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London Calling

The Clash - London Calling Audio CD

A fair review of the The Clash "London Calling" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Clash reviews here, or go back to the The Clash tabs.

Band: The Clash
Title: London Calling
Rating:

Release Date: 2000-01-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: London Calling 2: Brand New Cadillac 3: Jimmy Jazz 4: Hateful 5: Rudie Can't Fail 6: Spanish Bombs 7: Right Profile 8: Lost in the Supermarket 9: Clampdown 10: Guns of Brixton 11: Wrong 'Em Boyo 12: Death or Glory 13: Koka Kola 14: Card Cheat 15: Lover's Rock 16: Four Horsemen 17: I'm Not Down 18: Revolution Rock 19: Train in Vain

As good as it will ever get.
The apogee of rock. Five stars are not enough. Masterful playing, writing and singing. Brilliant production. After 30 years it remains unsurpassed. If you don't have it, then buy it.

The LP is the only way to listen to this record
For those that don't know the album cover of London Calling is a take-off of Elvis Presley's first record, but instead of smiling for the camera the Clash are smashing a guitar. I remember walking into a record store in December '79 and the owner of the store was raging against the album art.
To me this record, along with the Elvis record bookmark the beginning and end of the first 25 years of rock music. This record is one of the finest examples of electric as opposed to electronic music. The sound is so generous and the passion right out there on the edge. The amazing nuance of a finger on a string and a vocal track recorded in a single take are things that mostly disappeared not long after this record came out.
London Calling is easily one of the 10 best albums from it's era. Song for song a masterpiece. One reason I bother to keep a turntable going. This is music that suffers from being chopped up into samples, and can't be fully described in bits. Buy the LP and you'll see what I mean.

An onion of an album
I had heard that it was a great album but when I first listened to it I didn't know what all the hype was about. Originally, I bought London Calling for, London Calling. However, 3 months later I understand. London Calling has the tracks that instantly grab you (London Calling, Train in Vain, Spanish Bombs) and the songs that slowly reveal themselves to be the reason for the high praise (The Card Cheat, Rudy Cant Fail, Jimmy Jazz, Guns of Brixton, Death or Glory ect. ). I believe that after Born to Run and The Joshua Tree London Calling is the greatest album ever and after The Rolling Stones and U2 The Clash are one of the greatest bands ever!ever!.

The Album that Killed Beatlemania
It is hands-down the best album of the 80s and changed music forever I think. I have been going back through old records re-visting my early teen years, and of all the albums in my collection, this is my favorite. How anyone can give Londan Calling anything but five stars is beyond me. .

London Calling Lacking, by Jason Sobieski
After looking at amazon. I just finished listening to London Calling for the first time straight through, and almost all of the tracks on the album were new to me. com's reviews, I realized that this album is quite beloved. There were about 353 five star reviews, and less than 40 or or so three star reviews or less.

So, good points about the album:

1. It is unique. The sound I heard has yet to be replicated in my mind, and only modern ska seems to come somewhat close. Surprisingly, the album doesn't sound like a punk stereotype, but at the same time, Joe Strummer's vocals sound distinctively punk, with some of his clever lyrics distinctly portraying his thick accent. (Or at least what sounds like an accent. )
2. The track listing (19 songs) is very long and should not allow anyone to doubt The Clash's ability to pump out legitimate songs with ease.
3. The instrumentation is experimental yet effective, and the band plays and sounds tight, almost like a jazz band.
4. Excellent production. Vocals always came out clearly, instruments the same.
5. Every track is solid. Some of the compositions are downright blasts. I couldn't find a weak song on the album. However, this is not to say that the album does not have some obvious weaknesses, in my mind.
6. Hey! Whoever their bassist is, he's good!
7. Cool cover art.

The weak points:

1. Many of the songs sound the same. Now, keep in mind, this is after a single listening in two sittings, but one of my first impressions was that this album has little variety in terms of "fast/slow," "ballad/hard rock," and many of the songs simply have the same feel. And while I like the vocalist, his range seems rather limited. He sounds similar on many of the tracks. In of itself none of these things are a problem, but as a whole the album seems to drag sometimes, and doesn't keep you interested as an overall work of art. "London Calling" took me places sometimes, but a few times I felt like I'd already been there.
2. The album lacks a coherent message/impression. After hearing an album, I usually walk away thinking about a particular thing, or in a particular mood. I heard "London Calling" and then got up and called my dad, not thinking about any of the lyrics or having a tune stuck in my head. Nothing seemed to stick with me.
3. " London Calling" just doesn't seem magical. It didn't lift me up. My ears weren't enraptured. I didn't feel eager to get to the next song, while wishing the current song would never end. Nothing in particular spoke to me.
4. It seems to lack greatness. It's unique. It's cool. It's produced well. Much of it's catchy. But it simply doesn't seem revolutionary. While I had never heard it before, I didn't feel like I 'discovered' anything in "London Calling. "

In reality, this album doesn't deserve as much criticism as I've given it, and I say that because of the overall quality of the work in of itself. But this album is on quite a pedestal, and to me the album plays a little bit more like a "Best of The Clash" or a "The Clash's Greatest Hits" rather than one of the best rock albums of all time, and I had to keep that in mind during this review. Many of the songs are awesome, but as an album, it doesn't seem to achieve something special. Maybe I didn't listen to it loudly enough. And I need to listen to it at least two more times before forming my concrete opinion. But I'm definitely buying it, and at least one or two other Clash albums. And lastly, please don't let the fact that I wrote so much about the negative mean that it's more negative than positive, it's just that when an album like "London Calling" is so strong, but at the same time lacks something that you can't put your finger on, it requires some thought in order to figure it all out. I suspect this album is going to grow on me, though.

Probably my favorite track was "Train in Vain," next to "London Calling," of course. Some other special ones: "Spanish Bombs," "Rudy Can't Fail," "Jimmy Jazz," and "Lost in the Supermarket. " Oh, and "Clampdown. "

Precise rating: 7. 3 out of 10 turtle shells.

================================

My info/tastes:

Age: 21
Gender: Male
Places I've lived: New Jersey and Houston, Texas
My Main Influences: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Metallica, Styx, Joy Division, Apollo Sunshine, Of Montreal, jazz artists, N. W. A. , Eminem, Jay-z, Wu-Tang Clan, Lil' Wayne, Michael Jackson, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven.

You can see a complete list of all The Clash discography, or go back to the The Clash tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.