Rewind 1978: Give 'Em Enough Rope - The Clash Released

It's been awhile since I revisited the second album by The Clash, 'Give 'Em Enough Rope', that was released on this day in 1978 and a FB friend Crawford Smith reminded me of it today so I thought what better way to spend an hour or so than taking some time with fresh ears to give it a spin?

  Give 'Em Enough Rope - The Clash

CBS

Produced by Sandy Pearlman

Released 10th November 1978

UK Chart #2

US Chart #128

Personnel
    Joe Strummer – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar
    Mick Jones – lead guitar, backing and lead vocals
    Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals
    Topper Headon – drums
    Allen Lanier - piano on "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" (uncredited)

CBS wanted a much clearer sound than the debut album and enlisted Sandy Pearlman to be the Producer. He was best known for founding, writing for, producing, or co-producing many LPs by Blue Öyster Cult. It seemed like an odd pairing and it probably didn't help that Pearlman didn't particularly like Joe Strummer's voice and so he mixed the drums to be louder than Joe's vocal! This cleaner sound CBS were hoping would make the band more accesible to American audiences and of course to American Radio, after all this would be the American Debut Album by The Clash. CBS in America had decided that the actual debut album was 'not radio friendly', so it was initially only available in the States during 1977–1978 as an import, and as such became the best-selling import of the year, selling over 100,000 copies. It was eventually released with a very revised tracklist on 26th July 1979.

Between March-April 1978 The Clash recorded the album along with '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais', 'The Prisoner', '1-2 Crush on You' and 'Pressure Drop'. Four more songs were recorded: 'One Emotion', 'Groovy Times', 'Ooh Baby Ooh (It's Not Over)' (AKA 'Rusted Chrome', later reworked and released as 'Gates of the West') and 'RAF 1810'.

On its release it was taken to the cleaners by Melody Maker's Jon Savage and didn't fair so well with other UK critics, though Sounds did name it Album of the Year.

In the States Greil Marcus, writing for Rolling Stone, said it was:

 "a poised, unpretentious record of straight English punk with a grip on the future"

I remember at the time that friends who liked The Clash were quite dismissive of it as well, toeing a similar line to the music press, and that was mainly due to Sandy Pearlman's involvement I think.

A1 Safe European Home⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A2 English Civil War⭐⭐⭐⭐
A3 Tommy Gun⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A4 Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad⭐⭐
A5 Last Gang In Town⭐⭐⭐⭐

B1 Guns On The Roof⭐⭐⭐
B2 Drug-Stabbing Time⭐⭐⭐
B3 Stay Free⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
B4 Cheapskates⭐⭐⭐⭐
B5 All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)⭐⭐⭐

It's funny re-reading the old review of the album by Jon Savage and coming across the line:

"Stay Free is embarrassing in the failure of Mick Jones' vocal to carry the weight of the song, overburdened by 'tasteful' arrangements and the attempt at personal dedication."

 Two singles were released from the album:

Tommy Gun / 1-2 Crush On You
24 November 1978
UK Chart #19

 Danny Baker on Tommy Gun 

NME 25th November 1978:
"This track has been around since early this year, and isn't made any more attractive by a shabby rendering of the ancient '1-2 Crush On You' on the B-Side (complete with Pleasers-style rising "Ah's" on the intro). With (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, I thought The Clash were untouchable, but this is a sad report on the state of things. Collectors Item?" 

 

English Civil War / Pressure Drop
23rd February 1979
UK Chart #25

Danny Baker (again!) on English Civil War

NME 24 February 1979:
"A wise enough if miscued and rock 'n' rolly warning about all things uniformed and sinister that this chap can flow easier to than any tuppenny ha'penny 'Oliver's Army'. But then it was a CBS choice, we hear. The flip is the old Toots 'Pressure Drop' from the set of yore but done more professionally, less manic. Now is this a good thing? It sounds OK anyway and they at least feel  - which is more can be said for the disgusting rubbish "Ol' Keef" pays his bills with. Despite myself, The Clash are still the only rock group I would cross the road for."

