The Greatest Album in Rock History, sort of
Now thirty years after its release – certainly aided by the switch to formats other than albums – one album has climbed to the top of my listing of all-time albums, doing so by improving markedly since its release, like a great wine from a top producer. It is Sandinista! from The Clash, released in the US at the start of 1981.
The Clash have somehow remained in public view, or just outside of it, for years, seemingly becoming even more renowned, and cooler, in the past decade, a decade that has seen the death of frontman Joe Strummer, his elevation to a rock n’ roll saint, one of their songs provide the backbone for a worldwide hit on the soundtrack of the Academy Award’s Best Picture, and the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Sandinista! was released as a sprawling, ambitious, and amazingly eclectic two-and-a-half hours of music (“I always thought of it as being a record for people who were on oil rigs or Arctic stations, and not able to get to record shops regularly” according to guitarist Mick Jones later). An odd album, it was released to decidedly mixed reviews. About the only notable album somewhat similar in its wide-ranging styles is the Beatles’ White Album. It’s well beyond anything from Green Day, hugely influenced by The Clash by the way. There is certainly lots of filler in Sandinista! and some of it is just crap, especially when having to listen to it on the original three record vinyl pressing as I did for years. But, culling the some of the chaff, there is lot of brilliant rock music that still sounds fresh today, almost thirty years later. For a diehard and longtime fan of The Clash as I this might well have the chaotic pinnacle of the band’s productive six or seven years together.
A rock album’s success ultimately depends on the quality of the individual recordings and the ones on Sandinista! are not only varied, but very good. Very, very good, in fact, and ones that still sound fresh today. At the root of it all are interesting melodies, sounds, rhythms, plenty of them, bolstered by occasional harmonies and good production quality that help overcome the bands’ vocal limitations. It’s like The Clash are reaching in nearly every musical direction, and they succeed in most everything: rock, reggae, jazz, rockabilly, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, rap, etc. Sure, there are big stumbles, and nearly unlistenable oddities that have failed to grow on me after all of these years, but the number of great recordings in so many divergent styles is pretty amazing. Overall, for a rock album, it is reaching, and even sophisticated without being cheesy. Even the 1980-era synthesizers on the strangely powerful Somebody Got Murdered still sound emphatic and respectful. The songs are not as exuberant as those in previous album London Calling, but maybe more nuanced. Most seem more complex, more layered, more thoughtfully constructed, which might just have been due to the production style, but it is evident to me. There is no song that reaches the heights of Train in Vain, though a number of excellent ones that could have never been singles, which is not at all a bad thing.
The album’s overall tone is hopeful, bolstered by mostly upbeat songs that are somewhat preachy, without really being preachy, or didactic at least. Whatever the lyrics are, they are sung earnestly; there is a deep since of sincerity throughout. Though often termed a political band, don’t look for a coherent message, just successful transmission of a sense that things were not right, often unjust, but there is optimism for the future. That might the best that most bands can hope for when it comes to influencing their (usually youthful) fans.
Their London Calling, is widely regarded as one of the best albums of the rock, and probably still my favorite. It was named the best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone (and #8 of all time in a list that includes music well beyond rock like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue), and also best album of the 1970s by a British publication. It was released in December 1979 in the UK, and in January 1980 in the US. But, as good as London Calling is, Sandinista! might even be better. I first got an inkling of this some years ago when a friend, another big Clash fan, said he thought that London Calling sounded a tad primitive compared to much of Sandinista! The advance in technology, albeit most evidenced in the mostly now-archaic CDs have certainly improved it: “With CDs erasing the once-dotted lines of side breaks, London Calling has become a tightly edited, 65-minute dose of adult adrenaline rather than four sides of diminishing returns. Sandinista!, on the other hand, has gone from six sides of endless groove to two distinct CDs -- the first of which, if not better than London Calling, is far more evolved” is how a music writer nearly a decade ago described the difference.
With some qualifications, mostly cutting a number of odd and half-measured recordings, Sandinista! might well be better. If London Calling might be considered the greatest album, as I believe it is better than the ones ahead of it on Rolling Stone’s list, and if Sandinista! is better in edited form, might not it be considered the best album of the rock era? The written word inherently fails to describe music. Here is my edited version of Sandinista!, quite possibly the greatest album ever by a rock band.
