The Clash- London Calling
During the early days of the Soviet Union, tyrant Josef Stalin’s officials released a newspaper on a daily basis. The newspaper was called Pravda, or ‘truth’ in English. What was ironic about a paper titled ‘truth’ is what it contained. Rather than the actual reality of the politics in the Soviet, Pravda released distorted information, and propaganda, intimidating the Soviet citizens into following their dictator. As you can see, the government is never fully truthful, but it really isn’t their job to be honest, is it? In the late 1970’s, in England, a man nicknamed Joe Strummer read the newspaper every day, to catch his daily dose of the propaganda and critical beliefs that he would later come to attack in his music. Enlisting the help of a good friend and guitar player, Mick Jones, Joe formed a punk band, and later found the help of a close by Brixton art student, Paul Simonon. Only being one of the many, many punk bands to emerge from Britain in the late 70’s, you’d expect most of them to be the typical, brats that most were- critical of politics, annoying, rude, grimy, and so on. But this was different. One day, while reading the paper, Paul and Joe saw a headline which read ‘Police clash with protesters!’. Who knew one trivial headline in the paper could spawn a punk band. The Clash made their first record, which established them as true punks with their simple, snotty music and harsh lyrics. Frequently trading off drummers, halfway through the recording of their self titled, Mick found a guy named Nicky ‘Topper’ Headon. To keep a long story short, Topper stuck around.
But what originated the snot-nosed debut album was far less than anything that ever made it on to their 1979 follow up, London Calling. Let’s put it into small words- I am by no means, a fan of punk rock. I simply cannot stand it. But London Calling has earned a place as my favorite record of all time. Why? Because the album contains pure brilliance. The two songwriters, Jones and Strummer, drifted farther from the pure punk into something much more deep, and intricate. Strummer, an avid fan of dub and reggae, incorporated his likings into a lot of his songs. Meanwhile, Mick was a huge devotee of pop, soul, and rhythm and blues music. His writing reflects upon those standards. While there are certainly musical influences from many genres, the lyrical content on London Calling is nothing more than pure liberal brilliance. While maintaining that critical point of view that is typical of all punk, every song tells a story, whether it be about women, hardship, wealth, or simply abstract renditions, every song contains some of the best lyrics I‘ve heard. Ever.
Every single song on London Calling is catchy as hell, with enough pop appeal to ease even fans on Brittney Spears, but gives the finger simultaneously. While the juxtaposition of musical tastes and genres might seem a bit unruly and sloppy, believe me, you wouldn’t want it any other way. Something that is intriguing about London Calling is the frequent use of classical, and unorthodox instruments, that never have seemed to belong in rock music. There are horns everywhere, like on the ska anthem ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’, where Mick’s galloping voice, combined with a danceable trumpet part, make some pretty damn catchy melodies. Ska is shown throughout a portion of the album, like on the upbeat ‘Hateful’ and on the tribute to actor Montgomery Cliff, ‘The Right Profile’. Reggae also controls a portion of the album. ‘Guns of Brixton’ which features Paul on lead vocals, as well as one head bobbing bassline, epitomizes the impact of the genre, as does the fun ‘Revolution Rock’. But while those two are good, the strongest songs on the album undoubtedly reflect upon Mick’s fascination with pop. The title track, London Calling is an apocalyptic disco shuffle, while the monsters ‘Death or Glory’, and ‘Spanish Bombs’ glorify the genre in a whole other way. Death or Glory is the catchiest piece of shit on the planet, while Spanish Bombs contends for best song on the album with The Card Cheat. There is probably not a more dramatic song on the album than the Card Cheat. Between the trickling piano and thundering bass, this epic tale of a gambling con artist, which is actually an allegory of the fall of the British Empire, is nothing short of amazing. And another track, ‘Koka Kola’ is furious, with a wonderfully catchy hook and an upbeat tempo that is so good, you’ll be sad it only lasts a minute-and-thirty, as well as the disco pop of the depressing ‘Lost in the Supermarket‘. Surf Music, as well as rock n roll, provides the foundation for a number of great songs on London Calling. ‘Brand New Cadillac’, ‘Lover’s Rock’, ‘Four Horsemen’, ‘I’m Not Down’, ‘Wrong Em Boyo’ and the monsterous ‘Clampdown’ are all benefiting factors. These arguably contain the best guitar work on the album, and interesting storylines. ‘Clampdown’ in particular, about Nazis from the WWII era, is the angriest song on the album, and “Lover’s Rock” is a vulgar tale of sex, with awesome guitar playing, of course. And of course, who can forget the bebop on the lone ‘Jimmy Jazz’, where shuffled rhythms on Topper’s hihats and Paul’s walking bass provide cover for Joe’s growly voice.
Whether it be catchy pop appeal, ingenious lyrics like ‘In the fury of the hour, anger can be power, I know that you could use it.’ or ‘The hillsides ring with ‘free the people’, Can I hear the echo from the days of ‘39?’, or simple melodies that drive you to keep listening, I really cannot find a flaw that pisses me off
about this album. Punk albums should be more like this, because this is just too good to be true. You can take my word for it. This is my favorite album of all time. Me, a difficult to please classic rock/prog fan, picks the Clash as making the album of the millennium. Hard to see, but definitely worth buying, and playing until your brain grows numb. Trust me, there is not a better punk album out there. After all, the Clash were ‘the only band that mattered.’
and have yet to decide how good it is.
