BUY IT AGAIN! Clash "London Calling" with demos

[Buford T Pusser]

I bought the original disc and then burned a copy of the remaster from a friend. I came close to just buying it again but they didn't get me! HA!

I'll have to get this one.





the only deluxe edition that matters:

Some albums evolve into classics. But The Clash’s London Calling was born that way.

At least that’s the evidence offered by 21 recently unearthed demos that Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon and the late Joe Strummer recorded on a Teac four-track in spring 1979 at Vanilla, a makeshift rehearsal space housed in the back room of a Pimlico, London car-repair shop. These raw, previously unreleased performances are the bonus-track bonanza of Epic/Legacy’s expanded two-CD London Calling: 25th Anniversary Edition, due September 21.


The original 19-track album, a double-LP punk landmark that Rolling Stone proclaimed the best album of the ’80s, will be presented on Disc One (a Legacy spokesman tells ICE that the disc has been mastered from the same upgraded source used for the 2000 reissue). "The Vanilla Tapes" — which include work-in-progress snapshots of 15 of the final album’s tunes and five songs that never resurfaced — fill Disc Two. A bonus DVD then features the videos for "Train in Vain," "London Calling" and "Clampdown," plus a new 40-minute "making of" documentary created by director Don Letts.


Bubbling under the tape hiss, distortion and other analog anomalies is riveting proof that The Clash’s melding of British punk and reggae with vintage American rockabilly and blues was an organic creation rather than a shotgun marriage. Instrumental rough drafts like "Paul’s Tune" (the rock-steady blueprint for "The Guns of Brixton"), "Working and Waiting" (aka "Clampdown") and "Up-Toon" (which would materialize into the horn-fueled "The Right Profile") sound fully formed.


Rounding out "The Vanilla Tapes" are unissued performances that Jones says he barely remembers attempting: the raging "Heart and Mind," about the inner conflict of right and wrong ("We didn’t like it much," Jones recalls, "but it sounds better now than it did back then"); a reggae number called "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)" ("Funny that one — we don’t know who wrote it," Jones says. "We might have"); a tongue-in-cheek country weeper called "Lonesome Me"; a loping cover of Bob Dylan’s "The Man in Me" ("That’s from New Morning, my favorite Dylan album"), modeled after an arrangement by British reggae heroes Matumbi; a warm-up romp through 1977’s "Remote Control," which the group had ceased performing in concert; and a blues instrumental titled "Walkin’ the Slidewalk."


The bonus DVD’s documentary, titled The Last Testament — The Making of London Calling, features interviews with all four band members. But the most revelatory material is previously unseen black-and-white footage of the eccentric Stevens (best known for his work with Mott the Hoople and Spooky Tooth) running amok in the studio, throwing chairs and taunting the band while tape is rolling.


"We’ve talked about that before, and nobody believed us," Jones says. "They thought we were over exaggerating, but now they’ll know we were under exaggerating. We were going so fast, things like that could happen without you even noticing. But it got us fired up really. Much of what we learned from London Calling was about recording in the moment. Guy instilled in us that feeling that every time you walked in the studio, you could be putting the thing down that would be the one."

–David Okamoto

[Josh-da-man]

Fuck this.

Why not just release the "Vanilla Tapes" and DVD seperately instead of instead of including the prevously-released "London Calling" album to pump up the disc count -- and price.

Thirty fucking dollars for an album we already own with a second disc of demo material, and a 40 minute "bonus DVD."

If you need any proof that "punk" is dead and co-opted by the establishment, BUY THIS.

[TomOpus]

Not sure why you buy CDs for list price but I've seen it for $19

So, Fuck Yeah, I'm all over this.

[Aphex Twin]

Originally posted by TomOpus
Not sure why you buy CDs for list price but I've seen it for $19

So, Fuck Yeah, I'm all over this.

He likes to shop at Tower Records.

[Buford T Pusser]

:lol:

[Buford T Pusser]

Tower has it for $23.24 with free shipping.

[Mr. M]

:drool:

I'm in.

[Buford T Pusser]

Originally posted by TomOpus
Not sure why you buy CDs for list price but I've seen it for $19

So, Fuck Yeah, I'm all over this.


Please to show the place with this price.

$19.97 at DeepDiscountCD.com

[Cornholio]

im a big clash fan ill pick this up but not right away i have way too many cds and dvds on my wish list.

