The Clash: Out of Control (Cut the Crap Revisited)

Every self-anointed rock historian knows the story of how the Clash, after the massive success of Combat Rock, dumped their linchpin, Mick Jones. and let their tone deaf manager produce their synth and gang vocal dominated album, Cut the Crap, which is now often considered the most inept, ill-considered follow-up since Operation Barbarrosa. (Of course, MRML and ... er ... Mojo may beg to differ.)

(The Clash Mark II - JOE STRUMMER: Lead vocals and rhythm guitar, PAUL SIMONON: Bass and backing vocals, NICK SHEPPARD: Lead/rhythm guitar and backing vocals (Lead vocals on “North And South"), VINCE WHITE: Lead/rhythm guitar and backing vocals, PETE HOWARD: Drums and percussion)

Now chasing the ghosts of possibilities lost is fruitless and perhaps it's better that Cut the Crap was such a debacle. After all, Strummer was spent, in his own words, "exhausted physically, mentally, every which way". Maybe an average "back-to-basics'' record, with a few fine songs, would have been even less honourable; after all we can still say the Clash were never mediocre - bombastic or self-indulgent, peut-être - but never, ever mediocre.



But still, for some of us the "What If's?" stick to us like tar. And in that spirit, here's:

THE CLASH: OUT OF CONTROL (CUT THE CRAP REVISITED)
"An alternate version of the final Clash studio album. Featuring live versions, demos and several tracks performed live but left off the official album."(From the liner notes*)

*The source of the original CD-R is unknown but credit will be given upon learning their identity.

The sound herein ranges from crude to muffled and this is obviously for the die-hards and the dreamers. I've played with the volume on a few tracks and even added the few songs from the 1983 demos (released as a different bootleg, also entitled Out of Control, see here) that were not on the original version.

The rating system works on scale of one to three "This is Englands":

Problematic but worthwhile ("Is better than the C.T.C. a compliment?")

A glimmer of greatness ("Wow, there was a real song beneath the sonic goo.")

Almost revelatory ("Hey Sony, we demand a re-mix!")


1. Dictator (2:57) (Barrowlands, Glasgow 02/10/84)
While the sloganeering still grates, the group rocks and even the recorded-live-in-a-bunker sound can't dull the raw guitar fury.





2. Dirty Punk (3:01) (Brixton Academy, London 12/07/84)
Cliches are once-meaningful words dulled by overuse, nothing in this dunderheaded song ever had much meaning and the big chorus actually works better with the gang vocals.



3. We Are The Clash (2:40) (Barrowlands, Glasgow 02/10/84)
Written in response to a possible fight with Jones' over the band's name (Mick politely chose the worst name ever, Big Audio Dynamite) this version has enough of that the Strummer self-righteous fire to redeem what is one of the most-oft derided songs on a most oft-derided album.



4. Are You Ready For War? (3:59) (Paramount Theater. Seattle 05/30/84)
Kinda funky, especially without the electro-sheen and with an actual human being behind the kit but lyrically it's still stuck in the secular Amageddonism that so gripped the 1980's.



5. Ammunition (3:14) (Barrowlands, Glasgow 02/10/84)
A bludgeoning "no bullshit" track that, with a little Mick sweetening on the guitar and vocals could've come from '77.





6. Glue Zombie (2:13) (Barrowlands, Glasgow 02/10/84)
Like a cautionary take on the Ramones "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", this not yet fully formed rocker is yet another case where you can almost see the gaping wound Mick Jones left in the band.



7. This Is England (3:24) (Brixton Academy, London 3/10/84)
A little muddy sounding but transformed from wistful ballad into a into a defiant rocker.





8. In The Pouring Rain (5:07) (Paramount Theater, Seattle 05/30/84)
Okay it can't beat Dylan's' "Blind Wille Mctell" from the first Bootleg Series in the Greatest Unreleased Song of All time contest but it sure challenges all the glib dismissals of the Clash Mark II as songwriters and performers.






9. Three Card Trick (3:18) (Stockholm 02/17/84)
Like "In the Pouring Rain" this is another nominee for the Last Great Clash Song and this version is ferocious.





10. Fingerpoppin' (3:22) (Brixton Academy, London 12/06/84)
This song bears scant relation to the wretched track of the same name on CTC though neither track is terribly exciting.



11. Sex Mad War (2:11) (Oregon 05/29/84)
An average song given an slightly-above average reading.



12. Movers And Shakers (2:49) (Gateshead. Newcastle 11/05/85)
No quality bootleg of the Clash's 1985 busking tour of England exists, in someways this is a shame as the performances are loose, spontaneous and fun (unlike much of CTC) but on the other hand it the whole affair seems a bit of an anti-climax, as this song demonstrates.



13. Cool Under Heat (3:01) (Gateshead. Newcastle 11/05/85)
See above and ask yourself what's worse a crappy drum machine or a recording made by some guy who taped his sole mike to whatever the hell found object drummer Pete Howard was banging on that day?



14. North And South (2:41) (Brixton Academy. London 12/07/84)
Nick Sheppard gets the lead vocals, on a song that might, one day, make a fine English folk-rock ballad.



15. National Powder (3:36) (11/83 demo)
The 1983 demos (like the Vanilla Tapes, they're more like rehearsals than actual demos) are a bit a bit bunker-ish and the songs often unfinished, of which this song is a serviceable example of both problems.



16. Galleani (3:06) (11/83 demo)
Again the sound quality is muddy but if you listen closely, you can hear that Clash reggae burbling up; a real loss this one.



