"THE CLASH (CBS)." 48 THRILLS, no. 4, May 1977, pp. 7 pages.
The Clash (CBS)
— Extensive review of The Clash's self-titled debut album, entering the charts at number 12, an 'essential record' that will show up inferior punk and new wave cash-ins
— Notes flaws like the low mixing of Joe Strummer's rhythm guitar but praises the songs' strength
— Includes a live review from the White Riot Tour stop at Guildford Civic Hall on 1st May 1977
— Includes review of NME free 7" single, Capital Radio
— History of 48 Thrills
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48 Thrills | 1977 #4
48 Thrills | 1977 #4
The Clash (CBS)
The Clash LP entering at number 12 a couple of weeks ago must be the best thing that’s happened to the boring album chart for a very long time. Even people who would have cynically dismissed them last year must be listening. And when a new group’s debut album goes into the chart like that then people have got to take notice.
In the next few months there is going to be a load of shitty records put out under the punk/new-wave tag. Some of them are already on release. At least we’ve got one album that’s gonna show up all that crap for what it is.
And this is the album, right from Terry Chimes’ meaty drum intro to Janie Jones thru’ to the football chorus end of Garageland.
Of course there are flaws, particularly in the mixing of Joe Strummer’s rhythm guitar, which is far too low for my liking. Mickey Foote’s production, though, is much better than on the single. But The Clash could make it on the songs alone.
Janie Jones will be the next single (B-side is Cheat, the album’s version). This was announced just a few days before the tart came out of prison last week! Mick Jones’ lyrics for the song are about the bored office executive sitting in his office reading The Sun and thinking about Janie Jones. You get the feeling, though, that he’s so stuck in his humdrum life that he’s never going to let the boss know how he feels about his oppressive job. That’s the sort of realism that’s typical of the lyrics throughout the album. It lacks some of the attack they give it on stage, but it’s bouncy enough to be a hit single.
It was the uncompromising attitude/behavior of The Sex Pistols that brought about the massacre of last December’s Anarchy Tour, but the censorship affected The Clash too (they were bottom of the bill on that tour) and it’s from that that Remote Control was written. This attack on the preservers of good English morals was first performed at the Roxy gig on Jan 1st. Like Hate and War, which appeared at about the same time, the lead vocals are shared between Mick Jones and Joe Strummer.
I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.: This song, which used to be “I’m So Bored With You”, seems to have gone through more word changes than any other on the album. I can remember verses about baseball shirts and boring West Coast hippies.
On the album, the song has real attack musically and sounds almost live, as does White Riot with a wild Mick Jones solo. The reggae influence is strong on Hate and War, which is based on a rock steady rhythm. Not every track needs to be at Westway speed and this track proves it.
What’s My Name is the track which you either love or hate. Keith Levene, who was the group’s third guitarist for their first four gigs, helped write the music, and gets a credit. There are some great drum rolls, nice rumbling bass, crazy guitar and 100 seconds dead of headbangin’.
48 Thrills | 1977 #4
The Clash (CBS) (continued)
Deny drags on a bit in comparison with some of the tighter tracks on the album, but the final one on the first side, London’s Burning has never been anything but a classic. Enough’s been said about it already though. I remember a bunch of hostile Teds heckling and bombarding The Clash during the first ever performance of Career Opportunities. (Last October when they were supporting Shakin’ Stevens at some college gig.) Now they’ve got the chance to listen again as Joe Strummer mocks the “Do you wanna be” of the careers officer.
The phasing on Cheat is a worthwhile experiment, but apart from the great “rules for the fools” verse the song is probably the weakest on the album. Protex Blue is the only song on which Mick Jones is on lead vocal throughout. It’s a nifty little tune, but whatever happened to the coarse, mangled rhythm guitar?
I didn’t expect The Clash merely to lay down their established live set for their debut album, as some groups have done. But I never expected something as ambitious as what they’ve done to Police and Thieves. The smoothness of Junior Murvin’s original is replaced by the toughness of The Clash. I wouldn’t call it anything as stupid as “white reggae” – it’s a hard, rocky version. Something very different from the original, but every bit as good in its own way.
“They’re going through a tight wind!” screams Joe Strummer at the start. The opening chords are the same as Blitzkrieg Bop! Mick Jones’ solo is simple yet wonderfully vital, although his backing vocals (the “oh yeah” bit) sound fragile.
48 Hours (strange coincidence!) contains (I think) the only Joe Strummer solo on the album, plus the great line “Monday’s coming like a jail on wheels.” At the recent Harlesden gig he went crazy playing that solo, moving up to the edge of the stage, his mouth gaping wide open.
But if there’s one damn song that can make you break down and cry on the record it’s got to be Garageland. It’s so much more than just a reply to Charles Shaar Murray’s review of their gig last summer at the Screen on the Green. This is The Clash saying that they are still basically the group that they were when they formed a year ago. It’s also a bitter put-down of the “punk scene”. The “scene” that used to exist at the Roxy club, company sharks who are exploiting some bands that are nowhere near ready for recording, the meaningless fashion and those groups that exist merely as a punk cash-in. The Roxy as such has closed down, but the “scene” goes on. BUT where it still all really happens is back in the garage. The music is right there too, even including the garage harmonica played by Mick Jones, and that great all-together-now terrace chant at the end.
Fuck me! What an album!
Oh yeah, my copy jumps too.
◻
Remote Control from the Civic Hall...
Guildford Hall, 1 May 1977 White Riot Tour – opening night
...or how about Guildford’s Burning? It doesn’t really matter, except that this was the first gig on the White Riot Tour that’s making May a great month for the nation.
