on 2011-03-24 gutterseed Said:

The sex pistols had something the clash never had, good songs.
Rating: 4/10

on 2011-03-24 gutterseed Said:

The sex pistols had something the clash never had, good songs.
Rating: 4/10

on 2011-03-23 gutterseed Said:

I wouldn't call anything by the clash a masterpiece. I've always viewed the clash as being "trendy pop" with zero attitude and very little talent.
Rating: 4/10

on 2011-03-23 gutterseed Said:

I wouldn't call anything by the clash a masterpiece. I've always viewed the clash as being "trendy pop" with zero attitude and very little talent.
Rating: 4/10

on 2011-03-23 gutterseed Said:

I wouldn't call anything by the clash a masterpiece. I've always viewed the clash as being "trendy pop" with zero attitude and very little talent.
Rating: 4/10

on 2011-03-22 Sinist3r Punk Said:

I definitely agree with Charles on this one. Maybe I haven't given it a fair, proper listen, but I become bored after a few songs.
Not Rated

on 2011-03-22 dscanland Said:

I do have to disagree with Charles on this review. London Calling is an album I go back to time and time again. It's such a diverse album, hard to believe a bunch of British Punks wrote and performed this album. Very little filler at all! A desert island album for me indeed.
Rating: 10/10

Review:

on 2011-03-07 CharlesMartel Said:

This album is frequently held up as the definitive album of the British punk genre. Even on this site it is rated consistently high, usually at the top of the pile for the year. Like many, I bought it on the strength of the reputation of the Clash as a band when it first came out. It was not often I splashed out my hard-earned cash on a double album, especially as this was released during my poor student days, and when I did I was so frequently disappointed. I was not to be disappointed in being disappointed by "London Calling", if you know what I mean.

For the life of me I do not know why this album rates as high as it does. There is no way that this can be regarded as being the top album of its year in my book. By the time the Clash came to this, they had lost the spark and the energy of their punk roots. Perhaps it was a reaction to the disastrous mess they had made of their second album, but the band decided to do something completely different. Normally, that is not a bad thing, but they recorded a couple of tracks, then did something completely different, recorded a couple of tracks, recorded a couple of tracks, then did something completely different, recorded a couple of tracks, and so on.

The Clash were verging on becoming a pop band and it shows. The experimentation had mixed up within them what sort of a band they wanted to be. The result is a jumbled up mish mash of styles and influences - reggae, the blues, ska, pop, punk. The result is an unco-ordinated jumble of sounds and styles which lacks any cohesion and flounders around rather aimlessly like a goldfish looking for a bowl.

There are some good tracks, yes, but far too many fillers. This is one reason why double albums are so frequently disappointing - it is hard to avoid padding out the material with stuff which should, by rights, have ended up in the bin. This double album is just too much to bear. If they had cut out half the dross then they would have had a good, but not classic single album. "London Calling", "Spanish Bombs", "Clampdown", "Guns of Brixton", "Four Horsemen", "Lost in the Supermarket", "Brand New Cadillac" and "Train In Vain" (oddly not credited on the original vinyl, but shows up as a separate track on the CD) should have formed the album. The rest should have been ditched and only issued years later as a second CD in an expanded and remastered version of the album.

But the Clash were always going to try to be the Clash. Naturally, being the Clash, there is a political overtone running across the album. Some of the tracks are very prophetic, such as "Guns of Brixton", whose ominously dark and foreboding bass line pointed to the boiling frustration of urban black youth and which boiled over into huge street riots a couple of years later. Other tracks, such as "Lost in the Supermarket", are a bleak condemnation of an increasingly materialistic and greedy society split between the haves and have nots. "London Calling" is a good rocking song, but the Clash had left their punk roots behind by now and had lost that spark of genius which created such epics as "Complete Control" and "White Man in Hammersmith Palais". Never again after this did I revisit the Clash except for the odd song here and there.
Rating: 6/10

Review:

on 2007-05-28 dscanland Said:

Who didn't give this one a 10!? Come on people! Oh well, that's why you are allowed to voice your opinion.
Rating: 10/10

Review:

on 2007-01-31 green_clash Said:

There are only a few albums I consider absolutely perfect. These are albums where the songs never get old and I can't choose my favorite song from it because they're all so good. The Clash's masterpiece "London Calling" is one of the only albums that did this to me. Everything about this album impresses and only calling it the best album of the 80's (according to Rolling Stone magazine, though the album officialy came out in '79 in Britian) is an understatement. The title track opens the album, with it's pounding beat, menacing bass line, and apoctalyptic lyrics. After that, there's no stopping The Clash from tearing apart their instruments and raising their voices for their beliefs. No other album has ever balanced so many musical styles so perfectly. Blues, reggae, jazz, ska, and good old fashioned rock 'n roll. It's not too obscure, but it's not the same thing over and over again. This is the album that really changed me and showed me what music was really about. You can hear it in Topper "the drum machine" Headon's drum head, and you can feel it through Mick Jone's fantastic guitar playing. You can't shake it, Paul's tasty licks, and you can't remove it from your heart, Joe, Mick, and Paul's epic politcal poetry. It's something this world may never see again. This is what a perfect album is. If you're interests including breathing air, then this album was made for you.
Rating: 10/10