The Clash "Cut The Crap" 1985**

Some people call this "the worst album ever made". But then again, they've said the same for Dylan's Self Portrait, and it's not that bad - it's just not genious, like most of his work up to that point was. It makes sense now, even if it didn't at the time. Could Cut The Crap be a similar case? I had some songs on cassette at the time; later I also bought the CD for completeness' shake, but hardly ever listened to it, so my memories of that album are more from hearing it on cassette in the late 80's. I remember I liked some of the choruses; the synth-heavy production didn't alienate me that much, since I was used to it from mainstream pop and rock of the time. But as I got deeper into garage rock and classic punk, it started to annoy me so much that I didn't listen to it again. Until now. But before reviewing the music, one first needs some background information: in 1982, The Clash had their biggest hit with Combat Rock. It contained such classics as "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", and was their first to get into the Top 10 in the US (as well as No.2 in UK). But it wasn't the album the band had in mind; Mick Jones had initially delivered a double album with longer, dancier mixes. Strummer wasn't happy with it, and neither were their management and record company, so they hired experienced producer Glyn Johns to remix it. He edited some of the songs and left others out, coming up with a leaner, better, version. The commercial appeal of the finished product proved him right, but it drove a wedge between the two principal songwriters, while drummer Topper Headon 's dismissal dut to his uncontrolled heroin habbit further unbalanced the band. Instead of enjoying their success, they started bickering with each other, leading to Strummer and manager Bernie Rhodes taking control of the band. Jones left, as did Topper's replacement, Terry Chimes. Strummer co-wrote a new bunch of songs with Rhodes, and went into the studio to record them with the new band, which included bassist Paul Simonon and three new members on guitars and drums. Rhodes then took over the production and mixing process, which is where -according to general opinion- everything went horribly wrong: he removed the bass and drums, replacing them with drum machines, and added layer over layer of synthesizers, fake horns, and all kinds of effects. Opener "Dictator", for example, is full of samples of people speaking unintelligibly in Spanish. Many years later, Manu Chao would use the same trick with success - but sparingly, not throughout the whole song! It's this excess that completely destoys Cut The Crap; less synths, and it'd just sound dated, now tracks like "Dictator" are rendered almost unlistenable. "Dirty Punk" is an improvement, a classic punk song with loud guitars and a nice chorus. "We Are The Clash" ("No you aren't" said most fans and critics) is a passable song with a big chorus which is reminiscent of football chants. The album is full of those; they are in fact -along with the synths and drum machines- one of its defining characteristics. People object to those, too, but I certainly don't mind. I think that these football chant-style choruses are part of Strummer's vision rather than Rhodes'. I've seen his interviews of the time, and all he talked about was about how bad the political situation in Britain was (remember, it was the height of Thatcher's dismantling of the welfare state, and of the great miners' strike) and how much the original fighting spirit of punk was needed. So yes, Strummer's mohawk hairstyle and Oi! - style choruses were a stylistical and musical regression for The Clash, but there was a reasoning behind it. On live bootleg recordings "Are You Red...Y" sounds like one of the funkier tracks on Sandinista! The proto-techno production doesn't do it any favors, but neither does ruin it completely. If it lost the chorus and electronic effects "Cool Under Heat" would fit well in one of Strummer's later albums with the Mescaleros. "North And South" is another Mescaleros-like song, a Latin-tinged semi-ballad. "Movers And Shakers" benefits from a great chorus (even if it's repeated a bit too often), but is ruined by this atrocious Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass-emulating synth part. Thankfully we now come to the good part: "This Is England" is, according to Strummer, the last great Clash song. His vocal is upfront instead of buried under a cacophony of electronic sounds, the chorus is anthemic, and the lyrics paint an insightful and eloquent picture of Thatcher-era Britain. It's followed by the second-best song of the collection, the ska-punk "Three Card Trick". With better production, it'd fit perfectly in London Calling. "Play To Win" and "Fingerpoppin'" unsuccessfully try to experiment with Latin and hip hop elements, while "Life Is Wild" starts off promising but quickly gets drowned in a cacophony of samples, electronic effects, and backing vocals all playing simultaneously. Normally the album ends here, but my CD adds the B-side of "This Is England", "Do It Now". It's quite mediocre, but thankfully not messed up too badly by Rhodes. Why did Joe Strummer allow him complete controle over the mix of this album is a mystery. Or why Rhodes decided to take it to the polar opposite of the band's declared intention to return to the simplicity and energy of original punk. It may have something to do with Strummer being distracted due to family problems (his father died suddenly, and mother was simultaneously diagnosed with terminal cancer), Rhodes' famous stubborness, or the record company's insistence to deliver the album (for which they had already paid in advance) as soon as possible. But, then again, couldn't they see it was crap? Couldn't they get someone like Glyn Johns to save it? More importantly, might it still be saved? Many fans, myself included, think there are some good songs here. Given a sympathetic production, it would still be The Clash's weakest album, but not the embarassment it is now. For some mysterious reason, noone has gone back to the master tapes to make a radical remix that might salvage it. Some fans have tried; a German musician under the pseudonym Mohawk Revenge tried to isolate the vocals and re-create the instrumental part playing all the instruments himself. The result has been released under the title Cut The Crap Rebooted, and it's already better than the official version. Imagine how much further it could be improved if someone like e.g. Tim Armstrong from Rancid had access to the master tapes, was able to remove all the synths and other added-on crap, reinstate the bass and drums, and play some judicious overdubs where needed. I believe that we'd have a solid punk rock album in our hands, instead of a failed experiment.

