The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope

I was probably in a minority in thinking that "Give 'Em Enough Rope" was a better album that the first album by The Clash. Producer Sandy Pearlman received a lot of criticism for smoothing some of the raw edges and placing Joe Strummer's vocals lower in the mix so that a lot of the trademark anger and energy were reduced. Personally I thought it made for a better album to listen to, also helped by there being fewer songs so less dross had make onto the track listing. Unfortunately, "White Man At The Hammersmith Palais", which was recorded during the same sessions and is perhaps my favourite Clash song of all time, was not included on the album as it has already been released as a single.

At the time I thought Side One was particularly strong, with the first three tracks retaining alot of the expected rawness before the jaunty, melodic "Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad" featuring, shock, horror, a piano ! However, the only song on Side Two that I really remembered was "Stay Free".

The opener "Safe European Home" is the best song on display here, starting with frantic guitars and a furious vocal, ending with ska beat and almost rap outro before the guitars and drums come crashing back in and then suddenly stop. Rush must have listened to this when recording "Spirit of Radio". Although The Clash were one of the major proponents in popularising reggae/ska in the late 70's leading to the emergence of The Specials, The Selector,  and various Two-Tone bands, the song describes the dangers they experienced during a visit to Jamaica, in a not too dissimilar fashion to 10CC's "Dreadlock Holiday". "I went to a place where every white face is an invitation to robbery". For all their willingness to be soulmates and brothers, The Clash decide they are safer off back home. I'm not sure what the reaction would be if it was written today !

Back home though they have the "English Civil War" to look forward to ! The song is a furious, punk reworking of the American Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Home" updated for England in the 1970s. "Tommy Gun" follows musically in a similar vein but deals with terrorism and hi-jacking of aircraft.

"Last Gang In Town" is a lively top-tapper at the same pace as "English Civil War" and "Tommy Gun" although with a slight hint of melancoly in the chorus and there is a yearning guitar solo.

Side Two rarely hits the same heights, with "Stay Free" still the highlight. A tender tale of Mick Jones looking back on his relationship with a schoolmate who has been jailed for an attempted bank robbery.

"Drug-Stabbing Time" is a routine roll and rock song and features some saxophone. "Cheapskates" is OK but "Guns On The Roof" is fairly forgettable.

The closer "All The Young Punks ( New Boots And Contracts )" is reminisent of "Last Gang In Town", and there is a lovely guitar solo. Its a decent end to the record.

40 years on and "Give 'Em Enough Rope" has aged a lot better than "The Clash".

Track Listing :

1. Safe European Home
2. English Civil War
3. Tommy Gun
4. Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
5. The Last Gang In Town
6. Guns On The Roof
7. Drug Stabbing Time
8. Stay Free
9. Cheapskates
10 All The Young Punks ( New Boots And Contracts )

Released 1978
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Tommy Gun ( No 19 1978 )
English Civil War ( No 25 1978 )

 

The Clash - The Clash

 

I must confess I was never originally that much into The Clash, preferring punk bands such as The Jam, The Stranglers and The Sex Pistols amongst others. Actually, it wasn't until the release of "London Calling", their third album, that I started to like their songs, and after a concert at the Crawley Leisure Centre in January 1980, during which there were a few songs I didn't recognise, that I thought were quite good, I decided to buy the first two albums to see what I was missing out on !

Even then I still didn't really like the first album that much despite all the critical acclaim it had received, although I thought "Career Opportunities" and "Police and Thieves" were tremendous songs and over time I had come to like "Janie Jones", "White Riot and London's Burning". The rest though remained just noise.

On replay the overwhelming impression is how dated the production and sound mix are, and in places there is some poor musicianship and dodgy vocals, probably underlining how quickly the album was made. In parts it sounds like a demo recording. The albums has received many accolades, in particular in the 1990s the NME adjusted this to be the 3rd best album of the 1970s, and 13th best album of all time. I don't think it would be rated so highly now.

However, that is not to say it is not a worthwhile album as there is some good stuff here.  The punk reggae of "Police & Thieves" remains the outstanding track with its lockjaw guitar riff instead of keyboards and Joe Strummer's growl in stark contrast to the falsetto singing of Junior Murvin in the original version. Although the critics tended to emphasize the bass lines I much prefer the tender guitar solo which along with "Garageland" suggested the band can play. Most songs on the album come in at around the 2 minute mark, but "Police and Thieves" is over 6 minutes.

