combat rock

The Clash were at odds over the experimental diversions and ragged pop that gave them their greatest commercial success even as the band was coming apart.  'Combat Rock' began as a double-album concept called 'Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg' with guitarist Mick Jones mixing the first version at Ear Studios in London; but after some disagreement among the rest of the band, studio veteran Glyn Johns took over as chief engineer.  They recorded while on tour at Electric Lady Studios in New York City and then at Wessex Studios in London.  Scaling the project down to a single disk, band still manages to dabble in straightforward punk, reggae, rap, funk, sound collage, jazz, and beat poetry. 

Joe Strummer recalled:  "We were making music for 'Combat Rock' to fit onto that album plus a twelve inch that went with it, or was it two twelve inches? I don’t know. You have to get that sardonic triple-album feel in the air in the studio. That’s when I really started to wake up. You have to make an artistic decision, a creative decision, you have to say 'This bit is rubbish, I’ve got this feeling, we’re doing it again, we’re becoming self indulgent, I can feel it, everything’s going a bit funny.' Eventually we had to take the album to Glen Johns back in England and he mixed it inside of a week and gave us one compact album. He did well, too. He was really brutal with it, and I liked that brutalness. 'You like what was on this track? Nope, get rid of it.' I thought that saved the album, which was what we’d been lacking when we recorded it. It was all kind of like, 'Hey, let’s overdub that dripping drain pipe on this track, the rustling of the carpet, let’s get that in stereo, double it up, quadruple it up.' And I realized, this is not the way we made the first record, what have we come to? So when Glen Johns had cut it down and saved it and put it out and it became a big success, Mick turned to me and went 'You’ve ruined my music,' and I went, 'I beg your pardon?' And he went 'You’ve ruined my music' and I went 'How so?' and he went 'You took it to that butcher who cut all the goody bits out and made it into one LP and made it all boring and raucous', he was screaming at me, and I went, 'Haven’t you had enough of that sardonic stuff with jingle bells dribbling from 48 tracks?'"

Jones says:  "We were just playing the music we liked. We took on the music that was actually around us. We never wanted to do the same record twice. The groups I liked, you really looked forward to their albums and you rushed to get them the first day, because you knew it was going to be different than what they did before. The records told you what that group was into at that time. We were always reaching out, though I must say, now it sounds more conscious than it actually was. With the benefit of hindsight, I suspect you can sort of see what we took from where, but we didn't really see it while we were doing it...I remember one time, when we were doing 'Straight To Hell', Paul Simonon came in and went, 'That's a bit transcendental, isn't it?' And Tymon Dogg, who was in the studio at the time, said, 'Oh, that must be the rice.' And I remember I tried to get Paul to sing about pensions on 'Career Opportunities', and he wasn't going to. I don't know why I was trying to get him to sing about that in the first place. But we didn't really argue about it particularly.  There was always a bit of tension on each record in regards to what we were all putting in. Jostling for a bit of position, or something."

Topper Headon enjoyed layering on different types of percussion:  "It just happened. Some songs just called out for percussion. On the recordings I would often just hold the beat down and then do all the embellishments, and put all the colour on with percussion - and I was allowed to do that! The rest of the band thought it was great because it all added to it. I was free to add percussion and do what I wanted.  Where did the beat for 'Straight To Hell' come from? It’s a Latin American beat of some sort. It was just the first thing I did on the song - snare’s off, which wasn’t rock n roll, it was the first thing that came to me - and I overdubbed a hi hat part too."

Just before the album was released drummer Topper Headon was asked to leave the band because of his worsening heroin addiction.  During the tour tensions between Jones and Joe Strummer led to Headon's replacement Terry Chimes leaving.   Pete Howard played with the band for a show in San Bernardino, California on May 28, 1983.  The band argued with promoters over inflated ticket prices and brawled with security.  It was the last show that Jones played with the Clash.  He was officially asked to leave in September. 

Strummer explained:  "I just came right to the end of my tether. I thought, 'If I’m gonna have to put up with this behavior any longer, I’d rather just get any job — go dig a ditch, I’d rather do anything else.' What I had to deal with was emotional blackmail, he wouldn’t leave the hotel to go to the next gig, he had no enthusiasm whatsoever, he was just sarcastic about everything. Sometimes he asked for 1,000 quid just to go on stage that week. He was constantly, he wouldn’t turn up at a recording session, he’d just say he wasn’t going to go. We just wasted our energy for three or four years back there, arguing with each other. I tried to get him to snap out of it, but in the end I thought, well, I don’t see how you can make music if it’s just nothing but sarcasm and a lack of enthusiasm and gloom and doom."