After 43 years the album still sounds good. My view of 'Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad' hasn't changed since I first heard it, possibly the weakest song on the album. The presence of Topper on the drums certainly made a difference and added a bigger sound to the band (no disrespect to Terry Chimes who played on the debut) and no matter what Jon Savage thinks 'Stay Free' is still one of the finest songs by The Clash.

If I was hearing this album for the first time ever I would be tempted to give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating.

Live at The Lyceum 28th December 1978

 Live at The Lyceum 29th December 1978

20 Years of Satellite - P.O.D.

P.O.D. (Payable On Death) are a year away from 30 years in the music biz and since then they have released 11 Studio albums, a couple live albums, over twenty singles, a couple of EPs and released around 26 music videos. Sonny, Wuv and Marcos have actually been playing together since 1991. In 1992 that they became P.O.D. and have barely missed a beat. In all that time they have only had three line up changes, original bassist Gabe Portillo left the band in 1993 with current Bassist Traa Daniels replacing him; the second was in 2003 when Guitarist Marcos Curial departed to be replaced by Jason Truby (formerly of Living Sacrifice); and then thirdly, when Marcos asked to rejoin the band three years later on the same day that Jason Truby handed in his request to leave for pastures new. The line up has pretty much remained solid since.

Their second album release on Atlantic Records, Satellite, enhanced their career further than their major label debut The Fundamental Elements of Southtown did. It broke into the Billboard Charts peaking at #6 and was their first and only UK Top 20 album. It followed on the back of a highly successful single, Alive, and a riviting music video that set MTV ablaze!

What often gets lost, when consideration of Satellite comes up for debate, is the circumstances into which it was released and the impact that it had at the time.

Tuesday 1lth September 2001 (forever known as 9/11), would have been a normal Record Release Day and the prospect that night of playing live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno lay ahead for the band. That performance never happened that night (they would eventually perform on the 5th October 2001) because the script for that day was torn up and rewritten in a manner nobody could ever imagined as two planes were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York, another plane hit The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and a fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on that Tuesday morning. The attacks resulted in 2,977 fatalities, over 25,000 injuries, and substantial long-term health consequences, in addition to at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Satellite - P.O.D. Atlantic Records Produced by Howard Benson and P.O.D. Released 11th September 2001 US Chart #6 UK Chart #16 Australian Chart #19 New Zealand Chart #4 German Chart #5

P.O.D. Sonny Sandoval – vocals. Marcos Curiel – guitars, backing vocals. Traa Daniels – bass guitar, backing vocals. Wuv Bernardo – drums, percussion.
Additional musicians on Satellite
Howard Benson – Keyboards, Loops
Larry Corbett – Cello
Joel Derouin – Violin
Christian Lindskog (of Blindside) – Additional vocals on "Anything Right"
Eek-A-Mouse – Additional vocals on "Ridiculous"
H.R. (of Bad Brains) – Additional vocals on "Without Jah, Nothin"
Suzie Katayama – Conductor, string arrangements

The album saw the band blend the sounds of Metal, Punk, Hardcore, Screamo, Reggae and Rap over the course of 15 tracks. Lyrically it would take on new meanings for listeners far and wide the day after 9/11 with it's spotlight shining on the spiritual positivity in the midst of hard times and dark days of sadness and loss:

"RISE - Let your spirit fly
RISE- Stand up for yourself
RISE- Hold your head up high"
- Set It Off
"Everyday is a new day
I'm thankful for every breath I take
I won't take it for granted
So I learn from my mistakes
It’s beyond my control, sometimes it’s best to let go
Whatever happens in this lifetime
So I trust in love
You have given me peace of mind"
- Alive
"Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim
No matter what you say
It don't take away the pain
That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies
Don't nobody know why
It's the blind leading the blind

I guess that's the way the story goes
Will it ever make sense
Somebody's got to know

