working for the clampdown

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not really a huge fan of the Clash. In fact, I only have the album “London Calling” because I got it for free. Back in college, when I was shooting photos for the Duke newspaper, they would get records for review. When “London Calling” showed up, nobody wanted it, so I was happy to take it off their hands! Now hailed as one of the greatest records of all time, it made little splash among the elitists at the Duke Chronicle!

Anyway, as I said, I wasn’t a huge fan. I think primarily because, while I think they’re good, I don’t think they’re as incredibly outstandingly awesome as so many other people think (or thought)….. Something about bands that are deified just bugs me. Whether it was Bruce Springsteen, or U2 or The Clash..…. When a band becomes that “important”, I lose interest. But time heals all wounds, or at least most. (and, of course, time loves a hero….)

Back to the Clash, they do have lots of great stuff. But some of it is just OK. London calling, for instance, could have easily been condensed to 1 awesome disc, rather than 2 really good ones. And “The Clash” is about ½ great… Bottom line, while both are good, I’ve managed to NOT listen to either in a rather long time. And neither has (for me) made the transition to digital. Yet. I did put London Calling into my Amazon cart, they have it for just $7.97, way cheaper than iTunes, even (who only have the partial album or the expanded legacy edition for $19.98).