**** for This Is England, Three Card Trick

*** for Dirty Punk, We Are The Clash, Are You Red...Y, Cool Under Heat, Movers And Shakers

** for Dictator, Play To Win, Fingerpoppin', North And South, Life Is Wild, Do It Now

Joe Strummer "Nefertiti Rock" 1986-2000(rec.) 2013(comp)****

I've always been a fan of music rather than of musicians, but Joe Strummer is the closest I get to having a rock idol. Today, the notion of the socially conscious rock star is Bono, surrounded by his bodyguards, meeting Obama or IMF boss Christine Lagarde to ask them to forgive third world debts, exchange pleasantries, and get their photos taken together. Strummer was his polar opposite: a simple man of the people, traveling the third world in beat-up buses, making friends and playing music with the locals, passionately supporting his ideology from the street level rather than use his celebrity status. Fittingly, his last concert ever (and only time he shared the stage with Clash alumni Mick Jones since they disbanded) was in a benefit for striking firefighters. This performance (in Acton Hall) as well as live recordings with The Pogues have been released as Record Store Day exclusives (in 2012 and 2014, respectively) but I've missed out on them. Getting this one last week was a small compensation. Although I did buy it on Record Store Day, it's not an official RSD-related release, but a semi-legal Belgian limited release of 500 copies in black vinyl, plus 3x100 in yellow, green and purple. The cover is a simple stencil on brown carton paper, with no details on the origin of the recordings. The back cover just states "Rare and Unreleased Recordings!" but from the tracklisting it's obvious that these are mostly taken from 80's movie soundtracks. Strummer's wilderness period between The Clash and The Mescaleros has not only been musically almost barren but under-curated as well. His only album of the period, 1989's "Earthquake Weather" remains out of print, and was at the time such a disappointing flop that he did not enter a recording studio again for a decade. These tracks were recorded with his backing band Latino Rockabilly War prior to "Earthquake Weather" and show him in search of a new sound, mixing punk with rockabilly and world music. To my ears, they sound better than the album did but, maddeningly, no-one seems to have thought of collecting them before. I'd like to have a properly remastered official release, but for the time being this will do. The sound quality, for once, is great. The LP kicks off with "Ambush At Mystery Rock", a surf/western instrumental form the soundtrack of Alex Cox's punk western Straight to Hell. "Dum Dum Club" comes from the soundtrack of Sid & Nancy, another Cox movie starring Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious. It sounds like a combination of Sandinista-era Clash and Strummer's latter work with The Mescaleros. Three tracks from the 1988 Permanent Record soundtrack close side one: "Baby The Trans" is a mix of rockabilly and worldbeat, "Nefertiti Rock" is a throwback to his pub rock days with The 101ers and "Nothin' Bout Nothin'" a garage rocker with a short hard rock guitar solo - I think it's the first one I've heard in a Strummer-related album. The second side starts off with a great cover of Jimmy Cliff's reggae classic "The Harder They Come". It seems to be the version he recorded with Long Beach Dub Allstars for a 2000 compilation album and thus belongs to a whole different era than the rest of the songs here. "Evil Darling" is a vaguely Moriconne-sque ballad from Straight To Hell and "Love Kills" is a tribute to Sid Vicious from the Sid & Nancy soundtrack. It's a tremendous rocker that wouldn't sound out of place in Clash's Combat Rock album. "Trash City", as performed by Latino Rockabilly War in the Permanent Record soundtrack, is probably Strummer's finest post-Clash moment. The version included here is similar but less powerful. I've read somewhere that this album also includes "home recordings with Joe on all the instruments" and I guess that's the one they meant. The inclusion of the original would warrant the album another star, but collectors who already have the Permanent Record soundtrack may be happier with the demo. I'm not, though it gives me an incentive to buy the official reissue if and when it appears - as if I needed incentive.

