You know it's weird: I could swear that I had posted this. I even recall having conversations with you guys about my reactions to it. Yet when I redid the index yesterday it wasn't there. I can see I wrote the review, so thought it seems really odd to me to be doing this, unless it disappeared somehow for some reason, it doesn't seem to have been posted so, you know, here it is.
Title: London Calling
Artiste: The Clash
Year: 1979
Chronological position: Third album
Previous experience of this artiste?: A few singles really
My thoughts
One minute (or thereabouts in) ---- Good, great, bad, meh, still waiting or other? Great
One track in --- Great
Halfway through --- Good
Finished --- Meh
Comments: Oh man, here I go, choosing another double album! Still, it's hailed as the true classic in the Clash's discography, and it was either this or
Combat Rock, maybe
Sandinista! so I'm going to stick with this. I of course know the title track but that's about it. So what of the rest? Well initially this doesn't come across to me as having too much of the punk in it at all, more rock-and-roll and rockabilly really. Can't say I love it now to be honest. "Rudie can't fail" sounds a little too like "I fought the law", but it's quite catchy with its sort of calypso rhythm.
More Springsteen-like is "Spanish bombs"; got a lot more of the anger I expect from the Clash, while "Lost in the supermarket" is almost Deacon Blue long before they were even heard of, or maybe Prefab Sprout. "Clampdown"'s good too and "The guns of Brixton" is angry reggae with elements of ska, I think. And that's halfway through.
It's interesting how many different genres are here, from ska and reggae to rockabilly and rock, all sort of viewed through a lens of punk though I wouldn't call it punk really. A lot of the rock here sounds very similar to Springsteen to me, not sure if they'd be happy to be compared to the Boss.
Favourite track(s): "London calling, Brand new Cadillac, Spanish bombs, Lost in the supermarket, The card cheat, Train in vain"
Least favourite track(s): Nothing really stands out as "bad", but I'm not mad about most of the reggae or ska-influenced songs.
Final impression --- Not as hard or angry as I expected, a big surprise with a lot of different genres, but not an album I think I'd be listening to again.
Do I feel, at the end, A) I wish I had listened to this sooner
B) I'm sorry I bothered
C) I might end up liking this
D) Have to wait and see
E) Bit underwhelmed; was ok but a classic?
F) Definitely enjoyed it, but again would I consider it a classic?
Sorry guys but it's an E for me on this one, to my own surprise as much as anyone else's!
