Round 2, Match 7 – Two Seven(s)….this better be a good one. Hello again its time for you to get all democratic on me and vote for a Clash song. A simple task in theory but it carries great weight, songs that survive this round will be really strong and offer a decent chance to make the final top 20 Clash songs ever. So vote with your mind and not just your tapping toes, we are not looking for some lukewarm coalition approach to our final top ten tracks.

Before we turn the dusty spotlight on tonight’s contenders we do need to look back to the last match. The outcome was as I predicted but it was close enough to be interesting (think Spurs trying to break into the top 3).

Hitsville UK     defeats     Inoculated City     28-17

So one of the least ‘Clashlike’ songs in their arsenal is through to the next round. Cry your tears and shed your fears all you like but the election stands, we have another Sandinista! track marching on. Now back to the random number machine to pull the next two from the bobble hat of Terry Chimes…..and what do we have for you?

Round 2 – Match 7

Last Gang in Town vs.       Career Opportunities

I don’t like that pairing whatsoever, really great songs both which represent each of the first two albums with equal importance. How many times have I sung along with each of them over the last 30 years? Should I base my vote on that? I’d really hate to see either one knocked out, there is a slim chance that enough second place votes will keep the runner up alive so yeah this is a vote that does matter. Nothing like your local MP but much more important.

Form:

Round 1 – Last Gang in Town defeated Sound of the Sinners        61% of the vote

Round 1 – Career Opportunities defeated I’m so Bored with the USA      74% of the vote

Odds:

I’d forgotten how well Career Opps did in the 1st round as it hammered strong competition. Some Clash songs are firmly rooted in the late 70′s but I thing Career is a song that holds as much value lyrically in 2010 as it did back in the black and white days of 1977. I think many (most) Clash fans felt at one time or another that working was little more than an obligation and what we really wanted to do played no part in the jobs on offer after school. Though I also still like Last Gang in Town I can’t see it going much further than Joe Cole in the league next season. Career to win with at least 60% of the vote….

Stuff:

Surely no introduction is needed for either song? Career Opportunities might rank as one of the 5 most autobiographical songs Strummer ever wrote, for anyone who ever stood in a dole queue this is your anthem. With great significance its also the place where Jones and Simonon first met Joe Strummer. Last Gang is a song for all of us too however. Please listen before you vote - I’ve got Career Opportunities recorded in awesome live fashion in Amsterdam in 1981, tight drumming, dual barking and a song that got bigger the more The Clash played it. Last Gang in Town is the original LP version, Paul’s bass pumping all over the song. If I ever learned bass I’d have to learn this song! Also, are they any other Clash songs where the vocals start the very moment the song begins as is the case here with Joe? Surely there must be….please vote – I welcome your thoughts as to why you chose the wrong track.

Well…I’ve got no choice ! Also…wanna help the blog? Hit the WIKIO vote button at the bottom of this (and any) post, if you don’t see it just click the title of the post so it refreshes on your screen.

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I can’t think of a more qualified group of people than you lot to help determine the best ever Clash songs. It’s all self explanatory but you can find out more about it on this recent post from a short while back. Songs selected at random and you vote in a knock out tournament. Before we look at tonight’s picks we need to review a result from the last pairing. It wasn’t as close as I had expected:

Police On My Back    defeats   Jail Guitar Doors    37-19

Thanks for all of your votes on that one – so the Sandinista! tracks zips along to round three, so let’s look at the next round as selected by the random number generator *just returned from a trip to help out the recent election in the UK.

Round 2 – Match 6

Hitsville UK versus Inoculated City

If this was a football cup both managers would have exhaled when they saw this pairing. Not to say either song is bad but I doubt either would creep into someone’s Clash top 20 under normal circumstances. I’ll confess now that for a spell of my life at 13 I thought Hitsville UK was the most fun song to bop around to ever recorded. I never could dance, more just sort of move around and avoid hurting more delicate feet but any moves I learned were learned stomping around to Madness and Hitsville UK. Both songs will get support I’m sure and that’s why there are in the second round – interestingly both fall a long way from being ‘typical’ Clash songs (is there such a thing?). No need to provide much trivia about either song but feel free to send in yours.

