Album of the day (#883): London Calling by The Clash

[useless]

It's great, yeah. The title track is a very exciting opener, there are five consecutive tracks, which elevate it to another level (from Spanish Bombs to The Guns Of Brixton) and when I think I will fall in love with it (by the time Death Or Glory kicks in, probably the best moment in here), from one point and afterwards it just drags. In other words, when it's great, it's really awesome. When it's not, it shows. Yes, I know how controversial this might sound and I sincerely apologize to the ones who love this album passionately. Every time I gave this a listen I couldn't help but think of shit like: "Oh, listen how great Strummer's vocals are for this kind of music, look how diverse it feels, if only it excluded boring tracks like Jimmy Jazz or Revolution Rock or The Four Horsemen". The ugly part is that I used to really dig The Clash when I was in high school, yet I've grown out of them somehow, so I don't know, this could be the case as well... Anyway, maybe their debut is better... But what I'm talking about, this is awesome, energetic, very precise in its criticism about the society of consumerism stuff. It's ambitious, enthusiastic and at parts witty and funny as well. It's all that, but also overrated regarding its huge reputation of being among the greatest albums ever, that doesn't make it worse though. Still, it's slightly more deserving of being regarded as such than, say, Pet Sounds or Never Mind The Bollocks (sorry again guys, just my opinion, although I also dig those babies a lot, I just don't consider them as big as their reputation-again)....

[cartoken]

i love punk except this.
average

[meccalecca]

[KinkyAfro]

One of the albums I bought becuase of tis website, due to the amount of times ive seen it in members charts and because of the praise it gets. Other than the song London Calling I never really liked what i had heard by The Clash but im always willing to give an album a chance. Was really impressed by it and its just been added to my chart.

As already mentioned, it is a little too long, and Lost In The Supermarket has to be one of the worst songs ive ever heard. Other than that, great.

[useless]

[Evandar]

I dig "London Calling" the song, but not the album. It absolutely crushes "Nevermind the Bollocks...", but that doesn't really say much in my case. I really don't like the vocals, neither have a been impressed by any instruments. Except for the guitars and bass in the first song, I dig those. The rest just doesn't do it for me.

[KinkyAfro]

[quote="useless"]

Not criticizing... but I'm really curious why'd you say that, I mean, what do you find so offensively bad about it that you consider it as one of the worst songs you've ever listened to?


There is just something about it that just really annoys me. The first time I listened to the album it stood out as a really bad song to me. I listened to this album non stop for about 3-4 days when I got it (as I do with most albums I buy) and by the 2nd day i was skipping that track. It just seems like a non-song to me that was just put on there to make up the numbers.

Its just my opinion, im sure that everyone has a song that other people like that just gets under their skin, this is that song for me.

quick edit, it doesnt get under my skin, thats the wrong phrase!

[MrBrown]

Love this album but I never really considered this a punk album, I only really think of songs like London Calling and Guns Of Brixton as punk songs. I consider it more of a just a rock album I suppose.

[Patman360]

[drakonium]

Incredible incredible, incredible albums. I'm obviously part of those who furiously masturbate over this.

Actually, the first time I listened to it, I was lost. Like many here, it's the first punk album I ever listened to, and it was shocking. It was aggressive, furious, dynamic in a totally new way for me. I didn't like it. I couldn't even make it to the end. And then, much time later, I gave it another spin. And that time, it was like... wow. So much sonic heaven in my ears, it was wonderful. I loved song after song after song. I didn't even understand how I could hate them. Everything was so perfect, so clever. The choruses, the structures, the progression, the instruments, everything was perfectly flowing together.

Joe Strummer is still one of my favorite singers. The Johnny Rotten-like anger he puts in his vocals are mixed with the Ramones-like playfulness (not sure about the existence of this word... well you understand me anyway) to create a totally unique kind of voice. Actually, all the instruments are like this : angry, but playful. They express rage and unsatisfaction, but at the same time play with the listener's ears; make him want to scream and at the same time want to dance.

Obviously my favorite track is the title track, but Spanish Bombs, Lost In The Supermarket and Death Or Glory always give me goosebumps, too. And no, there's no track I'd remove from this. The only track I feel is clearly inferior to the others is Lover's Rock. But take it out? Never.

I don't know what to say now. I hope I expressed my love for this record correctly, but you know it's hard to write what you feel inside you in a clear way. Actually as I type this I'm even sure about its place on my chart. I just saw I gave it a 95. Such a shame. Here's your 100, London Calling.