T.R.A.C. (Top Risk Action Company) - Nice Up The Nation: The First Demos

 

Of Schulz... and Strummer... and second acts.

(Just read this over; this is a pretty meandering post... but it gets to the main point soon enough.  Just bear with me...)

I read a lot - that's my thing.  I rarely if ever watch TV; I'd much rather spend the evening with a book in my lap and a drink at my elbow, especially on these warm and fleeting summer nights up here when I can do so on my front porch.  

My tastes are pretty eclectic; in the past couple of months, I've gone through Patti Smith's Just Kids, F. Scott Fitzgerald's first three novels (This Side Of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned (the ending of which I HATED) and The Great Gatsby (for the first time in more than twenty years)), David McCullough's final book (before his death last year) The Pioneers (which frankly in my opinion wasn't as compelling as any of his previous histories - no offense, but I think he should have hung it up after his second-to-last one, the brilliant The Wright Brothers), Barbara Tuchman's Stilwell and the American Experience In China (superb, although sometimes hard to keep track of all the Chinese names), Nathaniel Philbrick's Battle of the Little Bighorn history The Last Stand, and all three volumes of Edmund Morris' comprehensive biography of Theodore Roosevelt's life and presidency.  While taking in these larger tomes, I usually read other shorter/less-serious books for "dessert", such as obscure Jim Thompson hardboiled crime novels I didn't get through the first time (like A Swell-Looking Babe and Pop. 1280), Wild and Crazy Guys (documenting the rise of comedy mavericks like Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in the '80s and '90s), and a recent compilation of Shary Flenniken's raunchy and insightful Trots and Bonnie comics from the old National Lampoon magazine.

I buy new books practically every other weekend, and have what I think is a pretty decent home library.  But I rarely if ever buy books just to "buy" them - I read everything I purchase, because something looks interesting and informative to me.

With that being said, there's really only one series that I collect just to "have", due to one of my childhood obsessions - the Charlie Brown cartoon reprints.  In 2004, Fantagraphics Books published the first in a series of books containing the entire print run of Peanuts, Charles Schulz's beloved, long-running and internationally famous comic strip.  Starting with the first strip published in 1950, Fantagraphics released two volumes a year, each volume containing two years of strips.  Over the next twelve years, the publisher put out what ended up being a total of 26 volumes capturing every comic printed between 1950 and 2000, along with a final volume containing collection of Schulz strips, cartoons, stories, and illustrations that appeared outside of the daily newspaper strip.

It's my personal feeling that Peanuts, and Charles Schulz, peaked in the Seventies.  By that time, the cartoonist had been drawing the strip for over two decades, and had all but perfected the complicated interplay of relationships between the characters.  And most importantly during that period, the character Snoopy had yet to take over and dominate the strip - the dog still interacted somewhat with the other characters, and his activities complemented those of (ostensible main character) Charlie Brown and the gang.  

But by the end of that decade, Snoopy's fantasy lives (the WWI flying ace, Joe Cool, novelist, etc.) began to be the focus of the comic.  He no longer needed any of the other strip characters to "be" - he just needed his imagination.  In support of this new focus on Snoopy, Schulz began constructing a entire side life for him existing apart from that of the other Peanuts characters, beginning with the 1970 introduction of Snoopy's bird friend Woodstock... and in the years that followed with beagle members of Snoopy's immediate family, including Spike, Belle, Olaf and the like.  In my opinion, this shift of focus dragged the entire strip down and completely screwed up the overall dynamic.  I was a huge fan of Peanuts when I was a kid, but after around 1980 I ceased to pay very much attention to it.

With that said, over the years I've collected every volume of the Fantagraphics Peanuts series up through the first thirty years or so of the strip, through the early 1980s run - the initial fifteen books.  But I've never felt quite "right" about stopping there.  As you can probably determine from my music posts, I'm a completist, and I like having a full set, whether that's the total discography of a band I like or all the books in a particular collection.  So last year I began a search for the remaining volumes, and found what I thought was the next in the series for sale at a discount on eBay, The Complete Peanuts: 1981 to 1982.  When it arrived the next week, I took the new book down to the section of my library containing the other Peanuts volumes... only to find that I ALREADY had a copy of that particular one, which I must've purchased unconsciously in years prior.

I couldn't return it, and I wouldn't just throw it out, so I did the next best thing; there's a really good used bookstore across town from where I live, which has thousands of volumes in various genres on sale and also runs a decent book-buying program.  I figured I could take my unneeded tome over to the shop and get a few bucks out of it, or possibly swap it out for something on sale there that I might be more interested in.

That weekend, I went over to the bookstore and made a deal with the proprietor for a reasonable price for my book; it was in almost-new condition, so I did pretty well.  Instead of taking the money and running, I took the time to look around while I was there, to see if there was anything that semi-struck my fancy.  And I found it in the "Popular Music" section - Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer, a 2007 biography of the Clash frontman, written by his longtime friend, music journalist Chris Salewicz.  As I've mentioned before, The Clash are one of my all-time favorite bands, so I couldn't buy this book fast enough...

...And I found it well worth the acquisition.  Salewicz's excellent book goes through Strummer's life in intricate detail.  I found the following review on the GoodReads.com site - I heartily concur with every word, and can add nothing to this succinct and superb review:

The Clash was--and still is--one of the most important groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Indebted to rockabilly, reggae, Memphis soul, cowboy justice, and '60s protest, the overtly political band railed against war, racism, and a dead-end economy, and in the process imparted a conscience to punk. Their eponymous first record and London Calling still rank in Rolling Stone's top-ten best albums of all time, and in 2003 they were officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joe Strummer was the Clash's front man, a rock-and-roll hero seen by many as the personification of outlaw integrity and street cool. The political heart of the Clash, Strummer synthesized gritty toughness and poetic sensitivity in a manner that still resonates with listeners, and his untimely death in December 2002 shook the world, further solidifying his iconic status.