Form:

Round 1 – Hitsville UK defeated Long Time Jerk -         67% of the vote

Round 1 – Inoculated City edged past Deny –        56% of the vote

Odds:

I’ve a feeling most people will come to a quick decision on this vote but that isn’t to say one song will win easily. In fact if turnout is high enough and the runner up gets plenty of support both songs could be imitating Ghana and Paraguay by staying around much later than I would have guessed. If I had to wager my next pair of socks on it, I think a current Mick Jones buzz will see Hitsville UK sneak through.

Stuff:

If you’re my age or older and bought Sandinista! when it first came out I’m sure different songs left you scratching your head at least a bit. Hitsville UK was a song that could never on been on London Calling or Combat Rock. It was something that seemed more likely to appear on the Motown label than a new Clash single on CBS but that’s exactly what it became. It failed in the charts and some critics saw it as evidence than the band were over-ambitious. As for me…I loved it…always a soft touch for some good pop and backing girl vocals I also instantly loved Mick’s soft barely singing approach to it, so take a listen before you vote. Meanwhile Inoculated City was one of the very last Clash songs that had Mick trademarked all over it. It’s also another example of Jones/Strummer vocals overlaid on top of each other something the Clash did so well. The recording I like most is the Rat Patrol (kazoo) version which I’ll link to.

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The rest is up to you – polls open til Wednesday! Thanks for stopping in.

Good Morning Clash people around the world. Its the small hours of the night as I get this scribed which tells you that A) My internet had service issues earlier in the day B) I’m anxiously to see what time the temperature here will finally fall below 90f as of now 12:30am it has not happened. It was a scorcher here today but that’s to be expected in late June if you live in a desert, doesn’t mean you have to like it though. I think I need a  road trip to the Pacific in the coming weeks and I’ve got some excuses to be in Los Angeles too…so a mobile Clashblog is perhaps in the offing next month or August. Where are you lot spending your Summer holidays? Send a postcard…take a snap of yourself in a Clash shirt in some far off clime and we’ll start a collection!!

I’ve just noticed that every time I think I’ve emptied the pile marked CLASH INBOX another half a dozen things come on in from near and far. In over a year of postings I don’t think I’ve come across anything quite as unlikely as this. In Melbourne Australia an annual ‘celebrity’ game of Australian Rules football has been taking place for charity. The match takes places between people who work for a local radio station Triple R (The Megahertz) and those who work in the music industry (The Rockdogs). Fair enough so far, but this doesn’t seem to be your average celebrity sporting event as costumes and streakers are the order of the day as well as bands playing on stages within the arena throughout the day. Better still the annual theme for this Winter’s match was The Clash – and each of the 5 bands who attended had to play at least one Clash number. More than 10,000 people attended the event which raised in excess of (AUS) $160,000 for the charity Reclink with provides sports and arts opportunities to disadvantaged people. Amongst the five bands were Melbourne’s own The Living End who played storming versions of Tommy Gun and London Calling to the delight of all. A cool little event which does a lot of good and this year made more people aware of the influence of The Clash. Full story is via this link.  The video below features The Living End playing London Calling at The Clash Community Cup and I have to say his vocals are good for a song that often sounds dreadful if anyone other than Joe barks it out. All this and a stand up bass ~ and we need more video from Australia/New Zealand!! Link here to see them play Tommy Gun.

I’m glad they didn’t just take the name The Clash Cup ~ I’ve got copyright for that I think…somewhere. Proper Clash Cup later in the week. Incidentally I was listening online to the radio station represented by one of teams and linked above and they play some good stuff.

More in the morning as I’ve got to sleep, sorry for short short post. Finally its dropped to 89f better grab my hat    – Tim – Internet issues resulted in this not posting last night….sorry! Hope I can get it fixed today…