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Ink Blot Magazine's Review of London Calling

Here The Clash shake off punk's straightjacket and try on every musical zoot suit they take a fancy to; yet despite the manic ambition, it's all wound tight as a golf ball. Nineteen tracks, 66 minutes and it never blinks. Where many double albums sprawl and stumble, London Calling gets more focused with every track, until the ferocious hidden kiss-off "Train In Vain" sends you back to side one.

Jones and Strummer's lyrics (and Simonon's, on the fantastic skank "The Guns of Brixton") certainly do, not least because you can't make out what they're saying most of the time. But muddle through the cockney thug vocals and you'll find sharp characterizations, funny storytelling and righteous enthusiasm. Like most pop lyricists, their politics are really shallow sloganeering, but here they're so interesting. Andalucian revolutionaries, washed-up movie stars, Yardies and Welsh gangsters - London Calling invites them all to the apocalyptic rally.

Of course, the soundtrack is even more extraordinary. The title track is rock pounding on reggae's door, and "The Guns of Brixton" is what happens when it breaks down. "Rudie Can't Fail" and "Hateful" are joyous blasts of Bo Diddley gone ska, while "Clampdown" and "Death or Glory" are pure anthems on the flip side of "Jimmy Jazz" and its low-key year-zero rock.

London Calling does so much, so well, it's really required listening. If you don't like this album, you probably don't like rock 'n' roll.

If you like The Clash check out: Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions The Jam Snap Various Atlantic Soul Classics Various Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music

-- jf

From Ink Blot Magazine