The trouble when a band is as exciting live as The Clash are, is that if a gig is anything less than brilliant, it seems a let down. This one took place only hours after the group’s return from France (they played gigs in Paris (27th April 1977), Le Mans (29th? April 1977, filmed) and Rouen) (26th April 1977) and that could be the reason why something vital was missing. It took until Police and Thieves near the end before things really started to burn.
It was nothing like that great event in the Paki flea-pit at Harlesden a few weeks back (11 March 1977), but it must still have been the best rock ’n’ roll Guildford has seen in ages.
As usual, they hit the stage with London’s Burning, following it with most of the tracks from the album (What’s My Name and Protex Blue were the only exceptions).
Hearing Police and Thieves live for the first time was an experience. They played the full six minutes and it looked great against the backdrop of the coppers running under the Westway. Joe Strummer spat out the words, screwing up his face and twisting himself around the mic stand. At one point he fell backwards onto the stage and just kept on singing lying flat on his back: pol-eece... pol-eece... pal-eece... It was incredible.
Almost as good was Pressure Drop (originally by Toots and the Maytals and part of the great soundtrack to The Harder They Come).
Capital Radio was introduced with the words, “This is from an e.p. I haven’t got my copy yet... but I know John Peel has.” The song is built around a typically sharp Mick Jones riff and has a great “In tune with nothing” chorus (more scandal about the e.p. later on).
Deny (“for all the women in the audience”) still sounds good live — better than it does on the album. Career Opportunities was dedicated to all the kids not at Guildford University, but why did Joe Strummer sing the second verse twice?
Guildford Civic Hall (cont.)
Mick Jones (badly swollen finger) slid around the stage without pushing himself to the usual limits. Nicky “Topper” Headon fitted in perfectly behind his drum kit. It’s taken them enough time to find the right replacement for Terry Chimes, but it’s been worth the wait.
It ain’t till you’ve seen the group on stage that you realize how important visually Paul Simonon is to the group. Always standing to the left of Joe Strummer, wearing a new paint-splattered Rickenbacker low on the hip, he moves it as if it were a weapon, and jerks and twists his whole body as he plays, or stands, legs astride like a stone statue...
For the encore they gave us Garageland and a slightly altered 1977. The house lights went up just as they were about to return for a second encore...
It was a good enough gig to start the tour with. I was just slightly disappointed because I’ve seen better. Anyway, things are only going to get better. I can’t wait to see them by the end of May.
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48 Thrills | 1977 #4
All the hits and more!
Make friends cuddly with Capital
'Capital Radio EP' free 7" NME single
“Listen to the tunes on the Dr. Goebbels Show” goes one of the lines in the song Capital Radio off the Clash E.P. which you get if you send off your little coupon in the NME. (Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda guy.)
As good as anything off the album, the song has a great chorus of “Capital – in tune with nothing! Capital – tune with Hampstead!” taken from that hypocritical In tune with London jingle.
The song’s been played live by the group and also on the John Peel show, and copies should be sent out this week. It should have been out a few weeks ago but its release has run into problems. But it’s already got Capital on the run...
After someone had the excellent idea of spraying White Riot over the front of Buston Tower with an aerosol, a photo of the graffiti was going to be used on the sleeve of the e.p. Somehow, word of this got round to the old blokes at Capital and threats started to be made.
I’ve heard rumours of possible legal action against the group, and even the sort of industrial blackmail (“Do this, and we won’t play any records on your label”) that probably had a hand in getting The Sex Pistols chucked off A&M.
Now it looks as if the e.p. might have to be put out in a blank, photo-withdrawn sleeve.
Ree-pres-shun.
Janie Jones lyrics
He’s in love with rock and roll, wo!
He’s in love with getting stoned, wo!
He’s in love with Janie Jones, wo!
He don’t like his boring job, no!
But he knows what he’s got to do,
He knows he’s gonna have fun with you,
And he knows when the evening comes,
When his job is done he’ll be over in his car for you.
In his in-tray lots of work,
But the boss at the firm always thinks he shirks,
But he’s just like everyone,
He’s got a Ford Cortina that just won’t run without fuel.
In the invoice it don’t quite fit,
No payola in his alphabetical file,
This time he’s gonna tell the boss,
He’s gonna really let him know exactly how he feels.
He’s in love with rock and roll, wo!
He’s in love with getting stoned, wo!
He’s in love with Janie Jones, wo!
He don’t like his boring job, no-oh!
Let them know. Let them know!
Photo: Crystal Clear
Garageland lyrics
Back in the garage with my bullshit detector,
Carbon monoxide making sure it’s effective,
People ringing up making offers for my life,
I just wanna stay in the garage all night.
We’re a garage band, we come from Garageland!
Meanwhile things are hotting up in the West End, alright,
Contracts in the offices, groups in the night,
My bumming, strumming friend, have I got new boots?
Someone just asked me if the group would wear suits!
We’re a garage band, we come from Garageland.
I don’t wanna hear about what the rich are doing,
I don’t wanna go to where the rich are going,
They think they’re so clever, they think they’re so right,
But the truth is only known by guttersnipes!
We’re a garage band, we come from Garageland.
‘48 Thrills’ Poxy Little Fanzine: Adrian, 6, The Quadrant, Stevenage, Herts
I–R: Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon. (Roxy, Jan 1st)
Photos by legendary fanzine lensman Walt Davidson. (Wally Davidson)
The Clash at the Roxy 1st January 1977: Photo: Wally Davidson
The Clash at the Roxy 1st January 1977: Photo: Crystal Clear
48 Thrills | 1977 #4