Best Clash Album

[Mr. TM]

Any punk fan knows and has an opinion on The Clash. They were one of the most popular punk bands in the old days of punk and continue to be cited as many punk bands inspiration.

The band would go on to release multiple albums. My favourite of them would have to be London Calling, beating out Combat Rock. I love the change in sound that happened with the album, though some would argue it was a step away from their punk roots. It is my favourite and easily argued their best.

What about you guys? Fans of their self titled? CR? LC? Lets hear you!

 

[Harthan]

Oh, goodness. You really went and hit the right spot here, TM.

I'm going to limit this to studio albums, and I'll break it down album by album.

The Clash was the first full studio album released by the Clash, and damn it's a fine album. It's got several of the Clash's best recordings, with "I'm So Bored With the USA" and, a personal favorite, "White Riot". Add "London's Burning" and "Police & Thieves", and you've got some of the Clash's very best here. It's a brilliant album, all in all, and it put the on the map. The punk map, anyway. Jones and Strummer are fantastic on vocals and especially on guitars here, an album that features some truly stellar punk style guitar playing. Gorgeous album, one of the Clash's best.

Give 'Em Enough Rope isn't quite as good or as well known, but I still love it, of course. "English Civil War" and "Tommy Gun" are two of the Clash's most lyrically powerful, musically great recordings. "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" is a bit of a forgotten classic, as well. It's still an iconic punk album, despite, in my opinion, not as good as The Clash or several of the Clash's later recordings, but what the hell, it's still a Clash album.

London Calling...I mean, what is there to say about it? It is, in my personal, humble opinion, the single greatest album of all time. It sold over two million copies, and, if they weren't before, turned the Clash into international stars, with huge chart performances in Sweden, Norway, and the US. It produced my favorite, all time song, the titular track, "London Calling". I had to go listen to it again just mentioning it. It's recognized nigh unanimously by the general music community as one of the greatest musically and most important historically of all albums. But really, this album isn't just about "London Calling". It just keeps on hitting with "Brand New Cadillac", "Rudie Can't Fail", "Spanish Bombs", "Lost in the Supermarket", "Clampdown", "The Guns of Brixton", "Death or Glory", "The Card Cheat", "Revolution Rock" (yes, damn it, I even love Revolution Rock), and "Train in Vain". It gets a longer list of hits because it's a double, but fuck it, it's still absolutely phenomenal.

Sandinista!, alright, let me gather myself from that outpouring of love on London Calling. It's a bit of weird album, as the Clash diversifies into damn near every genre around. This was a trend we saw in London Calling, as they diversified into reggae, but Sandinista! really took it to a new level. Now, when I call it weird, don't take that to mean bad, because it's a classic. It ranks among the best of all '80s albums. Particularly "The Magnificent Seven" is interesting as one of Britain's first rap songs. "Hitsville UK", "Junco Partner", "The Call Up", "Washington Bullets", and "Lose This Skin" are all great tracks off this album.

Combat Rock is more or less the last great Clash project, as Jones and Headon would both depart the band afterward. Though still diversified, it cuts back from Sandinista! and gets back to a more straight punk, though still with variations in it. "Know Your Rights", "Should I Stay or Should I Go", "Rock the Casbah", "Straight to Hell", and "Ghetto Defendant" are all solid recordings from this release.

And now, the ever wonderful, Cut the Crap. Cut the Crap is an unfortunate title, because, really, the album is crap. Jones and Headon are gone, and Strummer is barely with it. Strummer and the majority of the Clash fans worldwide have opted to disown and try to forget the album. It managed to produce one solid recording in "This is England", but other than that, it's an unfortunate, disappointing, altogether poor end to the Clash's otherwise incredible catalog.

So, for all that, I'm going to have to go with what is inevitably going to be the popular choice, because damn it, I can't lie to myself. London Calling is perfection. The titular track is my favorite song, and there's nearly another dozen tracks on here I'm in love with. I enjoy the rest of the album, and it's one of the very few albums I'm in possession of where I can listen to the whole thing without a single down moment. It's true musical greatness, my favorite Clash album, and my favorite album all time.

 

[X]

What an insanely difficult question. All of their albums are classics (with the obvious exception of Cut the Crap). What it comes down to at the end though is their self titled debut vs. London Calling. Give 'Em Enough Rope is an underrated gem, but it doesn't stack up to the greatness of those two albums. Sandinista is another underrated album, but has far too much filler on it to be proclaimed their best work. And I'm sorry guys, but Combat Rock is overrated as fuck. Don't get me wrong, I love Combat Rock, but it's not even remotely close to their self titled or London Calling.

Jesus this is difficult. Their debut album is a classic from start to finish, with some of my absolute favorite Clash songs. Janie Jones, Career Opportunities, Remote Control, basically the whole album is greatness followed by greatness.

I'm gonna have to go with London Calling as well though. Mainly because it was the first Clash album I owned. I still remember going to the music shop down town after hearing my dad talk about them all the time when I was 11 years old and putting down my allowance on that countertop to buy the album. The guy looked at me like "Huh? You're too young to be listening to music this good!" and we got into a brief conversation about The Clash and he told me about how it changed his life. I went home, put it in my CD player, and when the opening chords of London Calling began, I was a Clash fan for life. I played that album non stop for months, showing it to all of my friends (who all subsequently became "punks"). Jesus there are just so many great songs on that album. I'd name all of the great songs, but truthfully there's only maybe one or two songs that AREN'T classics. Rudie Can't Fail, Guns of Brixton, Hateful, Clampdown, Spanish Bombs, Jimmy Jazz, fuck that album is a masterpiece man.

London Calling gets my vote. I'll leave you with a classic from the album and one of my very favorite summer songs, Rudie Can't Fail.

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