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Cut the Crap

The Clash - Cut the Crap Audio CD

A fair review of the The Clash "Cut the Crap" 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: Cut the Crap
Rating:

Release Date: 2000-07-04
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Dictator 2: Dirty Punk 3: We Are the Clash 4: Are You Red..Y 5: Cool Under Heat 6: Movers and Shakers 7: This Is England 8: Three Card Trick 9: Play to Win 10: Fingerpoppin' 11: North and South 12: Life Is Wild 13: Do It Now

The Clash in name only
The album was conceived, as response to British fan opinion that the group had gone commercial, as a return to the punk rock roots of the bands debut LP era. After "Combat Rock" was decried as sellout by many fans and the band blamed this on Mick's experimentalism and (acting on manager Rhodes' advice) kicked him out, they hired two new guitarists as replacement and a new roots-punk Clash was born. Hence the title, "Cut the Crap".

This album was mixed without the band permission by manager Bernard Rhodes who gave it a synth heavy production, programmed a drum machine and added many audio bites and vocal distortions through out the album to give it the more commercial sound of the popular new wave music at the time. Joe happened upon it in a record store one day, surprised it was out and remarked later something like "one listen and I knew we were finished. "

The only songs really worth anything are "This Is England" and "North and South" which both manage to contain the integrity of the band's previous songs are the only reason this doesn't get one-star (the bonus track on the 2000 issue is good too).

This is hardly a Clash album at all really, not only is Mick gone, but Topper had previously been sacked (for herion addiction) and Paul's stand-in bassist actually played bass on this album (don't know why he sat out) and a drum machine was used for all of the songs. The 2000 re-issue contained the "This Is England" b-side "Do It Now" which is the only song on here where you can hear a bit of what this album should have sounded like. Paul plays additional bass on that track. An MP3 of the 12" b-side "Sex Mad Roar" and a studio cover of "Louie Louie" (it's rather bland though) are floating around the net. The band had involvement in those mixes.

It's somewhat a shame really that this album couldn't have been mixed and produced the way it should have. The new band had quite a following in England and the LP was really anticipated and then became a huge disappointment when it was mixed to be exactly what they were trying to get away from. Live shows from that period, while not the best quality, will show you what these songs were supposed to sound like. Get some if you are interested. I have "Acoustic Daze" from 1985 in which most of these songs are played (unplugged, of course) with Paul on bass and a live drummer (Chimes, their first drummer). They're not bad really. Still, they shouldn't have called themselves The Clash no matter how you slice it.

Mick Jones, meanwhile was busy producing "This Is Big Audio Dynamite" which turned out MUCH MUCH better.

Has been officially disowned by the band.

Cut The Crappy Reviews

Ok, yes, Mick Jones is gone and honestly I'm not a big fan of Mick Jones' materials anyways, no offense he's still good and an essential part. I normally don't like writing reviews but in this case I'm making the time. I am however more of a Joe Strummer fan. Cut The Crap is still a Clash album. But yes this is for any Joe Strummer fans even from his 101'ers to his solo materials. I prefer to hear some synth Clash than hip hop/rock that eventually became Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite. Why bash this album when you yourselves are The Clash fans.
It's not like Topper Headon suddenly just took the Clash name and release albums under that name. Now that would be just wrong even that he's a good drummer.
I'm guessing with all the bad reviews I'm reading on this release are all Mick Jones fans. I hope.
To any new The Clash fans please don't ignore Cut The Crap. Listen to all of The Clash songs. And don't ignore Big Audio Dynamite either if you like Mick Jones. Paul Simonon was in Havana 3am (first album only and more of a rock/rockabilly like Strummer) and currently playing bass with Damon Albarn (alternative). And Joe Strummer solo materials! However, they are not like any Clash songs but more of a rock/rockabilly/folk/latin/blues almost similar to the 101'ers.

Rest In Peace Joe Strummer. .

Better Than You Expect
However, while CTC is no London Calling, it's not crap either. I avoided this record for years because I expected it to be the "crap" that the title ironically, and perhaps unintentionally, implies.

If this was released as the first Joe Strummer solo album, it would have been praised as a great blend of classic Clash feel, with modern (for the mid-80's) touches, such as synthesizers and electronic drums. Instead, it comes off as a shameless attempt to drain the last of the blood out of the Clash legacy with some stand-ins and studio hacks.

That being said, there are plenty of good songs. Ignoring the context and judging it purely on music, I'd rank it ahead of Combat Rock.

.

Joe Strummer, a Drum Machine and Bernie Rhodes.
Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon and the three new band mates were just finishing their big tour and they had a bunch of new songs that were written for a new album such as

Glue Zombie
Ammunition
In the Pouring Rain
Sex Mad War
Do it Now

These songs were not included in the album. Cut the Crap was the final album by The Clash. Sex Mad War and Do it Now appear as singles in a rearranged formed, The songs that do appear on the album sound nothing like they did live. Joe Strummer was going through a rough time in his life. After laying down some vocal tracks, he left the studio. Bernie Rhodes hired some studio musicians like Norman Roy Watt and Mickey Gallagher to work on the Synth-Pop music that is present on the album. Rhodes didn't think a punk rock album would sell in the mid-80s. So he used his stroke to reinvent the sound. The tracks that Joe Strummer had control over was the single "This is England". The rest was all Rhodes.

The Clash without Jones sounded awesome live. Look for some bootlegs of the band with the five piece three guitar line-up. Those songs that never made the studio Glue Zombie, Ammunition and In the Pouring Rain would have been classics. But you can't rewrite history or change the past. The Clash without Mick Jones would have survived if it wasn't for the naysayers and haters. Please remember this when you listen to the disc. It could have been a great record instead of a medicocre one.

Wins the "Most Ironic Title Ever" award, but that's about it.
Then let's see what new lows we can sink our music to! This very well might've been The Clash's mindset at the time. Here's a brilliant idea: let's sack Mick Jones, half our songwriting team AND our lead guitarist, and continue on from there. After the excellent if slightly overrated London Calling, The Clash entered what we experts like to call the "bad half" of their career. It started overambitious Sandinista! project, then they recovered slightly with Combat Rock. No recovery here. It sounds like a punk album made by somebody who was raised on arena-rock, had never heard a note of punk in their lives, and nevertheless decided to take a shot at making a punk album. So yeah, there's an overuse of synthesizers and power chords - exactly the kind of music the original Clash were dead-set against. And since it's the 80's, there's a drum machine, because for some reason in the 80's most mainstream rock bands were too lazy to drum and relied on sequenced beats instead. God, do I hate 80s music. . .
anyway, there are more bad ideas than just that - the chant-along We Are the Clash is embarrassing and rather inappropriate, since only half the original Clash even PLAYED on this album, and even then original member Paul Simonon is reduced to playing "additional bass". My god, show a bit more respect for your original bassist! So there's lots of deadly dull arena-punk like Are You Red. . y, Dictator, Dirty Punk, Fingerpoppin' and Three Card Trick. No meaningful, intelligent lyrics the Clash usually delivered. No cool basslines from Paul Simonon because he was regulated to frickin' ADDITIONAL BASS. No reggae-punk, which had been the group's secret weapon from the start. Now, I like This Is England (which DOES have meaningful lyrics) as much as the next guy, but it's got the synthesizer, the drum machine, and what I like to call the "Billy Idol distorted guitar" - it's hard to explain, but it sounds like computerized distortion - and those elements keep it from being a classic. So you get one good song out of twelve. Raw deal.
As for the title, it screams for an obvious pun that I won't make because I'm sweet like that. Okay, not really. But I still won't make the obvious pun. .

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.