This album came out about 5 years before I was born (it was released in 1979). Though it's a world away from my life, there are themes explored on this album that still resonate with me. The Clash had released their first two albums and made their mark with two scorching and passionate, but extremely articulate punk records. They were rallying against the thatcher era Neo-liberal and at times downright nazi social climate of a U.K. deep in the midst of recession. The first wave of British punk bands were starting to either die off or where morphing into new sounds. Now without manager Bernie Rhodes guiding their music making process, the band were free to do as they wanted.
Enter John Graham Mellor, AKA Joe Strummer, the bands de facto leader. Born in India to a British diplomat father and a Scottish mother, Joe spent his youth in many areas of the globe. It was from this album forward that a more eclectic approach entered into his musical lexicon. Though to be fair it's been suggested that even as far back as the Clash's first record, there were a fair amount of influences from Jamaican and Turkish music. The band famously tricked their label into allowing this album to be a double album. They believed in giving their fans as much output as they could, and anything less was the work of a culture of "lazy hippies." The Punk movement had a weird relationship with the hippy rock culture of the previous decades. What made the Clash different is that they sought to make themselves better for the sake of their art and for their fans, whereas (some of) their contemporaries got caught up in nihilism and self destruction. That's an important distinction from a band like the Sex Pistols.
This album was also a reaction to the heavy doom of metal that began to gain popularity of the time. The Clash saw that people were loosing a sense of having fun int popular music. As a result this album sort of evolves from a post apocalyptic moment to what could almost be called a party record. I think it even has a loose concept. It's the band escaping the gloom and doom of England and getting out to the rest of the world (probably Jamaica). There are a lot of influences of the Perry Henzell film "The Harder They Come." In fact characters like "Ivan" are referenced a lot, and there is a running narrative that parallels the story of that film.
The effort this band put into learning their instruments and developing their songs really showed on this album. Not to say their last album, "Give Em' Enough Rope" and their self titled debut didn't display impressive musicianship for their genre. This band had a pretty intense work ethic, and considering they only lasted from maybe 1976-1985 (the collective music memory basically continues to disavow knowledge of their final album "Cut the Crap" due to it being horrible, and only consisting of two original members.). Anyway there was a lot of effort put into making strong songs here, and the band would continue to delve fairly strongly into new genres on their subsequent records.
This album has influenced a lot of musicians from bands like Rancid to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to countless Ska and punk bands. It's strummers wit, charm, and Mic Jone's sense of musical arrangement that really made this album a long lasting hit amongst music fans. This band earned an admittedly pretentious (in hindsight) moniker "the only band that matters." I've probably annoyed countless numbers of friends talking about this album at length. but it's an important piece of musical history nonetheless.
Below is a track by track breakdown, if you are interested in learning a bit more. This is a very long album, so buckle up.
London Calling
The first track on this album paints a fairly bleak picture of life in Thatcher era Britain. It encapsulates cold war era propaganda and is one of the best openers a band can have for a record. There's not much I can say that hasn't been said beyond the fact that the mood captured in this song will evolve into something completely different by the end of the record.
Brand New Cadillac
Brand New Cadillac sees the band revisiting their American rockabilly roots. Pretty sharp performance, but overall a fairly straight forward song for an album with a ton of commentary.
Jimmy Jazz
Jimmy Jazz sees Joe going into some free form folk jazz fusion work, taking on the narrative character of someone that might be a Jamaican gangster or something like that. The U.K. having taken on a fair amount of citizens from Jamaica and other parts of the world, was extremely multi cultural at the time. So that makes its way into this song, with some fairly odd lyrics that paint a vivid picture.
Hateful
The song "Hateful" is another odd musical experiment. It's a scathing satire of drug culture over a Bo Diddly like rythm. This is where the satire of the album starts to creep in to the lyrics. Though less extreme, the Clash had similarly negative opinions as a band like Fugazi in regards to people who used drugs. That or they were looking to fight the often glamorized view of drugs that rock music perpetuated in the 70's and 80's. The tone of the singing and music is playful, but the lyrics are told from the perspective of someone knee deep in drug addiction. It's a cautionary tale if nothing else.
Rudy Can't Fail
"Rudy Can't Fail" again explores the bands fascination with Jamaican culture. This may be one of the bands most optimistic songs. It's also a song about youth rebelling while being criticized by their elders for not walking a straight and narrow path. The line "I know that my life makes you nervous but I tell you I can't live in service, like a doctor born for a purpose" resonated with me on a big level. At the time I was studying in Art school. I was often criticized by family for taking this path. There was an implicit expectation of me seeking a life of chasing a traditional income producing career that I felt (and still feel) a need to rebel against. To me, this song (and much of this album) was like someone telling me for the first time "it's ok not to take life so damn seriously all the time." Whereas a lot of music I heard between the 90's and 00's was extremely self serious, this was a band just having some fun and telling a story about a culture that was kind of foreign to me.
Spanish Bombs
About a year or two before I first listened to this album, I made my first expedition as a young adult away from the United States on my own. I was about 18 and I traveled to Spain with a group of students. Listening to a song like Spanish Bombs really reminded me of what I saw first hand in terms of a culture and a daily life. I studied a bit of Spanish History, and this song in particular is a bit of an oddly psuedo-romanticized take on life in Franco lead Spain. Franco rescinded power over Spain and passed away in 1975. I'm curious as to how this impacted the writing of this song.
The Right Profile
I first heard "The Right Profile" in my freshman dorm. This is where the band starts to get real deep into their Ska influences. Joe ironically sounds pretty drunk singing on this track. As with "Guns of Brixton" this is another song about Jamaican culture. I remember this song annoyed the hell out of my first college roommate. I however love it.
Lost in the Supermarket
"Lost in the Supermarket" is Mick Jone's first fronted track. He really shines as song writer on this album, and this is a hint of his pop influence. Which is saying a lot since it's a song critiquing people's relationship with capitalism. This song is still very collaborative in nature.
The Clampdown
"The Clampdown" is probably one of my favorite songs on the album. It's an anti nazi song told from the point of view of fascists labor enforcers. It's extremely sarcastic in nature. The song is basically pointing out how screwed the average person was in England at the time. However, rather than wallow in this moment, the song basically demands the listener acknowledge and move past the problem. This album basically told me as a spectator it was possible to make things better in my life even if it didn't seem that way. Having a song that's both anti nazi and pro self empowerment in the same song is a lot to unload, and it's extremely powerful.
Guns of Brixton
"Guns of Brixton" continues the albums fascination with Jamaican culture and music. The move "The Harder They Come" is references heavily. Paul Siminon did a great job singing, though he never could quite capture the same performance quality live. That being said it was extremely cool this band allowed more than one voice in the songs.
Wrong Em' Boyo
"Wrong Em' Boyo" starts one way and gives a quick fakeout to a much better song. This song seems to be about not holding people down who are just trying to make their livers better. It's most likely a statement on the Neo Liberal thatcher conservative attitude of standing on the necks of working class individuals for the sake of profit.
Death or Glory
"Death or Glory" has some really great lyrics, some critcism of the music business. There's a lot of wit and humor in this tune just beneath the surface. This song and Coka-Cola are about as close to "punk" as this album gets, but it's nonetheless satisfying. This song also parodies the image of the rock star who says they won't sell out, but the singer has seen this situation play out before. They know that "he who f***s nuns, will later join the church." Harsh.