[Hollowgen]

i'm down. as long as i'm not forced by josh to pay list.

[TomOpus]

Originally posted by Buford T Pusser
Please to show the place with this price.

$19.97 at DeepDiscountCD.com That was the place... I thought I typed "~$19" but I messed up. Sorry 'bout dat.

But I'll be looking around at different places and if I find a lower price I'll post it.

"But I believe in this, and it's been tested by research
He who fucks nuns, will later join the church...." --- Death or Glory

[wendersfan]

I have three different copies of this album. I am currently undecided about whether I want a fourth.

And, as per usual, this thread is worthless without pics...

http://www.thebird.org/bartcop/london-calling.JPG

[Dubya]

I'm a big Clash fan, but I will pass. It's really getting ridiculous with all of this "recently discovered" material these bands are amazingly finding out of nowhere. Why don't they just say "we (or our record label more precisely) are trying to repackage our catalog as many times as po$$ible ;)

[DJLinus]

I'm so there. This is one my favorite albums (if not my #1). Luckily, I held out on getting the last remaster. And I received the CD as a gift about 11 or so years ago, so technically I'm not double-dipping (with my own money)*.




*Though, I did pick up a vinyl copy from a thrift store for $1, but that was just to get the sleeve so I could frame it.

[DodgingCars]

Anyone pick it up today? I'm really interested to hear what you guys think. I want to pick it up as soon as I have extra cash.

[Buford T Pusser]

I didn't see it on sale so I need to place an order at DDD. Unless someone finds a better price than $20 shipped.

[Falc04]

Can't see how you can improve on the original...I'm sticking with the one I got.

[Poink]

I "caved in" and bought one at Best Buy tonight. I guess my single disc one can join Television's 'Marquee Moon' & John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' as albums I have a second "Car" copy due to better reissues. London Calling is usually with me anytime I travel more than a half hour from here anyways...

I listened to a handful of the second disc's demos; just album track stuff, not any of the "new" songs. It's pretty cool hearing the rough-sketch versions of some of the songs, as well as hearing them in such a laid back sounding way. "Paul's Song" is espescially neat since it (rather obviously) became the fantastic "Guns of Brixton."

I thought the DVD was pretty good. The half-hour documentry is well done; although I imagine that an album of this stature could probably get a 2 hour doc. and still feel incomplete. It's amazing that they managed to even finish an album having that producer around them acting like that, let alone one of the all time classics! The 14 minutes of studio footage is about half "producer throwing chairs/ladders/etc around" and half "band jamming" ...while the producer runs around being crazy.

The packaging design and art is pretty nice. Once folded out there are pictures of each member underneath the disc trays (well, one member's pic is on the leftmost flap since there's "only" 3 discs), and the original fold-out lyric sheet is included. There's also a nice looking book that I haven't really gone through yet. It's got Joe Strummer's "notes" for each song scrawled in it, much like his final album "Streetcore" did.

All around it makes for a pretty ace set. Few albums truly deserve their recent 2 or 3 disc Deluxe/Legacy Editions, but I'd have to say that this is one of the ones that does. If you already own the album, just keep the old one in the car or at work, etc. Or just have it to loan out to people who've never heard it. Or just give it to some kid you think has the potential to like really great music but just needs a little nudge in the right direction. Chances are this album has given you much more than what you paid for it, even if you've payed for it 3 or 4 times already. :)

[TomOpus]

Nice post! thanks.... :up:

[Buford T Pusser]

Originally posted by TomOpus
Nice post! thanks.... :up:

strong agreement

[Celtic Bob]

Guess it's time to finally buy it on cd.

[Hollowgen]

Originally posted by Poink
Chances are this album has given you much more than what you paid for it, even if you've payed for it 3 or 4 times already. :)

we need more posts like this in the threads regarding new releases. much appreciated!

[Hiro11]

London Calling is in my personal top ten (as it probably is for everyone), but I see no reason to buy this. How many times will I actually play the demo stuff before getting annoyed and just putting on the studio version?

Besides, there are too many other terrific albums that I don't own any version of yet. Example:
http://www.cdconsumer.com/furries.jpg

[Buford T Pusser]

I have all of the other SFA cds, but not that one. Thanks for the reminder.