Music journalist Chris Salewicz was a friend to Strummer for close to three decades and has covered the Clash's career and the entire punk movement from its inception. With exclusive access to Strummer's friends, relatives, and fellow musicians, Salewicz penetrates the soul of an icon. He uses his vantage point to write the definitive biography of Strummer, charting his enormous worldwide success, his bleak years in the wilderness after the Clash's bitter breakup, and his triumphant return to stardom at the end of his life. In the process, Salewicz argues for Strummer's place in a long line of protest singers that includes Woody Guthrie, John Lennon, and Bob Marley, and examines by turns Strummer's and punk's ongoing cultural influence.

One of the main areas of Strummer's life I was eager to get to in reading this book was the circumstances behind the dissolution of The Clash in late August 1983, when Mick Jones was summarily dismissed from the group.  Over the years, there have been various conjectures, claims and counterclaims surrounding who exactly pulled the trigger on Mick and why - was it Bernie Rhodes, who reentered the band's orbit as manager in 1981, after being dismissed from that role three years earlier?  Was it a decision by Joe alone, or a joint one with fellow band member Paul Simonon?  The book is sort of wishy-washy in terms of definitively pointing the dirty stick at anyone in particular, and I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't had the chance to read it yet... although reading between the lines, Strummer does not come off looking particularly well in this episode.

Mick reflected on the internal politics that eventually split up the group during an interview for the BBC 2 programme Def II, circa 1990:

“It all started going wrong actually when Topper left…Topper left and it was never really the same, but we could have carried on, but then I got fired (laughs)…but we’d really stopped communicating by that time. We just managed to maintain a grunting level of civility, you know, before, but it was kind of all set up as well, you know, I was set up really, and that was kind of political, behind the back.

People were moving and trying to be influential, and different people were coming between members of the group, you know, things like that. All the things that start happening, you know, when you become really successful… you become a different kind of asshole. I turned up the day I was fired and got me guitar out, you know, and I think it was Joe it was who managed to muster up the courage to say that he didn’t want to play with me anymore, and when somebody says that to you…I just packed my guitar…just whoa… hey, you know, OK bye, and that was it. I walked, and Bernie came running out after me with a cheque in his hand, you know like a gold watch or something…which added insult to injury, but I took it anyway, and about two days mourning, and I started on the next group.”

The timeline of Jone's immediate post-Clash work has always seemed a bit scrambled to me; memories of participants in that period that I've read are variously contradictory and confused in terms of time periods and activities.  So I've tried on my own to come up with a plausible sequence, based on all of the information I could gather...

I'd always been under the impression/assumption that Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite in the weeks after his departure from The Clash.  But apparently that wasn't quite true.  Jones' initial post-Clash landing spot, within days of his dismissal, was as a member of General Public, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger's new project formed in the wake of The English Beat's breakup earlier that year.  With Mick on board as lead guitarist, General Public became a British New Wave/ska 'supergroup' of sorts, containing former members of Dexy's Midnight Runners and The Specials along with The Beat and The Clash.  But Jones' tenure in the group was short-lived; by the late fall of 1983, less than three months after leaving The Clash and halfway through the recording sessions for General Public's debut album All The Rage (where he contributed guitar to "Hot You're Cool", "Tenderness", "Where's The Line?" and many other tracks), he had already moved on.

Jone's next group, Top Risk Action Company (T.R.A.C) came together, it seems, in early 1984.  The story, as told by saxophonist John "Boy" Lennard (ex-Theatre Of Hate - Jones was the producer on that band's only LP, 1982's Westworld), is a bit inaccurate in regards to time, in that Jones had departed The Clash six months earlier - perhaps the 'spliff' smoke mentioned below left him somewhat confused:

"T.R.A.C. came about when I was at Mick's place. He got up to phone the press to confirm he was leaving the Clash... He came back, rolled a spliff and said he wanted to start a band with Topper and I."

As mentioned above, Jones also asked former Clash bandmate Topper Headon and Basement 5 bassist Leo Williams to join the nascent band with Lennard and himself, and the quartet began rehearsing and recording demos in the early spring of 1984.  But in hindsight, I don't believe that Mick was serious about prepping an actual album for release with this group.  He appears to be just exploring and experimenting with different sounds at this time for his own benefit.  In addition, Top Risk Action Company almost immediately faced some band turmoil; Headon's on-again/off-again heroin addition made a serious resurgence during this time.  As per Lennard again:

"I think [Mick] didn’t feel confident Topper could hold it together and was feeling overwhelmed and [therefore] closed it down [by sacking Headon]."

After Headon's firing, rehearsals became more sporadic, and Lennard began drifting away to other projects.  With that, T.R.A.C., as a viable enterprise, was over and done with before the summer of 1984 was out... not that this appeared to be any great loss for Jones.  It seems clear now that Mick himself wasn't too keen on pursuing his evolving musical direction with that group of musicians, and all of the demos the band recorded were shelved.

Into what remained of T.R.A.C. (namely Jones and Williams), Don Letts and Greg Roberts were recruited in July/August of 1984... and from the ashes of that former band rose the phoenix that was Big Audio Dynamite.  BAD's first gigs were in October 1984, and their debut LP This Is Big Audio Dynamite was released in November 1985, sparking off a decade of successful and critically-acclaimed albums and gigs.

That isn't to say that what Top Risk Action Company came up with pre-BAD was a bunch of crap.  What survived of the band's demos were recently recovered, remastered, and released on a bootleg CD.  Stylistically, the songs on this disc are to me somewhere between Mick Jones' genre-hopping dance songs on Combat Rock (e.g. "The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too", "Atom Tan", "Inoculated City") and proto-Big Audio Dynamite post-punk dance/funk/reggae (indeed, the demo version of "The Bottom Line" here was reworked and released on BAD's first album). 