Jones admits:  "I made it kind of easy for it to happen, because I became uncommunicative when it wasn't really going my way. I had a big part to play in the eventual end. But I think mostly, we'd just been with each other day-in, day-out for six or seven years without a break, and we just sort of got fed up with each other. There was a lot of other stuff that made it happen too, but that was the one thing that could've been different.  Yes, I would like to have done more. Even though we did a lot. I would like to have made another record. But that's the way it is, you know? That's the way it is."

Strummer adds:  "I was trying to prove that I was the Clash and it wasn't Mick. I learned that that was kind of dumb. I learned that it wasn't anybody, except maybe a great chemistry between us four, and I really learned it was over the day we sacked Topper, and not the day we sacked Mick. There was quite some time between them. We played a whole tour between those times. But it was the day we sacked Tops.  Because it's between humans. Bernie Rhodes and Cosmo Vinyl I think perhaps didn't understand that. You couldn't just jigsaw-puzzle it, take out a piece and put in another piece. That it was something weird between four humans that when they played it sounded OK, you know. And that's fairly rare, that's all.  And when we knocked out Topper for excessive drug abuse, I don't, think honest to God, we ever played a good gig after that. Except for one night in New Jersey we played a good one, but I reckon that was just by the law of averages. Out of a thirty gig tour, one night, you've got to say it's a fluke."

Headon remembers the 'Combat Rock' period as his low point:  "We just weren’t getting on! I remember we were mixing the record and my girlfriend said there was a drought on back in London, which meant there was no heroin. I said 'OK; I’ve got some, I’ll bring some back from America' – that’s how much I’d lost the plot! So I say to the band, 'I gotta pop back to London' and then - I got busted for trying to import heroin into the UK!"  Still, Headon says he doesn't hold a grudge: "Joe was sacking everyone else rather than just leave himself. He had no choice. I was in a state.  We were kids. Who cares?  It was the best thing that could have happened. We made all that fantastic music and then imploded at the top."

'Combat Rock' went to number twelve in Canada, nine in Sweden, seven in Norway and the US, five in New Zealand, and number two in the UK. It has been certified double-platinum in the US.   It included Tymon Dogg on piano, Poly Mandell on keyboards, Gary Barnacle on saxophone; and guest vocals by Allen Ginsberg, Futura 2000, Ellen Foley, and Joe Ely.  At the time it came out, Jones compared the Clash to other punk bands:  "We're not minimalists.  Where they tend to keep themselves in one line. we tend to go out in every line possible - all sorts of sub-tracks."

Headon describes what made the Clash so special:  "It was like Joe said; it was the chemistry between the four of us. But, none of us really knew what made The Clash work. We didn’t know at the time that we had this amazing chemistry or that punk bands weren’t supposed to make triple albums with Mose Allison songs and reggae songs. I must say Paul was great for me. I’d really like to big him up here because he was so important to the bands sound. He really kept us happening on stage. If it wasn’t for Paul I couldn’t have done half the things I did on stage! He would play stuff exactly the same every night and that left room for me to do whatever I wanted. I could cross Paul and he’d stay rock steady, he’d take over the drum role and I could express myself – you know, just jam! I could hand over the keeping time stuff to Paul and I could just show off - and it worked. Paul was integral to The Clash – not just the sound but the art work and the look, with his low slung bass. Paul was vital to the band live; he stopped us becoming a jazz band! At the time The Clash were political, fighting the establishment, fighting the record company, triple albums for the price of one, 'We ain't doing Top Of The Pops', you know? Brilliant! But as years have gone by, people who are into the band now, it’s the music that’s lived on, not the anti-Thatcher stuff or the miners and all that. It’s the music!"

Simonon reflects:  "To inspire people, even just for one second, is worth something. To be honest, we were blokes with guitars, and it's unlikely we could change the world, but at eighteen you at least think it's possible -- and it is, but maybe not in the way you first think. The amount of people who come up and say we changed their lives and gave them a whole different concept of how to look at things, is fantastic. I'm not saying we were holier than thou, we were pretty regular blokes."

About the politics, Jones says: "Maybe it won't change anything, but I still believe in it, as something worth doing. Perhaps we're too ambitious a band. I would say rock & roll can contribute toward some minor change. But it ain't gonna tell the politicians what to do. It ain't gonna save people from wars!"

Strummer adds, "But we'll have a go at it."

http://www.theclash.com/

'Rock the Casbah' was a worldwide sensation, going to twenty-six in Canada, twenty-one in the Netherlands, fifteen in the UK, eight in the US, four in New Zealand, and four in Australia.  Strummer calls it his proudest moment:  "It's such a groove. Long live groove. Screw the rest of it...The true genius of 'Rock the Casbah' is Topper Headon. I was in Electric Ladyland and he said, 'Look, I've got this tune, can I put it down?' I said, 'OK, Tops, let's put it down . . . .' He ran out in the studio and banged down the drum track to 'Rock the Casbah'. And then he ran over to the piano and he banged down the piano track to it, and then ran over to the bass and he banged down the bass part. This is, like, I suppose, within twenty-five minutes, and 'Rock the Casbah' is there, boom. Topper Headon did that in twenty-five minutes. And now he's serving fifteen months in (prison) . . . . For partially supplying the heroin that killed some guy."

