A triple album from The Clash sounds like a great idea, right ? Well, actually no......
There was a story doing the rounds that the band thought they could meet their contractual obligations to their label for three albums by releasing a triple album ! Whilst the story is almost certainly untrue, it is given some credibility from the amount of dud tracks and apparent padding to fill six sides of vinyl.
That's not to say there isn't some good stuff on Sandinista ( named in tribute to the revolutionary forces in Nicaragua at the time ), and with some serious editing a truely great album could have been released. "The Magnificant Seven", "Charlie Don't Surf", "Hitsville UK", "The Call Up", "Washington Bullets", "Rebel Waltz", "Somebody Got Murdered", "Corner Soul" & "Police on My Back" would all grace any Best Of compilations, and demonstrated their increasing versatility, stretching their range to Rap, Hip Hop, Dub, Pure Pop, Calypso, Gospel and even traditional folk music. However, there is also alot of dross, and after Charlie Don't Surf, the rest of side 5 and all of side 6, except the piano version of Career Opportunities sung by two children, were unlistenable for me at the time.
On the bright side, the LP only cost the price of a single LP so you didn't end up paying more for the indulgent excess, and the run time is nearly two and half hours !
The album starts strongly with two of the better songs on the album. "The Magnificant Seven" with its funky bass line and rap delivery from Joe Strummer, followed by a cute pop song about the UK Music industry in "Hitsville UK", which features guest vocals from Ellen Foley, who previous sang on Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light". The Band went in and hit them dead in 2 minutes 59, although "Hitsville UK" actually last 4 minutes 20 ! Both songs were minor hits in the UK.
Next up is "Junco Partner", which is an uninspriring Reggae cover that drags on far too long. Things improve a little with "Ivan Meets G.I Joe" with a piano influence under a mess of noise and a rare vocal from drummer Topper Headon, and the rockabilly "The Leader" which is about the Sunday newspapers. The final song on Side 1, "Something About England" gets better once Joe Strummer takes over the vocal duties.
The opener on Side 2, "Rebel Waltz" is another highlight of Sandinista, an evocative tender and haunting tale of failure to win a war, which could be anywhere from the US Civil War to Ireland. Unfortuntely the jazz cover "Look Here" is awful and the dub/reggae song "The Crooked Beat" is not much better, the vocal from Paul Simonon is dreadful and it goes on for over 5 minutes ! Fortunately, "Somebody Got Murdered" comes next, a driving rock song that chugs along quite nicely and has a strong melody. The Reggae "One More Time" is just about OK, but the mostly instrumental dub version that immediately follows, whilst harmless, can probably be avoided.
Lightning Strikes ( Not Once But Twice ) begins Side 3 with what appears to a clip from a New York Radio show before launching into the album's second rap song, but it is nowhere near as good as "The Magnificant Seven", and frankly listening to it now I found it boring. Fortunately the next song "Up In Heaven" is a toe-tapper that wouldn't be out of place on London Calling whilst "Corner Soul" is much slower and has Joe Strummer at his most soulful, as perhaps the title indicates, and the female backing vocals are quite nice. "Let's Go Crazy" recreates a carnival sound, presumably in tribute to the Notting Hill Carnival,
"If Music Could Talk" is a chilled, relaxed number, with a lyrical saxophone and the drums to the fore, and the vocal well down in the mix. I quite like it. Side 3 ends wih the Gospel flavoured "Sound Of The Sinners" which is fairly unmemorable.
Side 4 is perhaps the strongest on the album but still has two duff tracks. It begins with a cover of The Equals' "Police On My Back", which was written by Eddy Grant. It's given an urgent, up-tempo rock treatment with thrashing guitars, thumping drumming and sing-along chants. The rockabilly vibe returns on "Midnight Log", a song I had completely forgotten, and frankly it was no loss. But "The Equalizer" is interesting ( in a positive way ), with a violin over a long dub beat intro before a slow melody is introduced.
"The Call-Up" has a military marching beat and was another minor hit from the album and "Washington Bullets" is another major highlight of Sandinista, featuring probably the most biting lyrics, a jaunty calypso beat and a memorable refrain in "Sandinista !". The side ends with "Broadway" which is a vague jazz mess which I just wanted to quickly finish. It ends with a young girl badly singing "Guns of Brixton" over a lively piano, and ends with the girl saying "That's enough now", and I couldn't agree more !
Side 5 starts with "Lose This Skin", written and sung by Tymon Dogg, who also plays violin. He has an unusual voice, but with it sounding almost like a lively old fashion English folk song it adds to the variety of the album. "Charlie Don't Surf" is a fine song, with a slow build-up to one of the best tunes on show here, whilst lyrically being about the Vietnam War.
And that is essentially where the music ends with the remaining tracks remaining a messy mixture of dub versions of other songs or outakes that might be expected to feature as b-side fillers or on compliations of rare recordings. None of them could be expected to feature that often ( or at all ) in live set performances. They don't get any better 30 years later.
Track Listing :
Side 1
1. The Magnificant Seven
2. Hitsville UK
3. Junco Partner
4. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
5. The Leader
6. Something About England
Side 2
1. Rebel Waltz
2. Look Here
3. The Crooked Beat
4. Sombody Got Murdered
5. One More Time
6. One More Dub
Side 3
1. Lightning Strikes ( Not Once But Twice )
2. Up In Heaven ( Not Only Here )
3. Corner Soul
4. Let's Go Crazy
5. If Music Could Talk
6. The Sound Of Sinners
Side 4
1. Police On My Back
2. Midnight Log
3. The Equalizer
4. The Call Up
5. Washington Bullets
6. Broadway
Side 5
1. Lose This Skin
2. Charlie Don't Surf
3. Mensforth Hill
4. Junkie Slip
5. Kingston Advice
6. The Street Parade
Side 6
1. Version City
2. Living in Fame
3. Silicone on Sapphire
4. Version Pardner
5. Career Opportunities
6. Shepherds Delight
Released 1980
UK Chart Position : 19
Singles :
The Call Up ( No 40 1980 )
Hitsville UK ( No 56 1981 )
The Magnificant Seven ( No 34 1981 )
