Good morning to you, it rained all night here so the air has a nice and fresh quality rarely associated with the desert. Lovely. This won’t be a long post therefore as I need to fuel up on coffee and then take the bicycle out and get some exercise or at the very least go and walk the Clash Blog dog (written earlier, completed this evening). Kim just bought the dog a red wool jumper, I don’t know about that. I noticed on yesterday’s post a glaring error and normally if I make a mistake or don’t fact check I’m corrected rather quickly by readers, this time though, nothing. The title of the post yesterday referenced Paul performing once again with The Good, The Bad and The Queen which I abbreviated to TGTGaTQ in the post headline which means nothing at all, brilliant. A schoolboy error and once I’m shocked to have got away with. What next? Mike Jones, Joe Strimmer, Paul Simon, Tipper Headon? Perhaps I’m getting senile after all, I noticed yesterday I’m struggling to remember lyrics from songs more often than once before.

Old songs are what brought me to today’s post also as I was listening to Madness while working in the ‘garage of fear’ yesterday sorting through a ridiculous mountain of stuff. I know that The Specials and The Beat are the two bands from that genre that I’ve returned to more often over the years but for a good spell during those first 3 or 4 albums especially I was essentially mad about Madness too. I liked the fact that they were from north London and although they were hugely successful (in Europe if not North America) you always sensed that it hadn’t gone to their collective seven (and then six) heads. Madness as a live band were never going to be as fiery as The Clash or attract quite the same element as The Specials but they were the best band imaginable if you were a teenager racing down cider and planning to dance badly for an hour and a half.

Madness live in Australia, 2009 (Image courtesy TrentSC on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentcsc/with/3450776465/)

To the casual fan who bought the singles and the average observer Madness were seen as a good times for everyone pop band who merged ska, sixties R&B and classic skinhead moonstomping into the ‘nutty sound’. If you weren’t paying attention you might have missed that they had a lot to say as well. Suggs’ lyrics were sharp and observational as the band developed that looked at politics, homelessness, poverty and many inner city issues that the band were in tune with. What was most telling was that the moment the band decided to get far more ‘serious’ in tone on their final album proper the sales dried up and they split up essentially, returning as ‘The Madness’ later on. Subsequently they’ve reformed a few times and continue to tour to great acclaim for the most part.

I’m only nattering on about Madness as Suggs took part in the Quietus (one of my favourite music blogs – bookmark it if you can) ongoing series of ‘my favourite 13 albums of all time’. His selections overall are rather great in my opinion and happily features the debut album by The Clash. What makes the series so interesting is rather than just a list of albums and a sentence about each the artist gives a lengthy explanation as to why he or she chose it. The Clash notes in particular are really interesting but all are worth a read as it describes the impact of The Clash on him, his band and the scene at large. I’d have loved to have been a bit older and kicking around Camden Town in those years. Here’s a link to his thoughts about the Clash album and also one for the entire list. What artists would make your thirteen best albums?

But I always had a soft spot for The Clash, because they had the reggae thing, like us, and there was a bit of soul in their music, for want of a better word. Joe Strummer definitely had a bit of soul in his voice. Every fucking track on that album’s brilliant, but my favourite’s ‘London’s Burning’.        – Suggs of Madness on the Clash

Right, I’ve got to get ready for a busy Monday so we’ll talk soon, don’t forget to stay current via Facebook, Twitter get the RSS feed  thanks for your support and sharing of the blog. Tim

Hello again everyone and thanks for spending a moment on the blog. I hope that everyone who wanted to nab a ticket for the Mick Jones Review (not really, see yesterday’s post) was successful in their quest, London is already sold out. They ought to add another night(s). I hope I’ll be able to cajole a few of you into compiling some notes about the tour, sending in set lists, photos or moments of madness. Perhaps we’ll start a sweepstakes for the Clash songs that he’ll add to the mix for the 6 night tour. It would be really special if he chooses a dozen or more to rotate and give hundreds of people a chance to hear different Clash songs performed ‘live’ by a member of the band for the first time ever in some people’s cases. I think it is class/common sense that if the song featured Joe on lead vocals he hands the vocal duties over to someone else. It would be extremely odd to hear Jonesy sing a Joe part. Has it ever happened before trivia lovers? Let me know.

