The four songs that have been unavailable in America for so long are short sharp shocks: "Deny," "Cheat," "Protex Blue" and "48 Hours," delineating the world of the young UK citizen of the time. Very tough, nihilistic, and very very serious. But of course the most amazing song here is "Police and Thieves," a compassionate reggae hit of that year that the Clash made completely their own. Bands today are still trying to nail the formula that the Clash perfected here with this example of how rock can blend with reggae. Keep trying is all I gotta say. There's such a sense of drama and despair in the song it gives me goosebumps.

"The Clash" is far and away the single greatest punk album of any year. It is a textbook for future bands. It's vision of a world in flames, of oppression and self-determination, of crisis and indignant fury. The Clash realized just what a powerful tool rock'n'roll could be to voice the frustration and boredom of a lost generation and they did it like no one else. The Sex Pistols, the Ramones, the Dolls, Iggy, etc. etc., may have been the catalysts, but the Clash were the guys who understood what punk could mean on a worldwide scale, as each subsequent album ventured further and further from the confines of the United Kingdom. This is it, folks: Punk's Ground Zero Year One. The Clash: Still the only band that matters.


Clash paints a picture of 70's working class Britain   March 20, 2004
 20 out of 24 found this review helpful

If not the most popular of the wave of classic British punk, then certainly the most politically radical. The quartet consisted of Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, (ex-101ers), bassist Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky Headon. The group's name came from a word found in London tabloid describing British class and race riots in the 1970's Britain. Songs from their classic debut album do just that. Highlights follow.

The visceral hard-edged guitar and drums and in-your-face vocals, is demonstrated with "Clash City Rockers." "I'm So Bored With The USA" takes on the US military and political establishment, US foreign policy, and political corruption, with a Sex Pistols-like guitar from "Pretty Vacant." But despite being bored with the USA, "what can I do?" underlies helplessness of overpowering US hegemonism.

Punk power was demonstrated in two ways in "Remote Control." The song denounces the power of government and big business. However, CBS Records released this song without their permission. While this song isn't as hard-driving as others, it does have some worthy guitar riffs.

The group lashed back at CBS with the hard "Complete Control." The issue about control of single releases is evident here, but the song's also about how the fan-band interraction is hampered by security throwing the fans out. At the end, Strummer screams out "Total C-o-n control-that means you!" meaning his fans.

After a police siren, a grinding, fast-paced guitar sets the pace for "White Riot," calling for the white working class to stand up for their rights just like the blacks had at Notting Hill Gate. School is a place "where they teach you how to be thick" (true!) and the rich have all the power.

One of the best songs they put out is the reggae-influenced "White Man In Hammersmith Palais," which is a nod to black culture and people, who fight for something instead of among themselves like punkers, but also details the harassment they get from the police and army: "The British army is waiting out there/An' it weighs fifteen hundred tons." The solution to their poverty: some wealth distribution from some Robin Hood.

"London's burning! london's burning!" Anthemic guitars, but no, it's not about a riot but how London is burning with boredom, burned out with traffic jams and the usual subway ride and becoming vegged out on the tube.

This reading of the Crickets' "I Fought The Law" (no, Bobby Fuller did NOT originally do it!) is the best rendition I've heard, with the power guitar and galloping and thundering drums.
Breakin' rocks in the hot sun. Very apropros for the anti-copper attitude of the time.

The first of two job songs. The boyfriend of "Janie Jones" hates his boring job, with a neverending in-tray and a jerk of a boss, leading to a confrontation: "This time he's gonna really tell the boss/Gonna really let him know exactly how he feels." And one of my favourite songs, "Career Opportunities" is about economic dead ends, with words growled at breakneck pace: "They offered me the office, offered me the Shop/They said i'd better take anything they'd got." Indeed, "Career opportunities are the ones that never knock/Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock."

The condemnation on racism of "Police And Thieves" has reggae-influenced guitar riffs and vocals and predicts a cataclysmic result from the police and thieves who are scaring and fighting "the nation with their guns and ammunition."

Youth identity and feeling alienated and not belonging is the theme behind "What's My Name," be it at home, being in trouble with the law, leading to burglary.

An all-out assault of unleashed energy, the Clash's debut album demonstrates their taking social and socialist realism to artistic and political levels.


Sony Music = CHEAPSKATES!   June 7, 2001
 18 out of 18 found this review helpful

The one-star rating has nothing to do with what Mick, Paul + Joe were doing in 1977 and everything to do with the avarice shown by their record label in 2000. I have no intention of debating whether the US or UK version is better, either (although personally, I'll take "Clash City Rockers" and "...Hammersmith Palais" over "Protex Blue" and "Cheat" any day). The fact of the matter is, Sony should have put out one disc with all the tracks on it, rendering all such arguments moot.


At Last this Cohesive Masterpiece is Ours   February 7, 2000
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

After 23 years, the Clash's first album is finally available in America, with its original UK program, running order, and artwork. The US version is a fine album, with good, later songs replacing four of the originals, but it sounds a bit of a confused patchwork. The added songs, some of them recorded more than a year after the UK album, slow down the program and dillute its message and power.

The Clash recorded this album over two weekends in early 1977, and the passion and single-mindedness of the performances made it almost a concept album: it had range and variety but an almost obsessive focus on young, down-and-out life on London's streets. Its insight, humor, hangdog defiance and rock power made it one of the greatest albums of all time.

By meddling with its content and sequencing, the executives at CBS made a technically superior product (the US version) that lacks the soul and drive of the original. "Clash City Rockers" is just mediocre; "White Man at Hammersmith Palais" has a style and theme that seem out of place here; "I fought the Law" effaces the other songs' scabby realism with silly, cowboy braggadocio; "Jail Guitar Doors" is an irrelevant outtake from Strummer's 101'ers days. And how could these CBS execs have failed to see "Janie Jones" for the perfect album opener that it is?

But the original masterpiece is now in the stores, so rejoice! And hear the Clash's first statement as it was meant to be heard.