This box set contains 19 separate CD reproductions of the Clash's original U.K. singles, in paper sleeves with the original single artwork. This might seem a tad ridiculous at first--after all, CDs can hold 80 minutes of music, right? But every possible B-side has been included--songs from 12- and 7-inches, many of those rare tracks only released in other countries--and some of the CDs have as many as eight tracks. One of the earliest (and strongest) criticisms of CD reissues has been the way in which they tend to divorce the listener from the context of original releases; obviously that's not the case here. All of the group's major single statements are here, from their earliest buzz saw manifestos to the latter experiments in dub. If the Clash are indeed the Only Band That Matters for you, don't hesitate in ordering this one. --Mike McGonigal
The Clash
The Singles
[Sony/BMG; 2006]
Rating: 8.0
This box set duplicates down to the smallest detail the singles the Clash released in the UK. It includes 19 CDs-- each packaged in its own sleeve, replicating the design of the original 7"-- all the attendant B-sides, 12" mixes, and promo-only cuts associated with each release. The CDs are even black with faux grooves and each has a little label at the center of the disc to make it look like a 45. These little things are adorable.
There's also a fat booklet containing mini-essays about each of the singles. The liner notes, most by musicians-- people like the Edge, Shane McGowan, Pete Townshend, and Bobby Gillespie-- explain just how much impact a single could have in those days. These fans talk about when the single was released, where they bought it, what it felt like to hold it in their hands, and how they spent the following however many months playing it incessantly. So the set, given its format and the slant of its liners, tries to give a taste of what it meant to be following the Clash when they were vital and when they made statements a song at a time. If you want this set, you either hope to re-live that era of picking up the new Clash 45s at they hit the shops-- you were there-- or you want to imagine you did.
The music is almost uniformly fantastic. The Clash have aged very well, and their appeal now is probably broader than ever. But they were always a big-tent kind of band. I was never an anglophile, and I was never even remotely a punk, but growing up I could still dig the Clash. They were always the most inclusive of punk bands, respected by the hardcore scenesters but equally by the dabblers who saw them as one band among many. They achieved such democratic appeal in part because of the Beatles-like songwriting tension between the late Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, and in part because they never stayed any one place for long. Strummer was the heart and soul of the band, but Jones tempered Strummer's bellow, softening and broadening the band's sound and appeal. Throw in strong musicianship all the way around, lyrics that never took the easy path to getting their point across, and an insatiable curiosity and you get a band that deserves to be called among the best of the rock era.
The growth the Clash show across these 19 singles is stunning, from the rough-but-tuneful punk of "White Riot", "1977", and "Clash City Rockers" through the unbelievably catchy "White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)", which set forever the template for punk bands dabbling in reggae, and on through dub, downtown disco, and hip-hop. If a form of pop music was cool at some point during the late 70s and early 80s, the Clash tried it. The super-extended single "The Magnificent Seven" -- eight tracks long on CD here-- is like a great mini album on its own, with various dance mixes of the title track, along with a few dubs of the reggae tune "One More Time". That such a politically oriented band that began with such an abrasive punk rock sound could eventually sign-off on the dainty bongo-led funk of these "Magnificent Seven" remixes is inspiring.
And yet, despite how fantastic the music is and how ace the presentation is all the way around, there's something a little odd about this set. To package these items in 19 discs, in 19 sleeves, in two layers of a box, seems a bit strange when you're talking about a band like the Clash, a practical outfit always concerned with economy. They released a double album and then a triple in the early 80s, but they made sure their record company charged single-album prices for each. This thing is retailing for upwards of €57.69 ($75). Not to mention the format of two, three, four songs pre disc. Who wants to have to put on three or four CDs to hear a half hour of music? So Singles, obviously, is a specialists' item.
The Clash have been repackaged every which way-- even while they were still an active unit-- so the presence of all this music in one place isn't in itself a revelation. But The Singles is an enjoyable celebration of a by-gone era when one 7" piece of plastic could sit at the center of a world. I'm the oldest Pitchfork writer, and this era even pre-dates me. Still, reading the testimonials, seeing the sleeves, and hearing the music, it all seems like a crazy amount of fun. But you'll need some scratch to get this set and see how it all went down.
-Mark Richardson, November 20, 2006
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Producing box sets of CD replicas of original 7" singles is a bit tricky: as 2006 sets by Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson prove, it's all too easy to sacrifice either completeness or historical accuracy for the sake of a set that's easy to package and sell. Elvis and Jacko both are cursed with extraordinarily large catalogs, however; even when they're limited by number one singles, as they are on Elvis' set, or by singles that were accompanied by videos, as they are on Jackson's Visionary, there are still notable omissions, and that's not even taking into account that Jackson's set was missing original B-sides. Why all this talk about Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson in a Clash review? Because box sets containing nothing but CD replicas of original singles are such a curious, collector-driven breed that only mega superstar acts like Elvis and Jackson have them in their discographies, and there needs to be some kind of yardstick to measure the Clash's CD singles set by. Because this set -- appropriately and simply called The Singles -- succeeds where most other sets of this nature fail: it is historically accurate and complete, containing replicas of all the Clash's singles, including B-sides from both 7" and 12" singles, all added to the appropriate singles. It not only has all the commercially released singles, but also the legendary Capitol Radio EP, which was given away with the NME in 1977. It is lavishly and intelligently produced, from its re-creations of the original artwork (including labels) to its booklet, containing testimonials from famous Clash fans including Mike D, Shane MacGowan, John Squire, Nick Hornby, Carl Barat, Tim Burgess, Steve Jones, Damon Albarn, Ian Brown, Danny Boyle, Bobby Gillespie, Bernard Sumner, and Pete Townshend. This all makes for an enticing package, ideal for nostalgists who either lived through the Clash's reign as the only band that mattered or those who wish they did, but this also serves a purpose for collectors since it contains a handful of songs that never appeared on CD before, including the This Is Radio Clash and This Is England EPs and several mixes of "The Magnificent Seven." These rarities are, of course, primarily of interest to Clash collectors, but that's who this set is for and that's who this set will satisfy. Not every Clash fan will need this -- after all, as fun as it is to listen to all the original singles in a row, it's a bit of a chore to work through a 19-disc set of CDs that range from two tracks to seven tracks -- but those who want to take this nostalgia trip will find The Singles hard to resist.
|