Here's the full tracklist:

1. The Prolific 

2. Winning (Napoleon Of Notting Hill) 

3. Gone To The Dogs 

4. Ringmaster 

5. Astro Turf 

6. Interaction 

7. Nation 

8. Apprentice 

9. Ducane Road

10. Fare Dodgers 

11. The Bottom Line 

12. Euroshima (Edit)

13. Euroshima (Unedited)

 

Lineup: 

 

Mick Jones: Vocals/Guitar 

Topper Headon: Drums 

Leo Williams: Bass 

John "Boy" Lennard: Sax

On the whole, this release may not be everyone's cup of tea.  But at the very least, we can get a glimpse as to what was going in Mick Jones' mind at the time, and get a sense of his music creation process.  

I'll leave John Lennard again with the final word regarding T.R.A.C.:

"I thought it was a creative period for him but Mick is slow to bring it up. Great memories!"

Here for your listening pleasure and to add to your musical memories is Nice Up The Nation: The First Demos, a bootleg compilation of Top Risk Action Company tunes recorded during the summer of 1984.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

Various Artists - This Is Rockabilly Clash

Stumbled across this one a couple of years ago, in my ongoing search for anything and everything related to The Clash.  It's a compendium of Clash tunes reworked by several bands in the rockabilly/psychobilly style.  Here's the lineup of songs and artists:

1. Guns of Brixton - The Honeydippers
2. Career Opportunities - Farrell Bros.
3. Capitol Radio - The Hyperjax
4. Jail Guitar Doors - The Caravans
5. Train In Vain - The Sabrejets
6. Should I Stay Or Should I Go? - Long Tall Texans
7. I'm So Bored With The U.S.A. - XX Cortez
8. Jimmy Jazz - Frantic Flintstones
9. What's My Name? - The Charles Napiers
10. Bank Robber - The Pistoleers
11. Brand New Cadillac - The Accelerators
12. Janie Jones - Farrell Bros.
13. Know Your Rights - The Caravans
14. Guns Of Brixton - Rancho Deluxe

Some tunes here work better than others... but all in all, this is a great group of songs providing an interesting, different take on some familiar music from Strummer, Jones & Co., in a style with which the original band was not unfamiliar with.

No long-winded story from me regarding this one...  Posting this for no reason whatsoever, other than I like it, and thought that some of you might like it as well.  Here's the compilation This Is Rockabilly Clash, released on Raucous Records in the UK on July 11th, 2003.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think about it as well.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

The Clash - Clash On Broadway (The Interviews)

Here's a Leap Day quickie (and a way for me to keep up my monthly quota of posts as well . . .): a disc of interviews of various members of The Clash, put together as a promotion for the 1991 release of the Clash On Broadway compilation. These interviews, conducted by former band manager/associate Kosmo Vinyl in New York City and London in late 1991, provides info on the origins and operations, stresses and successes of the group from the 'horse's mouths' themselves. Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon detail their thoughts and inspirations behind some of the most important and popular Clash songs. While there is mostly just talk on this disc, there IS some music on here as well.

Here's the track lineup:

1. Interview (Mick Jones on the beginnings of The Clash)
2. Interview (Joe Strummer on the beginnings of The Clash)
3. Interview (Mick Jones on the beginnings of The Clash)
4. Interview (Paul Simonon on the beginnings of The Clash)
5. Interview (Mick Jones on the beginnings of The Clash)
6. Interview (Paul Simonon on the beginnings of The Clash)
7. Interview (Joe Strummer on the beginnings of The Clash)
8. Interview (Mick Jones on the beginnings of The Clash)
9. Interview (Joe Strummer on the beginnings of The Clash)
10. Interview (Mick Jones on the beginnings of The Clash)
11. White Riot
12. Interview (Paul Simonon; Joe Strummer; Mick Jones; on the transition from Terry Chimes to Topper Headon as Clash Drummer, and the writing of the song Complete Control)
13. Complete Control
14. Interview (Mick Jones; Joe Strummer on writing (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais)
15. White Man In Hammersmith Palais
16. Interview (Joe Strummer on the inspiration for Julie's Working For The Drug Squad)
17. Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
18. Interview (Paul Simonon; Joe Strummer on writing One Emotion)
19. One Emotion
20. Interview (Joe Strummer; Mick Jones on covering the song I Fought The Law)
21. I Fought The Law (Live)
22. Interview (Mick Jones; Paul Simonon; Joe Strummer on writing the song and album London Calling)
23. London Calling
24. Interview (Joe Strummer; Mick Jones on writing Lost In The Supermarket)
25. Lost In The Supermarket
26. Interview (Paul Simonon on writing The Guns Of Brixton)
27. The Guns Of Brixton
28. Interview (Paul Simonon; Mick Jones on writing Train In Vain)
29. Train In Vain
30. Interview (Joe Strummer on writing Rock The Casbah)
31. Rock The Casbah
32. Interview (Mick Jones; Joe Strummer; Paul Simonon on writing Should I Stay Or Should I Go)
33. Should I Stay Or Should I Go
34. Interview (Paul Simonon, Mick Jones; Joe Strummer on recording Every Little Bit Hurts)
35. Every Little Bit Hurts
36. Interview (Mick Jones; Paul Simonon; Joe Strummer on the legacy of The Clash)

I ran this one down only a couple of years back, in my constant search for any and all noises related to The Clash. I had no idea it existed prior to then, else I would have acquired it at the same time I bought the compilation all those years ago. This mostly-interview disc may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I always find it interesting to know a band's roots, and how/why they came up with their hit songs. This album is a great complement to the original box set and the Clash On Broadway (The Outtakes, a.k.a. Disc 4) I posted earlier. If you have any interest in the history of The Clash, this is a must-have.

So here for your edification and listening pleasure, is Clash On Broadway (The Interviews), released by Epic Records in late 1991.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Happy Leap Day!