[Poink]

I actually have that Super Furry Animals album. :)

You do make a pretty good point about the Demos disc. I mean, there's not gonna be THAT many times when you're gonna want to hear "I'm Not Down" as a boombox recording instead of the LP version. Once I get a chance to listen to the non-album & unreleased demos I'll be able to decide the true merit of the disc, I suppose.

It's just the overall package and presentation that made it so desireable to me. The extras work well to commemorate the album as intended, whereas I feel that just having a stand alone disc with the "Vanilla Tapes" would seem a bit detached somehow. It seems that a lot of you (DVDtalkers/consumers in general) have no qualms about buying a 2 disc Special Edition of a movie you already own. If the "bonus" disc for a classic film that's getting a re-release were being sold seperate, it wouldn't elicit the same reaction that having the definitive edition does. Sure, it's all marketing in the end, but you've gotta admit; we're dirty, dirty collectors at heart. :)

I'd consider London Calling one of the few albums that I'll be listening to for the rest of my life (or until I can no longer stand the sound of guitars), so it's always going to be one of the albums that I'll want the best available version of.

[fallow]

Poink, yr actually making me think that I should get around to hearing this! (I don't know how I feel about that.)

[Eddie W]

Finally got my copy today. Ordered directly from sonymusic.com as you get a groovy 45 of London Calling/Amagideon Time or free. Complete with the BIG HOLE, not those little LP size holes it seems like a lot of vinyl singles have as of late.

The packaging is great. I don't know why, but folding this thing out & seeing 3 discs, one white, one pink, one green, just immediately seemed to make this worth the cost for me. Plus it's got the original lyric sheets that used to be the sleeves for the 2 vinyl LP's & a thick booklet putting the album in context.

I only have the original CD & the vinyl I bought back in 1980 so the sound quality is a revelation. The Vanilla tapes are historically interesting, but don't quite pack the punch of the finished result. Still, they're not expected to & it's fascinating to hear some of the rough versions as well as songs that didn't make the final cut.

The DVD seems to have a lot of stuff recylced from Westway to the World & The Essential Clash. The same 3 promo videos (2 of them live), sound much better in the 5.1 mix of Essential Clash than here. The most interesting feature is the in-studio footage. I've always heard about Guy Stevens throwing chairs/ladders & here you actually get to see him do it! Plus hear run thoughs of Louie, Louie and other stuff the won't ever appear anywhere else.

All in all, a worthy package for this landmark album.

[Hollowgen]

thanks, eddie w!

[Buford T Pusser]

I finally ordered mine from DDDCD last night. Via the DVD Talk link of course.:D

[Tyler_Durden]

I managed to sell my copy of the single-disc re-release that came out around 2000 and even make a profit, so yeah, I absolutely bought this new edition. It should be here on Monday. :)

[DJLinus]

Originally posted by Buford T Pusser
I finally ordered mine from DDDCD last night. Via the DVD Talk link of course.:D

Same here. Looking forward to receiving it.

[icondude]

Originally posted by Falc04
Can't see how you can improve on the original...I'm sticking with the one I got.

Is the extra stuff worth it if you are still playing the record?

I don't have this on CD.

[Mr. Salty]

Here's a story about the album, from last week's Entertainment Weekly:

The Best Album of All Time
The 25th anniversary of a seminal punk album -- The Clash's ''London Calling'' is as groundbreaking, explosive, and politically relevant as ever
by Tom Sinclair

The bass guitar went up. The bass guitar came down. In the two-second interval before it splintered, photographer Pennie Smith captured the dramatic shot of Clash bassist Paul Simonon smashing his instrument on stage at New York City's Palladium, Sept. 21, 1979. Smith recalls that mere moments before, she had been ready to pack up her camera gear. But when she saw Simonon looking ''really, really fed up'' and ready to blow a gasket, she decided to keep her camera at the ready. ''I just got the one shot and that was it,'' she laughs. ''End of roll of film.''

That luck-induced, immortal image -- framed by pink and green lettering (echoing the cover of Elvis Presley's first LP, courtesy of designer Ray Lowry) -- would go on to grace the cover of the Clash's breakthrough album, London Calling, which they released just three months later. Although the band had mostly finished recording it shortly before embarking on a Yank-bashing, monthlong U.S. tour in the fall of '79 (in true punk style, they opened every set with ''I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.''), it didn't improve their moods: Paul Simonon chalks up his bout of bassicide to a general ''frustration,'' and in retrospect, it's easy to guess why the angry young men of the Clash may have been feeling more cantankerous than usual.