17. Are You Ready For War? (2:43) (11/83 demo)
Second version sounds more human than the CTC version but still falls short of real significance.



18. Out of Control (3:03) (11/83 demo)
This fits the template of the CTC material, a basic song structure, sing-along ready chorus but in addition there's a nice ska feel and Pete Howard is doing a shit-kicking job on those very real drums.





19. Rock N' Roll City (2:23) (11/83 demo)
Loud unfinished track missing much in the way of charm or inventiveness.



20. Backwoods Drive (11/83 demo)
Once more into the mud, Clash fans will hear the start of something here but for the most part it's garbled noise looking for an escape.




{MRML Readers Leave us a comment: Does this ragtag collection improve on a flawed work or not?}

 

Out of Control (Cut the Crap Revisited) is not available at this time.

The Last Great Clash Song?

It's Queen Victoria's birthday, still a holiday here in post-colonial Canada, so it's time to lie back and think of England.


In the past, I've relayed an actual dream I had to defend the obscure virtues of the much maligned work of the Clash Mark II (please see here, comments still welcome), the short-lived, post-Mick Jones version of the band. A song that featured prominently in that dream was, "This is England", which Joe Strummer referred to as his "last great Clash song" and "the only part of the whole record (Cut the Crap) with any bollocks to it”


The Clash - this is England (Dub version) from On Broadway Volume Four (bootleg)


Wikipedia calls the song "a more focused variant of "Straight to Hell"" (see here for much, much more on that song). Lyrically, it is tightly focused. Instead of enumerating the ills of the world, here Strummer zeroes in on the excesses of Thatcher's* reign circa 1985; the immigrant-bashing, the union-busting and the war-mongering. The line "a voice spoke so cold it matched the weapon in her palm" is a particularly stinging indictment of the deeds of a woman once called "Margret Thatcher, milk snatcher" for her cuts to school milk programs. The song's words are wistful, as if Strummer is surveying an England on which, after almost ten years of rabble-rousing, he and his shifting band-mates seemed to have had no real political impact whatsoever. Then, by touching on powerful British symbols, such as Sheffield steel and Triumph motorcycles Strummer evokes that nostalgia for the era of empire that often seems to cut across English (and maybe even their former colonies') political and class lines. It all makes for an odd but affecting critique.


Joe Strummer and Latino Rockabilly War - This is England (live at the Electric Ballroom,1988)

* Do check out the brilliantly belligerent "Thatcher Fucked the Kids" by Frank Turner here.


Musically, his foil here (to a degree unknown, since the initial credits are to "Strummer & Co.") is manager Bernie Rhodes, who lacked all of Mick Jones' skills as an producer, arranger and co-writer. As Rhodes wrestled more control, his ham-handed, third-rate ideas quickly sucked any remaining life out of the Clash. It's often sneered that a Clash without Mick Jones is a complete musical impossibility, as if Strummer hadn't proved with "Keys to Your Heart" that he was capable of greatness (in a lesser degree) without Jones. Of course, Strummer did do his best with a strong co-conspirator. So perhaps upon realizing that he had summarily exiled his greatest ally, he wrote this last Clash song, one meant to be played just before the credits roll, as we watch a diminished man walking away down a rainy street.


Joe Strummer - This is England (live, source currently unknown)



End Note: While neither of the B-sides, "Sex Mad Roar" or "Do It Now" approach greatness, nor do they suffer from quite as many of wretched production blips and bleeps of the Cut the Crap. The single, in its entirety, does show that with more of the control in the hands of Joe Strummer, rather than the musically clueless Rhodes, Cut the Crap could have been a very different album. But that's grist for the next post...


The Clash - This is England (demo version) From Out of Control (bootleg)




{MRML Readers: please leave a comment about the Clash Mark II and the place of "This is England" in the Clash canon.}


Download This is England 7" (with artwork)*

* will send you to Punk Friction the original ripper/scanner


The This is England 12" is available inside of a massive box-set of the Clash's singles or of course you can just swallow your cool and buy Cut the Crap. Whichever way; Buy more Clash!

This is England
(Strummer & co.)

I hear a gang cry on a human factory farm
Are they howling out or doing somebody harm
On a catwalk jungle somebody grabbed my arm
A voice spoke so cold it matched the weapon in her palm

This is England
This knife of Sheffield steel
This is England
This is how we feel

Time on his hands freezing in those clothes
He won't go for the carrot
They beat him by the pole
Some sunny day confronted by his soul
He's out at sea, too far off, he can't go home

This is England
What we're supposed to die for
This is England
And we're never gonna cry no more

Black shadow of the Vincent
Falls on a Triumph line
I got my motorcycle jacket
But I'm walking all the time
South Atlantic wind blows
Ice from a dying creed
I see no glory
When will we be free

This is England
We can chain you to the rail
This is England
We can kill you in a jail

Hey British boots go kick
Bengali in the head
Police sit watchin'
A newspapers been read
All deaf to protest
And after the attacker fled
Out come the batons and
The biggest one then said

This is England
The land of (il)legal dances
This is England
Land of a thousand stances
This is England
This knife of Sheffield steel
This is England
This is how we feel
This is England
This is England*

P.S. This is a (mostly) accurate transcription of the lyrics of the 12" mix of this song (which is not on the 12" but rather on a Clash compilation called 12" mixes, which is coming very soon.

Unlike "Straight to Hell", few cover version of "This is England' exist, but here's one from Italian ska-wonders, the Easy Skankers.


Like "Straight to Hell", "This is England" also became the title of a movie, a better one I'm presuming, based on the reviews and the trailers anyhow.