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

The Clash - Clash On Broadway (The Outtakes)

Well, let's start 2016 off right - with some Clash!

From Sharoma's superb site, reviewing a multitude of Clash bootlegs and rarities, comes the following quote taken from his excellent write-up regarding the super-hard-to-find (except here, of course!) Demos, Outtakes, Alternates (D.O.A.) set:

"Along with Clash On Broadway Outtakes and The Rat Patrol, [you'll] almost have all The Clash demos, outtakes and alternates."

Since the other two mentioned above have long been available on this blog, I figured I might as well post the third and final selection in the band's bootleg triumvirate!

Despite this disc's professionally-produced liner notes and cover, which are identical to the 1991 three-disc Clash on Broadway Legacy Records release, this release is NOT an official part of that set. The original compilation (which included early singles, some live recordings, and a couple of previously unreleased tracks and demos) covered the period from the band's 1977 debut through to 1982's Combat Rock. It notably

included nothing from the critically and commercially reviled 1985 album Cut The Crap, about which I've had more than enough to say about in the past. The Outtakes (or Clash On Broadway (Disc 4), if you will), is an attempt to fill in that missing piece, and also provide fans with additional rarities and demos left off of the box set (which, in my opinion, had a pretty scanty selection).

Sharoma's site only details the last ten tracks for this boot (I stand by his reviews of these songs); I got the extended version from somewhere - I can't quite recall where or when, it's been so long. Here's the back cover with song details:

Highlights from the first half include some live concert takes by the post-Mick Jones Clash in Seattle, Glasgow and Paris (as much as I've badmouthed this lineup over the years, I must say that overall, they didn't sound that bad in concert); radio news reports of the chaos surrounding the Clash's legendary 1981 stand at Bond's International Casino in New York; a full-length version of "Dirty Harry", the early working title for Sandinista's "The Magnificent Seven" (a shorter version of this song is contained on my previous Clash post, Rocker Station); and in my opinion the only decent song off of Cut The Crap, "We Are The Clash". There are a couple of things here that have appeared elsewhere: "Rock The Casbah (with Ranking Roger)" was included on Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg, and "Guns Of Brixton (alt. mix)" was taken off of the Return To Brixton EP. But overall, the selections here are truly hard to find and well thought out.

So, for my first post of the new year, here's Clash On Broadway (The Outtakes), complied in 2002 by an European bootleg label called Scotty Snail. Enjoy, Happy New Year, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

The Clash - Rocker Station

Recent comment on my Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan (1982-01-28) posting:

"Great show; always looking for Clash bootlegs. Will definitely bookmark your site. More Clash please!"

Ask, Mr. Donihue, and you shall receive!

Here's the great Rocker Station bootleg, put together by super-Clash fan Sharoma. As per a previous post I did many moons ago on a bootleg by this band, I'm going to get out of the way and turn the narrative description of this set over to him . . . only Sharoma - come in Sharoma!

I didn't hear about this comp until about four/five years ago, long after it first appeared, so I had the devil's own time trying to track down a copy of it - it was especially tough since this is really not an official bootleg, just a fan's collection of odds and sods.  But mission accomplished, and gladly so; there's some gold on this here disc - including the live version of "The Magnificent Seven" the band played on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show in 1981, while they were in New York during their legendary Bonds International Casino residency, and the demo version of the same song from the previous year (then titled "Dirty Harry [Speed Mix]"). 

Here's the rest of the track listing:

1. Radio One
2. Dirty Harry [Speed Mix]
3. Rock The Casbah (Hot Tracks Mix)
4. Overpowered By Funk (New York Remix) [Speed Mix]
5. The Escapades Of Futura 2000
6. Radio One (Reprise)
7. The Escapades Of Futura Dub
8. Overpowered By Funk (Instrumental)
9. Rock The Casbah (Ultimix)
10. The Further Adventures Of Futura 2000
11. The Magnificent Seven (Tomorrow Show)
12. Lightning Strikes (Live)
13. The Magnificent Seven (Grooveblaster Remix)
14. In The Pouring Rain (Demo)

Here - have a listen and pick out the standout tracks for yourself. Enjoy Sharoma's Rocker Station Clash rarities compilation (first formatted in 2002), and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

Various Artists - 1-2-3-4: Punk & New Wave 1976-1979 (5 Discs)

For such a precedent-shattering and groundbreaking genre, the Golden Age of punk rock was relatively short-lived. Although it's tough to nail down a definitive start to the punk era, 1975 seems to be the consensus, based on the rise that year of such New York City bands/musicians as The Ramones, Patti Smith and Television, and the emergence of The Buzzcocks and The Sex Pistols in the UK. But long before the end of the '70s, punk was already disintegrating, splintering into several different genres - post-punk, New Wave, hardcore, No Wave, Oi!, psychobilly, etc.

Even during its heyday, "punk" was more about the methods, means and attitude by which these musicians approached their music, rather than defining a uniform sound and approach. The Clash, The Jam, Talking Heads, X and The Damned are all considered some of the classic bands to come out of that era, but you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an all-encompassing description/definition of "punk" from their music. This wide variation in the sound and style of what was considered "punk" is one of the genre's strengths, but an aspect that makes the era particularly difficult to summarize and anthologize.

Now, I own a gazillion single- and multi-disc punk and New Wave compilations: Burning Ambitions: A History of Punk (Vols. 1 & 2); Rhino's D.I.Y. series from the mid-90s; The Number One Punk Album, and so forth and so on. I've got overviews of American punk, British punk, Australian punk - you name it. Some of them are pretty good, most of them are OK/so-so, and a couple are absolutely terrible. None of them serve to effectively capture the entire era. And for years, I figured that there would never be a release of any length that could do so. That is, until the late 1990s.

