Post by Fuggle on Oct 3, 2004 7:26:50 GMT -5
The second coming of London Calling
25th anniversary of Clash classic
Best album of both the '70s and '80s?
VIT WAGNER
POP MUSIC CRITIC
An amusing anecdote pops up near the end of the DVD documentary that accompanies the newly minted 25th-anniversary reissue of London Calling by the Clash.
Joe Strummer, as the story goes, receives a call from a Rolling Stone editor informing the Clash singer that the magazine has chosen London Calling as its top album of the 1980s. There is a pause on the other end of the line, as Strummer, presumably not wanting to sound ungrateful, ponders a minor quibble.
"I thought it came out in '79."
True enough. Actually, the double album came out so late in 1979 — Dec.14, to be precise — that you can appreciate why the folks at Rolling Stone were tempted to lump it in with the succeeding decade. More recently, the hip online music source Pitchforkmedia.com, strictly observing the calendar, ranked London Calling as the second best album of the '70s, debatably placing it right behind David Bowie's Low.
It isn't stretching things, then, to argue that London Calling was the best album of the 1970s and the 1980s, as well as a candidate for best rock album of all time.
After all, the Clash is indisputably one of the greatest rock bands ever. And London Calling, the band's third album, is its masterpiece. Case closed.
All of which is to say that even in a market glutted with dubious reissues, London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition (Epic/Legacy) — containing two CDs and a DVD — is a genuine cause for enthusiasm.
The first CD presents all 19 songs from the original album in sequence — no big deal, really, considering that the same remastered material was reissued four short years ago. Having said that, there is no such thing as an unwelcome opportunity to revisit the likes of the invariably thrilling title track, "Spanish Bombs," "Lost In The Supermarket," "Clampdown," "Death Or Glory," "Train And Vain" and the rest.
It turned out the Clash, hailed as the punk band that could actually play, wasn't really a punk band at all. London Calling, with its pop and reggae influences, represented the band's conscious refusal to adhere to the dogmatic limitations of an idiom that, in a couple of short years, had progressed from breaking one mould to making another.
It is the second CD, containing the fabled "Vanilla Tapes," that is the main inducement. Its 21 tracks, culled from tapes discovered by guitarist Mick Jones, document the band's rehearsal sessions at the Vanilla Studios in Pimlico, England.
The bulk of the disc features roughed-out versions of songs that eventually ended up on the album, sometimes under another name.
For instance, "Guns Of Brixton," the one song written by bassist Paul Simonon, appears as "Paul's Tune." There are also five offerings that didn't make it on to London Calling, including a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me."
The DVD has its moments, too, many of them focused on the maniacal behaviour of producer Guy Stevens, whose unconventional motivational strategies included bashing chairs into submission and throwing ladders across the studio.
The 30-minute documentary of the making of the album is titled The Last Testament, which was the original working title for the album. Strummer, Jones, Simonon and drummer Topper Headon began the project determined to make the last great rock album ever. Thankfully, they didn't succeed, but it wasn't for want of trying.
If the album isn't evidence enough, the documentary makes it plain that London Calling did not arrive at greatness by accident. The Clash willed it to be great. Not just for the '70s or the '80s, but for all time.
25th anniversary of Clash classic
Best album of both the '70s and '80s?
VIT WAGNER
POP MUSIC CRITIC
An amusing anecdote pops up near the end of the DVD documentary that accompanies the newly minted 25th-anniversary reissue of London Calling by the Clash.
Joe Strummer, as the story goes, receives a call from a Rolling Stone editor informing the Clash singer that the magazine has chosen London Calling as its top album of the 1980s. There is a pause on the other end of the line, as Strummer, presumably not wanting to sound ungrateful, ponders a minor quibble.
"I thought it came out in '79."
True enough. Actually, the double album came out so late in 1979 — Dec.14, to be precise — that you can appreciate why the folks at Rolling Stone were tempted to lump it in with the succeeding decade. More recently, the hip online music source Pitchforkmedia.com, strictly observing the calendar, ranked London Calling as the second best album of the '70s, debatably placing it right behind David Bowie's Low.
It isn't stretching things, then, to argue that London Calling was the best album of the 1970s and the 1980s, as well as a candidate for best rock album of all time.
After all, the Clash is indisputably one of the greatest rock bands ever. And London Calling, the band's third album, is its masterpiece. Case closed.
All of which is to say that even in a market glutted with dubious reissues, London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition (Epic/Legacy) — containing two CDs and a DVD — is a genuine cause for enthusiasm.
The first CD presents all 19 songs from the original album in sequence — no big deal, really, considering that the same remastered material was reissued four short years ago. Having said that, there is no such thing as an unwelcome opportunity to revisit the likes of the invariably thrilling title track, "Spanish Bombs," "Lost In The Supermarket," "Clampdown," "Death Or Glory," "Train And Vain" and the rest.
It turned out the Clash, hailed as the punk band that could actually play, wasn't really a punk band at all. London Calling, with its pop and reggae influences, represented the band's conscious refusal to adhere to the dogmatic limitations of an idiom that, in a couple of short years, had progressed from breaking one mould to making another.
It is the second CD, containing the fabled "Vanilla Tapes," that is the main inducement. Its 21 tracks, culled from tapes discovered by guitarist Mick Jones, document the band's rehearsal sessions at the Vanilla Studios in Pimlico, England.
The bulk of the disc features roughed-out versions of songs that eventually ended up on the album, sometimes under another name.
For instance, "Guns Of Brixton," the one song written by bassist Paul Simonon, appears as "Paul's Tune." There are also five offerings that didn't make it on to London Calling, including a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me."
The DVD has its moments, too, many of them focused on the maniacal behaviour of producer Guy Stevens, whose unconventional motivational strategies included bashing chairs into submission and throwing ladders across the studio.
The 30-minute documentary of the making of the album is titled The Last Testament, which was the original working title for the album. Strummer, Jones, Simonon and drummer Topper Headon began the project determined to make the last great rock album ever. Thankfully, they didn't succeed, but it wasn't for want of trying.
If the album isn't evidence enough, the documentary makes it plain that London Calling did not arrive at greatness by accident. The Clash willed it to be great. Not just for the '70s or the '80s, but for all time.