"Garageland" was a song I had forgotten about, and is probably the most mature of the self-penned tracks on "The Clash", and hints at the direction of "Give 'Em Enough Rope". Indeed I had to do a double take to check it wasn't on that album ! Perhaps I had confused it for "The Last Gang In Town"

I still love "Career Opportunities", especially the line "the ones that never knock", and the fact that a version of it appears on "Sandinista" sung by two young children accompanied by just a piano is an indication of how strong the melody is.

I still like the urgent drumming, bass line and vocals for the chorus and the ending of "Janie Jones" and the line "He's got a Ford Contina that just won't run without fuel, fill her up Jacko !" is marvellous.

The choppy guitar of "London's Burning" is still a toe-tapper whilst the raw anger of "White Riot" is still impressive, even if the playing now sounds awful.

Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiments of "I'm So Bored With The USA" it's a pretty ordinary song, although I do like the lyric "Yankee detectives are always on the TV as killers in America work seven days a week"

The weaker songs include all of those where Mick Jones takes the lead vocals. "Remote Control" could be decent in the hands of a better singer, but it is saved here by the guitar solo, "Hate and War" is forgettable and "Protex Blue" has an OK chorus hook but is otherwise pretty uninteresting 

"What's My Name" has a Buzzcocks type hook otherwise it is just noise while the guitar solo in "Cheat" sounds like it belongs in another song. "48 Hours" is another song that has listenable chorus hook but the rest is dull.

"Deny", "Cheat", "48 Hours" & "Protex Blue" were not included when the album was finally released in the USA two years later, being replaced by several non-album UK single releases. This is maybe a little harsh on "Deny" which maybe is the best of the rest.

One other footnote : drummer Terry Chimes left the band before the album was released in 1977 and is listed on the sleeve as Tory Crimes, which is a nice play on words, but Labour were in Government at the time of its release and were just as much to blame ( if not more ) for the political, economic and social issues at the time.......

Track Listing :

1. Janie Jones
2. Remote Control
3. I'm So Bored With The USA
4. White Riot
5. Hate and War
6. What's My Name
7. Deny
8. London's Burning
9. Career Opportunities
10 Cheat
11. Protex Blue
12. Police and Thieves
13. 48 Hours
14. Garageland

Released 1977
UK Chart Position : 12

Singles :

White Riot ( No 38 1977 )
Remote Control ( No 51 1977 )

The Cars - Candy O

I never really thought of The Cars as "new wave" but rather, just a good pop band taking from the popular trends. I felt they wanted to be a band on the radio or TV rather than a band than wanted to change the world, or make big statements.

I liked their early singles "Best Friend's Girl", "Just What I Needed", "Good Times Roll" but never got around to buying the first album. However, when Candy-O, the second album came out I bought it shortly after its release. I presume it might have been on special offer ?

At the time I thought it was a bit dull but thought most of the songs on side one were quite good. I don't think I liked side 2 much though. However, having played again it was alot more interesting than I remember.

The first song, "Let's Go", is the best on the album and for a while was their biggest hit in the US. There's nice guitar and bass riffs and handclaps on the chorus. Upbeat and with a catchy, infectous chorus "I like the nightlife Baby, she says, let's go".

The verse of "Since I Held You" is a bit like "Best Friend's Girl" but without the bass riff but it is quite a pretty song. "It's All I Can Do" has a slower beat, a pretty synthizer line and a catchy chorus. The vocal is pretty good too.

"Double Life" is quite hypnotic with a slow bass intro. There is a hint of Kraftwek in this song, and I also like the backing vocals, and guitar line of the outro fade. It's the best song after "Let's Go".

I think the word to describe "Shoo Be Doo" is experimental. I suppose the electro synth is supposed to be scary, but its not a very good track. It leads into the electro pop of "Candy O" where the vocals sounds to me a lot like David Bowie in his Heroes/Lodger period. There is also a sudden end to the song and side 1.

"Night Spots" opens side 2 and with its repetitive keyboard riff could be by Devo and "You Can't Hold On Too Long" is another song that sounds like David Bowie but with early Talking Heads guitar.