I recall reading about this set in the late winter/early spring of 1999, when I lived in Texas. There was an article about its upcoming release in one of the UK music magazines I regularly read back then - Q, the NME . . . I don't recall which one. But I do recall the glowing review the magazine gave to this box set; it completely whetted my appetite for it. There used to be a Virgin Megastore at the mall near where I used to live in Grapevine - I made a beeline down to it and immediately put in a special order for the set, since it was not slated to be released in the States. The thing finally arrived in May, a month after its UK release - a long black slab with protruding silver studs numbered "1, 2, 3, 4" on the front of the box, containing five enveloped CDs of music and a mammoth book of liner notes containing details on every single song.

Now, I'm usually against overarching compilations in general; I have been disappointed time and time again by these sorts of overviews falling short of their intentions. In my opinion, the only music comps in the past fifty years that have even come close to thoroughly cataloging and celebrating a specific genre are as follows:

1. The Nuggets garage rock compilation;
2. Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music;
3.  . . . and this one.

The compilers do their best to pull together most of the highlights (and a few low-lights) from those years; check out the song lineup:

Disc 1:

1. Complete Control - The Clash
2. Anarchy In The UK - The Sex Pistols
3. New Rose - The Damned
4. Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones
5. Shadow - The Lurkers
6. Thinking Of The USA - Eater
7. Ain't Bin To No Music School - The Nosebleeds
8. Borstal Breakout - Sham 69
9. I Hate School - Suburban Studs
10. GLC - Menace
11. One Chord Wonders - The Adverts
12. Right To Work - Chelsea
13. Johnny Won't Go To Heaven - The Killjoys
14. Bone Idle - The Drones
15. Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone - Slaughter & The Dogs
16. C.I.D. - UK Subs
17. Can't Wait 'til '78 - The Wasps
18. Ambition - Subway Sect
19. I'm Stranded - The Saints
20. Orgasm Addict - The Buzzcocks

Disc 2:

1. In The City - The Jam
2. Your Generation - Generation X
3. First Time - The Boys
4. Get A Grip (On Yourself) - The Stranglers
5. Don't Dictate - Penetration
6. In A Rut - The Ruts
7. Big Time - Rudi
8. Don't Ring Me Up - Protex
9. Justa Nother Teenage Rebel - The Outcasts
10. Solitary Confinement - The Members
11. Emergency - 999
12. 19 And Mad - Leyton Buzzards
13. I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher - Not Sensibles
14. Romford Girls - Riff Raff
15. Sick Of You - The Users
16. Gabrielle - The Nips
17. Where Were You - The Mekons
18. Murder Of Liddle Towers - Angelic Upstarts
19. Oh Bondage Up Yours - X-Ray Spex
20. Sweet Suburbia - Skids
21. Television Screen - The Radiators
22. Alternative Ulster - Stiff Little Fingers
23. Teenage Kicks - The Undertones

Disc 3:

1. Teenage Depression - Eddie & The Hot Rods
2. Rich Kids - Rich Kids
3. Baby Baby (I Know You're A Lady) - The Vibrators
4. Suffice To Say - Yachts
5. Roadrunner - Richman, Jonathan & The Modern Lovers
6. Don't Care - Klark Kent
7. Nervous Wreck - Radio Stars
8. Up Against The Wall - Robinson, Tom Band
9. So It Goes - Lowe, Nick
10. Police Car - Wallis, Larry
11. Hard Loving Man - Moped, Johnny
12. Love And A Molotov Cocktail - The Flys
13. Where's Captain Kirk - Spizzenergi
14. Sonic Reducer - Dead Boys
15. Search And Destroy - The Dictators
16. Born To Lose - The Heartbreakers
17. Modern Dance - Pere Ubu
18. Fuck Off - The Electric Chairs
19. California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys

Disc 4:

1. I Belong To The Blank Generation - Hell, Richard & The Voidoids
2. 10.15 Saturday Night - TheCure
3. Rip Her To Shreds - Blondie
4. I Can't Stand My Baby - The Rezillos
5. All I Want - Snatch
6. Looking After No 1 - The Boomtown Rats
7. Take Me I'm Yours - Squeeze
8. Sex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll - Dury, Ian & The Blockheads
9. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille
10. Is She Really Going Out With Him - Jackson, Joe
11. Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
12. Part Time Punks - Television Personalities
13. Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart - Fitzgerald, Patrick
14. You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory - Thunders, Johnny
15. Psycle Sluts - Clarke, John Cooper
16. Jilted John - Jilted John
17. Kill - Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias
18. Paranoid - The Dickies

Disc 5:

1. Public Image - Public Image Ltd.
2. Warsaw - Joy Division
3. Staircase Mystery - Siouxsie & The Banshees
4. Damaged Goods - Gang Of Four
5. You - Au Pairs
6. How Much Longer - Au Pairs
7. Read About Seymour - Swell Maps
8. Young Parisians - Adam & The Ants
9. Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set
10. We Are All Prostitutes - The Pop Group
11. Typical Girls - The Slits
12. Mannequin - Wire
13. Shot By Both Sides - Magazine
14. Science Fiction - XTC
15. Do The Standing Still - The Table
16. Another Girl Another Planet - The Only Ones
17. Young Savage - Ultravox
18. Puppet Life - Punishment Of Luxury
19. Jocko Homo - Devo
20. Marquee Moon - Television

As I alluded to earlier, the purpose of box sets such as this one is to provide the listener with an overview of a particular era or type of music. I know full well that it's damn near impossible to include everything - that would defeat the purpose of having such a set. Instead of providing the whole kit and kaboodle, a compilation like this one should effectively answer two questions:

a) "Does this set provide the listener with a insightful look into the genre?" and
b) "Upon completion, has the listener learned something useful about the genre?" 

In the case of 1-2-3-4: Punk & New Wave 1976-1979, the answer to both questions, in my opinion, is YES.