"By order of the prophet

We ban that boogie sound

Degenerate the faithful

With that crazy Casbah sound

But the Bedouin they brought out

The electric kettle drum

The local guitar picker

Got his guitar picking thumb

As soon as the Sharia

Had cleared the square

They began to wail"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ

'Should I Stay or Should I Go' hit number forty-five in the US, forty in Canada, thirty-seven in Australia, sixteen in Ireland, three in the Netherlands, and number one in the UK.  Jones sang the lead vocal, but Strummer says he didn't want to:  "Tis part of the whole 'Playing the guitar is passe'. If he can do something well, he wouldn’t want to do it just to be awkward. I’m not exaggerating, I had to force him to sing it in the studio, onto that record, that vocal track that’s on that record. I had to beg him, force, cajole, whisper, entice, because he was doing his whole 'Oh, it’s so rock and roll.' At first he wanted me to sing it. We’d already demoed it and he sung it great. It sounded great, straight up and down, no frittering around, I could see what it was, solid, straight and short. But then we got to the studio and really put it down and I was like, 'Look, you do a fine job on it. I’m already singing these other tracks, you’re not singing on them. You wrote it, so you sing it,' and he’d go, 'Um, can’t' and at the end, what I had to do is say 'All right, I’ll translate into Spanish after you’ve sung the English, I’ll sing the Spanish in.' And then he was all gung-ho for it. But really we had to take half of the Spanish off the record, but really I had to cajole him to do it."

"This indecision's bugging me 
(Esta undecision me molesta) 
If you don't want me, set me free
(Si no me quieres, librame)
Exactly whom I'm supposed to be
(Diga me que tengo ser)
Don't you know which clothes even fit me?
(Saves que robas me querda?)
Come on and let me know
(Me tienes que desir)
Should I cool it or should I blow?
(Me debo ir o quedarme?)"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMaE6toi4mk

'Know Your Rights' went to number forty-three in the UK.

"This is a public service announcement... with guitar!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_dV1P5hZTI

"Straight To Hell" extended






 'Combat Rock' 
full album:





All tracks written by The Clash, except where noted. Vocalists listed.

Side one
1. "Know Your Rights" (Strummer/Jones) Joe Strummer 3:39
2. "Car Jamming" Joe Strummer 3:58
3. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" Mick Jones 3:06
4. "Rock the Casbah" Joe Strummer 3:44
5. "Red Angel Dragnet" Paul Simonon/Kosmo Vinyl 3:48
6. "Straight to Hell" Joe Strummer 5:30
Side two
1. "Overpowered by Funk" Joe Strummer/Futura 2000 4:55
2. "Atom Tan" Mick Jones/Joe Strummer 2:32
3. "Sean Flynn" Joe Strummer 4:30
4. "Ghetto Defendant" Joe Strummer/Allen Ginsberg 4:45
5. "Inoculated City"  Mick Jones/Joe Strummer 2:43
6. "Death is a Star" Joe Strummer/Mick Jones 3:13

Jones talks about whether or not the 'The Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg' version of the album will ever be released:  "You never know. I think 'Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg' was the more contemporized mix for the time, leaning toward more of a Big Audio Dynamite thing. But ultimately, I think the record we actually came out with was more definitive. No one really remembers those synthesizers and squiggle noises. A lot of times, I wasn't participating in what the record became, because I was in a bad mood about something. After so many years, all you can remember is how successful the record was, and how it helped everybody. I don't remember what I was so upset about at the time. Another reason why I think we could've done with a break...I somehow doubt it. It's not as good as the one that came out in the end. Even though it was painful at the time for me to admit that it was. But in the end it turned out fine, and no one remembers all the little finicky bits. It was a little bit more of a contemporary, what-was-going-on-at-the-time-type of thing, but the end record turned out to be a more lasting record, I think."



'Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg' 


Mick Jones produced version of the album that would eventually be mixed by Glyn Johns and released as Combat Rock

1. 0:00 - The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too
2. 3:45 - Kill Time 
3. 8:54 - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
4. 12:00 - Rock The Casbah
5. 15:48 - Know Your Rights
6. 20:58 - Red Angel Dragnet 
7. 26:12 - Ghetto Defendant 
8. 32:25 - Sean Flynn
9. 39:50 - Car Jamming
10. 43:45 - Inoculated City 
11. 48:21 - Death Is A Star
12. 51:03 - Walk Evil Talk
13. 58:40 - Atom Tan
14. 01:01:26 - Overpowered By Funk
15. 01:04:39 - First Night Back In London
16. 01:07:40 - Cool Confusion
17. 01:10:04 - Straight To Hell