''Airplay and sales for the Clash was pretty limited then,'' recalls Harvey Leeds, then head of Album Rock Promotion for the band's U.S. label, Epic Records. Indeed, by the end of the '70s, while poppier American punk and new-wave acts like Blondie and Talking Heads were scoring radio hits, the English punks, like the Damned and the Sex Pistols, had yet to make an impact. And for all their antiestablishment rhetoric, the Clash desperately wanted to ''break out and break America and be kind of global,'' as late frontman Joe Strummer (who died in 2002 of heart failure) once said.

It's true that the U.K. version of their first LP, 1977's ripsnorting The Clash, had become the biggest-selling import album up to that time, moving 100,000 copies. But a skittish Epic didn't release a version of it here until 1979. The band's second full-length album, 1979's Give 'Em Enough Rope (actually their first U.S. release), had divided hardcore fans, many of whom felt the label-tapped producer, Sandy Pearlman (Blue Oyster Cult), had given the Clash's snap-and-bite punk an anomalous metallic sheen. Twenty-five years later, the platinum hopeful has yet to even go gold.

Needless to say, there was a lot riding on the Clash's third record. A quarter century down the line, history has shown that London Calling was the band's watershed, both a critical and commercial success that turned this quartet of scruffy yobbos into bona fide rock stars. From the apocalyptically chilling title track to the giddy closing choogle of ''Train in Vain,'' the album was a wild, genre-jumping joyride. Whether denouncing drug addiction (''Hateful''), paying homage to ill-fated actor Montgomery Clift (''The Right Profile''), or delivering a pummeling antifascist broadside (''Clampdown''), the Clash was clearly a band at the top of its game.

Like Shakespeare, Citizen Kane, or the Beatles, the appeal of London Calling is timeless and peerless. To commemorate the 25th anniversary, Epic has released a deluxe, remastered edition of London Calling, complete with an additional CD of newly unearthed demos and a DVD directed by the band's longtime videographer and friend, Don Letts. Embracing the spirit of '79, EW went to London to call on the surviving Clash members and some of their associates, to get the lowdown on their classic double LP.

Striding into a room in London's legendary Groucho Club (named in honor of Groucho Marx's famous quip about not wanting to belong to any club that would have him as a member), Mick Jones and Paul Simonon look every inch the semiretired, slightly decadent gentlemen rockers. Sipping a Bloody Mary and puffing a Silk Cut, the lanky, now-balding Jones (who's been keeping busy producing Clash descendants the Libertines) is dressed in a loose-fitting dark suit. Simonon -- these days, a painter of some note -- is natty in a gangsterish fedora and sports clothes.

Jones, whose ready grin is never far from the surface, lies down on one of the club's beds, praises its comfortableness, and tries to mentally click back to the spring of '79, when the band began hammering out London Calling's songs.

''Our backs were against the wall. We were thinking 'We better do something here,''' Jones admits. ''I don't think we ever thought we were gonna go under or nothin', but on the other hand, we needed to consolidate what we were.''

Part of that consolidation had to do with redefining what punk was -- especially since the first wave of British punk bands seemed to be rapidly falling by the wayside. ''I think the Pistols' breaking up had an effect on us,'' says Mick. ''Even though we were great rivals, we were also great allies. Punk never really made it commercially. New wave sort of made it a little bit after. The first punks had a tough time. With London Calling we chucked out the punk rule book. Punk was supposed to be about not having a rule book.''

So it was goodbye to raging three-chord rama lama, hello to a fresh panoply of styles that included rockabilly (''Brand New Cadillac''), ska-reggae (''Revolution Rock''), R&B (''Wrong 'Em Boyo''), ballads (''Lost in the Supermarket'') -- even touches of jazzbo cool (''Jimmy Jazz''). ''It wasn't about just limiting ourselves to one sound,'' says Simonon. ''It was all about, What about that sound over there, and that music over there? What if we mix that with this, and then put it like this?''

The Clash's new anything-goes aesthetic blossomed at Vanilla Studios, a down-at-the-heels rehearsal room in Pimlico, where the band began writing and demoing songs in the spring of '79. ''We were totally oblivious to any outside influences,'' says Jones. ''People from the label came by, and we usually took them out for a game of football, played them a couple of numbers. But we were a bit beyond them.''