It's been almost fifteen years after the release of possibly the most definitive punk compilation of all time, and you NEVER hear anything about this set. In fact, 1-2-3-4 is currently out of print, which I regard as just another example of the recording industry's insanity and ass-forward thinking. This comp should never be allowed to lapse.

Therefore, it lives on here. For your listening pleasure, I present to you the superb 1-2-3-4: Punk & New Wave 1976-1979, released on April 19th, 1999 by Universal Music (UK) Ltd. Enjoy these one hundred prime cuts of '70s musical goodness . . . and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

Joe Strummer - Earthquake Westher

The Clash posts this week were all lead-ups to today, the tenth anniversary of the death of Joe Strummer.

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news: I was in Rhode Island, driving into work two days before Christmas and listening to National Public Radio. The announcement of his death was one of the top news stories; it was brief, and provided no details other than the basic journalistic "five Ws". But it was still a huge jolt to me. The Clash were about to be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in just a few weeks, and I was eagerly looking forward to a reunion. While still on the road, I instantly called one of my buddies and fellow band mates, a big Clash fan like myself. He hadn't heard the news; when I broke it to him, he was just as shocked as I was.

I spent all day a work in a funk, listening to Clash tunes on my Creative MP3 player. Later that day as I drove home, I listened to the NPR afternoon show, which had a more in-depth report on Joe. It was a very well-done overview/tribute to Strummer's life, and at the end of it, they did something extraordinary - they played "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" in its entirety.

I remember being amazed and grateful that a news organization such as NPR devoted so much time and showed so much respect to Strummer's life and music - they didn't just treat him like some dirty punk rocker, but as a serious artist and visionary.

After the collapse of the final version of The Clash following the disastrous and widely-panned release of 1985's Cut The Crap, Strummer spent the next few years working on musical collaborations with other partners - I think that the reception of the last Clash album rattled him a bit, and he began working on projects to get back his confidence in his music-making abilities and skills. He first teamed with filmmaker Alex Cox and contributed two songs to the soundtrack of his 1986 film Sid & Nancy. Strummer then ended his feud with former Clash band mate Mick Jones, and collaborated with him on Big Audio Dynamite's second album, No. 10 Upping St., producing the album and co-writing most of the songs. He then went back to work with Cox, contributing another two songs to the film Straight To Hell. Cox was so pleased with Strummer's input that he asked him to score his next movie in its entirety. The film, Walker (released in 1987), was widely panned and flopped at the box office (Cox never worked for a major Hollywood studio again). But the film's soundtrack received much critical praise, with Strummer's mix of reggae, rock, calypso and South American music receiving high marks.

The positive reception of the Walker soundtrack gave Strummer back his 'mojo', and in 1988 he began working on his own material again, this time with no collaborator. He put together a backing band in Los Angeles (which included former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons) and spent a year with them in the local studios, working on his new project and also cutting songs to contribute to another movie, Keanu Reeves' Permanent Record. The album Strummer and his band (now known as The Latino Rockabilly War) released, 1989's Earthquake Weather, was a return to form for him. I purchased the album the instant it came out, and played songs like "Shouting Street" and "Dizzy's Goatee" to death. It's not his finest work, in my opinion. But it was good to see Joe Strummer back out there, doing what he did best, and most critics seemed to agree with that sentiment. The album was well-reviewed, but sold relatively poorly.

Frankly, I don't think Strummer cared one way or another. Earthquake Weather is Joe dipping his toe back in the musical water, to check the temperature and to see if it was worth it for him to jump back in again. Apparently, he found that it was. Strummer gradually made his way back into actively performing, eventually putting together The Mescaleros and releasing three superb albums with them before his death.

So, in honor of and in tribute to the great Joe Strummer, here's Earthquake Weather, released by Epic Records on September 20th, 1989. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

 Rest well, Joe.  

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download links ASAP:  

Send Email

The Clash - Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan (1982-01-28) (Discs 1 & 2)

More Clash bootlegs . . .

Here's the two-disc version of The Clash burning down the Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo as part of their Far East tour in early 1982, playing some pre-release versions of songs that would eventually appear on Combat Rock three months later. In terms of quality, this set is hit and miss . . . But even in its muddied glory, you can still hear the power and musicianship of the band shining through. You can even sense some remaining rapport between the band members here - probably the last of it, as the band was touring in the midst of the contentious recording of that album. Mick Jones was unhappy with the rest of the band rejecting his Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg mix, and Glyn Johns was about to be brought in at the end of the tour to remix the album in London. Jones was especially pissed at Joe Strummer; their acrimony would lead to Jones leaving the group less than eighteen months later . . .

(but I've already covered the story behind Combat Rock, haven't I?)

Anyway, what I'm saying is, despite the iffy quality in places, it's still an essential listen for Clash fans with a hankering to know what the band sounded like live. So, here you are. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download links ASAP:

Send Email

Whoa - lookie here at what I found; some enterprising young raascal has taken the liberty of uploading a major portion of the Nakano Sun concert onto YouTube. Enjoy!

The Clash - D.O.A. (Demos, Outtakes, Alternates) (Discs 1 & 2)

Starting with this post, I'm kicking off what I'm calling "Clash Week '12" - nothing but Clash-related albums for the next few days.

And here's the first offering: the ultra-rare two-disc bootleg of Clash rarities, D.O.A. (Demos, Outtakes, Alternate Mixes). I have ZERO information on who put this excellent collection together, or even when it was first released - but no matter. This thing is the balls. I was going to write one of my usual long-winded reviews of this outstanding compilation, but instead I'll direct you to the blog of someone who's already written one a lot better than I ever could have come up with, Sharoma.net. His opening line says it all regarding this set: "Perhaps the ultimate collection of Clash rarities" (the link also provides a breakdown of all fifty-four tracks by source).

