The Clash

you've seen the clash live?

dude, I wish I coulda seen the original Clash live so bad. the little stories in the liner notes of "From Here to Eternity" are awesome

JoshRaymond wrote:

you've seen the clash live?

I'm a bit of a fossil...old enough to know better...saw them twice...once on the 'Sort it Out' tour in 1978 at Wolverhampton UK...the best gig I've ever been to...and once again on the Cut the Crap tour in Brixton, London in 1984...still a great a gig but wouldn't rank in My top 30 gigs of all time

What would rank in your Top 30. Come on, tell

holy shit dude

The Major wrote:

JoshRaymond wrote:

you've seen the clash live?

...saw them twice...once on the 'Sort it Out' tour in 1978 at Wolverhampton UK...the best gig I've ever been to...and once again on the Cut the Crap tour in Brixton, London in 1984...still a great a gig but wouldn't rank in My top 30 gigs of all time

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow!

Stalls_Standing wrote:

What would rank in your Top 30. Come on, tell

Difficult question...but here's a few of my favourites

The Clash - Wolverhampton 1978
U2 - Dublin 1997 (ok so Bono is a pretentious git...but I don't think there's a better live band doing the rounds at the moment)
Stooges - V Festival Stafford 2007
The Damned - Wolverhampton 1979
The Pogues - Birmingham 1984
Jane's Addiction - Birmingham 1989
Iggy Pop - Birmingham 1988
Green Day - Birmingham 2005
Offspring - Leicester 1994
Sex Pistols - Manchester 2007
The Cult - Portsmouth 1985
The Ruts - Wolverhampton 1979
Sisters of Mercy - Birmingham 1982
Alien Sex Fiend - Birmingham 1984
Young Gods - Birmingham 1992
AFI - Birmingham 1998
Stiff Little Fingers - Wolverhampton 1979
Killing Joke - Birmingham 1982
Vandals - Birmingham 1998
Bad Religion - Wolverhampton 1994
Subhumans - Birmingham 1998

Quite a varied list of bands.No doubt I've forgotten loads of classics...how about yourself ?

I saw The Clash on the Cut the Crap tour; by then they were a pale imitation of their former selves I suppose but I comfort myself that at least I saw the Clash (I'm old, but I'm not that old!) Saw Joe on the Class War tour, with The Pogues and also with the Mescaleros a few times; each time was a powerful experience and ones I hold dear.

May I direct you all to ...

http://www.strummerville.com/

The associations between The Clash, Springsteen, Husker Du, The Hold Steady and positive hardcore was what brought me to TGA.

PatientFabiWheel wrote:

"Raise a toast to saint Joe Strummer
I think he might have been our only decent teacher
getting older only makes it harder to remember
we are our only saviors
we're gonna build something this summer"

Only just noticed this. The Hold Steady are fucking ace!

"Let this be my annual reminder that we can all be something bigger"

Here seemed an appropriate place to post this as any …



The artist Ray Lowry who was involved with The Clash throughout their career and designed the iconic ‘London Calling’ sleeve died on the 14^th October. R I P



This obituary is by Bob Dickinson (taken from The Guardian Newspaper here in the UK- 1^st November)


During the years characterised by punk, post-punk and the
economic depression of the early 1980s, the cartoons of Ray
Lowry, who has died suddenly aged 64, were admired as much
by readers of Punch, Private Eye and Mayfair as those of the
New Musical Express, plus many alternative magazines and
fanzines, for their anger and anarchic humour.

Ray's best-known image remains the sleeve he designed for
the Clash's third album, London Calling. Alongside the
photographer Pennie Smith, he accompanied the Clash on their
north American tour in September 1979, later adapting one of
Smith's rejected, out-of-focus shots of Paul Simonon angrily
slamming his Fender bass into the stage at the Palladium in
New York. To this he added bold pink and green lettering,
paying a blatant tribute to Elvis Presley's eponymous first
album cover. The link between the Clash and rock'n'roll's
early energy was never more clearly expressed. It was no
coincidence that Ray's enthusiasm for music had begun in the
mid-1950s.

Ray was born in Cadishead, near Manchester; his father was a
bricklayer at the local steelworks. His earliest memories
included the sight of huge cargo ships bringing wood from
Canada along the Manchester ship canal and churning up
terrifying waves of detritus, "sharpening one's
sensibilities for the sinister and baser elements of life",
he later remarked. After passing his 11-plus, he was sent to
Urmston grammar school where, he recalled: "I showed little
artistic or academic promise but cared fanatically for the
most arcane areas of the holy rock'n'roll thunder which had
crashed down upon us."

Ray drifted into a series of jobs at advertising agencies in
Manchester and London. Lacking any formal art training, he
drew cartoons in his spare time and, with the emergence of
the new underground press, he was published in Oz and
International Times. This led to better-paid work on
mainstream periodicals, and a long involvement with the New
Musical Express, including a weekly cartoon strip, Only
Rock'n'Roll, in which he anticipated the discontent that was
about to fuel the next big change in Britain's cultural
climate.

