Midnight To Six Man

For the first time from Jamaica
Dillinger and Leroy Smart
Delroy Wilson, your cool operator
Ken Boothe, for UK pop parade
With backing band sound system
If they’ve got anything to say
There’s many black ears here to listen

Joe Strummer’s attendance at a reggae all nighter at Hammersmith Palais led to a set of lyrics for possibly their finest 45. It opens with the line up from the poster above and ends with his disappointment at the pop music on stage, the lack of roots rock and being threatened while hustling for drugs. In between it’s got some of the finest lyrics he ever wrote- white youth and black youth needing a better solution, the new groups in their Burton suits turning rebellion into money, Adolf Hitler, Robin Hood and the ‘British army waiting out there,weighing 1500 tons’.

In 1988 I was given a C90 cassette containing a load of Motown songs, all of which were brilliant. You can probably imagine the tracklisting. Tucked away on side 2 was Ken Boothe’s 1974 number one Everything I Own. I don’t know why the tape-maker stuck it on,a lone reggae song among the Detroit hitmakers, but there it was, a delectable nugget of Lover’s Rock.

In Granada

Joe Strummer fell in love with Granada in Spain, visiting first with girlfriend Palmolive, drummer of the Slits. He returned there often including spending time there in 1984, sheltering from the fall out of sacking Mick Jones and taking The Clash Mk II on the road, when these pictures were taken. He continued to visit for the rest of his life. In May last year he had a square named after him- Plaza de Joe Strummer. He also produced local local punk band 091, who he first heard on a jukebox in a bar. Like Joe’s hi-tops I’m not sure they’ve dated very well.

Complete Control was released 37 years ago yesterday. Complete Control, written to complain about the record company and Bernard Rhodes (who told the band he wanted ‘complete control’, who then pissed themselves laughing). Complete Control vies with (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais and Bankrobber as the greatest non-album single The Clash made. The original version was produced by Lee Scratch Perry and then remixed by Mick Jones.

This live version is one of the most exciting things you will ever see or hear.

‘I don’t trust you, so do you trust me?’
‘You’re my guitar hero’

What Is The Dream? To Live Like They Do In The Movies?

This is Kosmo Vinyl. According to Wikipedia his occupation is ‘talent manager’. He joined The Clash’s team in 1979/80, when Bernie Rhodes stepped back in to manage the band. Kosmo was spokesman, road manager, fixer, mouthpiece and all round aide-de-camp to the Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon as they went about breaking into the USA. He introduced them on stage and is heard on the Live At Shea Stadium album, supporting the Who in 1982. Before working with The Clash he was involved with Ian Dury and The Jam.

Kosmo contributed a vocal performance to the song Red Angel Dragnet, on Combat Rock. Paul Simonon takes the lead vocal on Red Angel Dragnet, speaking/shouting about a trip through New York City at night. Kosmo adds some lines from Taxi Driver, that famous psychotic stuff from Travis Bickle about how ‘some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets’. Paul’s descent into late night madness, over a jerky, funky backing, then goes free association (presumably with input or written wholesale by Strummer), loads of memorable lines about champagne on ice, Alcatraz, woman afraid to walk through the park at night, the Guardian Angels, the dream of living like they do in the movies, hands up for Hollywood, saving the girl, who shot the shot that shot the cop that made him drop? Silly stuff but highly enjoyable. This version is from the Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg bootleg, a rougher mix with organ to the fore, slightly different vocals and ending, and without Glyn Johns’ later FM sheen.

Red Angel Dragnet (Early version)

Kosmo (real name Mark Dunk) married an American and has lived in the States ever since. His current occupation is managing a large New York apartment block. A West Ham United fan in exile, 3474 miles from Upton Park, he spent the 2011/12 football season producing a pop-art influenced collage of the result of every game the Hammers played that season and then posting them on his blog Is Saitch Yer Daddy? He’s been at it ever since. They were exhibited in London last year- something I only found out about a couple of weeks ago while looking for something else on the net. Here are a couple, the first one with my team beating his 1-0 at Old Trafford. No guarantees that will happen this season.

Satta Massagana

Satta Massagana is an old Ethiopian Amharic phrase, which translates straightforwardly as ‘give thanks’ or ‘He gives thanks’ but there seems to be some dispute on various internet pages abut the usage of it with some commenters saying it has negative connotations. When The Abyssinians wrote and recorded this roots reggae classic I would guess they’re using it positively- the song, from 1976, is a beaut with off kilter horns, killer vocal harmonies and a riddim that has been worn to death by others. Magnificent. And also, if you’re interested, Joe Strummer’s favourite reggae song (and he borrowed the phrase Satta Massagana for the end section of Jimmy Jazz, off side one of London Calling).

Satta Massagana

This afternoon we are going to the funeral of our friend JG who died from cancer recently. To give thanks.

Rebel Waltz

Yesterday would have been Joe Strummer’s 62nd birthday- so, happy birthday Joe.

Rebel Waltz is one of many hidden gems on Sandinista, an album I can still listen to and find something new in it. It’s an unusual song, on an album full of unusual songs, being a waltz (5/4 time y’know) over a dub bassline, Strummer’s lyrics inspired by a dream. This cover version by Infantry Rockers is from a dub inspired tribute album to Joe and The Clash. Prince Fatty and Horseman were involved in a lot of the songs on it. I don’t know if they had anything to do with this one, but it is very good and unusual- a reggae waltz.

