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The Clash - London Calling [Epic - 1979]This isn't the kind of music you put on to annoy your parents. Hell, they might even sing along! To me this sounds like very eclectic rock music done with the punk attitude and ideology. This really is nothing like what is considered punk these days: on this album you can find, aside from punk (I should probably call it proto-punk), reggae, lougne music, ska, rockabilly and R&B.This melting pot of styles isn't that surprising considering that this album comes from a time when punk-rock wasn't so much a particular sound as it was an attitude and methodology. You'd expect proto-punk to be primal and ugly but most numbers are surprisingly poppy and, oh surprise, these guys can actually play their instruments with proficiency and write songs! Of course The Clash didn't always sound as polished and parent-friendly; for example, on their first album they had the whole typical punk deal going on: crappy production, ugly angry songs and snotty British accent. Even if it was a very good album and possibly had a higher punk-rock historical value, let me tell you that London Calling is something else! What we have here is a piece of rock & roll history!We get anthemic numbers like "London Calling", "Death or Glory" and "Brand New Cadillac", poppy ballads with sweet backing vocals like "Lover's Rock", piano and horn on "Wrong 'em Boyo", clean guitars and a walking bassline on "Jimmy Jazz", political messages sung in Spanish in "Spanish Bombs", something that could be in a Broadway musical on "The Right Profile", vinyl scratching and catchy reggae on "The Guns of Brixton", an attempted Jamaican accent on "Revolution Rock" and even a song that sounds exactly (except that there is no bursts of noise) like Sonic Youth's mellower moments with "Lost in the Supermarket". All in all, calling this album diverse is an understatement!The production is surprisingly clear and professional (considering it's a "punk" album that was recorded in 1979). Of course, maybe the reissue from 1999 has a better sound than the original, but the attention to detail would still be present even with inferior sound quality: they use a whole palette of instruments through the whole album to make the sound fuller (piano, horns, percussions, etc), the use of backing vocals is very well implemented, the drumming has that groovy quality to it and the guitar tone changes through the album to better serve the songs. It's clear that it wasn't recorded in a garage.So, everything taken into consideration, I think this is a marvelous double album with a wealth of great material (65 minutes running time, 19 tracks) and an important piece of music history, but I'm not sure to who I would recommend it. I suppose that anybody with an open mind would enjoy it, just don't expect something that sounds like Pennywise. 
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|  | | The Clash - London Calling | This isn't the kind of music you put on to annoy your parents. Hell, they might even sing along! To me this sounds like very eclectic rock music done with th...
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