this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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London Calling by the Clash.
Their past two albums were amazing and ground breaking, but all firmly footed within one genre: state of the art 70s punk. One-two-three-four.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, London Calling comes along, and just jumps all over the place. Ska. R&B. Jazz. Folk. Rockabilly. Reggae. Whatever the hell Lover's Rock is. It just goes everywhere. And even weirder, it's all fucking fantastic.
In terms of songwriting it's equally insane, covering issues such as the Spanish Civil War (Spanish Bombs), the life and times of Montgomery Clift (The Right Profile), a murder investigation among a bunch of fucked up junkies (Jimmy Jazz), the tale of Staggar Lee (Wrong 'em Boyo), contemporary problems of gang and police violence (Guns of Brixton), how we all end up as slaves to the same system we start out trying to defeat (Clampdown), and how little room there is left for humanity in modern living (Lost in the Supermarket).
Or, perhaps most tellingly, the title track itself: a distress call, nodding back to BBC wartime broadcasts starting with "this is London Calling". The song fittingly kicks off the album with a doomsday scenario declaring the death of punk itself, coming from the most important band in the genre at the time. It's the end of the 70s, the hype around punk is over, if it was ever real to begin with.
What an amazing freaking album.
This is really well said, and would have been my pick, as well. I was not yet 10 when this album came out and only ever listened to it after hearing Combat Rock, which is an absolutely groundbreaking record in its own right (side 2 of Combat Rock defies any attempts at pigeonholing it in a genre - it's masterful).
But once I'd heard their earlier albums and then London Calling, my though whenever I listen to this album is, "how the fuck did that happen???" It's hard to say whether it happened because of, or despite Guy Stevens (the producer), but one thing is clear: he pushed them to do things that they might never have done without him wandering about the studio throwing ladders around or whateverfuck he was up to during recording.
Lost in the Supermarket was written just as the consumerism began to hit the shelves, if you'll allow the shitty pun, and could just as easily have been written today. Absolutely timeless, spot-on, chillingly accurate portrayal of the beginning of the end as we decided we needed stuff more than we needed community.
Great pick, and really wonderful explanation.
I was going to say Combat Rock as well
"I wasn't born as much as I fell out". It's just too good.
And speaking of being born - I didn't even see the light of day before more than a decade after London Calling was released. I'm still not entirely sure how I ended up stumbling into 70s punk in my teenage years, but I'm glad I did.
Combat Rock is another insane album. Starved in metropolis, hooked on necropolis. Come on. And it all starts so innocently with Know Your Righs as well.
Funny, it just hit me that "supermarket" isn't being used here as a synonym for "grocery store" and that there was a time before these massive grocery stores we're used to now.
I don't have the time or brainpower to write something as nice as these two comments, but if you love those albums for these reasons you have to check out Sandinista!, it's a bit messy and overstuffed with ideas at 3 vinyls in length, but the best 2 vinyls worth of music the Clash ever did is in there imo
https://youtu.be/_TwDOO_RJ8Y
https://youtu.be/kFGKm_bJ5Uw
https://youtu.be/mkoWjhZOKWo
https://youtu.be/9PCtKQ6xsyA
https://youtu.be/_m7_nPzG0E4
https://youtu.be/sc7NlVpNx8k