The songs came together quickly, with Jones composing and arranging the bulk of the music and Strummer supplying lyrics. Early, incomplete versions of many tunes can be heard on the so-called Vanilla Tapes, the collection of demos now found on the deluxe London Calling.

''We were most close at that time, and that helped us,'' says Jones. Though Strummer, the band's de facto leader, would dismiss Topper Headon in 1982 (blaming the drummer's heroin problem) and fire Jones the following year due to growing artistic differences, Jones says at the time their songwriting partnership seemed charmed. He cites the lovely ''Lost in the Supermarket'' as an example of just how empathetic his relationship with Strummer was: ''He said he was trying to imagine what it must've been like for me as a kid.''

When it came time to record the album proper, Guy Stevens, who had been the producer and manager of Mott the Hoople -- one of Jones' favorite bands -- was asked to produce. Stevens' methods were unconventional: He'd once allegedly burned down a studio while recording a Mott album, and his problems with alcohol and drugs (he would OD in 1981) had gotten him all but blacklisted in the industry. The Last Testament: The Making of London Calling, the DVD now accompanying the album, shows footage of Stevens recklessly swinging a ladder and upturning chairs as the band plays -- simply to amp up the rock & roll atmosphere. ''Guy had such spirit,'' remembers Headon, reached by phone. ''When we recorded 'Brand New Cadillac,' we did it in one take. Guy went, 'Great take.' And I said, 'No, no, it's too fast, it speeds up.' And he just said, 'All great rock & roll speeds up.'''

The entire album was laid down in a matter of weeks. Ironically, the last song the Clash recorded during the sessions, Jones' ''Train in Vain,'' was never intended for inclusion. ''We were going to give 'Train' [as a freebie] in the NME [the British rock weekly],'' says Jones. ''And then for some reason they couldn't put it out. And since it was the last thing we recorded and the artwork had already gone to press, it was too late to list it on the album.'' They stuck it on anyway as an unlisted bonus track, and ''Train'' went on to become the Clash's first American hit single.

While London Calling certainly sped up the Clash's career trajectory, it also brought them that much closer to their end. Both Jones and Simonon agree that the split may have been inevitable, since the Clash gestalt had always been as combustible as their fiercest music sounded.

''You have to understand,'' says Simonon, ''from day one, there was always a little rowing, and a bit of verbal [sparring]. So I was surprised it lasted as long as it did.''

''Plus we never had any holidays, any time off,'' says Jones. ''You know, it was like a family, it felt like a family. We were that close.''

Not to speak ill of the dead, but are there still any bad feelings toward Strummer for booting Jones? (After firing Headon and Jones, Strummer put together a new edition of the Clash and released the abysmal Cut the Crap in 1985; in footage filmed circa 2000 for Westway to the World, a guilty Strummer admits he was in the wrong.)

Jones: ''We made up...''

Simonon: ''We've discussed all that, and it's all patently clear . . .''

Jones: ''. . . pretty soon after . . .''

Simonon: ''. . . that Mick was wrong.''

Jones and Simonon crack up. ''I was wrong all along,'' says Jones, sarcastically.

The Clash would get bigger: 1982's combat rock went double platinum before London Calling even sold its first million, and paved the way for stadium dates opening for the Who and TV appearances on Saturday Night Live -- but they would never be better. London Calling remains their masterpiece and, 25 years on, an album that fans and musicians continue to look to for inspiration, kicks, and spiritual sustenance. Bill Price, the album's engineer, chalks it up to the singular clarity of the band's artistic vision and the indelible nature of the songs.

''Joe Strummer made a very big point of wanting every song to have a particular identity,'' he recalls. ''He'd say, 'This one's called ''London Calling.'' I want it to sound like it's coming through fog over the river Thames.' He'd have a little anecdote for every song.''

Letts gives credit to the formidable songwriting talents of the Strummer/Jones team: ''To see those two guys work, it was such a beautiful thing. Jagger/Richards. Lennon/McCartney. Morrissey/Marr. Strummer/Jones. It doesn't happen that often.''

''I think that's the album when we all just jelled and it was like a piece of time that's been captured,'' says Headon.

When questioned about London Calling's enduring legacy, Jones looks off into space, considering. ''I think,'' he offers, with suitable gravitas, ''that was the album where we became men.''
(Posted:09/24/04)

[DJLinus]

This came in the mail yesterday and I immediately put it on. Great stuff. I'm going to watch the DVD right now.