Clash Combat Rock CD

 Platinum Paranoia
This record, although flawed, shares the same curse that haunted David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Nirvana's "Nevermind"-- suddenly the geek at the dance is the coolest guy in school and can't handle the attention. All three artists dismissed their shiniest efforts as commercial crap, and at least in respect to the Clash the designation might seem to carry water. There is no big statement, a la "London Calling", that can stand the scrutiny of pop-culture mavens on both American coasts, and on the surface the record doesn't have the unifying theme of "Sandinistas". But time is sometimes not a thief, and perhaps instead the Clash were twenty years ahead of their time, what with promotional photos and video clips replete with Middle Eastern settings and political posturing that is implicit in the image of Paul Simonon decked out in desert fox combat clothing. The new war is all about oil and money, and Joe Strummer's prescient piss-take on the whole business, "Rock The Casbah", had the extreme misfortune of being released when Middle Eastern intrigue by world powers was still in the planning stage. Other songs were equally engaging, "Atom Tan" in particular voicing the unspoken rage at the reality that some fool from bad 1950's movies could somehow determine the fate of the world. If nobody bought this record the Clash would probably still be together, but to their embarrassment the derivative "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" became this massive stateside hit, and suddenly suburban junior-high school girls were chopping their hair off and wearing home-made punk-rock T-shirts. Trust me, I had a sister. I think the Clash felt somewhat like the Beach Boys when the Beatles began their run, Brian Wilson lamenting that "suddenly, we felt as cool as waiters..." The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow seemed to mean an end to their artistic integrity, and they meandered into the sunset before they could really capitalize on their critical hype. (See U2 for lesson learned about balancing critical and commercial success) But if you wanna hear what many consider "The world's greatest rock'n'roll band" (sorry, Mick, there were young princes aspiring to the throne) circa 1982, just when they had figured out the recording process, then this may be your record......JJ
Submitted by jpjohnson777 (Hope, ND, USA)
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 Straight to Clash!
This is an all time classic album. This is punk with soul, I mean deep soul, Staight to Hell Sean Flynn and what about the Ghetto Defendant. So man Know Your Rights especially in a Car Jam........
Submitted by Paul (sj, ca, usa)
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 Action stations!
The Clash hit the big-time quite squarely in the kisser with "Combat Rock", their post-punk classic. You'll have heard "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I stay of should I go" 20 million times on Virgin Radio in the UK (they did do other tunes boys!!!) so I'll tell you about the fantastic "Straight to hell" and the brilliant "Atom tan" and "Sean Flynn". The good ideas do slow up towards the end but the LP will keep your foot tapping/body pogo-ing right to the end...depending on how old you are.
Submitted by a reviewer (Somewhere in England)
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