Sandinista (1980) The Clash
One of the more notable albums I bought on the day it was released. I admit it's a little bloated, but I read they went for 3 to outdo labelmate Bruce's two in "The River", and make the label pay for it. I give it a pass, even though I'm usually playing the two record Weekend Mix* from years ago. See below.
I was a big Clash fan and feel fortunate to have seen them twice at the Hollywood Palladium, first time touring "London Calling" and the second behind "Combat Rock". Same band with different drummers. Both play on Clash records, and the shows were great.
My first visit to New York City as an adult was during the summer of 1981, a few weeks after The Clash's famous residency at The Bond Casino. On that very trip I determined it was time to move to NYC. It took 7 years and 3 lives to get there.
Most days "Sandinista!" remains my favorite Clash album. I traded a bunch of inherited bullshit for this nice clean original copy at Platterpus Records in Easthampton. $30?
Enjoy!
-BBJ
11 comments:
Holy cow! Seriously? This looks fantastic!! I have a love/hate relationship with Sandinista!, mostly because of the 3rd LP. But trims the fat and, apparently, adds a bit more flavor. Thank you very much. Can't wait to check this out.
i love sandinista in all it's bloated glory and i don't care what anyone thinks. there are days when the clash are still my favorite band but i haven't put this on in a long time. i was too young to see them but i did get to see mick once in philly. he came out to the tonight show theme and that was pretty special in it's own right. when i used to live in nyc, during the rare occasion i was near it, i would walk by the site of bonds casino and dream.
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I was at that first Palladium show as well! Wasn't very familiar with them but their stage presence was awesome!
I beg to differ but I always thought London Calling was quite superior to Sandinista. Back then I thought the best track on Sandinista was the Equals' cover Police on my back which is telling.whereas London Calling features plenty of great self-penned songs.
London Calling has great songs, but I don't like the guitar pedals Mick Jones was infatuated with at the time.
Could never get my head, or ears, round Sandinista. Recall manfully struggling to get into it after London Calling, admitting defeat & struggled no more. Time to give it another try perhaps but I'll opt for your Weekend Mix version. Thanks for the link!
my all-time fave album period. Quantity & quality. If I need to stay awake driving for 2 1/2 hours this is my magic carpet. great sequencing.
Whoa! I didn’t see this post till now. Sounds like it’s likely that you and I could have been at the same shows. I caught the buzz on the Clash through KROQ. Snagged the import LP, a bootleg and some singles before the tardy release of the U.S. version of The Clash. By this time, most of my purchases were made at Rhino Records in Claremont when they were in the hallway off of Yale next to the Birkenstock store. First time I saw them live was in early 1979 with Bo Diddley and the Dils at the Santa Monica Civic. I took down a pole poster and it hangs in my game room today.
I liked a lot of music from the concurrent punk and new wave movements but I never adopted either’s fashion. I got gobbed at a few punk shows for not wearing the “uniform.” But fuck ‘em. It was more punk to show up dressed in casual beach wear. They just didn’t know it. Purists of any genre bug me. But by and large, Clash audiences weren’t hung up on style. They were there for the substance.
As far as Sandinista! Goes, its very good, not great. A few of the tracks should have been left in the can. Even if you whittled it down to an amazing three-sider, it still wouldn’t top their previous work. IMHO. But it would come close. However, that’s just the way I feel at this moment in time. Shit’s not static.
The day tickets went on sale for the Clash’s 1979 gig at the Hollywood Palladium, my guy and I made a day of it. We were going to the beach, as it was over 90 degrees inland. By the time we got to Newport, the stores were opening and we popped into the Licorice Pizza on Newport Blvd. We bought ten tickets to the Palladium show and a roach stone. Tix were $8.50 each. The idea was to drive up the PCH in my 124 Spider to Sunset Beach and have breakfast at the Harbor House. The surf report on KMET said that the waves were bogue and I didn’t feel like laying out. So, we got high and took a leisurely cruise up the coast highway with a pint of tequila. Ultimately, we wound up in Redondo Beach, bought another pint of Cuervo and saw an afternoon showing of Malibu High at the cinema near the marina. It was running with some Dracula movie for which we didn’t stay. That night we went to Madame Wong’s to see 20/20 with the Plimsouls opening.
VR
The day of the Clash’s Hollywood Palladium show, they were predicting 12-foot waves. All ten of us headed to the beach only to find out the prognosticators were wrong. What a bummer. But at least there were decent swells. But too many boards trying to make the best of the situation compounded the bad trip. My guy wanted to grab a pre-concert meal at the Reuben E. Lee. I told him that place sucked. Super overrated. We ended up getting Chinese up the street a bit at Kam’s. None of us had been there before, but all agreed it was the best high-end Chinese we had up to that point. But, then again, we all had the munchies.
Traffic was great and we made it to Hollywood with lots of time to spare. So, we went to Gower Gulch, across the street from the Palladium, and bought two quarts of Cuervo Gold at the Thrifty Drugs. The ten of us had come in a five-car caravan from the beach. We all piled into my friends’ brand-new Dodge van shag-wagon. We did pre-show shots and filled our bullets with snow in the parking lot. Sign of the times. The Clash was terrific and played a lot of songs. They gave till it hurt. Joe Ely, who I love, opened. Within a week, I went to see Rockpile and Van Morrison in separate shows at the same venue. The Palladium was rockin’ in 1979. But it's never been my favorite place to see a concert.
VR
I never got around to the 1980 Clash / Lee Dorsey show at the Santa Monica Civic. It’s the only concert I ever went to that I bowled games both before and after. Needless to say, it was terrific. And I forgot to mention Mikey Dread.
BBJ- Saw em in 82 at the Palladium with the (English) Beat too and the ’83 Us Festival survival of the fittest ordeal.
I'm thinking it's pretty likely we've been in the same room.
I know all the places you mention. I saw the Plimsouls open for 20/20 at Madame Wong's.
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