"Lust For Kicks" is probably the best song on side 2 with a tinny synthizer riff, something that might have figured on an early OMD song. The chorus again hints at "Best Friend's Girl". I like it.

"Got A Lot On My Head" is early Blondie meets Sex Pistols meets Gary Numan. Its not as bad as that sounds !

"Dangerous Type" is a magpie of a song with a T-Rex guitar riff intro ( think Get It On ) with Devo style synthizer.

Overall, The Cars have taken a lot different styles and blended them together. The result doesn't sound too deriative, and there are some good moments on this album. It was much better than I thought it was.

Track Listing :

1. Let's Go
2. Since I Held You
3. It's All I Can Do
4. Double Life
5. Shoo Be Doo
6. Candy O
7. Night Spots
8. You Can't Hold On Too Long
9. Lust For Kicks
10.Got A Lot On My Head
11. Dangerous Type


Released 1979
UK Chart Position : 30

Singles :

Let's Go ( No 59 1979 )
It's All I Can Do ( - 1979 )
Double Life ( - 1979 )

Cactus World News - Urban Beaches

I think I stumbled across Cactus World News on a late night music TV programme, possibly the Old Grey Whistle Test, although I can't be sure. I was though immediately taken by the songs I heard, of which "Worlds Apart" was one of them and I found myself frequently humming it days, weeks later. The only thing I new about them was that they came from Ireland although I didn't know which part of Ireland.

When I acquired Urban Beaches I was impressed. It was an album full of swirling guitars, driving bass, thumping drums and passionate vocals. Some great tunes too. At the time I was not very similar with U2's early work apart for a couple of singles, with "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree" being their content in my record collection around that time. As a result I wasn't aware of the similarity of guitar playing styles, and I might have figured that Cactus World News were from Dublin.

The full album of Urban Beaches has not been uploaded onto YouTube so in order to listen to I had to find each track individually.

The opener "Worlds Apart" remains the highlight, with early U2 style driving bass, urgent guitars and a pleading, emotional vocal with the anthemic chorus "Worlds apart, worlds apart, closer than I've ever been to you". A stunning song, and still good to sing along to.

"Years Later" is the other truly great track here, with more rising fervant vocals, another great riff and anthem like chours.  "Closing the door on the door on the past now its gone, closing the door on the on the past now its disappeared with the time" and "things will never be the same again, well five years on so much has gone close to ruin". Towards the end the pace disappears, some lines are spoken before guitars come exploding back to finish.

The final single from the LP was "The Bridge", which has a toe-tapping beat, another rising chorus, and more U2 style guitar playing.

Elsewhere on the album, "In A Whirlpool" is a mid-temp song with bounding drums, and just the bass playing the middle break. The stacatto guitar riff at times hints at the reggae riff from "Safe European Home" by The Clash, but without sounding like reggae !

The lenghty closing number "Maybe This Time" has a significant change of pace to virtually all of the rest of the album and the quiet instrumental outro is quite beautiful, whilst "Church Of The Cold" has a guitar riff suitable for a 70s spy/fi adventrue series such as The Persuaders or Department S.


"State of Emergency" closes side one and has a menacing, slightly haunting intro with a spaghetti western/spanish feel to the guitar. It goes on too long though, aiming to be a masterpiece but it doesn't quite deliver. "Promise" starts with a slow tempo acoustic intro, has a rising chorus, then swirling guitars before an almost spoken ending. "Jigsaw Street" is unmemorable.

"Pilots of Beka" starts with a blowing wind intro, then acoustic guitar and bass before more The Edge guitar playing. I have no idea what they are singing about and it is perhaps the weakest melody here. The guitar is nice though.

On replaying it hasn't quite stood the test of time, I would no longer rate this as a great album, but it is still overall in the good category, with a couple of stand-out moments. However, if you like early U2 then you will love Urban Beaches.

Track Listing :

1. Worlds Apart
2. In A Whirlpool
3. Promise
4. The Bridge
5. State of Emergency
6. Years Later
7. Church Of The Cold
8. Pilots of Beka
9. Jigsaw Street
10.Maybe This Time


Released 1986
UK Chart Position : 56

Singles :

Years Later ( No 59 - 1986 )
Worlds Apart ( No 58 - 1986 )
The Bridge ( No 74 - 1986 )

Buzzocks - Love Bites

Buzzocks were Manchester's initial contribution to the UK Punk Rock scene, combining pop melodies with the high rapid punk energy singing mostly love songs. Singer and lyricist Pete Shelley was Punk's romantic poet.

