The Clash
	Produced by Mickey Foote
	Released on April 8, 1977
	UK CHART POSITION #12 . . . US CHART POSITION #126 . . . GOLD RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
EK 36060 cover [high resolution scan]

H ere’s how it went down, history buffs: The Sex Pistols fired the first shot, a riot ensued, and The Clash came out the victors. Released in the UK, The Clash’s debut album actually beat Bollocks to market by six months (though “Anarchy in the U.K.” trumped everything). After 1977, nothing would be the same; the rules had changed. Fittingly, England’s revolution arrived here in the import bins. The album didn’t get a proper US release until 1979, and only as a radically revised version that took advantage of all the singles in between. The US version is thus an early best-of album, not as historically important as the original UK elpee but a bigger bang for the buck. The original UK release did contain some great moments: “White Riot,” “Remote Control,” “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.,” “London’s Burning.” But The Clash grew fast like fungus. The strides made on “Clash City Rockers” and “White Man in Hammersmith Palais” sounded years removed from “Garageland,” not months. It was like they knew they were playing on borrowed time and tried to cram ten years of musical development into a five-year span. Of the early punk bands (and punk is a poor label, since what separates The Clash from The Who is fashion, not fundamentals), none took their music so seriously. The Pistols were a publicity stunt, The Buzzcocks simple (but brilliant) balladeers. The Clash weren’t mere anarchists but architects who dragged rock kicking and screaming into the next stage of design. They weren’t perfectionists, the results weren’t always pretty, but every song was an opportunity to tweak the formula. Especially in the twin-guitar attack of Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, you’ll hear what sounds like walls of noise merge into unlikely music. The Pistols may get credit for the revolution, but they were sloganeers who simply attracted the media. The Clash articulated punk for the restless intellectuals, who in turn elevated it to an art form.

EK 36060 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. JANIE JONES
2. REMOTE CONTROL
3. I'M SO BORED WITH THE U.S.A.
4. WHITE RIOT
5. HATE AND WAR
6. WHAT'S MY NAME
7. DENY
8. LONDON'S BURNING
9. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
10. CHEAT
11. PROTEX BLUE
12. POLICE AND THIEVES
13. 48 HOURS
14. GARAGELAND
    
    US reissue track listing
    
1. CLASH CITY ROCKERS
2. I'M SO BORED WITH THE U.S.A.
3. REMOTE CONTROL
4. COMPLETE CONTROL
5. WHITE RIOT
6. WHITE MAN IN HAMMERSMITH PALAIS
7. LONDON'S BURNING
8. I FOUGHT THE LAW    (Sonny Curtis)
9. JANIE JONES
10. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
11. WHAT'S MY NAME    (Joe Strummer/Mick Jones/Keith Levine)
12. HATE AND WAR
13. POLICE AND THIEVES    (Junior Murvin/Lee Parry)
14. JAIL GUITAR DOORS
15. GARAGELAND
    
    Bonus 7-inch with original US release
    
1. GATES OF THE WEST
2. GROOVY TIMES
   
   All songs written by Joe Strummer/Mick Jones unless noted

CREDITS

TORY CRIMES -- drums
MICK JONES -- guitars, vocals
PAUL SIMONON -- bass
JOE STRUMMER -- guitars, vocals
Kate Simon -- front photograph
Rocco Macauley -- back photography

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