Sandinista!

Sandinista!

  • Good

    Votes: 13 61.9%

  • Difficult

    Votes: 3 14.3%

  • For the Bin

    Votes: 5 23.8%
  • Total voters
    21
alanmoodysdog

alanmoodysdog

Well-known member
After nearly 44 years since its release I have only just got round to buying a copy and today listened to all 36 tracks non stop ....Having got there first 3 albums before this release I have some idea of the way they were going ... Cant say I could sit through it again . Out of the 36 tracks 10 are enjoyable. 4 interesting but the remaining 22 have Mick Jones stamp all over them with BAD influences. How did they get CBS to release it as a triple and not a single is beyond me .... Career Opportunities sung way out of tune by Micky Gallaghers young sons with a simplistic keyboard backing is shocking and beyond listenable. Wonder what Clash purists really think? Loads of divided opinion ,,, The reggae/dub based tracks are all all very very good and the excellent Junco Partner a stand out track. I really like the skipping between genres (Jazz / Dub / Folk / Disco and even Calypso) but the quality leaves me wanting on most of the tracks ... brave , inovitive yes but not a easy listen
 
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alanmoodysdog said:
After nearly 44 years since its release I have only just got round to buying a copy and today listened to all 36 tracks non stop ....Having got there first 3 albums before this release I have some idea of the way they were going ... Cant say I could sit through it again . Out of the 36 tracks 10 are enjoyable. 4 interesting but the remaining 22 have Mick Jones stamp all over them with BAD influences. How did they get CBS to release it as a triple and not a single is beyond me .... Career Opportunities sung way out of tune by Micky Gallaghers young sons with a simplistic keyboard backing is shocking and beyond listenable. Wonder what Clash purists really think? Loads of divided opinion ,,, The reggae/dub based tracks are all all very very good and the excellent Junco Partner a stand out track. I really like the skipping between genres (Jazz / Dub / Folk / Disco and even Calypso) but the quality leaves me wanting on most of the tracks ... brave , inovitive yes but not a easy listen
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It was a strange one wasn’t it.
Remember getting it, listening to all of it and convincing myself it was a work of art.
Never listened to the whole thing again since.

I stil love Somebody Got Murdered tho
 
The album is absolutely fantastic.

Just because the Clash chose to give us 36 tracks all at once on a triple album for the price of one, people have missed some of their greatest work. Us old punks didn't realise it at the time, but we were being given both a musical and political education. I wish Google was around when it came out, to look up what the hell the brilliant Rebel Waltz was banging on about.

The Clash took New York Street music and introduced it to the world and the rest of America way more than the Sugar Hill Gang ever did, via Grandmaster Flash and Futura 2000 to the Magnificent 7 et al.

The dub versions of One More Time (Stop Wasting Time) with Mikey Dread, Junco Partner and the Crooked Beat had us all rushing out to snap up everything ever realeased on Greensleeves or from Studio 1, Jam Down Town, Jamaica.

Then there's the political commentary in the warning of a Grenfield disaster in Up in Heaven (Not Only Here) and the Call Up.

Two of my favourite ever Clash tracks appear on this album also in Something About England and Somebody Got Murdered.

I had a gigantic promotional Sandanista poster which covered the whole of my bedroom wall.

Simply one of the greatest albums of all time, IMHO. Despite 3 or 4 free filler tracks.
 
I also find it's their best album - there is always something new in it everytime i listen to it, i hear new things.

it was said at the time; 'its a triple so that they could close out their original CBS contract, that started with The Clash - The Clash in 1977.'.

should it have only been a double - contractually, they would have had to do one more - hence the triple.
 
As soon as I saw the title of the thread my heart jumped.. I’m 42 so never got a chance to see The Clash play (seen JS and The Mescaleros and Mick Jones live though).

I absolutely love this album. It’s by no means their best, probably not even in their top three if truth be told, but it’s my favourite body of work they ever did.

It’s simply incredible what they did / were trying to achieve and as already stated, the mixture and different genres on there is mind-boggling.

It’s not an easy listen and I remember Joe Stummer once saying “side six - only bold men go there”. I thought that was a class statement and very true.

Did anyone listen to Joe Solo’s ‘Coast and Country’ radio show dedicated to Sandinista! a while back? I think he played the tunes he thought would have made a great single album (or something along those lines).

Always find it funny when you meet Clash ‘purists’ and they can’t even name two songs off Sandinista! haha.

For what it’s worth, I don’t actually like ‘Junco Partner’ but each to their own. I do agree that ‘Career Opportunities’ is atrocious!

Top five???

Police
Something About England
Mag Seven
Up in Heaven
Let’s Go Crazy
 
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Great album. This thread inspired me to give it a listen while on the bike in the garage. Brilliant stuff.

Now got the (knackered) original album out the loft, enjoying the Armagideon Times that came with it.

Someone got this album for Christmas 1980. Not me. I was seven weeks old.

My top 5:

Mag 7
Police on my Back
Washington Bullets
Street Parade
Somebody got Murdered
Let’s go Crazy

Alright top 6.
 

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Mr_Fridge said:
Great album. This thread inspired me to give it a listen while on the bike in the garage. Brilliant stuff.

Now got the (knackered) original album out the loft, enjoying the Armagideon Times that came with it.

Someone got this album for Christmas 1980. Not me. I was seven weeks old.

My top 5:

Mag 7
Police on my Back
Washington Bullets
Street Parade
Somebody got Murdered
Let’s go Crazy

Alright top 6.
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Weather looks rubbish next week, so I'll be doing exactly the same on Monday.
 
alanmoodysdog said:
Top 10 tracks which I found enjoyable......

The Magnificent Seven
One More Time
Police on My Back
Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)
Washington Bullets
Charlie Don’t Surf
Junco Partners
Somebody Got Murdered
Something About England
Shepherds Delight
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Hard to disagree with any of them really. It’s not often you get to pick a top 10 off an album and not even over a third of it…

‘Shepards Delight’ is a bit of a random shout..
 
Mr_Fridge said:
Great album. This thread inspired me to give it a listen while on the bike in the garage. Brilliant stuff.

Now got the (knackered) original album out the loft, enjoying the Armagideon Times that came with it.

Someone got this album for Christmas 1980. Not me. I was seven weeks old.

My top 5:

Mag 7
Police on my Back
Washington Bullets
Street Parade
Somebody got Murdered
Let’s go Crazy

Alright top 6.
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That inner-artwork is amazing. Just shows hows innovative they were feeling at the time - firing on all cylinders (whether you like the LP or not).
 
Um. I was / am a huge fan, saw them seven times, and I thought it was self indulgent tosh. Too much dope smoking, too much going into the studio with little material, too much "hey some kalimbas over there, lets put them on this track!". When it's good it's brilliant (though everything sounds like it was made in the middle of a swamp), when it's bad it's pathetic. They needed a proper producer who would tell them to stop farting around and tighten it up, like they did on Combat Rock.

I was a punk, absolutely. Hearing Mickey Gallagher's kids singing Career Opportunities was like s slap in the face.

Anyway, I'm a member of an online music community. One guy there slimmed it down to a very presentable two CD version - putting the dubs and their 12" only versions in the right place, and restoring Bank Robber and the fantastic Stop The World (b-side of The Call Up) which is a much better track than most of the album. Here's a screen shot from my iTunes.

1708254382504.png
 
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