"THE CLASH." 48 THRILLS, no. 3, Mar. 1977, pp. 2 pages.
The Clash – White Riot / 1977
— Ecstatic review of The Clash's debut single on CBS, featuring White Riot and 1977, — Praises the drumming of Terry Chimes, analyzes the lyrics of White Riot
— Compares the B-side, 1977, to a Kinks riff and describes its middle section as sounding like "sten guns on black vinyl", 'the single worth the long wait' and builds anticipation for the forthcoming album
48 THRILLS! | 1977 #3
THE CLASH
48 thrills in 48 hours rock'n' roll world
48 THRILLS! Issue number 3
...and the only adverts in this mag are with the fuckin' group!
Issue number 3
Ok, March 1977. 48 Thrills presents No. 3 in a series of who knows how many... There ain't been an issue for a while ’cos I reckon the first few months of 1977 have been pretty stagnant on the new wave front, and there’s been nothing worth writin’ about. But now, things look set to really get going. The bands look ready to really prove themselves on vinyl. There’s a load of great stuff being recorded and released, so there are a lot of record reviews in this ish. Plus some decent bits on Chelsea, The Adverts and The Cortinas. The address of the mag is now...
Hopefully 48 Thrills, c/o Adrian, 6, The Quadrant, Stevenage, Herts....
Anyway for all you know, this might all be a put on. Maybe 48 Thrills is just another IPC gimmick... in a couple of issues’ time I’ll probably print a real sob story on the front page saying that I’m being swallowed up by the ME... oh shit, this is getting really stupid. I’ll just say that all the great photos in this issue are by the legendary Wally Davidson, and get on with some of these very important single reviews. See you issue 4, Adrian.
The Clash – White Riot / 1977 (CBS)
At last! This is the record I’ve been wanting to see for the last seven months, ever since I first saw The Clash. At under 2 minutes White Riot is great. Faster than I’ve ever seen them do it live, with foot stamping and an alarm ringing at the end! And you can tell from the great drumming that it’s Terry Chimes and not the kid that they had at the Roxy when they played there on Jan 1st.
I think that they’ve made this song the A-side because it’s got the heaviest message of any Clash song. The lyrics are short and to the point, no fuckin’ about, just like The Clash’s rock ’n’ roll:
“All the power’s in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it.
While we walk the streets
Too chicken to even try it.”
That’s honesty in lyrics... The reason that no one is changing anything is that everyone is too scared – the punks included. Too chicken to try it.
I suppose when people hear this single, we’re going to get all the same old boring moans that The Clash are “too political, too serious etc.” That really pisses me off. The main reason that The Clash are so good is they are committed so strongly to what they are singing about, and are determined to try and make people listen.
I don’t think the single is as good as seeing The Clash live, but neither was The Sex Pistols’ single and that didn’t stop it from being great.
1977 is different from the live sound too. Sometimes when you hear it live it sounds like pure noise, but on the record it’s built around a Kinks type riff (All Day and All of the Night? I think). It’s slower than White Riot, but I reckon it’s better too. The guitar bit in the middle sounds like machine gun fire in the distance... sten guns on black vinyl.
Anyway, it’s been well worth the wait, and if the album is anything like this, it will be the album of... I dunno. It will be something very special.
48 THRILLS! | 1977 #3