Every now and again, I write something on here that is very controversial (luckily few people who read this take me up on those controversies, or maybe they're just not as controversial as I think they are). They're mostly things I'd be very wary of saying aloud in a crowd because you know at least one person within earshot will strongly disagree. Here is one such controversial thing: I don't care for The Clash.
I know I'm supposed to. My teenage years were dominated by the Manic Street Preachers who owe a lot to The Clash - all the books I read about the Manics constantly reminded me that The Clash are a band I should check out. Of course I knew the big songs from the radio - Rock the Casbah, Should I Stay or Should I Go and I Thought the Law - but for years I never made any effort to check them out properly. I'd see their cds in record stores and occasionally toyed with the idea of buying a best-of, but I didn't buy anything until 2007, when I got this second-hand, well-loved (or not, since it was in a second hand shop) compilation. It was a lot of The Clash to take in in one go.
I wonder if this collection is just too long. I know there are good songs in there - and great ones like London Calling, the highlight for me by a long way - but there's a lot of songs that I could really take or leave: Straight to Hell drags on far too long and Lost in the Supermarket is just a really bad song; I don't know if I'm missing something with that one, but every time I hear it I wonder how it made it onto an album, let alone a greatest hits album. London Calling doesn't appear until the last side, which is a long wait.
Guns of Brixton is another great song and (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais is quite fun - shows off their varied influences and you can see where Rancid stole at least half of their songs from. Tommy Gun has a good chorus and English Civil War would be an excellent way to end the album (but they don't end it there). Train in Vain I know well from the Manics cover, but I genuinely prefer their version - I couldn't tell you who is singing on any particular song, but I don't care for either Mick of Joe's voice - one has a sneer I find deeply off-putting. Safe European Home makes me want to listen to Suburban Home by The Descendents - the direction of influence is an easy one to follow there.
I wanted to like The Clash, but it just didn't work out. I feel that if you can't be convinced by a greatest hits album, then you really stand no chance with the albums themselves (Bob Dylan, a case in point, although that was another compilation that was far too long for an introduction). A lot of people would probably be amazed by the lack of "classic" albums in my record collection, but really I think I just love music from the late-80's/90's onwards (Sabbath, Zeppelin, Floyd and Springsteen being notable examples) - I get that a lot of these bands and albums from before that paved the way - I appreciate it and I'm thankful for it - but I just don't get the same enjoyment from them. That's no bad thing to realise.
Format: Double 12", picture sleeves
Tracks: 28
Cost: £6 second hand
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 14/04/07
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None