In the fog of war this week I almost forgot that in London this Thursday night The Good, The Bad and The Queen played that special Greenpeace anniversary show. Paul Simonon of course reprised his place in the band along with Damon Albarn for what could be but hopefully isn’t a short lived return for the band. Did some of you make it along? Initial thoughts? Get in touch via the usual channels and I’ll dig out some reviews if I can find some.

Paul on Thursday Nov 10, Image courtesy Greenpeace UK

I’d give my eye teeth to see that band live, in such high regard do I hold the solitary album that they recorded. For the time being (I’ve got more stuff later don’t worry) I’ll have to share the video below that features the band performing this week a cover version of sorts as they borrow a song from Gorillaz – Melancholy Hill. What is interesting is that the seeds of that song were written during the making of TGTBaTQ album in the first place according to Damon’s introduction. Make sure you watch the entire video as a special guest appearance is made halfway through and results in a brilliant performance with Paul in particular pulling out some great shapes with the bass. Thanks to videohound Gil W for alerting me to the video earlier today *(yesterday by the time you read this). Alright then, that’s all I’ve time for at the moment with more to follow. Have a splendid weekend and do something worthwhile. Tim

‘Melancholy Hill’ – The Good, The Bad and The Queen (plus special guest – watch the entire video!)

Middle of the week already? Bloody hell. How goes it today? A very quick bit of self promotion (looking for ways to pay for hosting and bandwidth improvements), you might notice some links on the right to Amazon.com – if you happen to shop there please visit Amazon via the links on the blog and any purchases you make result in a few coins going in the direction of your blogger. It’s appreciated. All is quiet here, leaking roof seemingly repaired and normal sunny weather has returned if a bit chilly causing a house-wide panic with everyone wondering where their coats are. As the days get shorter it always reminds me that November was the month (next week in fact, on the 15th) when Joe Strummer played at Acton Town Hall back in 2002. This probably would have been a footnote to his tour except for the fact that Acton is a rather handy location for Mick Jones who unplanned and unannounced decided to leave this place in the audience and join Joe and the Mescaleros on stage for the last three numbers that night. I’ve never spoken first hand to anyone who was there that night but if you fancy writing your memories for the blog next week on the anniversary of that date it would be rather brilliant. Either way we’ll look back at that in more detail next week.

It was of course the last time Joe and Mick ever shared a stage, there is something majestic in that for a number of reasons almost like it was preordained somehow. Sadly and with no warning Joe Strummer was to pass the following month, there was no warning of that and no health scares would have crossed Mick’s mind to make him think “I better do this now there might not be another time”. Somehow it was meant to be. I also find it very fitting that it was in Acton, only a stones throw west of where Bernard Rhodes took Joe Strummer for his first informal meeting with Paul and Mick in the flat on Davis Road just off the Uxbridge Road. That was where the seeds of the band took root in the early summer of 1976 and just over a quarter of a century later for the most amazing songwriting partnership I’ve ever enjoyed to be reunited just one last time so close by screams poetic justice. I’ve also got a sentimental attachment to the neighbourhood and the venue itself having lived in Acton for a while in the 1980′s and attended a pair of anti-poll tax meetings at Acton Town Hall where the concert took place. Oddly, it’s not even a  concert hall by any description but knowing it took place somewhere I’d felt so invigorated a dozen years earlier all added to a sense of comfort when I read that story nearly nine years ago.

I can’t honestly believe nine years have passed since that remarkable night, nor can I believe it’s twenty two years since I was in that same  building with perhaps 100 people who were angry about the way England was going at the time (sound familiar?). That first meeting led to me knocking on the doors of every council high rise building in South Acton looking for people who would join the fight against an ill-informed tax germinated from the madness of Margaret Thatcher. It all works though, I only lived in west London because of my love for The Clash (mad perhaps but true) and was probably only as politically active due to growing up on a band who said (to me at least) ‘Do something, get involved, question the status quo’. It leaves me reflective but thankful, some people are never inspired by anything.