Calling the Clash

Nothing more then having over an hour of Clash in your headphones. It's what I felt as a new listener to the band back when I was in High School. I knew the hits, but I wanted to hear the rest. A lot of bands were like that for me. I mean Cream with Disraeli Gears was a little more then a half hour, any Beatles records could barely make a half hour in length. I had the problem of music I listened to in High School had to be more or equal to forty minutes. It was what my ADHD mind could handle. The shorter the album the worse it was for me. It was the ONLY thing that could keep me focused. That is why they created ninety minute blank cassettes right? It was you can have two on one. Anything over was great because I could add filler to the band I taped and add more of their music. More focus on music the less I could get in trouble. 

With all that music, The Clash combine all kinds of styles of music. Rockabilly, R&B, Lounge, Hard Rock, Ska and Reggae and I bet so many others too. The problem when working on this album was what I had before restarted this blog. You loyal readers ever have something called writers block? Well Strummer and Jones had problems writing. I feel your pain guys. It's a tough thing to work through thankfully they made one of their most iconic albums ever. I chose this one because of a few reasons that might sound corny but they are true. One reason is because after writing so many and having a bit of writers block this was the first one that popped in my head to write about. The second reason is because my vinyl rip and audiophile version sound amazing and this album should not be neglected. 

 

As  a teenager this album was a bit of a mystery. The only Classic Rock radio friendly song on this album was "Train In Vain." It's not on the radio often but it does get played. I liked the album because of that awesome cover of Paul Simonon smashing his bass out of frustration because the bouncers were not letting the crowd to stand. I love it personally and it's a homage to Elvis Presley's first album the lettering and the coolness of the bass which has seconds to live. It was years later that I gave the album it's full attention. As that teenager all the thoughts and ideas of the music went way over my head. The Clash are great when they have a finished product but takes a while to digest. 

Those mixes of genres and styles as I mentioned above made me explore other music. I may have not known it at the time, but hearing their tribute unsung rock and roots music influence on a few songs show that they are not just a Punk Rock band. They give us all this music to listen to that I had to hear it all. Songs like "Guns of Brixton," "Jimmy Jazz," "Wrong Em Boyo and "Brand New Cadillac" are fresh and new and different to what was playing on the radio or the general population had been listening to. 

As the kid, I was loving it. I just liked it to like it I guess. When the older me gave it a listen I was impressed by the mix of everything. They did not stick to one kind of music. The other day I dug out my old copy and could not believe how well I preserved this copy. I can remember when I found this at a tag sale for fifty cents I felt like I got a steal. Playing this in the house once again provided my parents to wonder what he was listening to. Did they think I got off the path again. I'm sure my Jazz-Rock dad thought so. My mother, on the other hand always thought I had poor taste in music. 

All in all, this is a great Clash album. As best as you can get. You can see their influences, their music is always been something special. Each of their albums are quite unique, Their next album was the large and more full of their influences and even went farther in it's length with over two hours of music. Sandinista!  might be a lot to digest, but well worth it. It might be a jab at their record label, but it has a lot of music (36 songs) to keep anyone entertained. They might have had writers block when London Calling was being created, but it showed that they can anything when the flood gates of creativity opened. As a whole, London Calling will make you go in different directions musically and that might be the best thing. Enjoy!