Track Listing

1. London Calling
2. Brand New Cadillac
3. Jimmy Jazz
4. Hateful
5. Rudie Can't Fail
6. Spanish Bombs
7. Right Profile
8. Lost In The Supermarket
9. Clampdown
10. Guns Of Brixton
11. Wrong 'em boyo
12. Koka Kola
13. Koka kola
14. Lover's Rock
15. Four Horsemen
16. I'm Not Down
17. Revolution Rock
18. Train In Vain

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1078 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Punk's death knell had already been called, but London Calling found The Clash fighting a heroic rear guard battle. Having shelved the no-frills heads-down thunder of The Clash and Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling was an extravagant benchmark. Ostensibly about the ideological and real struggles that rent British society asunder at the end of the 1970s, London Calling was couched in the language of revolutionary desperadoes. Influenced by reggae and ska, and augmented by the Irish Horns, the result was one of the most heady, celebratory rock & roll records to have come out of the punk movement. For every traditional rabble-rouser like "Rudie Can't Fail" or "Revolution Rock", though, there was a starker truth to London Calling found in "Guns Of Brixton", or a shred of poignancy in "Lost In The Supermarket" that confirmed The Clash's ideological importance to a generation. Seldom, if ever, had punk sounded so gloriously righteous, but so damn right. --Louis Pattison

From Amazon.com
Bursting at the seams with creative energy, the Clash's stunning 1979 double album more than made up for the artistic and commercial disappointment of its predecessor, '78's tried-too-hard Give 'Em Enough Rope. With ex-Mott the Hoople producer Guy Stevens harnessing their sound as never before, the band yielded what proved to be the best work of their career. Bouncing from hard-rock (the apocalyptic-vision of the title track) to rockabilly ("Brand New Cadillac") to reggae ("Rudy Can't Fail") to pop (the Top Forty hit, "Train in Vain"), the Clash knocked down all musical walls and, in the process, ended the argument over punk's viability in the U.S. --Billy Altman

CD Description
If punk rejected pop history, LONDON CALLING reclaimed it, albeit with a knowing perspective. The scope of this double set is breaktaking, encompassing reggae, rockabilly and the group's own furious mettle. Where such a combination might have proved over-ambitious, the Clash accomplish it with swaggering panache. Guy Stevens, who produced the group's first demos, returns to the helm to provide a confident, cohesive sound equal to the set's brilliant array of material. Boldlyassertive and superbly focused, London Calling contains many of the quartet's finest songs and is, by extension, virtually faultless.

Customer Reviews

23 years old, still essential
In August of 1979, the Clash went into Wessex studios to record one of the most emotive and influential albums of all time. The usual spiel about 'punk is dead' applies here; what made this album so impressive was the Clash's refusal to stagnate, and made a vital but ahead-of-its-time record. Everyone looked towards electronica and the New Romantic movement but the Clash thankfully never got dragged into that. There is a real "black music" feel about the album, each singalong reggae or ska melody tinged with tales of hardship. It was also with their brilliant title track that the Clash scored one of their biggest hits. Some people hate the song but it just sums up the bleakness of the time, with heavy recession and Britain besieged by threats of IRA terrorism. Other standout songs are the first six songs, Guns of Brixton, Death or Glory and Train In Vain. This is a feelgood album (ish), just sit back and be entertained by a great album that sadly proved to be the epitaph of mainstream punk.

V. Good
This is a truely great and inspiring album. To be truthful there isn't much "punk" as such to be found on this album, this is very much the sound of '79 rather than '77. Obviously the attitude is completely punk, but the album is more of a showcase for Strummer's and Jones' songwriting and skill to adapt to any type of music. There are great reggie, ska and pop songs to be found on this album, showing a variety that many other bands of the era would not be able to acheive. This is a double album of great class, there are no filler tracks, each of the nineteen songs could have been released as singles. The production is of high quality and much easier on the ears compaired to their first album. The obvious standout song is the title track. The relentless guitar and pounding bass create a great basis for Strummer's snarl. This is all in all a good album, and confirms The Clash as one of the great bands.

An excellent album, but not what many would call 'punk'
Given the variation in the reivews it may be helpful to put a bit of background to this album. 'Punk' in the UK generally means albums like 'Never Mind the Bollocks', where the musicianship may be lacking, but the sheer energy and venom of the band is what is important. I remember '77, and I thought punk was unlistenable! The Clash started out as a punk band, but even at the start were derided by 'proper' punk becuase they could actually play their instruments and cared about the tunes. What they had in common was a dislike of the 'dinosaur' bands like ELP, Genesis etc who were percieved as totally remote from the fans. The Clash, Sex Pistols etc. were at least writing about and playing to their peer group.

So to this album: By this album the band, and Strummer in particular, were confident and successful enough to make a double album. This was a big deal, a double album was twice the cost to make, but never twice the sale price, and therefore could often be something of an indulgence. If you like Green Day etc. because of the aggression, then you'll find this boring. It's NOT a hardcore, aggressive slab of anger. What it is is 19 tracks reflecting bits of 1979 London life, politics and other stuff, in a range of musical styles. The lyrics are generally high quality, and occasionally brilliant. The music isn't up with The Beatles, but it more than holds up. Highlights? Depend on your taste, I would be proud to have written almost any of it, but lyrically 'Death or Glory', 'Clampdown' and 'Guns of Brixton' stand out as vignettes of life at the time.

It's impossible to listen to the album for the first time now and find it groundbreaking - it's nearly 30 years old for goodness sake! - but if you consider yourself a music fan then you really ought to hear it. After a few listens it grows on you, even if your real tastes lie elsewhere.