The Clash

The finest rock band of the late '70s and early '80s seemed a might over-ambitious when this three record set first came out, but 22 years later it's clear there are at least two platters worth of brilliance here. "The Call Up," "Somebody Got Murdered," "Charlie Don't Surf" and "The Equaliser" all rank among the Clash's best.

Nothing could have helped get me through the unreal mass depression – the mourning ten
years too late for the death of the Sixties and the Beatles that grew out of the grief over
John Lennon's murder – than the release of the Clash's Sandinista! a few days later. Its
three records–thirty-six tracks to get lost in–ask and answer some of the right questions
about violence and nonviolence, history and the future, crime and the law, rev... More >

At $9.99 discounted, figure sides five and six as a near-freebie sweetened by great cuts from Timon Dogg and a grade-school duo. Compare "Apple Jam" (you know, on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass triple, now there was a prophetic title) invidiously to the run of their dub ramble. Listen to Sandinista Now!, the promo-only one-disc digest Epic has thoughtfully provided busy radio personnel, and note that you miss (in my case) "Rebel Waltz" and "Let's Go Crazy" and "Something About England" (and who knows what in yours). Note that you also miss the filler and assorted weirdnesses which provide that heady pace and/or texture. Then note as well that the many good songs aren't as consistently compelling as on previous Clash albums, though God knows "The Sound of Sinners" is a long-overdue Christer spoof and words about reading are always apt and the romanticization of revolution is an inevitable theme. And conclude that if this is their worst--which it is, I think--they must be, er, the world's greatest rock and roll band. (Grade - A-)