These discs are well-nigh impossible to find out there now - it took me over two years of diligent effort to track this thing down myself. But I'm a generous man, and thus I share my good fortune with you; if you love the Clash as much as I do, get ready for a real treat! To quote Sharoma's review, "All Clash fans MUST have this!" Enjoy, and as always, please let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download links ASAP:

Send Email

The Clash - London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition (RS500 - #8)

Been a while since I did a Rolling Stone 500 album . . . so here you are.

I have fond memories of this album. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent most of the summer of 1984 traveling up and down the East Coast on a Yard Patrol (YP) craft as part of my Youngster (sophomore) year training at the Naval Academy. We were part of a flotilla of three or four of these boats, doing training on maneuvers, navigation, etc. I thought that it would be a drag, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We made port in cities from Maine to Virginia, and had a lot of laughs and adventures.

The training time at sea was intense, but interesting and somewhat fun as well. There were a couple of officers and enlisted on board, but most of the operation and management of the YP was done by the midshipmen, with two senior classmen in charge and more than a dozen of us lower-classmen doing the day-to-day duties. These included deck operations (handling the lines and the anchor), acting as radio operator or signalman, and the most coveted and enjoyable duty, manning the helm (actually steering the ship). But there was one job on board that everyone hated and tried to avoid - engine room duty.

The engine room space on the YP was a cramped, dank platform lined with valves and gauges, deep in the shallow bowels of that boat and accessible by a narrow, slippery ladder. These tubs were powered by cranky, rickety old diesel engines, which the engine room platform sat right in the middle of, so it was hot, loud and reeking with fuel fumes. Keep in mind that it was during the summer as well, which added to the heat down below. For your duty shift in this purgatory, you were responsible for monitoring power output and fuel consumption, and notify the officers at the first sign of any irregularity or malfunction. Basically, you sat on a stool for hours in the heat and noise, logging gauge readings into a grimy ledger, while a small and totally inadequate fan spun in a corner, futilely attempting to alleviate the temperature and stench. It was hateful but necessary work, and the first couple of times I took my turn down there, I was miserable.

But about a week into the cruise, I hit upon a solution - I asked if I could bring some music down into the engine room with me, and the powers-that-be approved (just before we left Annapolis, I had purchased a small cassette boombox at the Midshipmen's Store, and had brought it along with my rapidly growing tape collection). It did little to lower the temperature or dissipate the stench of diesel down there, but at least I could pass the time by listening to my favorite tunes. And the album I listened to down there the most was The Clash's London Calling - I don't know why; it just seemed right for the space.

I played songs like "Hateful", "Clampdown", "Brand New Cadillac" (covered by my own band many years later, to my delight), and my all-time favorite Clash song, "The Guns Of Brixton", over and over, perched on my stool in the bowels of that boat and singing along, safe in the knowledge that no one up above could hear me with all the engine noise down below. London Calling became a favorite during that summer, and remains a favorite to this day. As I've said before, Combat Rock is my personal favorite Clash album, but London Calling is probably the Clash's most perfect album, where they began to expand and add new sounds beyond their original punk style, without completely abandoning that ethic. There is no filler on London Calling - practically every song on the album is a classic.

[And, in addition, it has what is probably the coolest album cover in rock history, a shot of Paul Simonon smashing his bass in New York City in 1979. The original smashed instrument is on display at the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland - it was the single best thing I saw during my visit there in 2003!]

I have owned this album in practically every iteration - vinyl, cassette and CD. Back in 2004, when I heard that an expanded Legacy Edition of London Calling was going to be released, I immediately gave away my copy of the original CD and ran out to purchase the update. And I was not disappointed. The Legacy Edition contains a disc of remastered versions of the original songs, but the second and third discs are where the gold lies in this collection. Disc 2 features The Vanilla Tapes, the band's legendary rehearsal recordings from the London Calling sessions at Vanilla Studios in London, long thought to be lost after a roadie supposedly left them sitting on a Underground train seat. Mick Jones miraculously found copies of these tapes twenty-five years later, sitting in a cardboard box in his closet. And they are well worth the listen - intriguing demos of almost all of the songs that made the final album.

The third disc in this set is a DVD, containing promo videos for the songs "Clampdown", "Train in Vain" and "London Calling", candid footage of the band recording the album at Wessex Studios, and a great documentary, "The Last Testament - The Making of London Calling".

I'm not going to bother blathering on and on here about how great this album is - better writers than I have already showered London Calling with deserved praise. It is considered by most critics to be the best album of the 1980s (its American release was in January 1980, a month after its British debut), and without question it rates its inclusion as one of Rolling Stone's top ten albums of all time. So I'll stop talking, and just let you all listen and enjoy.

So, for your consideration: London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition, the expanded and remastered version of the 1979 original album, released in 2004 on CBS Records. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think:

Music (Discs 1 & 2): Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download links ASAP:

Send Email

Video (Disc 3): Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download links ASAP:

Send Email

The Clash - Return To Brixton EP [Extended Mixes]

It took me a long time to get into compact discs. I can remember when the Midshipmen's Store at Annapolis started stocking the things in 1985, a small area (basically, a little kiosk) within the store's already small music section. This was in the 'longbox' era, when CDs were packaged in 12" boxes so they would fit a music store's already in-place vinyl record racks. These long, thin things seemed strange and exotic back then, and there was a mystique about the technology behind those shiny little circles that mesmerized many people. However, the discs were also prohibitively expensive, as were CD players. And it's not like there was a huge selection of music, either new stuff or back catalogue items, available for sale in the early days (especially at the Mid Store, of all places . . . I'll be charitable, and just say that the CD albums they did have to offer at that time weren't exactly on the cutting edge). During my time at Annapolis I had managed to assemble an awesome collection of great tunes, the bulk of it (about 400-500 albums) on cassette tapes that I meticulously stored (alphabetically by artist and chronologically by release date - yes, I was (and am) that anal retentive . . .) in padded faux-leather cases. As much of a pain in the ass as it was to cart these bulky tape suitcases around with me hither and yon, I wasn't about to casually give up on my music treasures, compiled with much thought and at great expense over those years, and start over again.

