This is a CLASH POLL service announcement...WITH RESULTS!!!!!! ILX Artist Poll #41

xp and followed by revolution rock.

"I'm Not Down" is one of my favorite Topper showcases. He keeps switching up patterns, it's like almost every line has a slightly different feel.

33. Clash City Rockers - 277 pts - 18 votes

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6200/1bxb.jpg

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Love this, as I've noted, but this seems like a reasonable placement for it.

Yeah I didn't expect top 10 or anything, I just like that it gets love

Playing catch-up. One of the "Right Profile" #1's was me.

Also this:

..."Lose This Skin"... It's a fantastic song, very free and inspiring and the idea of the Clash being super awesome on a friend's song is very touching in a very Clash way to me.

― Three Word Username, Tuesday, July 16, 2013 12:09 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't think "Clash City Rockers" would place in the top 10.

I thought it would place in the top 5.

:(

"Yeah Yeah"

32. The Card Cheat - 278 pts - 15 votes - 1 #1

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/6299/5u1b.jpg

apparently they recorded the song twice, then overlay the second version atop the other to give it that Spector feel.

wonderful wonderful song.

My #1!

I mean, I could gripe about it placing too low, but as was mentioned upthread, the scattered vote distribution among these tracks is a testament to just how awesome they were.

31. Should I Stay or Should I Go - 280 pts - 19 votes

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6014/u8el.jpg

Gotta run out for a bit. I'll be back in a little while with the final 10 for the day.

i worked with a guy who was at the recording of Bank Robber. he was thanked on the back of the sleeve or something iirc. there was 2 of them present at the session and they were both only young lads at the time, the other one was his mate Ian Brown of Stone Roses front-man fame.

Happy to see this place, and happy to see it this low. Well done everybody!

Good showing. I've never gotten tired of "Should I Stay"--the stop/start structure, the howling, all the Spanish, the garage-band chords (found out one day that even I can play it). Also works as a nice metaphor for their situation at the time, intended or not.

Listened to "Should I Stay" again this morning; probably the least-dated sounding use of gated drums.

all the Spanish

Joe Ely!

http://www.theclashblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/two-joes.jpg

http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2000-05-19/77249/

Didn't know any of that--I liked some Joe Ely around that time.

"So me and Strummer and the Puerto Rican engineer sat down and translated the lyrics into the weirdest Spanish ever."

I don't know Spanish, so I don't know what exactly is weird about their translation, but I did have to check before posting what language it was--almost sounds like they're speaking in tongues.

This thread prompted me to listen to Sandinista! on Spotify this afternoon, and it just feels wrong. That's maybe the one album I love that I think really needs to be owned/heard on vinyl, not just for the sound, but for the way it breaks the album up so cleanly into digestible, six-song segments. Even the CD version always felt like blasphemy to me. "Lightning Strikes" and "Lose This Skin" must start their own sides (ditto the freaky radio host from "Version City" who binds the album's final act).

"Have you ever asked yourself, who holds the key that winds up Big Ben...."

I've only ever heard Sandinista! on CD, but the side-beginnings are pretty obvious (erm, beyond "Police" starting the second disc). Dudes were masters of sequencing.

30. The Call Up - 290 pts - 19 votes

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6659/jclj.jpg

Nice! Did you combine with "the Cool Out" or leave them as discrete versions?

One of mine. I never thought this'd be well-loved, that's a lot of votes.

Wait, Ian Brown has a credit on a Clash record?

"The Call Up" is amazing.

I left them as discrete versions, which I think was an oversight really. I was going to have everything separate but people nominated both versions of certain songs as one track so I just combined those and then wound up mixing the dub versions with the regulars on those. I should have done it for all, as "The Cool Out" had 3 votes including a number 1 for a total of 53 points. I'll try to explain my scattered through process in later entries.

xposts

On the spur of the moment I said 'I'm going to do the backing vocals in Spanish,' ... We needed a translator so Eddie Garcia, the tape operator, called his mother in Brooklyn Heights and read her the lyrics over the phone and she translated them. But Eddie and his mum are Ecuadorian, so it's Ecuadorian Spanish that me and Joe Ely are singing on the backing vocals. -Joe Strummer, 1991

This is also the only track that I didn't combine with another version that would have affected its placing, so I'll make a note when we get to where it would have placed.

Thanks for the clarification on Call Out/ Cool Out.

Call Up/Cool Out, obv.

29. Tommy Gun - 291 pts - 17 votes - 2 #1

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3761/z98o.jpg

I remember hearing or reading (but can't substantiate it now) that the whole Spanish-vocals thing started with Mick not wanting to record the song at all because it was too pop, and he said he'd only do it if Joe did a call and response with him, and Joe said he'd only do the call and response in Spanish.

Also, Tommy Gun is great. I probably should have voted for it, but ...

28. Hateful - 298 pts - 15 votes

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/3889/6u3o.jpg

There's my no.3. Too low.

I don't know if its my favourite Topper jam, but it's definitely one of them. The way he switches into the '...and I'm so grateful' bit.

He was so great, imagine playing with him

So many great bits in this short song

omg two of my favorite Clashes right there

tooooooooooooooooooommmmy guuuuuuun and the staccato guitar <3

hateful is the fucking BEST EVER EVER EVER god I can't even put into words how much I love this song it makes me want to dance forever

Yeah, I was in a band in college that did "Hateful" and I never really nailed that transition in the drum part. Hard to make it flow so seamlessly. Just a great, great tune. So lively for such a dark, dank lyric. (Could basically have been written about Topper just a few years later.)

those bright horns are really something

And the way they all nail the ending -- bam bam -- and then it's right into "Rudie Can't Fail." The comment about sequencing earlier was otm, their albums are full of great timing and lead-ins from one song to another.

I never really though about it, but really Joe did write most of everything, didn't he? Haven't read the books, but what was the division of labor, generally? Did they write together?

I like this story re: Rock the Casbah:

Digby Cleaver (Mick Jones' guitar technician): "I just remember [Topper Headon] sitting at the piano and playing that riff. [...] He put bass and drums on it, and it sounded brilliant. He did the whole thing himself. He presented it to Joe with this soppy set of lyrics abou how much he missed his girlfriend. Joe just took one look at these words and said 'How incredibly interesting!', screwed the piece of paper into a ball and chucked it backwards over his head. Topper's face! Joe said 'Look, I write the bloody words. I've got a set of lyrics that will fit this already.' And that was what became 'Rock The Casbah'."