I had already gone out and bought two of their early singles, "What Do I Get ?" and "I Don't Mind" and was expecting plenty more classics like them when I bought this, their second LP. However, I remember being disappointed with the album, and after the initial burst of enthusiasm trying to like it, Love Bites was quickly despatched to near the bottom of my pile of records.

It does contain their biggest ever hit, with "Ever Fallen In Love ( With Someone You Shouldn't've )" reaching number 12. Eight years later, the Fine Young Cannibals cover made the UK Top 10. It is possibly unique in having a word with two apostrophes in the title !

From the rest of the songs, before playing again I tcould only recall two, "Sixteen Again" & "Love Is Lies", and although "Late For The Train" is an instrumental I couldn't exactly say how it goes. I also remember thinking side one was better than side two of the LP.

The album starts well with "Real World".  Choppy guitars and a long intro slowly build to the introduction of the distinctive buzz guitars. There is a catchy chorus and a punk guitar solo. It's followed by "Ever Fallen In Love", perhaps now their signature song.

"Sixteen Again" closes side one and sticks to the classic Buzzcocks formula. This could have been the second single from the album.

In between these "Operator's Manual" borrows the guitar riff and vocals style from Jilted John, "Nostalgia" is forgettable noise and "Just Lust" lacks a decent tune and the vocal delivery is annoying.

It goes downhill with side two which opens and closes with instrumentals. "Walking Distance" has some similarities with The Motors "Dancing The Night Away" whilst "Late For the Train" has a false ending before the train like beat of the drums and guitar come back, but unlike, say, The Cure's "Another Journey By Train", this is pretty forgettable.

"Nothing Left" is reasonable but the "at all, at all" chorus is annoying and "E.S.P" has an hypnotic guitar riff but little else to recommend it

"Love Is Lies" is a real oddity compared to everything else around it. Sung by Steve Diggle it's an acoustic ballard which could have been released by any of the MOR acts of the mid-70s ! Its as far from punk as imaginable and I remember it being panned by the music critics at the time. Had it been recorded by Smokie or Kiki Dee I expect the reception would have been fine.

Buzzocks have a bit of a reputation as being a singles band, and with an album like Love Bites that is understandable. An occasional classic surrounded by forgettable dross.

However, as Mark Lamarr observed, without them the long running TV show could have been called "Never Mind Joan Armatrading". And there is no "The" in the name of the band.........


Track Listing :

1. Real World
2. Ever Fallen In Love ( With Someone You Shouldn't've )
3. Operator's Manual
4. Nostalgia
5. Just Lust
6. Sixteen Again
7. Walking Distance
8. Love Is Lies
9. Nothing Left
10.E.S.P
11. Late For The Train


Released 1978
UK Chart Position : 13

Singles :

Ever Fallen In Love ( With Someone You Shouldn't've ) ( No 12 - 1978 )

Kate Bush - The Whole Story

I had always liked Kate Bush but never enough to buy a complete LP of material so I was part of the target market for the Greatest Hits upto 1986 album. I was never fond of the early promotion of Kate Bush and the emphasise on her dance performances and exaggerated wierdness, which also led to a few parodies by comedians of the time. I wished they had just comcentrated on the music.

There are several outstanding songs here. I've always thought "The Hounds Of Love", "Running Up That Hill" and "Army Dreamers" to be amongst some of the most innovative and original songs ever written. The cover of "The Hounds Of Love" by post punk band the Futureheads achieves almost the impossible by being even more innovative !

There is also, of course,"Wuthering Heights", which here has a new vocal, less screechy than the original...... After all, who hasn't murdered "Wuthering Heights" at a Karaoke after a few beers too many ? Probably just me then !

Unfortunately this compliation was released three years before the beautiful "This Women's Work", which is another highlight in the Kate Bush discography, so it's obviously not included. However, "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" and "Breathing" are in a not too disimilar vane. "Babooshka" is perhaps the most straightforward song, but it is great nonetheless.