There's got to be more to life than this
There's got to be more to everything
I thought exists"
- Youth of The Nation
"Because I won't break (nah), and I won't shake (nah)
With lifted hands to this Man (Jah), I'll stand in faith
I'll make it through, my trust in you
Close my eyes, make a wish, kiss the sky"
- Satellite
"I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I know who you are
I know you will complete this work started in me
I need you more than ever now that I've come so far"
- Ridiculous
"This I pledge, and I'll take it to my death
I'll lay my life down for you and die over again
I and I, I'm not ashamed of the Most High
Even if I die tonight, if I die tonight
This I pledge, and I'll take it to my death
You can bet your life on my words and everything I said
You can't take away my love for this sacrifice
Even if I die tonight, if I die tonight"
- The Messenjah
"I believe you and I will overcome
I believe you and I believe in love

Whether you think I'm so confused
Or if you feel the way I do
So don't give in to this hate within

Living in this world of pain
Don't let it bring you down
The world is a ghetto"
- Ghetto
"I'm thinking about forever (missing you)
I know you're so much better (we made it through)

Now I know what it means to live for someone else
To give up yourself
Things have changed, at times it gets kind of strange
Your love remains the same
Do I make you proud? Mama, can you see me now?
Whatever is good in me is because you showed me how to take love by the hand
And so now I can share you with my baby
So that she can understand"
- Thinking About Forever
"I surrender, giving up all that is me
Yielding to you
Shape me in my brokeness
Empower me forever"
- Portrait

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since that dark and terrible day in America. What has unfolded in the world we live in since then still leaves many heartbroken with loss of loved ones and where one enemy seems to have been vanquished another has arisen to carry out even more atrocities in many places across the globe.

More than ever the lyrics of these songs on Satellite seem to be calling out afresh to us to open our ears to hear and a call to our hearts to remain steadfast in the fight to put out the flames of fear and hatred that seem to be prevailing at this time and embrace something better for us as individuals and as a society.

To celebrate 20 Years since Satellite was released, P.O.D. earlier this year filmed a performance of the album in full along with two other sets (B-sides, Rarities & Hits Set and also a full performance of The Fundamental Elements of Southtown album). The Satellite Over Southtown event was filmed at Petco Park in San Diego and was streamed on the Web over three nights in May and June (see poster above).

A new Remaster of the album has recently been released that includes four previously unreleased demos, four B-sides and four Remixes. You can listen to the Satellite Expanded Edition Here.

The Day The Earth Stood Still - Willie Nile (2021)

"Jersey has Bruce Springsteen, but New York has Willie Nile" (Elmore Magazine, May 2020).

"Willie’s so good I can’t believe he’s not from New Jersey!" – Little Steven

"The unofficial poet laureate of New York City." - Uncut (UK music Magazine)

Released on the 13th August 2021, 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' is Willie Nile's 14th Studio album (his 10th since the 2006 release of 'Streets of New York'). It is also his 12th album to be released on his own River House Records.

In a March 2020 interview by Jam Band News, Willie Nile said, "I like the independent world. There are no constraints and you can work at your own speed. I’ve no complaints about having been on major labels. I was on two of them and I was able to do what I wanted to do. But things have changed so much in the music business that being independent allows for so many more options."

1. The Day The Earth Stood Still

The album was inspired by the sight of Nile's beloved hometown temporarily turned into a desolate ghost town. "It came from seeing the deserted streets of downtown Manhattan, with all the shops and stores boarded up and all these beautiful buildings looking down on everything. But one Friday night last June, crossing Varick Street, I realized that there wasn't a car in sight, and that I could have laid down in the middle of the street without anyone noticing. The title The Day the Earth Stood Still hit me, and I carried it around for awhile, and eventually it sparked this set of songs."

2. Sanctuary

3. Where There's A Willie There's A Way

4. Blood On Your Hands (featuring Steve Earle)

5. The Justice Bell (For John Lewis)

'The Justice Bell' was inspired by an encounter Willie had with the late civil rights icon and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.

