982 and 1983) time has taught me that almost everything that happened to The Clash happening for a reason. Three things I wish had not happened I reluctantly accept – Topper should have got the help he needed and the band took six-twelve months off and released a live album while Topper recovered – Combat Rock should have been the original mix and likely a double album – Mick Jones should not have been fired. Over simplification of course but nothing can be changed now and nor should the length of the albums that they did release.

I’ll be back soon…thanks as always for dropping in and supporting the blog. Tim