The Clash London Calling, Punk At Its Best!

The notion on 'Punk' has never really sat that well with me. I can't be doing with The Sex Pistols. Nor The Ramones. It's just not for me. However, two bands that were born out of the Punk era were The Jam (who, of course, I like very much), and The Clash, who in 1979 released the critically acclaimed London Calling - their third studio album. The difference for me is this: by the time The Clash released this seminal album they were more than just a Punk band. They were far more mature than that. This is an album that ventures into Ska, Pop, Soul, Rockabilly, Reggae and Jazz. This is an album that deals with issues such as drug abuse, racial conflict, the passage into and responsibilities of adulthood, and unemployment. This is an album that Rolling Stone Magazine deemed so important and significant that it made #8 in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time poll. London Calling has also been inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, and received maximum star reviews from the following music industry sources: Rolling Stone Magazine, Mojo, Paste, Punknews.org, Blender, Pitchfork, Allmusic, Robert Christgau and PopMatters. Even the cover has become iconic.

The album bursts into life immediately with the raw and punchy title track London Calling - a Clash classic forevermore. It is apocalyptic in its vision, but full of energy: "The ice-age is coming/The sun is zooming in/Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin/Nuclear error but I have no fear/London is drowning, I live by the river." Strummer's sneer is so real. Other highlights include the white-man reggae, The Guns Of Brixton, written by bassist Paul Simonon, the horn-soaked Rudie Can't Fail, the Mick Jones led I'm Not Down, and the infectious Train In Vain. Death Or Glory is another crashing highlight on this magic record - a record that is so full of energy, so full of life, and still so enormously relevant that it is a pleasure to put on the stereo. I found London Calling in my college years; over a decade later it is still one of my favourite albums, and most certainly my favourite 'Punk' record ever.

Before his untimely death at the age of just fifty, I saw Joe Strummer perform many times. The first time was in The Liverpool Royal Court Theatre - me and a group of mates had been on a trip to Liverpool with the college that morning, and had had our maiden drinking session in the pubs of Liverpool through-out the remainder of the day. When we entered the venue I remember feeling extremely uncomfortable; the place was full of the hardest looking men I'd ever seen in my life. It was like we'd just walked onto a wing of a maximum security jail. We anchored ourselves onto the front row, which was lucky since everyone in the middle was engaged in violent exchanges and rough shoving matches. It was both thrilling and terrifying. The angst in the music - much of which was Clash classics - only intensified the atmosphere. I was living the Clash vibe twenty years after London Calling first emerged. The other times I saw Strummer he was in support roles for Paul Weller and The Who, and both times delivered a thumping performance with all the passion that he must have poured into these timeless songs. So many sources don't quote London Calling by accident - it's a must own essential.