CD of the Day

I haven’t done one of these in a while. Every once in a while, I take a CD in my collection and give it a quick review. Read on:

The Clash – London Calling

It wasn’t until I got out of college that I got into a lot of punk music thanks to a few High School friends I hooked back up with after getting home. After getting into current punk like NOFX, Rancid, and other bands, I started to go back to the beginning.

The beginning of punk is debatable. People can draw line in the late 60s and give bands like the MC5, or the Stooges the nod to starting the punk revolution. You can debate it all you want. The most recognized time that could be considered the beginning of punk music was during the late 70s, when CBGB’s was going wild in New York with acts like the Ramones, Richard Hell, and the Dead Boys tearing down the house.

Meanwhile in England, two bands would help take punk to new heights not long after it became a hit in the U.S. The Clash and the Sex Pistols would lead the charge for more angry politically charged punk music. While the Sex Pistols were heralded as the big pioneers, I thought the Clash was far and above the best punk band of the generation, and that includes the excellent Ramones.

The magnum opus of the Clash was London Calling: The magnificent double album that the Clash would never even come close to duplicating during their career. London Calling is one of the most diverse punk albums ever made. It was made during a time where rebel music (reggae) was getting big with punkers, and the Clash successfully fused the reggae sound with their punk chops. They did it with perfection on this album, but they also spent time playing straight up punk, rockabilly, and alternative pop hooks that were irresistible.

With a double album, you would expect a few gaps here and there between the good songs and the bad songs, but there’s not much to be negative about with these songs on the album. You can listen to it all the way through without losing much focus on the music that the Clash is putting out there.

Some of the great songs that help give the album an aura that can’t be matched include: “Brand New Cadillac”, “Lost in the Supermarket”, the title track, “Rudie Can’t Fail”, “Jimmy Jazz”, “Spanish Bombs”, “I’m Not Down”, “The Guns of Brixton”, and the Clash’s nemesis at first “Train in Vain”.

This is a seminal punk rock album and perhaps the best punk album of all time. This is debatable as some punk fans may want more of an edge on an album, but there’s not much of a flaw on this gem. I have to give this one a 10 out of 10.