Rebel Waltz

I slept and I dreamed of a time long ago
I saw an army of rebels, dancing on air
I dreamed as I slept, I could see the campfires,
A song of the battle, that was born in the flames,
and the rebels were waltzing on air

As the smoke of our hopes rose high from the field
My eyes played tricks through the moon and the trees
I slept as I dreamed I saw the army rise
A voice began to call, stand till you fall
The tune was an old rebel one

What Are We Gonna Do Now?

I found this on a music magazine freebie cd recently while looking for something else and thought I’d post it although I know some of you aren’t too fussed about The Clash.

Clampdown must be a contender for ‘best Clash song that wasn’t a single’. It shows off each member’s individual talent and the strength of the band. Joe’s opening couplet about racial stereotyping and the rise of the far right is stunning…

‘Taking off his turban they said ‘Is this man a Jew?’
They put up the posters that say ‘We earn more than you’

And the rest of the words live up to it, three minutes of righteous anger about right wing attitudes, the dignity (or lack of) of work, workplace bullies, the effect getting older has on the firebrand politics of youth…

‘You grow up and you calm down
You start wearing blue and brown’

Every line is echoed by the call and response backing vocals ‘Working for the clampdown’ and then Joe’s conclusion that ‘anger can be power’. References in the fade out to Harrisburg, dictators getting their dues, and Three Mile Island. A protest song then.

The music is similarly striking- powerful opening riff, Paul’s descending bassline, Topper’s bang-on-the-beat drumming, the stop-start dynamics. This is a live version from Lewisham Odeon. Much of this gig seems to have bene recorded and surfaced on bootlegs. It would have made a better full gig live document than the Shea Stadium live album which got an official release a few years ago, which didn’t even have Topper drumming.

Clampdown (Live at the Lewisham Odeon)

Cholo Vest

Joe Strummer’s Earthquake Weather had an excellent single- Island Hopping- as good as any of his solo stuff. The 12″ came with three extra songs including Mango Street, an wonderful extended version of Island Hopping. A second B-side song was this one. Cholo Vest has a really pretty, latinesque melody which is completely at odds with the wilderness years, self loathing lyric.

‘Nobody thinks about you when you’re gone
No kind memories linger on’

Cholo Vest

Rise And Fall

I found this excellent documentary on Youtube over the weekend, The Rise And Fall Of The Clash, directed by Danny Garcia and co-written by Mick’s schoolmate (and subject of Stay Free) Robin Banks. The footage and talking head interviews are fairly standard but within this film lurks some awkward and uncomfortable truths. The title is a bit of a misnomer- it’s about the fall of the band rather than their rise and the aftermath of their gigs at Shea Stadium where they seemed to have cracked the US with a hit lp (Combat Rock) and a pair of singles (Rock The Casbah and Should I Stay Or Should I Go?). The causes of the fall are pretty well known- Topper’s sacking, Joe’s insistence on bringing Bernie Rhodes back as manager, Mick’s timekeeping, the internal and political contradictions of being famous and successful versus being a political band who started out in a squat- but this film has some insightful interviews with some of the main players and bystanders- Mick Jones himself, Pearl Harbour (Paul’s girlfriend at the time), security man Raymond Jordan, Terry Chimes/Tory Crimes, Viv Albertine, Tymon Dogg, Mickey Gallagher and Vic Goddard. The cast are divided about Bernie Rhodes, central to the story and the split- some think he’s an anarchic genius who gave The Clash an edge they needed. Some think he’s an enormous bellend.

The second half of the film is where it becomes less well-known and more compulsive. The story of The Clash Mk2, without the sacked Mick Jones and with three new members- Pete Howard, Nick Shepherd and Greg ‘Vince’ White. The treatment these three got was, to be frank, appalling and how Joe and Paul went along with it is jaw dropping. Vince White deserves some kind of award. Joe and Paul then go onto to record and then leave to Bernie to finish and mix the Cut The Crap album, a record largely expunged from the official histories of the band. Grim, uncomfortable and fascinating stuff. Even if you’ve little interest in The Clash or think you’ve seen enough Clash documentaries, you should set aside ninety minutes for this.

Joe Strummer

Joe Strummer departed eleven years ago today, at the age of fifty. Let’s have a drink to Joe.

Generations

Keys To Your Heart

Before The Clash Joe Strummer played London’s pub rock scene with squatters the 101ers. Joe brought his Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry influences and the kind of intense performance that got Mick, Paul and Bernie Rhodes to ask him to leave and join them. Joe’s style was described as ‘a man scrubbing a Telecaster’ and that chugging rhythm is well evident in this 101ers song, one of their best. When The Clash set out love songs were very much off the agenda, Joe as scornful of anyone about Mick’s lovelorn tunes. But Joe hadn’t been averse to them himself….

Keys To Your Heart

The new Sound System boxed set, shaped like a boom box (or ghetto blaster as we used to call them) has the tape counter on the front stuck at 101, a nice little nod of the head from the Simonon design team.