The Clash: Joe Strummer, Mick Jones (vocals, guitar); Paul Simonon (vocals, bass); Nicky "Topper" Headon, Tory Crimes, Pete Howard (drums).
Producers include: Mickey Foote, The Clash, Sandy Pearlman, Guy Stevens, Jose Unidos.
Compilation producer: Bruce Dickinson.
Recorded between 1977 & 1985.
Personnel: Mick Jones , Micky Jones, Joe Strummer (vocals, guitar); Nick Sheppard, Vince White (guitar); Nicky "Topper" Headon, Tory Crimes (drums).
Recording information: 1977-1985.
Photographers: Kate Simon ; Bob Gruen; Pennie Smith; Paul Slattery.
It's somehow fitting that the first Clash collection to be released in the wake of frontman Joe Strummer's December 2002 death should be the closest anyone's ever come to a truly definitive non-box-set anthology. The two discs essentially work chronologically, starting out with a dose of old-school UK punk from the days when the Clash were messengers of political fury and icon-shattering rock & roll fire (the raging "White Riot" and gloriously snotty "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A."). We can hear the incorporation of reggae rhythms with "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" and Junior Murvin's street-fighting tale "Police & Thieves," and the beginnings of the Clash's infatuation with American music on the Bobby Fuller cover "I Fought the Law."
Disc two finds the band truly at the peak of its powers, featuring tracks from LONDON CALLING and SANDINISTA, where both the lyricism and the stylistic palette were brought to a new level (the punk-rap of "The Magnificent Seven," the Caribbean lilt of "Rudie Can't Fail"). It's to this compilation's strong credit that it not only includes a healthy portion from the most "difficult" Clash album (SANDINISTA), but some vital tracks from the odd-ends collection BLACK MARKET CLASH (the dubbed-out Robin Hood tale "Bankrobber," the snarling "Capital Radio One"), making THE ESSENTIAL CLASH much more than a greatest-hits collection.
Professional Reviews
Spin (6/03, p.104) - "...These two discs are a pretty hot crib sheet....The first 11 cuts are a shuffle mix of highlights from the U.S. and U.K. versions of 1977's incendiary THE CLASH, and if they don't inspire you to punch holes in the plaster, you're too well-adjusted..."
Uncut (5/03, p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...They never lost sight of Britain's strange mix of supermarket torpor and multicultural high energy..."
Format:
CD (0 Disc); Stereo
Country:
USA
Studio/Live:
Studio
Release Date:
11 March, 2003
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Reviews
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The Clash have become an inspiring, individaulistic band in a defining era for rock music and against the odds have been a great success. The quality of music they produced right throught out their career is well represented in this collection and contains all there classics. Their fun, hard and fast style is great listening and a great wake up call from all of the tainted rock played today. If you like the ramones, you'll love it...
The Clash were one of the really great and enduring punk bands and a good compilation is essential but that is still no substitiute for the glory of their albumns. However The Essential Clash is a pretty good compilation two CDs of great stuff, could possibly have been a little more focused but still pretty good.
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