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 )