I'm sure Ned has realized the error of his ways :)
― let's talk about gecs baby (sleeve), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:13 (four years ago) link
omar was dutch? or spanish iirc
― j., Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:18 (four years ago) link
I stand corrected, before my time. But yeah these old threads really double down on the sacred cow mutilation, to their detriment.
― let's talk about gecs baby (sleeve), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:20 (four years ago) link
NED IS A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:20 (four years ago) link
“ Why? Because the voices are shit” is one of my all-time favorite ILX lines
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Sunday, 9 February 2020 04:48 (four years ago) link
Did anyone listen to the Spotify miniseries history (hosted by Chuck D)? It was predictable hagiography, but still worth it imo. Lots of archival interviews. Last episode did a nice job of ending with the Joe/B.A.D. reunion, instead of the back-to-roots Clash mark 2 show. (I have a boot of the Latino Rockabilly War first show where they cover a few songs from the 2nd BAD record.)
― stop torturing me ethel (broom air), Sunday, 9 February 2020 22:29 (four years ago) link
Started to because a friend of mine mentioned it but got derailed/distracted. What I heard was pretty good. Obviously Chuck is burning his as well as their legend though.
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Hitchcock/Truffaut (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 9 February 2020 23:36 (four years ago) link
Ha. Maybe. Both groups always wanted legend + mainstream success though. No doubt one of the reasons they're both interesting, but also why many the children of the double IPA generation are too good for them.
― stop torturing me ethel (broom air), Monday, 10 February 2020 13:38 (four years ago) link
I liked that podcast in the predictable ways I would, as both a Clash and PE fan. I did learn a fair amount. My favorite episode was the recording of Sandinista, which made me revisit it. It sound like it was fun to make.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 10 February 2020 14:20 (four years ago) link
Burning=burnishing
― TS: Kirk/Spock vs. Hitchcock/Truffaut (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 10 February 2020 14:21 (four years ago) link
what's the best book about the Clash
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 19:03 (four years ago) link
Last Gang In Town, probably
― Fantastic. Great move. Well done (sic), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 19:41 (four years ago) link
that was my guess but hard to tell from rando internet reviews
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 19:42 (four years ago) link
got it from the library - am learning a lot and generally enjoying it, but Grey's fixation on the band's various inauthenticities ("Joe Strummer's family life was not as terrible as he initially made it out to be!" or whatever) is kinda irritating/stupid
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 March 2020 16:49 (four years ago) link
yeah I thought of caveating, but it doesn’t change the fact that the reporting is goodhe gets really cranky & bitter abt selling out later on, iirc
― Fantastic. Great move. Well done (sic), Tuesday, 10 March 2020 17:02 (four years ago) link
lol I suspected as much
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 March 2020 17:08 (four years ago) link
Yeah, but wasn't 'Sandinista!' their 'Kid A'?
― tarden, Wednesday, 6 June 2001 bookmarkflaglink
lol
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 11:01 (three years ago) link
I really don't want to hate-listen to Sandinista but this might've pushed me over the edge
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 11:02 (three years ago) link
Something interesting I just discovered: the US version of the debut album has been memory-holed.
To recap, for those who don't know... the Clash's debut came out in the UK in 1977, but CBS in America hated it, so it didn't come out here until after Give 'Em Enough Rope, and the track listing was radically altered. "Deny," "Cheat," "Protex Blue," and "48 Hours" were removed, and post-album singles "Clash City Rockers," "Complete Control," "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais," and "I Fought The Law" were added, and the single mix of "White Riot" was swapped for the LP version. But if you pull the album up on Spotify in the US now, you get the UK version.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 2 August 2021 20:32 (two years ago) link
Black Market Clash gone too
― Citole Country (bendy), Monday, 2 August 2021 20:44 (two years ago) link
Now you have to go into the comps and box sets to make a playlist version.
― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 2 August 2021 21:35 (two years ago) link
Although people already have
― Mark G, Monday, 2 August 2021 21:48 (two years ago) link
But if you pull the album up on Spotify in the US nowThis is a very specific and miniature memory hole
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 02:19 (two years ago) link
Appalling. Here you go: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5JaaajKZNOxriOZCJIZqB7?si=8f3a26cf911c4341
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 02:50 (two years ago) link
needs the 7" version of White Riot
― bovarism, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 10:14 (two years ago) link
I wanted to check Discogs before saying that Black Market Clash was "memory-holed" twenty-eight years ago when Super Black Market Clash came out worldwide, but an Omaha bar / Star Wars t-shirt shop did license a 5,000 copy 10" pressing from Sony in 2011
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 14:39 (two years ago) link
The weirdest thing about Super Black Market Clash was that it left off so many tracks from the original. I love the meandering b-sides, but it seems like those missing tracks would have still fit on the CD.
― Citole Country (bendy), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 15:13 (two years ago) link
I don’t remember the pretty intro to “Capitol Radio.”
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 17:41 (two years ago) link
Is there any specific reason why a band with six albums on the same label has such a confused discography? Are there any songs from 1977-1985 that never came out on CD, or are currently not available or anthologized?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 17:57 (two years ago) link
Good point.xp:Talk about memory holes. One of VG’s absentminded thread.
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 17:57 (two years ago) link
Now I’ve been studying the chartsUsing my mind and my imagination
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 18:13 (two years ago) link
I’ve got a version of “This is England” on Dutch 7” that never was repeated
― Mark G, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 18:16 (two years ago) link
Is there any specific reason why a band with six albums on the same label has such a confused discography?
Two reasons - CBS in the U.S. fucking around with their debut, and the fact that they released so many non-LP cuts (45's, EP's, etc.)
The same thing happened with their peers (see Elvis Costello), and even trying to simplify things with a compilation gets messed up because inevitably the U.S. label will fuck with the compilation due to the original tracklist including stuff they put on the American versions of certain albums (and excluding the stuff they dropped).
Are there any songs from 1977-1985 that never came out on CD, or are currently not available or anthologized?
Nah, their last big release made sure of that too - it was a box set meant to be the very last word on Clash releases. (As promised, I don't think Mick Jones has touched any part of their catalog since.)
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:07 (two years ago) link
Is that Sound System or something else?
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:16 (two years ago) link
Correct, Sound System.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:23 (two years ago) link
Seems to have everything but The Clash SqueezeCut the Crap.
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:25 (two years ago) link
HAH, true, but that's like fake Clash. "This Is England" is great, but fuck everything else on it.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
I don't why "This is England" is considered a standout. That cast-o'-thousands chorus is corny as hell. I mean, the album is a dud, but I actually appreciate the cluttered mashups of "Dictator" and "Fingerpoppin'" as a continuation of where Combat Rock was headed.
― Citole Country (bendy), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link
I liked "Dirty Punk" as well. The album is bad, but not "cast this out of the canon" bad.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:39 (two years ago) link
Cut The Crap is...as good as any other Clash album, and better than some. Their whole discography is a goddamn mess, and as a strip-it-to-the-bone, no-pop-moves record it more than does the job. The guitar sound is ugly as shit, but in a really interesting way, and when you combine that with the Big Black-ish drum machine, the random stabs of ultra-80s synth, and the gang vocals, Strummer was actually really onto something. People who don't like it are too attached to the mythology of four dudes in a room makin' rock 'n' roll.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:41 (two years ago) link
IIRC, I think Bernie Rhodes was the one who dubbed in the chorus without Strummer's approval. It's probably better without it, but I'm okay with it - it's an anthem, and it does feel like a stadium full of soccer fans singing it. (Not a bad song for soccer fans to sing in unison, if that ever happens.)
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 3 August 2021 19:42 (two years ago) link
Sound System doesn't include everything, it's missing 2 tracks from the This Is Radio Clash 12" for a start.