The edited version that is so great:
1. "The Magnificent Seven" – 5:28
2. "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" – 3:05
3. "The Leader" – 1:41
4. "Look Here"– 2:44
5. "Somebody Got Murdered" – 3:34
6. "One More Time" – 3:32
7. "One More Dub" 3:34
8. “Lightning Strikes”
9. "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)" – 4:31
10. "Let's Go Crazy" – 4:25
11. "If Music Could Talk" – 4:36
12. "Police on My Back" – 3:15
13. "Midnight Log" – 2:11
14. "The Call Up" – 5:25
15. "Washington Bullets" – 3:51
16. "Charlie Don't Surf" – 4:55
17. "Junkie Slip" – 2:48
18. "Kingston Advice" – 2:36
19. "The Street Parade" – 3:26
The Clash have somehow remained in public view, or just outside of it, for years, seemingly becoming even more renowned, and cooler, in the past decade, a decade that has seen the death of frontman Joe Strummer, his elevation to a rock n’ roll saint, one of their songs provide the backbone for a worldwide hit on the soundtrack of the Academy Award’s Best Picture, and the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Sandinista! was released as a sprawling, ambitious, and amazingly eclectic two-and-a-half hours of music (“I always thought of it as being a record for people who were on oil rigs or Arctic stations, and not able to get to record shops regularly” according to guitarist Mick Jones later). An odd album, it was released to decidedly mixed reviews. About the only notable album somewhat similar in its wide-ranging styles is the Beatles’ White Album. It’s well beyond anything from Green Day, hugely influenced by The Clash by the way. There is certainly lots of filler in Sandinista! and some of it is just crap, especially when having to listen to it on the original three record vinyl pressing as I did for years. But, culling the some of the chaff, there is lot of brilliant rock music that still sounds fresh today, almost thirty years later. For a diehard and longtime fan of The Clash as I this might well have the chaotic pinnacle of the band’s productive six or seven years together.
A rock album’s success ultimately depends on the quality of the individual recordings and the ones on Sandinista! are not only varied, but very good. Very, very good, in fact, and ones that still sound fresh today. At the root of it all are interesting melodies, sounds, rhythms, plenty of them, bolstered by occasional harmonies and good production quality that help overcome the bands’ vocal limitations. It’s like The Clash are reaching in nearly every musical direction, and they succeed in most everything: rock, reggae, jazz, rockabilly, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, rap, etc. Sure, there are big stumbles, and nearly unlistenable oddities that have failed to grow on me after all of these years, but the number of great recordings in so many divergent styles is pretty amazing. Overall, for a rock album, it is reaching, and even sophisticated without being cheesy. Even the 1980-era synthesizers on the strangely powerful Somebody Got Murdered still sound emphatic and respectful. The songs are not as exuberant as those in previous album London Calling, but maybe more nuanced. Most seem more complex, more layered, more thoughtfully constructed, which might just have been due to the production style, but it is evident to me. There is no song that reaches the heights of Train in Vain, though a number of excellent ones that could have never been singles, which is not at all a bad thing.
The album’s overall tone is hopeful, bolstered by mostly upbeat songs that are somewhat preachy, without really being preachy, or didactic at least. Whatever the lyrics are, they are sung earnestly; there is a deep since of sincerity throughout. Though often termed a political band, don’t look for a coherent message, just successful transmission of a sense that things were not right, often unjust, but there is optimism for the future. That might the best that most bands can hope for when it comes to influencing their (usually youthful) fans.
Their London Calling, is widely regarded as one of the best albums of the rock, and probably still my favorite. It was named the best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone (and #8 of all time in a list that includes music well beyond rock like Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue), and also best album of the 1970s by a British publication. It was released in December 1979 in the UK, and in January 1980 in the US. But, as good as London Calling is, Sandinista! might even be better. I first got an inkling of this some years ago when a friend, another big Clash fan, said he thought that London Calling sounded a tad primitive compared to much of Sandinista! The advance in technology, albeit most evidenced in the mostly now-archaic CDs have certainly improved it: “With CDs erasing the once-dotted lines of side breaks, London Calling has become a tightly edited, 65-minute dose of adult adrenaline rather than four sides of diminishing returns. Sandinista!, on the other hand, has gone from six sides of endless groove to two distinct CDs -- the first of which, if not better than London Calling, is far more evolved” is how a music writer nearly a decade ago described the difference.
With some qualifications, mostly cutting a number of odd and half-measured recordings, Sandinista! might well be better. If London Calling might be considered the greatest album, as I believe it is better than the ones ahead of it on Rolling Stone’s list, and if Sandinista! is better in edited form, might not it be considered the best album of the rock era? The written word inherently fails to describe music. Here is my edited version of Sandinista!, quite possibly the greatest album ever by a rock band.
The edited version that is so great:
1. "The Magnificent Seven" – 5:28
2. "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" – 3:05
3. "The Leader" – 1:41
4. "Look Here"– 2:44
5. "Somebody Got Murdered" – 3:34
6. "One More Time" – 3:32
7. "One More Dub" 3:34
8. “Lightning Strikes”
9. "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)" – 4:31
10. "Let's Go Crazy" – 4:25
11. "If Music Could Talk" – 4:36
12. "Police on My Back" – 3:15
13. "Midnight Log" – 2:11
14. "The Call Up" – 5:25
15. "Washington Bullets" – 3:51
16. "Charlie Don't Surf" – 4:55
17. "Junkie Slip" – 2:48
18. "Kingston Advice" – 2:36
19. "The Street Parade" – 3:26
