The Clash - Sandinista!
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Free Music Notes for Sandinista!
Free Music Review: The Master Red Headed Stepchild
Hit: 5 Stars
There is no doubt the redundance of reverb and annoying sythisised noise was nothing but filler to an otherwise fantastic "double" LP. What I found was a tamed yet still politically motivated rock band. They used their resources but nobody heard them.
I enjoyed the use of kids and cameo guests on this lp. It worked for Pink Floyd. Not to draw a parallel.
I see this as an album that expresses where this band wanted to go but we wouldn`t let them. They obviously were influenced by the Mod/ Ska, Reggae,and Irish Folk or Bluegrass and possibly Zydeco. Might a stretch but it was not what we were expecting from them at the time which forced them to produce that POS Combat Rock. I much rather they went on with their experiments. At least there might be a chance they would still be making music.
Free Music Review: a Magnificent Mess
Hit: 4 Stars
I deleted my earlier review of this album where I called it self indulgent and full of filler. I reconsidered this once I went out and got the new remastered version - I previously had the triple album in junior high and quickly disregarded it as a load of crap. But a good friend of mine reminded me how much he liked it, so I got it again, this time on CD, thinking I might have been wrong. First of all the remaster SOUNDS INCREDIBLE. And my reconsideration of the songs themselves changed once I listened to them with more mature ears. I have in the last 20 years grown to appreciate many different kinds of music, dub reggae being one example. And there a few really good reggae tunes on this double disc. Sure, it is still quite a mess. But a good mess. A stew, if you will. I see it as the post-punk equivelant of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk." So many bases are covered it's rather hard to digest in one sitting. Reggae, dance, sixties Motown -styled pop, funk, and for the fans, even a few old style standard Clash rockers. It's all here, folks. All you gotta do is find it. This is the kind compact disc that is perfectly suited for the "program" button on your player. Pick what you like, and play the hell out of it. I also, oddly enough, see the obvious influnece of this album on such post punk acts as the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banhsees and the Jam in that they abandoned the standard primitive "three chord thrash" of their earliest works in favor of a more varied approach. See for example the Cure's "the Lovecats", a lite cocktail jazz song, or the Banshees' "Swimming Horses", which is set to a waltz time. The Jam also flirted with Motown styled pop songs before disbanding. Remove the vocals from the songs on Sandanista! and you would never know it was the Clash. For those punk purists out there I'm sure that will sound offensive. To me it is brilliant, and yes, quite Magnificent. I now see this as an album the Clash recorded really more for themselves, to push some boundaries and see how people reacted to it. That in itself is about as "punk" as anything I can think of.Free Music Review: The Ultimate Treasure Hunt
Hit: 5 Stars
This album is the ultimate treasure hunt and with today's technology you can create your own treasure. The CD I created makes a great double album and not a single like everyone else gets. This is because I spent time with this album and have discovered great tracks I missed years later like "Version City" the opener from side 6. I don't even like "Magnifecent Seven" like everyone else does. To me this has tons of incredible classic songs that I could not live without. They are as follows: "Charlie Don't Surf", "Sound Of Sinners", "Something About England", "Somebody Got Murdered", "Up In Heaven", "The Leader", "Kingston's Advice", "Police On My Back", "Washington Bullets", "The Call Up", "Ivan Meets GI Joe", "Lose This Skin", "Hitsville UK", "One More Time" and "Let's Go Crazy". These are all A+ tracks. Just below this are a lot of entertaining tracks like, "
"Street Parade", "Version City", "Midnight Log", "Corner Soul", "Broadway", "If Music Could Talk", and the kiddie version of "Career Oppurtunities". I do agree the dubs and instrumentals are crap, but even the rest like "Rebel Waltz" isn't terrible. This is an album I love more each day. It has given me the best treasure hunt ever with the resulting CD being one of the best albums I have ever made. I'm sure your results will vary, but anyone looking for music that will reward them time after time should pick this embarrassment of riches up right away.
Free Music Review: The Clash reaches it's creative apex!
Hit: 5 Stars
Sandinista was the Clash's monumental album (well three to be technicaly correct). Three platters filled with a lot of experimental music (pop, punk, funk regaee and dub). While most bands would have kept on repeating themselves until they either cracked under stress or couldn't sell another disc, The Clash soldiered on and continued to
produce envelope pushing sounds.
The songs on this album are real heavy, musicaly and lyrically. Many songs about rebels, the down trodden and freedom can be found here. there's even a disco song (Ivan Meets G.I. Joe) a funk-rap song (The Magnificent Seven) ode to the rebels (Washington Bullets and Rebel Waltz) the down trodden (Somebody Got Murder, Something about England). There's so much music that it'll take awhile to get through it all. You want to here something different, here it is. Sadly, this was the beginning of a long downfall for the Clash. Topper Headon would soon become too strung out on Heroin and is kicked out of the band. Original drummer
Terry Chimes (a.k.a. Tory Crimes) would be brought back for Combat Rock.
Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: A hopelessly flawed, self-indulgent but compelling mess.
Hit: 3 Stars
Sandinista! certainly won't go down as the best Clash record. Taking the sprawling muse of the classic London Calling and going even further with it, this triple-LP (whoa!) has no direction or cohesion whatsoever. Rock, reggae, dub, hip-hop (!), gospel (!!), ska, funk, jazz, waltz, dub, and even a children's ditty can be found here and more. "Artistic vision" or not, this is an album badly in need of an editor. Perhaps they took the "The only band that matters" line a little too close to heart.
But before you bash this album as an unforgivable disaster on the part of Strummer & Co., listen to it. There's definitely solid material on here, albeit only enough for one 35-40 min. LP and not three. At its best, the music is no less effective than the best parts of London Calling. The Magnificent Seven is a great opener and demonstrates the band's fascination with the emerging hip-hop culture. Somebody Got Murdered, Charlie Don't Surf (classic), The Call Up, Something About England, Washington Bullets (the album's title track and one of the band's best reggae tracks), Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice), Up In Heaven (Not Only Here), and Police On My Back (the closest thing to a standard Clash punk tune) all rule. Strummer and Jones' vocals are still in fine form, and the politically charged lyrics have some bite (albeit a bit more rambling than on previous efforts).
However, the rest of the album is often less than B-side level. I mean, come on, a children's choir version of Career Opportunites? Are you serious? The Sound Of Sinners, a hackneyed attempt at gospel is also rubbish. While London Calling offered some solid forays into pop (Spanish Bombs, Train In Vain), most of Sandinista!'s attempts at the style are New Wave-esque, cheesy, and embarrassing. A clear foreshadowing of the direction they'd take on the even worse Combat Rock.
My thoughts? The first three Clash albums are indispensible; get 'em first, starting with the Green Album (one of the finest '77 offerings available). Borrow a copy of Sandinista! from a friend or buy it used, then cull the best tracks and burn your own version of Sandinista!. Don't bother with the rest of The Clash discography unless you're a completist.