6. Expect Change

7. I Don't Remember You

8. Off My Medication

'Off My Medication' is a darkly humorous look at mental health, which became a significant source of struggle for many in the past 18 months due to the pandemic.

9. I Will Stand

10. Time To Be Great

11. Way Of The Heart

"I’m so proud of this album," Nile said. "It was born of a pandemic nightmare, but I think that it offers hope, and passion, for better days to come. That’s what I need, as a person and an artist. And everyone brought their “A” game to the studio."

"After all these years I’m still feeling the passion and the power and the pull of rock ’n’ roll as a way out, as a vehicle that can offer salvation and redemption and joy in this crazy-ass world. Here’s to more music and magic on the road ahead!"

Billy Idol - Quietly Yelling on a New EP!

It's been a few years (seven to be precise) since we heard something new from William Michael Albert Broad, better known to you and I as Billy Idol. He's been around doing other stuff like appearing with Miley Cyrus on her November 2020 album 'Plastic Hearts' duetting on 'Night Crawling'. In 2018 he became a US Citzen and also teamed up with former Generation X bandmate Tony James and former Sex Pistols Steve Jones & Paul Cook to perform as Generation Sex at a free show in LA at The Roxy at the end of October (watch it here!).

On 7th October 2014 he published 'Dancing With Myself', which became a New York Times Bestseller (not quite sure how many you have to sell to make that list).

Ten days after the release the book came the first album of new material since Devil's Playground (2005) and only his third album in over twenty years!

Listen To 'Kings & Queens of the Underground' Here.

A new four track EP will be called 'The Roadside EP' will be released in September on George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records, recently revitalized by his son Dhani. The First song from it, 'Bitter Taste'. was released as a "single" and video yesterday. The track, recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic, finds Idol looking back at his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident, a crash that almost resulted in him losing a leg and left him unable to walk for nearly a year.

“I think everyone has been feeling more reflective (during the pandemic). So, it seemed quite logical and natural to write something about my motorcycle accident,” Idol said in a statement. “Certainly, the motorcycle accident was the catharsis, the wake-up moment. A little bit of me got left on that roadside. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in the end; it was a wake-up call. Maybe on that roadside I left behind the irreverent youthful Billy and opened the door for a more attentive father and a more sensitive musician”

Buddy Guy - Still Got the Blues at 85 Years Old!

Born on 30th July 1936 down in Lettsworth, Louisiana, the one and only Buddy Guy is celebrating his 85th Birthday today.

"Guitar Legends do not come any better than Buddy Guy. He is feted by his peers and loved by his fans for his ability to make the guitar both talk and cry the blues. Such is Buddy's mastery of the guitar that there is virtually no guitarist that he cannot imitate." - Bill Wyman, former Bassist of The Rolling Stones.

Buddy Guy may have had to wait many years before he achieved some mainstream success but back in the 60's he was touted as one of the finest Bluesmen by the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix (who stole a few of Buddy's moves), Jimmy Page and has influenced the likes of Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer along the way.

By the age of 21 (1957) he had moved to Chicago and in 1958 managed to get a record deal with the Cobra subsidiary, Artistic. He released two singles ('Sit and Cry (The Blues)' in 1958' and 'You Sure Can't Do' in 1959), the second featuring Ike Turner on guitar. He was signed by Chess Records in 1959 and became the House Guitarist at the label. He recorded as a session guitarist alongside a number of the greats like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson. He did release a dozen or so singles on Chess between 1960 - 1969, but only one album for Chess Records, 'I Left My Blues in San Francisco', which was released in 1967.

