"Now, sing, Michael, sing"
The opening line to my favourite Clash song 'Rudie Can't Fail' has Joe Strummer encouraging Mick Jones to sing - and off they go on a joyous duet, coming in and out of the lines randomly. I think one of the reasons I like this song so much is because it goes back to the 60's roots of ska and reggae. Rudie isn't someone's name, it's a reference to the 'rude boys' Jamaican street culture that I've talked about in previous posts. (The Specials 12 June 2020 - Desmond Decker 17 July 2020).
This LP is a long way from The Clash's first album just 2 short years before. That self-titled recording was punk, no apologies. This time around with a slightly transitional album in between they embraced more styles and a cosmopolitan range of topics.
There are many retro nods on this album, starting with the most obvious one, the iconic cover. Based deliberately on Elvis Presleys eponymous 1956 album, Ray Lowry uses the same colour and font styling on the 'London Calling' sleeve. Even the single of the title track had old school artwork, again by Lowry. On the single cover he used an illustration of a couple of kids listening to 78's, but changed the record covers to classic sleeves. L-R there's Please, Please Me, Never Mind the Bollocks, Rolling Stones debut, Clash debut, Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the Elvis debut that the main LP artwork was based on. (see photo).
On the album itself, after the title track it goes straight into a cover of the 1959 song 'Brand New Cadillac' originally by Vince Taylor and the Playboys. The opening guitar gives a taste of what's to come. 'Wrong 'em Boyo' starts off with a version of Stagger Lee that lasts 30 seconds before it heads into the ska influenced 1967 Clive Alphonso cover done by The Rulers. Danny Ray's 'Revolution Rock' gets a make-over with some 'Get Up' sampling and Joe Strummers altered lyrics. There's a nice use of horns in there too.
The rest of the tracks are all Strummer/Jones compositions with the occassional input from Paul Simonen and Topper Headon. The variety is almost overwhelming, bouncing from genre to genre and changing pace and definately keeping you on your toes as a listener.
'Jimmy Jazz' is a laidback jazz? swing? punk? song that just takes you along with the story. Good fun. That goes straight into 'Hateful' which is anti-drug and gets personal when Joe sings about the recent loss of his friend Sid Vicious - "this year I've lost some friends". Getting into consumerism and social depersonalisation, 'Lost In The Supermarket' IMHO sums it all up in two lines ..
"I wasn't born so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me".
I'm not going to go through the album track by track - it was a double album with 19 songs. I will mention the last song though, 'Train in Vain'. Depending which copy you have, this track may be classed as "hidden". It was added after the cover was printed and so doesn't appear on some track listings. Early editions had a sticker on the wrapper and some had the track name scratched into the runout.
On a personal note, Tracy's favourite Joe Strummer composition is 'Mondo Bongo' by The Mescaleros from the movie soundtrack of Mr & Mrs Smith. Joe passed away too soon in 2002 aged just 50 years old.
Mondo Bongo - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
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