Certain Songs

Certain Songs #210: The Clash – “Complete Control”

June 3, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1977.

This is my favorite song by The Clash.

Thanks no doubt to legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry — who wouldn’t care a whit about lo-fi credibility — the sound of “Complete Control” is better than anything on The Clash. With new drummer Topper Headon’s kick drum leading the way, the guitars of Strummer and Jones are totally in sync, both equally pissed off.

And what are they pissed off at? Why, one of the biggest injustices that any band has ever had to deal with: their record label released “Remote Control” as a single without consulting them!!

Wait. What?
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Certain Songs #209: The Clash – “Garageland”

June 2, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Clash (U.K.).
Year: 1977.

Like Born to Run, The Clash is packed with so many great songs, I’m selling it short. I mean, where’s “I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.” or “London’s Burning” or “Career Opportunities”?

Well, let’s just say that they’re all here in spirit, because if The Clash began with a statement of intent, then it ends with a summing up and a call to arms.

Certain Songs #208: The Clash – “Police and Thieves”

June 1, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Clash (U.K.)
Year: 1977.

And then, without any warning, in the middle all of these short fast songs where the arrangements are holding on for dear life comes a (relative) oasis, a moment to catch your breath amidst all of the punk rock craziness.

At a skosh over six minutes long, The Clash’s cover of Junior Murvin’s “Police And Thieves” isn’t just two (or three) times as long as nearly every other song on The Clash, it’s also a harbinger of things to come. That these incredibly intelligent guys weren’t just going to be satisfied with hard and fast for the rest of their lives.
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Certain Songs #207: The Clash – “White Riot”

May 31, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Clash (U.K.).
Year: 1977.

When Epic Records decided not to release The Clash here in the Colonies in 1977, I suspect that “White Riot” was a huge reason. And not just for the incendiary lyrics about race and class and power, but for the crazy guitar noise that Strummer and Jones made.

Because when “White Riot” was finally released here in 1979 on the U.S. version of The Clash, it was a weird, neutered take: Joe Strummer’s rhythm guitar is nowhere to be found, and Mick Jones’ guitar solo in the middle is buried under sound effects. Oh, and the football chant vocals on the chorus reduced to a couple of guys yelling in a bar.
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Certain Songs #206: The Clash – “Janie Jones”

May 30, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Clash (U.K.).
Year: 1977.

(Please let the affiliates that we will be in the middle of posts about The Clash for quite some time now.)

Here’s how to state your band’s entire ethos in the opening verse of your debut album:

He’s in love with rock’n’roll woaahh
He’s in love with gettin’ stoned woaahh
He’s in love with Janie Jones
But he don’t like his boring job, no

Certain Songs #205: The Church – “A New Season”

May 29, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Starfish.
Year: 1988.

Featuring lead vocals by Peter Koppes and a riff that doubles back on itself, “A New Season” was my favorite song on The Church’s breakthrough album, Starfish. Everybody else remembers that album for the actual Top 40 single, “Under The Milky Way,” which is a fine song, but maybe about the 4th or 5th best song on the whole record.

Certain Songs #204: The Church – “Tantalized”

May 28, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Heyday.
Year: 1986.

In late 1984, I saw The Church for the first time in concert. Tim & I drove up to San Francisco and we saw them at now-gone Wolfgangs on one of the last shows of their very first U.S> tour. I don’t think Wolfgang’s was very crowded, because we were up front, and even then I never really fought to get right near the stage. But that’s where we were, and it was utterly ferocious.
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Certain Songs #203: The Church – “A Month of Sundays”

May 27, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Remote Luxury EP.
Year: 1984.

With its army of lushly-strummed acoustic guitars and overall aura of melancholy and sadness, the utterly gorgeous “A Month of Sundays” is a serious candidate for The Prettiest Song Ever Recorded (Indie Division).

With his bass pretty much playing the lead instrument on top of those acoustic guitars, Steve Kilbey tells a story of going to a party with people he hardly knows and maybe getting a bit too wasted:
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Certain Songs #202: The Church – “Dropping Names”

May 26, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Seance
Year: 1983.

Not only is “Dropping Names” my favorite song by The Church, it’s probably one of my Top Ten songs of the 1980s. (And to those of you who point out that I’ll probably designate more than ten songs as such, hush!).

It’s a fools errand to try to onomatopoetically describe the infinite psychedelic riff that tunnels through the song, but I’m exactly that kind of fool, and this is exactly my kind of errand:

Certain Songs #201: The Church – “One Day”

May 23, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Seance.
Year: 1983.

Normally, following an up album as uptempo as The Blurred Crusade with a record as slow and atmospheric as Seance would trigger off huge warning bells for me, but as it turns out, 1983’s Seance is my favorite album by The Church, full of long slow dreamy make-out songs with big echoing drums and soaring guitar solos.
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