So during the late '80s, while everyone else I knew forged ahead with their CD collections, I remained committed to cassettes, a musical Luddite clinging to a rapidly outdated format, the music industry equivalent of the buggy whip. In hindsight, I should have switched over sooner. But I guess in many ways, I was still intimidated by CD technology.

For example, I remember my first visit to England, in 1988. My ship docked in Portsmouth, and that first weekend there I caught British Rail and headed for London, Ground Zero for me as far as what was happening in the world musically. I arrived there coincidently on the same day as the historic Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday concert at Wembley Stadium. But I wasn't interested in any of that activity, I wanted to see things that resonated with me (like Kings Road, as seedy and awesome as I thought it would be, and Brixton, which was sort of scary and grim until I fell in with some locals). At one point during that trip, I HAD to go to the world-famous Virgin Records store near Piccadilly Circus. I bought tons of tapes while there, but the main thing I remember about the place was the "CD factory". There was a sublevel in the Virgin building that could be viewed through glass from the upper levels. On the sublevel floor was a compact disc production line, manned by workers wearing white hooded anti-static suits, smoked glasses and face masks. It was all very sterile, protected and futuristic, and it made quite an impression on me - the WRONG impression. I thought, "Shoot, CDs are so hard to make, no wonder they're so expensive!" If a tape broke on you, you could either go out and buy a replacement fairly cheaply, or else borrow a friend's cassette and make a new copy - with CDs so pricey and apparently fragile, what would happen if one of those discs broke? So I remained on the CD sidelines.

Finally, by the early 90's, the pressure to switch over to CDs was becoming unbearable. The final push over the line happened due to good old WHFS, the old alternative music station for Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington. I had just left the Norfolk area after three years and returned to the DC area to take a job in Arlington, and I was happy to be back in my old haunts and once again surrounded by 'good' music (the Tidewater area being a virtual backwater for that type of stuff, as I've mentioned in earlier posts). One of the first things that met my ears upon my return that spring was a very cool remix of The Clash's "The Guns Of Brixton", a song in semi-heavy rotation on 'HFS.

Now, not only is The Clash one of my all-time favorite bands, but "The Guns Of Brixton" (off of London Calling) is quite possibly my all-time favorite Clash song. So I went running to the old Tower Records at George Washington University to grab this remix . . . only to find that the EP wasn't available on tape, ONLY on CD.

I stood there in the record store with head bowed, pondering, holding that CD longbox in my hand for what seemed like several minutes. Finally I sighed, shrugged my shoulders, and walked to the counter to purchase it. They finally got me.

The next day, I bought a Sony portable CD player that came with a little doohickey that attached to the player and ran into the car's cassette tape slot, so I could listen to the CD while I drove (with skips and all - the anti-skip technology back then wasn't as advanced as it was now, necessitating careful driving and/or ingenious padding to enable you to hear an entire song without interruption). And the rest, as they say, is history . . .

So here's the one that started it all for me - the very first CD I ever bought, the Clash's Return To Brixton [Extended Mixes] EP, released by Epic Records back in 1990. Even after all of these years, I still enjoy these remixes, and I hope you all enjoy them too. Here you are - let me know what you think:

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

(And sorry I've been away for so long - circumstances, you know . . .)

The Clash - Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (2-disc version)

I've been a Clash fan pretty much from the get-go. I rank this band up there with the Beatles, in terms of the rapid expansion and improvement in their music progression and depth in the short time they were together.

[Actually, if you think about it, the parallels between the Clash and the Beatles are remarkable. Both were made up of members who had paid their dues in the local music scenes (London and Liverpool, respectively) of their day. Both were heavily dependent on diligent, headstrong managers (Bernie Rhodes and Brian Epstein) early in their careers. Both bands put out double LPs (Sandinista! and The White Album) late in their careers which are considered not only their masterpieces, but some of the greatest albums of all time. Both really only had an active recording life of about six years. And both fell apart due to personal acrimony between the band members.]

But I digress. Simply stated, The Clash are one of the greatest bands that ever existed.

I remember the first time I heard Combat Rock - a friend of mine bought it on vinyl, and I was there when he dropped the needle on the first track, "Know Your Rights". Man, that declaration by Joe Strummer ("This is a public service announcement - WITH GUITARRRRRR!") followed by that guitar kicking in, practically gave me a heart attack! Practically every cut on that album was a winner to me. I've always considered Combat Rock to be their greatest album, superior even to Sandinista! (which, to be completely honest, as great as it was, had a lot of filler on it).

I discovered over the years that a lot of people didn't agree with my verdict on Combat Rock. I heard that, on that album, the Clash went commercial, or got too arty, or forgot how to write songs, etc., etc. A lot of people who I thought would know better had some very negative things to say about this album, and I could never understand why. After a while, I stopped listening to them. I thought it was great, so what do I care about the critics?

I didn't learn until years later that Combat Rock was actually supposed to be a DOUBLE album, just like its predecessor Sandinista! From what I understand, Mick Jones had actually prepared a mix of this double album in late 1981, under the working title Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg. But the rest of the band rejected this first version, mainly due to personality conflicts between Strummer and Jones which would result in Jones getting kicked out of the group in 1983. The band handed over mixing and production duties to Glyn Johns, a former producer for Blue Oyster Cult, and he was the one who mixed it as a single album to everyone (except Mick's) satisfaction.

Here's a great track off of the original double album mix that never made the final cut for Combat Rock - "Kill Time" (also known as "Idle In Kangaroo Court W1"):

 I searched high and low for this original two-disc version, and finally found a copy that included not only the original mixes, but an entire second disc of studio outtakes from the recording sessions.  And thus, I bestow them unto you:

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email