The Clash - Sandinista!
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Free Music Notes for Sandinista!
Free Music Review: Too Punk for Punk
Hit: 5 Stars
December 12, 1980; the world became a much, much better place.
I find it amazing that all this music was written, recorded and released less than a year after they released London Calling. Sandinista! shows that Clash at their creative peak, this album is an onslaught of experimentation and the diversity far surpasses any album I've ever heard, or heard of.
No, I cannot sit and listen to this in its entirety, but I find it hard to listen to any band for two and a half hours. I, personally, prefer the first disc to the second, although they are both incredible. I have tried to make a list of my favourite tracks on here, but its too damn hard and I would end up with a list unsuitably long. Obvioulsy there are the stand out tracks, but every song on here is more than listen worthy.
Many people criticize the Clash for including so many songs and not being more strict with the selection process. But no matter how many songs in between, the great songs still stand out as some of the Clashs best work. And the fact is, the Clash wrote and recorded all this music, and Sandinista! is just a document of that particular time of their career. I think it is great that they included all these songs becasue even the weaker ones are not terrible and still make for an entertaining listen, and I dont believe the album should be thought of as worse just becasue there are some okay songs amungst some brilliant ones. The best work is still there and to discredit them becasue of the other tracks is merely selling your team instead of sacking some players.
Better than London Calling? It's a tough decision, but I'll have to go with London Calling (as it is probably the best thing I've ever heard), but Sandinista! is definetly the next best thing. After listening to this CD, in my mind, it absolutly confirms that the Clash are, really, 'the only band that matters'.
"SANDINISTA! was the Clash doing to punk what punk did to music in the first place." - The Sandinista Project (sandinista.guterman.com)
Free Music Review: a sprawling masterpeice
Hit: 5 Stars
While not as "Rocking" or accessable as London Calling (new Clash fans should definatly check out that album first), Sandanista! is a 2 hour and 30 minute long sprawling masterpeice.
Some argue that this album is 2/5th great material and the rest is filler. Those people don't know good music if it bites them.
On this album the Clash explore all forms of music, including hip-hop, disco/dance, jazz, calipso, gospel, waltz, and of course, the usual dose of punk, rock, ska and raggae. This album is a journey. Longer, more varied and, at times, more fun than the Beatles "White Album" (and this album ranks up there with some of the Beatle's best). Will you like the album at first? Hmm, probably not. It takes repeated listens to appreciate the way The Clash cram hundreds of hooks and melodies into a single track.
The Magnifigant 7 - A hip-hop dance number with GREAT lyrics. One of the best bass lines I've ever heard by Paul Simonon, and try not laughing when Strummer screams, "CHEESEBOIGER!"
Hitsville U.K. - Starts like a gospel song, but quickly transforms into a singalong with some catchy-as-hell melodies. Note: the woman singing this song is Clash guitarist Mick Jone's exgirlfriend, Ellen Foley, who also song the epic Meatloaf song "Paradie By The Dashboard Light"
Junco Partner - Great reggea flavored track, with some of the oddest sound effects dancing all over the place. Makes for a very odd and entertaining song.
Ivan Meets G.I. Joe - This song is literally a disco song being played over a futuristic war land. Laser sounds fill the air as drummer Topper Headen sings of a galactic showdown between "ivan" and "g.i.joe" (metaphores, you can figure it out)
The Leader - The first (almost traditional)Clash rocker. Fast & quick.
Something About England - A very lyrical one, with an interesting story behind it.
Rebel Waltz - A waltz in.. yep, 3/4ths time. Begins with a chamber music-esuque instrumental, and turns into a touching song.
Look Here - A dip into Jazz for the Clash. Paul Simonon nails the "walking bassline", and the piano is wonderfully jazzy.
The Crooked Beat - Paul Simonon's song. Very strange, as Paul does his traditional "talk-singing". It's a dub flavored reggae, probably the weakest track on the album, but still enjoyable.
Somebody Got Murdered - a REAL rocker. More rock than punk i'd say. A fast catchy tune, with very affecting lyrics. Jones practically whispers over the loud guitars, "somebody got murdered.. somebody's dead forever."
One More Time - a darker reggae song.
One More Time Dub - a dub version of the latter. (Dub basically just entails an instrumental with reverb slapped all over the place, and echoing snare and hi-hat).
Lightening Strikes - Another hip-hop dance track in the vein of "Magnifigant 7". Lots of references to New York city.
Up In Heaven - An overlooked gem. Great rocker.
Corner Soul - another excellent track. While not really reggae at all, it sounds very... let's say.. babylon-esque.
Let's Go Crazy - a great tropical song with steel drums. "So ya wanna go crazy!?"
If Music Could Talk - A jazzy reggae number, with a wonderful sax solo. There are 2 vocal tracks, one in each channel (left and right).
The Sound of the Sinners - a gospel song! and a GREAT gospel song, in which the religious meaning comes off NOT being lame or cheesy.
DISC TWO
Police on my Back - a cover, but done SOO well. A true punk rocker, The most rocking thing on the album. The lead guitar sounds like sirens, and Jones gives a remarkable vocal performance, literally spitting the phrase "what have i done!?"