***** for Dum Dum Club, Love Kills 

**** for Ambush At Mystery Rock, Baby The Trans, The Harder They Come, Evil Darling, Trash City 

*** for Nefertiti Rock, Nothin' Bout Nothin'

Joe Strummer "Earthquake Weather" 1989***

I wasn't old enough to catch (pseudo) Clash at the historic Rock In Athens festival in '85, but I had the privilege of seeing Joe Strummer with the Mescaleros during his next appearence in Greece on November 2001, only a few months before he suddenly died (at 50) from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. I left absolutely exuberant, thinking "so this is how a true rock'n'roll concert is!". Most concerts give you the impression of witnessing a spectacle, more or less like in the theatre: The play may tell the truth, the writer may have invested his soul in it, but what you are witnessing is a show, calculated to produce an emotional response. If the actor is good enough, he tricks you into believing that it's all real. Strummer was not a fake. He was a veritable man of the people, playing his heart out, having fun, absorbing the audience's love and returning it twofold. His musical history and people who met him speak of a man who loved and respected his fans and adhered closely to his socialist principles. It's telling that he never reformed The Clash despite repeated multi-million offers. From the group's disbandment until his death he only shared the stage with Clash co-founder Mick Jones once: At a benefit for striking firemen. What mountains of cash could not do, happened in the spirit of solidarity to the strikers. Maybe this goes some way into explaining his lengthy disappearance from the music scene: Strummer needed the camaraderie, the feeling of belonging to a group with a mission. Between The Clash's breakup and the formation of the Mescaleros (not just a band, but first and foremost a bunch of friends) he spent 16 years in a musical wilderness, during which he only completed this one album, recorded in 1989 with the help of a band he named Latino Rockabilly War. He appeared in a few films, wrote music and songs for a few soundtracks, became a touring member of The Pogues for a year - but mostly basked under the Andalucian sun, having broken his ties to the record industry. "Earthquake Weather" was a half-hearted attempt at a comeback, but it suffered from weak production and even weaker promotion. It ended up selling a mere 7.000 copies when "Combat Rock" had sold 5 million. It fell out of print and even now is only available in the form of "manufactured on demand" legal CD-Rs, cheap knock-offs with photocopied covers which, to top it all off, are credited to Strummer & The Mescaleros who were formed a whole decade later - it's as if his record company is still punishing him for his uncommercial stance. But exactly just how justified was the company's lack of faith and public's indifference? I'd say he had already lost the record company's trust when Clash released "Sandinista!" - an experimental triple LP for the price of a single one. Their next record "Combat Rock" was taken out of the band's hands and given to an outside producer to make fit for mass consumption. It spawned two huge hits "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and "Rock The Casbah". I'm sure that, by giving him another chance, they were secretly hoping for a similarly big single. They would then be able to look past the rest of the album and its experiments with world music and focus on pushing the hit. It didn't turn out that way - Strummer would never write a hit again. He had the lyrics and the vision, he had the stage presence, but he was still one half of a classic songwriting team: By themselves, he and Jones were good songwriters - but only together they could achieve greatness. As for the fans, they obviously wanted him to continue on the punk road. He had gone that way with "Cut The Crap" and, although the album was weak and received terrible reviews, it still made the charts - No.16 in the UK and No.88 in USA. He wanted to try something new, but no-one knew what to make of it - it would be another 10 years before critics and fans accepted his fusion of rock'n'roll and world music. Retrospectively, this album makes sense as an awkward evolutionary link between the Clash and the Mescaleros. It suffers from a somewhat muddy production, with layers of instruments not clearly defined and drums buried low in the mix. Joe's lyrics and vocals are, on other hand, as good as ever and Zander Schloss's lead guitar heroics a welcome addition. The album's opening sentence is an affirmative "Let's Rock Again" from lead single "Gangsterville", a song strongly reminiscent of Sandinista!'s "Junco Partner". "King of the Bayou" carries a New Orleans flavor and "Island Hopping" sports a Carribbean rhythm. Now, The Clash have been courting reggae from their very beginning, but this was the first time that Strummer really tapped into the spirit of the tropics. "Slant Six" is a return to his punk roots and ''Dizzys Goatee" (about jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie) dub adorned with electric blues guitar solos: never heard that before-or since! "Shouting Street" strays into Chuck Berry territory, just like Joe's pre-Clash days with The 101ers. "Boogie With Your Children" is a disco attrocity. I can only hope that Joe was going for a sarcastic, Frank Zappa-style,anti-disco satire - but I'm afraid he was seriously trying to copy Prince! "Leopardskin Limousines" is an endearing acoustic ballad - another unsuspected side to this former punk. "Ride Your Donkey" is a likeable reggae-ish ditty. "Sikorsky Parts", "Passport to Detroit" and "Highway One Zero Street" are a more or less successful melange of rock, punk & funk. They would fit but pass unnoticed in any Clash album circa 1979-82. "Jewellers & Bums", on the other hand, sounds like the product of talentless Clash imitators. The album closes with a beautiful Latino ballad called "Sleepwalk", proving that yes, Joe Strummer must be a blood relative to Manu Chao. Another generation, nationality and descent, but there's something very strong linking those two. To summarize, if you can just forget about the Clash and if you've enjoyed the Mescaleros, this is an album well worth discovering. Here's hoping to a decent sounding remastered (and, hopefully, remixed) version in the future, but in the mean time the original LP's and CD's can be found second hand - and, of course, there are always the torrent sites for those with shallow pockets...

**** for Gangsterville, King of the Bayou, Island Hopping, Sleepwalk

*** for Slant Six, Dizzys Goatee, Shouting Street, Leopardskin Limousines, Sikorsky Parts, Highway One Zero Street, Ride Your Donkey, Passport to Detroit

** for Boogie With Your Children, Jewellers & Bums