The Clash sounded like they could do anything on London Calling. For its triple-album follow-up, Sandinista!, they tried to do everything, adding dub, ap, gospel, and even children's choruses to the punk, eggae, R&B, and oots rock they already were playing. Instead of presenting a band with a far-reaching vision, like London Calling did, Sandinista! plays as a messy, confused jumble, which means that its numerous virtues are easy to ignore. Amid all the dub experiments, backward tracks, unfinished songs, and instrumentals, there are a number of classic Clash songs that rank among the band's best, including "Police on My Back," "The Call Up," "Somebody Got Murdered," "Charlie Don't Surf," "Hitsville U.K.," and "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)," yet it's difficult for anyone but the most dedicated listeners to find them. A few of the failed ideas were worth exploring, but even more -- like the children's choir version of "Career Opportunities" or the Terry Doggs song "Lose This Skin" -- weren't even worth pursuing. As the cliché says, there's a great single album within these three records, and those songs make Sandinista! worthwhile. Nevertheless, its sloppy attack is disheartening after the tour de force of London Calling and the focused aggression of The Clash. [In 2000 Columbia/Legacy reissued, remastered, and restored the artwork for Sandinista!]
In the past two months, I have come to learn that Joe Strummer was truly the collective voice of my generation. With the passing of Augusto Pinnochet in Chile ( having never been charged with any crimes ). And now the re-election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, it's easy to see where these people dropped the ball. 27 years later this song has new validity. For the very first time ever when they h
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ive been on a mogiatus for a little while. it was well needed. dont get me wrong, i love the vast knwledge of everything music here, but sometimes its suffocating, all so much to take in at once. everyones doing their own thing, going their own ways, and posting about it all at the same time that it just gets unbearable. its been said before but ill say it again "theres not enough time in the w...
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............Robert Duvall, in total gung-ho oblivian, striding accross the beach like a lord of the manor, bullets flying, motar rounds landing, wrapped in his American bubble of certainty, convinced its his right to own the break 'cause..."Charlie Don't Surf". Determined, it is implied, to show Charlie what this place is for......There can be no richer metaphor for America's ambivilent self-i...
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I always feel guilty listening to music at work. Maybe it is because I don't listen to the "easy listening" that attribute to cubicle dwellers, and my music habits demand that I devote at least more than 10% of my subconscious to what is playing. Am I alone in this feeling?So many people treat music as an ambient environmental tool, which is what I do too, but on top of that I have a hard time al
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ive been on a mogiatus for a little while. it was well needed. dont get me wrong, i love the vast knwledge of everything music here, but sometimes its suffocating, all so much to take in at once. everyones doing their own thing, going their own ways, and posting about it all at the same time that it just gets unbearable. its been said before but ill say it again "theres not enough time in the w...
More >
What more could possibly be written about the Clash?I just like to turn this song up really loud.
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In the past two months, I have come to learn that Joe Strummer was truly the collective voice of my generation. With the passing of Augusto Pinnochet in Chile ( having never been charged with any crimes ). And now the re-election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, it's easy to see where these people dropped the ball. 27 years later this song has new validity. For the very first time ever when they h
More >
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 "Sandinista!")