Even with the songs I don't particularly like, such as "Cloudbursting" and "Wow" and  I can still recognise the uniqueness of the writing, pushing musical boundaries into to new and uncharted areas.

The less good "The Dreaming" is intentionally similar to "Sun Arise" and I believe Rolf Harris actually played on the recording. I've always though "Sat In Your Lap" and "Experiment IV" to be dross though..........

Track Listing :

1. Wurthering Heights ( 1977 - No 1 )
2. Cloudbusting ( 1985 - No 20 )
3. The Man With The Child In His Eyes ( 1978 - No : 6 )
4. Breathing ( 1980 - No 16 )
5. Wow ( 1979 - No : 4 )
6. The Hounds Of Love ( 1985 - No : 18 )
7. Running Up That Hill ( 1985 - No : 3 )
8. Army Dreamers ( 1980 - No 16  )
9. Sat In Your Lap ( 1981 - No 11 )
10. Experiment IV ( 1986 - No 23  )
11. The Dreaming ( 1982 - No 48 )
12. Babooshka ( 1980 - No 5 )


Released : 1986
UK Chart Position : 1

Jackson Browne - Running On Empty

Running on Empty is a concept album themed around the loneliness and frustrations of the tiring life on the road offset by the joys of playing to an audience and making them happy. It is a sort of live album in that the songs were recorded live on stage, or at a variety of locations associated with touring such as rehersal rooms, hotel rooms, the tour bus etc. All songs were previously unreleased by Jackson Browne.

I'm not sure why I bought this album. I had never previously heard any of Jackson Browne's music although I knew he co-wrote "Take It Easy" with Glen Frey, and was aware of "The Pretender" being a big hit in the US, although I wasn't aware of actually having heard it. When Running on Empty was released it received a critical review in the music paper I was reading at the time ( can't remember which one ) although that may have been because the music wasn't new wave/punk rock ! It was also criticised for being Browne's blandest album to date, but maybe co-incidently it was also his most commercially successful.

I may have heard the title track on Nicky Horne's late night radio show on Capital Radio, and around this time I had acquired The Eagles' "Greatest Hits" and "Hotel California" albums so was maybe looking for something similar. I probably saw it in the record shop and took a chance.

I must admit I remember playing this album a lot in the late 1970s but it then fell out of vogue and I haven't heard any of this for a very long time. Before playing again, there are only 4 songs I could confidently say how they go..............


Side one starts with a live performance of "Running On Empty", a song in a similar tempo to "Take It Easy" although piano driven and there is a nice slide guitar break. It was Browne's second biggest hit in the US although it didn't make top 100 in the UK. It is one of the better songs on the album and the obvious choice to be a single.

The beginning of the "The Road" was recorded in a hotel room, with the end section recorded live on stage. It is a slow melancholic lament reminiscent of The Eagles "Despardo" and the fiddle playing gives the song a slight Irish feel.

"Rosie" is another slow lament recorded in a rehersal room, being mostly just voice and piano.

"You Love The Thunder" was recorded live on stage and was a single in the US although not in the UK. It's an inferior version of "Running on Empty".

"Cocaine" was recorded in a hotel room and was previously my least favourite song on the LP. It's not to be confused with the JJ Cale song of the same name made famous by Eric Clapton. This version is is another slow song on the album but here in a country and western style with a Blues feel and dominated by the fiddle. The acoustic guitar solo sounds like it was played by a 7 year old, and the there is some unnecessary chat at the end of the song which is probably intended to be deep and meaningful, but instead is just trite. That said, the song sounded better than I remembered !

Side two opens with a live recording of the slow/mid tempo "Shaky Town", one of nicest tunes on the LP and with more nice piano and slide guitar.

"Love Needs A Heart" is another song recorded live. It's a slow, tender piano ballard co written with Lowell George of Little Feet and Valerie Carter ( the inspriation for the Stevie Winwood song Valerie, which is not the song of the same name by The Zutons and made famous by Amy Winehouse ! )

"Nothing But Time" was recorded on the tour bus and the change of gear and accleration can be heard in the instrumental bridge in the middle of the song. It's not a great song though, something that Ry Cooder might have discarded, and for me its the low point of the album.

