In the
age of the single download, Jeff Harford rediscovers the
album...
Photographer Pennie Smith's London Calling cover shot
shows the Clash bassist Paul Simonon standing splay-legged,
about to slam his Fender Precision against the stage.
It's as true a snapshot of punk's seething soul as any
three-chord anthem of the day, but it reveals little about
what was in store for the listener.
The 1979 double album followed the previous year's Give Em
Enough Rope, a venomous, fast-paced barrage of
guitar-heavy rockers that marked the British band's US debut.
And while London Calling touched on similar themes of
wasted (in both senses) youth, political disenchantment and
rallying against the right wing, it saw the Clash tap the
spirit of reggae, rockabilly, ska and pop with a confidence
that belied the outfit's rough and ready origins.
Not that the punk band had ever disguised its reverence for
rock's other rebellious forms - its eponymous debut album had
included a cover of the Junior Murvins reggae hit Police
and Thieves, but London Calling represented a
giant leap forward in the Joe Strummer/Mick Jones writing
partnership.
The pair were now happy to mix and match musical styles in
their efforts to document the Clash's idealism.
Simonon, too, was let off the leash, stepping up with clunky
reggae anthem The Guns Of Brixton.
From the militaristic, foot-stomping march of the title
track, Clampdown and Death or Glory to the
ska/reggae mash of Rudie Can't Fail and Revolution
Rock, the 12-bar blues of Brand New Cadillac, the
sauntering swing of Jimmy Jazz, and the straight-ahead
pop-rock of Spanish Bombs, Lost in the
Supermarket and Train in Vain, London
Calling was a riveting work that earned a place in the
Grammy Hall of Fame.
In just over three years, the Clash had risen from
inauspicious beginnings as a Sex Pistols support act to
become punk's greatest success story, moving beyond the
safety-pin-and-spittle affectations of the genre and on
towards lasting glory.
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