It was probably around 1979 or 1980 that I first started trawling shops for old Blues records. I was only 16 going on 17 and while I had heard some Blues before I had never really taken much of an interest in the artists who performed it until The Blues Band and Nine Below Zero began playing at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street. I was keen to discover many of the original artists and the name Buddy Guy kept coming up so I checked him out by finding some albums he had done with Junior Wells and some of the recordings he had appeared on while on Chess Records. They were not exactly easy things to find from what I recall. Fast forwards to 1991 and I was listening to Richard Skinner one Saturday Afternoon and he played 'Damn' Right I Got The Blues' and said that it was from a new album by Buddy Guy. I can remember rushing out to see if I could find a copy and being absolutely blown away by it. He was touring the album and had a date in Glasgow and I managed to get a ticket. Support act for the night was a fella called John Campbell (who was brilliant and I was transfixed by the sheer power and emotion of his set). B.B. King and Dion DiMucci were probably the oldest artists I had ever seen at this point in my life and here was another one who seemed to have lived the kind of life he was singing about. There was no pomp, no believing he was above everyone else just because he was on stage but just a depth of gratefulness that he had the opportunity to share some songs he and others had written among a company of friends who would understand.

Ever since that concert and album I haven't missed a new record of his and he rarely has disappointed. It's great that he is still playing and making music and he's getting the recognition he deserves (half a dozen Grammy Awards is nothing to turn your nose up at, is it!). Hope he has a great 85th Birthday and long may the Blues continue. Here's a wee show from 1992 at the Montreaux Jazz Festival of Buddy Guy in action, enjoy.

Part 2

Dusty Hill - ZZ Top (19th May 1949 - 28th July 2021)

There's a huge void in ZZ Top after the passing of Joe Michael Hill, better known to us as Dusty Hill. At aged 72 he had been a member of the band since 1969. He had been a former bandmate of drummer Frank Beard in American Blues (who replaced Dan Mitchell as the new drummer of ZZ Top in 1969). Hill got the chance to join the band when Billy Etheridge left(Etheridge had replaced original Bassist Lanier Greig).

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons you might have assumed were more connected than just being band members as their look of dark sunglasses and long beards gave them an almost family look, and with drummer Frank Beard not quite being able to master growing a beard merely adding to their charm (of course we have seen that he's well and able to grow one but it was never on the level of Billy or Dusty) ZZ Top had the perfect look.

“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” it read. “We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top’. We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.’ You will be missed greatly, amigo.” - Billy Gibbons & Frank Beard

Listen To 50 of their finest tracks on 'Goin' 50' Here

The band played their first show without Dusty Hill on 23rd July 2021 at the Village Commons in New Lenox, Illinois; at this show, ZZ Top's longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis filled in for Hill, who was unable to perform because of hip issues. Within hours after the announcement of Hill's death, Gibbons confirmed that ZZ Top will continue as a band and that Francis will replace him, declaring "the show must go on".

King of Ska - The Ska Singles Collection - Desmond Dekker (Record Store Day June 2021)

It's staggering to believe that Desmond Dekker passed away 15 years ago. Today would have been his birthday had he still been alive. As a wee tribute to his memory I thought I would post this today. Now, 'King of Ska' was an actual release by Dekker back in 1991 on Trojan Records so we have to be careful not to mix up this new album that was released for Record Store Day in June this year seeing that they are two totally diffrent albums.

This one is a reproduction of the first ten 7" singles that established Desmond Dekker as a Jamaican superstar. All put out on Beverley's Records that were released between 1963-66 and this Special Release was to celebrate what would have been his 80th Birthday. This new collection is also released on Trojan Records. In the USA it was apprently limited to only 500 Copies. I don't know if it was limited in the UK.

Seeing that there are twenty tracks covering the ten 7" Singles I will just post the A-sides as I am pretty sure you will be able to track down the B-sides on some streaming platform somewhere.

A-side: Honour Your Mother & Father

A-side: Happy Birthday Jamaica

A-side: Parents

A-Side: Dracula

A-side: Jeserene

A-side: King of Ska

A-side: Get Up Adina

A-side: It Was Only A Dream

A-side: Mount Zion

A-side: Soldiering

Enjoy.