London Calling re-issue

[mayer]

this time not just a clean up and pretty inlay, but some lush looking bonus stuff.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A disc of recently discovered demos for the Clash's "London Calling" and a DVD boasting previously unseen live performance footage will be included in Epic Records' Sept. 21 reissue of the English punk band's landmark 1979 album.

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on the downside i'll have two copies of the thing on CD.

i guess i finally know the ire of all the old folk who rebought their record collections on CD in the 80s and 90s. having said that, i think i already do, as i've already got it on vinyl too....


it does look like a fantastic and worthy re-issue this one though.

[Dr David V]

I've mentioned this before, but have you heard this? It's London Calling remixed, glitched and spliced to buggery with tracks by Bubba Sparxxx, Fatboy Slim, Peaches, Aphex Twin, and the jingle from the Coca Cola adverts. It's better than I've made it sound. Worth a listen if you're a Clash fan.

Nice to hear about the re-issue, I'll have a look out for that in September.

[dan dirty ape]

This sounds like a must. The world can't have enough live footage of the Clash.

These songs that didn't make the final album are intriguing. 'Death Or Glory' was originally written by Joe Strummer as a piano ballad so it'll be interesting to hear if a version of that's on there.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Yay! Another Clash DVD is always good news. And 3 days before my birthday. All of you should read Return of the Last Gang in Town by Marcus Gray, it's brilliant. It's great to hear all the stories behind your favourite songs, how they were written and recorded etc.

[dan dirty ape]

All of you should read Return of the Last Gang in Town by Marcus Gray, it's brilliant. It's great to hear all the stories behind your favourite songs, how they were written and recorded etc.

Seconded, once you get past the slightly tedious first chapters about all the bands Mick Jones was ever in before he met Paul Simonon.  As a fan I found the parts dealing with recording 'Combat Rock' and the souring relationship between Jones and Strummer fascinating reading.  There's a really great section detailing when Joe Strummer went AWOL and fucked off to France.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

All of you should read Return of the Last Gang in Town by Marcus Gray, it's brilliant. It's great to hear all the stories behind your favourite songs, how they were written and recorded etc.

Seconded, once you get past the slightly tedious first chapters about all the bands Mick Jones was ever in before he met Paul Simonon.  As a fan I found the parts dealing with recording 'Combat Rock' and the souring relationship between Jones and Strummer fascinating reading.  There's a really great section detailing when Joe Strummer went AWOL and fucked off to France.

It does drag a little at the start, I thought it was going to be terrible after the first few pages. There are lots of nice anecdotes though aren't there, like the whole Strummer going to France one you mentioned. I remember laughing at one bit which talked about how at one recording session Mick's Les Paul fell over and the neck of it broke. He was so upset about this that he had to go home and recording had to be stopped for that day while he got over it.
Anyway, the new reissue. The guardian said this today:

Two dozen Clash tracks that had been lost for 25 years have been found in guitarist Mick Jones's lockup. Many were at one time intended for the band's classic album London Calling.

According to bassist Paul Simonon, the rediscovered recordings capture the Clash entering a particularly creative period as their early punk/rock sound expanded into rockabilly, funk and bossa nova - what Simonon calls Cinemascope. "At the time we were constantly moving forward," he recalls, "and as soon as something was done we were onto the next thing. You can really hear us bouncing ideas around."

Many of the tracks - including Working and Waiting, Heart and Mind, Canalside Walk and Revolution Rock - will finally be released in September as part of Sony's 25th-anniversary double-CD edition of London Calling.

Two dozen?!?
Those sound interesting, I don't think I've heard of Canalside Walk before although I'm sure ROTLGIT must mention it somewhere. But what are they talking about with Revolution Rock? I've got the instrumental on some vinyl bootleg somewhere called 'Rudeboy Rock' (originally from the Rudeboy soundtrack), but it can't mean this if it has only just been found in Jones' 'lockup'.

[mr suit]

bump

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Out tommorrow folks. I can't wait.

[non capisco]

I'm practically drooling in anticipation of the DVD that comes with it. Actual footage of Guy Stevens chucking mentals in the studio, UNSEEN LIVE CLASH FOOTAGE! The Vanilla Tape stuff's supposed to mostly be sketchy embryonic versions of 'London Calling' songs proper rather than unearthed Clash classics-in-waiting, but even the prospect of 'Rudi Can't Fail' played on pots and pans thrills the Clash geek in me.

So, see yuz here tomorrow evening for discussion and opinions, then?

[splattermac]

cheap at play.com

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Isn't it great? I've just finished watching the documentary and rehearsal footage. The footage is class, I never knew it was going to be a completely different feature on the disc and am so glad it is. Bits like when they are jamming to Louie Louie are an absolute joy to watch, that little bit especially shows what a great drummer Topper was. I remember reading one thing that said during the whole recording of London Calling Topper made absolutely no mistakes apart from when he was challenged to play one of the songs backwards which he did fine on the second attempt. Guy Stevens was a right psycho though wasn't he? The footage of him with Joe at the start when Joe is recording the vocals for Four Horsemen etc is good. I haven't even started listening to the Vanilla tapes yet. This really was such a good release, even the packaging is lovely, the little booklet that comes with it is really interesting too with all the handwritten stuff.
I'm a happy chappy.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Come on, has no one else got this? I've just listened to the vanilla tapes cd, very good. Other than the non released tracks, the instrumentals are the most interesting things for me, the Hateful and Clampdown tracks are great. What a bargain: the original album, the vanilla tapes and a dvd for just over a tenner.

[non capisco]

Got it today. The Don Letts documentary on the DVD is great, isn't it? I especially like the footage of Guy Stevens jumping around like a berk and almost colliding into Mick, and all Kosmo Vinyl's excitable contributions.  I know it's taken from the same set of interviews as 'Westway To The World', but I still can't get over how wizened Topper looks these days.

'The Vanilla Tapes' are really interesting, especially the original 'London Calling' and 'Paul's Tune' aka 'Guns Of Brixton'. ("Just do a reggae intro!") I really wish they'd done a proper studio recording of Dylan's 'The Man In Me'. Funnily enough, after hearing it in the opening credits to 'The Big Lebowski' I always thought it'd sound great with Joe Strummer singing it.

Handsome package all in all. I'd love to see a documentary about the making of 'Sandinista!' next year, although I doubt it'll warrant 'legacy edition' status.

[Mr Colossal]

I don't know if anybodys heard of Skindred? They're another Newport band , half of a previous band called  'Dubwar' Only with a Ragga frontman and a 'wicked bass player', creating a distinct Rag-Rock Sound. I think  possibly at one stage they were one of the biggest unsigned in the country...

Well they do a song called 'The Fear' which isn't exactly a cover, more of a rework using the same lyric/chordal patterns as London Calling, i think they worked with, or it was at least approved by Mr Strummer himself. Its quite good.

[The Man With Brass Eyes]

Had the £6.99 London Calling in my hands ready to buy.  the guy at the till did somekind of mind-trick on me to get me to upgrade to the 25th Anniversary edition.

Wow - London Calling - a seriously good album.   It's so varied.
It's the first time I've ever heard it as an album.  I think I'd only heard London Calling and Rudie from Grosse Pointe Blank before.

I also had a craving to see Grosse Pointe Blank - & watched it again at the w/e with its wonderful Strummer soundtrack.