The Clash - Combat Rock
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Music CD Cover Artist: The Clash Edition: Music CD Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 2000-01-25 Music Label: Sony Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Combat Rock Album
Free Music Review: Too commercial Clash, yet still worthwhile
Hit: 4 Stars
I know the Clash lost a lot of "street cred" with Combat Rock, but I enjoy it for its diversity and wit. Long gone is the ferocity and desperation of earlier albums; what remains is a more insulated Clash, less concerned with its English heritage than the Amercian movies it emulates. Recorded during some of the band's darkest days--Mick Jones and Paul Simonon not speaking, Topper Headon in the depths of heroin addiction and Joe Strummer trying to keep up appearances to the increasingly critical music press--Combat Rock is equal parts brilliance ("Straight to Hell," easily one of their greatest songs) and excresence ("Red Angel Dragnet") and lots in between. As for the popularity of the two singles: "Should I Stay or Should I Go" certainly is not representative of the band's work-- although it has one of the most memorable and instantly identifiable guitar riffs in rock'n'roll. Ironic, for a band originally intent on sweeping away the old-style rock'n'roll; and I bet one
out of fifty people couldn't sing all the words to "Rock the Casbah" which are actually quite hilarious and viciously satirical.
That said, on to the more interesting songs. The experimental ones stem from the sprawling Sandinista!--"Sean Flynn" and my fave, "Ghetto Defendant." Good, spacey jam, with poet extraordinaire Allen Ginsberg invoking 19th century French proto-punk Arthur Rimbaud. (When Ginsberg came backstageat one of their shows, Strummer asked him, "So when you gonna run for President?") These are moody, almost soundtrack-like songs not at all "rock'n'roll." "Know Your Rights" gets the album off to a roaring start, but yes, it seems a little too self-conscious and obvious in its stance.
I still can't figure out "Overpowered by Funk," or "Red Angel Dragnet"'s quotes from the film Taxi Driver. Who *is* that singing? Kosmo Vinyl?
Of course the masterpiece is "Straight to Hell," with its harrowing depiction of US interventions in Asia during combat ("Let me tell you bout your blood, bamboo kid/ It ain't Coca-Cola/ It's rice")--but even this song is edited down from its original 7 minute length (full version on "Clash on Broadway").
Actually, in their attempt to appease the US record company, the band edited down the longer songs ("you got to let that raga drop" indeed) so they could all fit on one LP, instead of two or three like the two previous releases. Sigh... Artistic compromise is never a thing you want to admit to finding in your favorite band! And the Clash certainly succeeded in their efforts to break the American market (the UK had long since given up on them), with both singles going Top 40, the album Top 20, an appearance on "Saturday Night Live" and an arena tour with the Who (what the?!)
This is not the first Clash album to buy (although since it was a big US hit, I'm sure it was the only Clash album many bought--the mind shudders!); as a longtime fan, I avoided it for years, but once I got it, I really dug it. Not nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. But then any band that could put out London Calling can hardly be expected to maintain that feverish intensity and brilliance. This is also the last album that contained the classic line-up; Mick Jones and Topper Headon would soon be gone, alas. And we know what happened after that.