Deep Album Cuts Vol. 288: The Clash
I've listened to a lot of The Clash this year, particularly while I was writing my Spin pieces ranking the band's albums and highlighting Joe Strummer's solo work.
The Clash deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Career Opportunities
The Clash deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Career Opportunities
2. Janie Jones
3. I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.
4. Garageland
5. Safe European Home
6. Stay Free
7. Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
8. All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)
9. Lost In The Supermarket
10. Brand New Cadillac
11. Spanish Bombs
12. Death Or Glory
13. The Guns Of Brixton
14. Charlie Don't Surf
15. The Leader
16. Somebody Got Murdered
17. Corner Soul
18. Kingston Advice
19. Overpowered By Funk
20. Ghetto Defendant
21. Car Jamming
22. Inoculated City
23. Movers And Shakers
24. Play To Win
Tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 from The Clash (1977)
Tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 from The Clash (1977)
Tracks 5, 6, 7 and 8 from Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978)
Tracks 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 from London Calling (1979)
Tracks 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 from Sandinista! (1980)
Tracks 19, 20, 21 and 22 from Combat Rock (1982)
Tracks 23 and 24 from Cut The Crap (1985)
As with any act with a few classic albums, it feels a bit silly to call a lot of these songs "deep cuts," but The Clash were a singles act, particularly in the UK. And "Janie Jones," "Lost In The Supermarket," "Career Opportunities," and "The Guns of Brixton," classic as they are, were never singles. It's funny to think that the London Calling cover is as classic as the Elvis Presley cover it's referencing, in a way it's overshadowed its inspiration at this point.
It was fun to swim around in the sprawl of London Calling and Sandinista! and find songs that worked out of the context of the albums. I'm partial to Mick Jones's melodies so there's definitely quite a lot of his lead vocals on the playlist. Cut The Crap is one of those rare albums that's like a couple brackets below every other record by the band, I can't imagine how disappointing it must have felt at the time to watch the band splinter and sputter out. But if you have to listen to anything from that record, I'd go with "Movers And Shakers."
Ellen Foley sings backup on "Car Jamming" and "Corner Soul," and she's had a pretty interesting career. Foley appeared on Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Life," and then dated Mick Jones and was backed by The Clash on one of her solo albums, 1981's pretty good The Spirit of St. Louis. Then she moved toward acting and starred in the second season of "Night Court" (in the public defender role that was later occupied by Markie Post). It's funny to think that Jones wrote "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" about the woman who asked Meat Loaf "what's it gonna be, boy, yes or no?"
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