Tighten Up Vol. '88
	Produced by Mick Jones
	Released on June 1988
	UK CHART POSITION #33 . . . US CHART POSITION #102
	Find it at GEMM
CK 44074 cover [high resolution scan]

T aking the single “Just Play Music!” to heart, this isn’t the choppy multimedia experience of old. True, Don Letts still slips film dialogue into the crevices, but he more often mimics instruments that fit better into the traditional structure of a song. Held up to the high standard of The Clash, the songs aren’t as catchy or angry as they ought to be, but hopefully you’ve already come to terms with that by album the third. To my ears, the opening “Rock Non Stop” is a fair match for “C’mon Every Beatbox,” and “Other 99” gets under my skin like “V. Thirteen,” so I’d rank this right alongside their last album. Of course, it’s hard to listen to BAD without hearing the air fizzle out of the great helium Clash balloon, especially since Joe Strummer opted out of carrying the standard. But I’d argue that Big Audio Dynamite is worth tuning in for, especially if you found Combat Rock intriguing. The melodies are winning, the presentation interesting, and Mick Jones’ voice charming in a sleepy sort of way. If you’re looking for blows against the empire, however, you’ll have to settle for Jones and company poking holes in more conventional targets like domestic bliss (“Applecart”), racism (“Funny Names”) and Imelda Marcos (“2000 Shoes”). I guess that’s the trouble with listening to Big Audio Dynamite in general and Tighten Up, Vol. 88 in particular: it’s a little like hearing V.I. Lenin complain about the bourgeois extravagance of two-ply toilet paper. The Clash helped write the soundtrack to the revolution, and with Big Audio Dynamite Jones seems content simply to be a musician. Tighten Up is a good record, more musical than I expected and solid from end to end, but I think more people were interested in catching a glimpse of the ghost than following Jones down his cross-cultural, cross-media path.

CK 44074 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ROCK NON STOP (ALL NIGHT LONG)    (Jones/Letts/Donovan)
2. OTHER 99    (Jones/Letts)
3. FUNNY NAMES    (Jones/Letts)
4. APPLECART    (Jones/Roberts)
5. ESQUERITA    (Jones)
6. CHAMPAGNE    (Jones/Donovan)
7. MR. WALKER SAID    (Jones/Letts/Roberts)
8. THE BATTLE OF ALL SAINTS ROAD    (Jones/Letts; "The Battle of New Orleans" - traditional; "Duelin' Banjos" - Smith)
9. HIP, NECK & THIGH    (Jones/Letts)
10. 2000 SHOES    (Letts/Roberts/Donovan)
11. TIGHTEN UP VOL. '88    (Jones/Letts/Roberts/Williams)
12. JUST PLAY MUSIC!    (Jones/Letts/Roberts)

CREDITS

DAN DONOVAN -- keyboards, vocs, back sleeve photograph
MICK JONES -- vocs, guitar
DON LETTS -- fx, vocs
GREG ROBERTS -- drums, vocs
LEO "E-ZEE-KILL" WILLIAMS -- bass, vocs
Paul "Groucho" Smykle -- engineer, mixing
Paul Simonon -- cover painting
Josh Cheuse -- back sleeve photograph
Kiely Jenkins -- inner sleeve illustration
D.D. & Designlines -- artwork

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