Midnight Log - cool song. short and catchy, with great lyrics.
The Equaliser - very reverby, and sound effect coated. but a great sonf.
The Call Up - a cool steady beat throughout. one of the highlight songs. "it's up to you not to hear the call up, i don't wanna die... i don't wanna kill."
Washington Bullets - possibly the peak of the album. great lyrics, very political. Spanish and tropical flavored. The best moment comes at 2:40 in, when, in his sweetest voice, Strummer proclaims "saaaandanista!" and a wave of cheering and clapping insues.
Broadway - This is quite a song. In my opinion it sounds a song U2 could easily cover. Strummer gives a wonderful lyrical performance. With one hoarse "yeeeah" he can make your hair stand on end.
Lose This Skin - a classical flavored song, full of violins. Sounds like its from the early 1900's classical era. Written by Tymon Dogg, who sings and plays violin throughout the album.
Charlie Don't Surf - one of the best on the album. the effects give it this beauitful shining underwater sound. The melody is absolutly beautiful. The drums kick in with a "surf" beat, common in "surf rock". Great lyrics too, about the US spreading western ways where people don't want them (charlie = the enemy, charlie don't surf and we thing he should.. hu hu?)
Mensforth Hill - "something about england" played backwards. but also filled with sound effects and talking, in the vein of the beatles "Revolution 9". at some parts, it sounds exactly like "dark side of the moon", specifically "on the run".
well, i'm tired of writing now, but the rest of the songs are great too, though, i admit i wish the album ended with a real good song instead of an instrumental. but, its still a masterpice by one of the greatest bands of all time.
Free Music Review: ...And the Nobel Prize
Hit: 5 Stars
I just finished reading Harold Pinter's Nobel Lecture "Art, Truth & Politics". It is easy to see why he won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature. But while reading what he said about Nicaragua in the 80s, the Contras and Sandinistas, reminded me of being 19 or so when this album came out.
As a US citizen living in a fairly Reagan-loving state (Arizona) and having been told that the Contras were the good guys, I couldn't quite figure out why this band would be for the other team. But such was the beginning of my political enlightenment. The Clash and other punk and alternative bands were the first messiahs of political truth for me in my little sheltered life.
Now there are Rap albums and Hip-Hop albums today that are important and political like The Clash's were then, but except for the few songs that make the list for Top 40 radio...for listeners who are no longer educated enough to get the irony--those more radical songs are mostly shared between friends and played late at night on College-Indy stations.
In Milan Kundera's book, "The Incredible Lightness of Being" The author reflects on Nietzsche's idea of Eternal Return, and the moral consequences we face by not living in a world where all things are repeated ad infinitum. He writes,
"Not long ago, I caught myself experiencing a most
incredible sensation. Leafing through a book on
Hitler, I was touched by some portraits: they reminded
me of my childhood. I grew up during the war; several
members of my family perished in Hitler's
concentration camps; but what were their deaths
compared with the memories of a lost period in my
life, a period that would never return?
This reconciliation with Hitler reveals the profound
moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on
the nonexistence of return, for in this world
everything is pardoned in advance and therefore
cynically permitted."
I remembered that passage today as I read Pinter's speech, as well as this album by The Clash. Because there was a bittersweetness to the memory of these songs, but tinged with the idea that the truth is that there is perhaps an Eternal Return of the same, and thus something even more deeply, impossibly immoral about the fact that some 25 years later, we are still playing the part of Imperialist bullies, murderers and exploiters--more than ever--dispatching a hideous form of terror under the banner of democracy everywhere on our little globe. So maybe now that the truth is so intolerable, it will finally be powerful enough to bring action. And people will be held accountable? I hope so.
Harold Pinter's speech is brilliant and can easily be found in a search on the web, or on the Nobel Prize site. I'm sure I will get many "not helpful" votes for this, but I hope that at least one person will take the time to read Pinter's words since mine are admittedly inarticulate and inadequate to the task.
Free Music Review: Worth the cost
Hit: 4 Stars
While it probably isn't worth 5 stars and you won't see it on many "Top 100 Greatest Albums" lists, Sandinista! is still WELL worth the price and quite an entertaining listen.
If you've been able to successfully sit through RHCP's post-1990 albums, either of Sublime's albums, or the The Rolling Stone's Exile..., you can probably handle this. And unlike those albums, there isn't any misogynism or hedonism in the lyrics. You may not agree with the Clash's political stance (and I must admit that I sometimes don't), but at least they're trying to make a positive impact on the world.
If you are listening for the first time, it helps to view this as a double album with a bonus LP (tracks 7-18 on the 2nd CD) thrown in. Once "Lose This Skin" starts, the record becomes pretty weird and surreal. It's still entertaining though. I recall listening to both discs straight through while cleaning out my house, and it really did seem to make sense.
Free Music Review: Sandinista! VS Warning
Hit: 3 Stars
Valentine's Day, 2001. The now-older teenagers are kissing each other while the original adults now aged 37 are listening to the "rap" song from Sandinista! when Warning gets out a chainsaw and hacks the album into two. Blood goes everywhere and splashes the 37-year olds. Coming soon: London Calling VS American Idiot