While the Clash’s recorded legacy had been preserved on their albums and a growing number of compilations, their prowess as a live band couldn’t be as easily experienced before YouTube. That finally changed with From Here To Eternity, an hour-long sampler cherrypicked from five years’ worth of professional recordings. (It also worked as a setup for the first grand remastering of the catalog the following year.) The music moves chronologically through their history, but while the performances themselves are often from different years, the album has an excellent flow, even between drummers. Three of the tracks are alternate mixes (and allegedly overdubbed) of music already heard in the Rude Boy film, and three others come from their legendary 1981 residency at Bonds in New York City. The energy stays up, up, up from the beginning, letting up at the fade after “I Fought The Law”, setting up “London Calling” and “Armagideon Time”, the latter helped out by Mickey Gallagher and Mikey Dread. Paul and Joe swap instruments on “The Guns Of Brixton”, to enable the former to sing while the latter covers his bass part. By that time their music was more hit-oriented, and the audience reaction reflects that. The packaging also included quotes from appreciative fans, along with dubious recording data. If anything, the program should have been twice as long. The streaming version added two songs at the end, which wasn’t enough.
Just one song was included from Shea Stadium, during their stint on the Who’s first farewell tour, and it only took about a decade for their set to be further commemorated. (Even the Who themselves sat on their recordings until 2015.) Beginning with associate Kosmo Vinyl baiting the crowd, they plow into their set, and while there were reports of booing throughout the tour, and asides by Joe about people talking in the audience, the crowd sounds engaged throughout. The band holds themselves well in such a large venue, with no dead air, and only a few acts of defiance, like cutting into “The Magnificent Seven” for a detour through “Armagideon Time” (which sounds like it’s in a major key) then back into “The Magnificent Seven”. Songs are played from every album, but only two came from the one they were ostensibly promoting; “Rock The Casbah” manages to work without the piano, and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” was used as the official video back then. The echo effects prevalent throughout the set are on full for “I Fought The Law”, and they leave the stage, never to play New York again. To date, this is the only CD containing a full set by the band, which is a crime, frankly.
The Clash From Here To Eternity Live (1999)—4
The Clash Live At Shea Stadium (2008)—3½
Ten days before the Shea show, The Clash came to my college. My memories varied: the band was very energetic and charismatic; the sound was rough; Joe Strummer’s guitar playing seemed questionable; and “Rock the Casbah” absolutely sucked. So, I was very interested in hearing the Shea show to hear if my memory was faulty.
ReplyDeleteBased on listening, I’d say that it is. I think that my reaction was based in part due to my lack of familiarity with most of their music outside of “London Calling” and in part due to the lousy acoustics of the arena. The Shea show was recorded clearly and cleanly. Strummer’s guitar is audible on every single song. “Rock the Casbah” sounds great as a rock song. The only misstep is that they interrupted “The Magnificent Seven” with “Armagideon Time”, which disrupts the momentum. (They were performed separately in my show). Otherwise, the band’s pace doesn’t falter. Strummer talks more to the audience here than I remember him talking at our show. A great performance.
The only frustration, of course, is that an opening act can’t perform a complete set that they could do as a headline. All the songs here appeared in my show except for “English Civil War”. Instead, we got “Safe European Home” as the second song, a much better choice. I believe they interpolated “Bankrobber” into “Armagideon Time”. I had never heard “Bankrobber”, and I liked it a lot. “Know Your Rights” and “Straight to Hell” also made it from “Combat Rock”. “Charlie Don’t Surf” was the only other song from “Sandinista”. “Brand New Cadillac” was the only other addition from “London Calling”. Except for the very welcome inclusion of “This is Radio Clash”, the remaining eleven songs were from the U.S. version of the first album, more than any of the others. Perhaps that was because it was easier to replicate these live with the four-man lineup. Despite never having heard over half of the setlist before the show, I thought it was terrific.
The opener was a DJ who I later learned was the rapper Kurtis Blow. Fortunately, the crowd was polite. However, I think many people had the same reaction that I had – confusion about why the heck he was there.
I can’t believe that The Clash was booed off stage at some of The Who’s shows. They were at their peak of mainstream visibility. Pete Townshend even berated the crowd at one show: “These guys are the future. We’re the past”. That turned out not to be true. In a sense, this was the farewell tour for both groups. The Who would eventually get swamped first an army of backing musicians and then buy John Entwistle’s death. The subsequent version of “The Clash” would really be the Joe Strummer Band in all but name.
Mick Jones has said that there will be no more releases of Clash material. But their story still doesn’t seem complete. What we need for a conclusion is a boxed set of live material. “From Here to Eternity” suggests that more live stuff is still in the vaults. I’m sure fans would like to hear complete shows from various tours. I hope Mick changes his mind before it’s too late.