― bovarism, Thursday, 5 August 2021 07:50 (two years ago) link
i had never really been bothered to check before as my wife was the clash fan in this house.but it turns out that my cd of the debut is the US tracklisting.is that the standard edition these days, or, if i see it again will it be more likely to be the UK tracklisting ?
― mark e, Thursday, 5 August 2021 10:06 (two years ago) link
Looks like since 2002 CD reissues have been the UK version
― bovarism, Thursday, 5 August 2021 10:12 (two years ago) link
I hadn't listened to the first album in ages until this revive. Hit the spot. It's remarkable how much the band benefits from better production. On the US version, "I Fought the Law" just pops right out for that reason.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 August 2021 12:26 (two years ago) link
Mark - the US version has the band name in the top right (and reddish), the proper version has the band name in the lower right, and more orange.
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Thursday, 5 August 2021 15:00 (two years ago) link
can't rely on that unfortunately:
https://www.discogs.com/The-Clash-The-Clash/release/16033574
― bovarism, Thursday, 5 August 2021 15:06 (two years ago) link
Mark did ask "these days," ie in the 21 years since the remasters, not "if I'm buying loose CDs taken from mysterious European box sets and flogged individually second-hand"
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Thursday, 5 August 2021 15:14 (two years ago) link
iirc Mark likes to buy CDs from charity shops which means it's not unlikely he'd encounter something like that. there's more than just that one, also found a UK track list with a US cover from 2012
― bovarism, Thursday, 5 August 2021 15:19 (two years ago) link
Ah, my mistake. Truth be told I never bought it - I know Mick Jones supervised the mastering very closely, but he still had the whole thing crushed with additional compression (a fucking bane on modern digital masterings - I wish people would stop doing that for physical releases). I stuck with the original CD releases, but FWIW, here's what's missing that has been issued on CD elsewhere:
1. Justice Tonight/Kick it Over (available on "Super Black Market Clash")2. Mustapha Dance (available on "Super Black Market Clash")3. Robber Dub (available on "Super Black Market Clash")4. Listen (Full version) (available on "Super Black Market Clash")5. Radio One (from "Hitsville UK" 7" B-Side, available on Singles Box Set)6. Radio Five (From "This Is Radio Clash" 12" B-Side, available on Singles Box Set)7. Outcast Broadcast (From "This Is Radio Clash" 12" B-Side, available on Singles Box Set)8. Janie Jones (Demo) (Available on "Clash On Broadway", version on the Sound System box set is different)9. Career Opportunities (Demo) (Available on "Clash On Broadway", version on the Sound System box set is different)10. One Emotion (Available on "Clash On Broadway")11. Every Little Bit Hurts (Available on "Clash On Broadway")12. Red Angel Dragnet (Edited Version) (Available on "Clash On Broadway")13. Ghetto Defendant (Edited Version) (Available on "Clash On Broadway")14. English Civil War (Live) (Available on "Clash On Broadway", version on the Sound System box set is different)15. I Fought The Law (Live) (Available on "Clash On Broadway", version on the Sound System box set is different)
Also the version of "Clash City Rockers" included in the box set is the slower "correct speed" version. As detailed elsewhere, their manager thought it would help to speed up the record when it was originally released, even though Mick and Paul sounded like chipmunks on the backing vocals. The original 7" is sped up and many CD masterings kept it that way, but quite a few CD's even before Sound System have it in the original speed when they went back to the first-generation master tape.
I remember when the Clash's CD catalog was remastered in 1999 (IIRC they took longer to appear in the U.S. and weren't released here until the following year), they advertised (at least in the US) that it was the first time the UK version would be available on CD anywhere. More accurately, if you were in the UK or US, it would be the first time both versions would be in-print on CD there at the same time. However, in the UK, the previous CD was the UK version, and in the US, their previous CD's were always the US version.
I still prefer the UK version. I love the stuff they added to the US version, but it sounds too much like they shoehorned in stuff from later sessions - it's recorded better, they had a different (and better) drummer. It feels less cohesive and more patchwork, so it plays more like a compilation which I guess it really is.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 5 August 2021 15:19 (two years ago) link