In 1976, he saw the Sex Pistols during their infamous
Anarchy in the UK tour, at the Electric Circus, Manchester.
There he met the Clash for the first time. The friendships
he struck up, and the extreme experiences of the 1979
American tour, were chronicled in his packed notebooks.
"Lowry's obsession," the critic Simon Frith observed, "is
rock'n'roll authenticity, which he rarely finds, and his
search for it means a search through the language of rock,
through the words and attitudes that are used to sell and
make sense of it."

The best metaphor Ray used was to equate the over-the-top
nature of rock with totalitarianism and warfare. During the
early years of the Thatcher government, his humour was
merciless and Swiftean.

In the early 1980s, he was at the height of his powers,
writing columns for the lifestyle magazine The Face. "I did
cartoons for a ridiculous number of magazines and papers,"
he recalled, "but the cartoon era was drawing to a close."
As the music scene mutated, The Face and New Musical Express
changed their tune, and this, together with the demise of
Punch, caused a downturn in his fortunes.
Even in dark times, "in a crumbling, freezing house with
zero commercial work", he continued to paint prolifically,
as his first retrospective exhibition revealed when it
opened last month. Organised with his help, despite his
ill-health, the show at the See Gallery in Crawshawbooth,
Lancashire, (which closes next Friday) highlights his skills
as a painter of urban landscapes in the tradition of his
unrelated namesake, LS Lowry, and anticipates the work of
contemporary painters such as Liam Spencer, who described
Ray as "a kind of punky, maverick, renaissance man".
Ray continued to create psychically- charged images,
including a yet-to-be-published series inspired by Eddie
Cochran and Gene Vincent's 1960 British tour, which ended in
a road accident near Chippenham, Wiltshire. Both were
injured, Cochran fatally.

At the time of his death, Ray was working on paintings
inspired by the 1947 semi-autobiographical novel Under the
Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry (another non-relative).
On the day he died, Oasis dedicated a song to his memory
during their show at Birmingham, just one indication of the
esteem in which Ray's work continues to be held.

He is survived by his ex-wife, Christina, and his sons Sam,
Joe and Damian.
.
Ray Lowry, artist, born August 28 1944; died October 14
2008

I watched "Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten" last night...damn its amazing

So this is way late to add to the conversation, but in regards to the comments referencing The Clash as "not punk" ... I guess I've always had quite the opposite opinion. Of course it's just my opinion, but, as someone mentioned The Sex Pistols as punk as opposed to The Clash not so much, I guess it depends on how you define punk. But The Clash, to me, were always more punk in their attitude and the way they didn't adhere to anyone's strict ideals of what punk should be or sound like.

If anyone is in London, then you've still got two days to see the Ray Lowry exhibition is at Idea Generation Gallery in east London (from 18 June to 4 July). There is a slide show about it (narrated by the Clash's road manager) at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8741797.stm

Info about the gallery and the exhibition itself is at

http://www.ideageneration.co.uk/generationgallery.php

I love joe strummer and pretty much everything he has ever put out.
saw joe strummer and the the mescaleros back in 99 it was amazing one of my top shows ever

Sandinista! is being re-released late this year. Hoping for some good bonus stuff.

I'm thinking of getting London's Calling. I can see there is a 25th and 30th Anniversary edition. For what I can see on there, the 25th is better value for money.

Can anyone who have these albums confirm?

i would just get the album. like the first one i saw.

steph wrote:

So this is way late to add to the conversation, but in regards to the comments referencing The Clash as "not punk" ... I guess I've always had quite the opposite opinion. Of course it's just my opinion, but, as someone mentioned The Sex Pistols as punk as opposed to The Clash not so much, I guess it depends on how you define punk. But The Clash, to me, were always more punk in their attitude and the way they didn't adhere to anyone's strict ideals of what punk should be or sound like.

ditto. they still haven't become an image like the sex pistols. it ergs me when i go to target and see sex pistols boxers or shot glasses. the clash is one of the top influential punk bands that ever will exist. they were the first lp i bought (self titled). now if only i can find a cheap copy sandinista on vinyl. haha. i guess theres ebay.

McMenemy wrote:

I'm thinking of getting London's Calling. I can see there is a 25th and 30th Anniversary edition. For what I can see on there, the 25th is better value for money.

Can anyone who have these albums confirm?

The 30th anniversary is just 25th rehashed, minus the demos. The demos are interesting, but not essential. Nothing in either of those packages is essential really, other than the album itself.

simo wrote:

Sandinista! is being re-released late this year. Hoping for some good bonus stuff.

You any idea when this will be released?

For those of you who haven´t seen "Westway to the world" i recommend you to see it. Its a fair and really good documentary =)

Cheers

Ryan wrote:

simo wrote:

Sandinista! is being re-released late this year. Hoping for some good bonus stuff.

You any idea when this will be released?

The album itself was released in December 1980 and Mick Jones said late this year, so I would guess December to go with the actual anniversary.

'Lost in the Supermarket' is one of my favourite songs.

listened to "london calling" for the first time today and i freaking love,was expecting a punk record but it's got so many genres it unbelievable.only heard the first album until today,gonna buy the rest of the clash discography now.great band.