The last two songs were recorded live with one leading into the other. "The Load Out" is another nice slow piano song in the "Despardo" style with another slide guitar solo

"Stay"was originally famous for being the shortest ever chart single when released by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs in the US in the 1960s, and was covered by The Hollies in the UK. Here it has been changed from being a song about a guy trying to persuade his date to stay out later than the time she promised her father she would be home by to a song about playing an encore, "the promoter don't mind and the Unions don't mind...........the roadies don't mind, .". The song is played much slower than the earlier versions and reaches a respectable three minutes by having an extra verse and padded out by an extended instrumental outro. It is notable for the three verses being sung in ascending ranges, culminating with the falsetto of fiddle player David Lindley. It remains Browne's only UK Top 50 success, the irony being that such a renowed song writer's on UK hit was a cover of someone else's song.

I really enjoyed listening to this album for the first time in over 30 years, a collection of fine songs with only a couple of ordinary moments.

Track Listing :

1. Running On Empty
2. The Road
3. Rosie
4. You Love The Thunder
5. Cocaine
6. Shaky Town
7. Love Needs A Heart
8. Nothing But Time
9. The Load Out
10.Stay


Released 1977
UK Chart Position :-

Singles :

Running On Empty Rebel ( No - 1978 )
Stay ( No 12 - 1978 )

Bronco - Smoking Mixture

I can't remember who it was but there was one DJ in the mid 1970s who would occasionally play "Steal That Gold" on his radio show. I really liked the song, but knew nothing about Bronco, nor heard anything else by them, nor ever saw anything in my local record shops. Several years later whilst browsing through the bargin bins I happened to come across this, and I paid something like 50 pence for the LP.

Unfortunately, at the time I thought "Steal That Gold" was the only memorable track so the album only got played a few times, and usually just to play the one song. I was still none the wiser on the band though, although I could see that Clifford T. Ward, who had a couple of minor hits, co-wrote three of the songs on the LP.

"Steal That Gold" is an uptempo Country Rock song with an urgent finger picked acoustic guitar riff, and a great guitar solo. There's also a little bit of harmonica to give a vision of a stream train and a sing-a-long chorus. It's over eight minutes long and would be ideal as part of the sound track for a 70s Western adventure movie caper. It's also the one example on Smoking Mixture where the length of the song seems appropriate. At the time of playing it had just 853 hits on YouTube, and that is easily the most of any of the tracks on the LP !

A look at the song titles let's you know that Bronco desparetly want to sound like Americans. "Tennessee Saturday Night" and "BlueBerry Pie" might be described as unlistenable Southern Boogie."Southbound State Express" sounds like early period The Eagles though lyrically the inspiration is "Midnight Train To Georgia". It is one of the better moments on Smoking Mixture.
 
"Tell Me Why" sounds a bit like Carole King's "You Make Me Feel" crossed with Neil Young at his most over indulgent and goes on for nearly seven minutes. With some serious editing it may have been a reasonable three minute song. It's not to be confused with the Neil Young song of the same name.

"Attraction" is one of songs co-written by Clifford T. Ward and is a tender acoustic love song but spoilt by the backing strings. It's over five minutes in length and another example of where discipline and editing may have made a better piece of music.


"Turkey In The Straw" is derivative country music, even down to the banjo playing and "Zonker" has some honky-tonk piano and a nice guitar solo but it's an average song, although there is a hint of Guns N' Roses "Paradise City" to the melody.

"Strange Awakening" has some nice brass which might have come from Curtis Mayfield but the lengthy guitar solo comes from one of the many unforgetable bands that Bob Harris would have drooled over during The Old Grey Whistle Test in the early 70s. Again, its over 7 minutes long when three would have been more than sufficient.

In summary this is not a very good album. It has one tremendous song, a couple of ordinary moments but I found most of it to be unlistenable or instantly forgettable. Over 35 years after its release it sounds as if Bronco were playing for themselves not for the audience, unless that is what people wanted to hear in the early 1970s. Judging by the lack of sales and public acclaim, they probably didn't !

Track Listing :

1. Steal That Gold
2. Tennessee Saturday Night
3. Tell Me Why
4. Attraction

5. Southband State Express
6. Turkey In The Straw
7. Zonker
8. Blueberry Pie
9.Strange Awakening


Released 1973
UK Chart Position : -