The De-Berniator

[Inder]

This is England charted higher than Mag 7, Casbah and KYR in the UK, Cut the Crap charted higher than Sandinista! in the UK, and it's not like they spent six months playing to half-empty arenas in Europe and North America. Bernie evidently agreed that a back to basics punk approach was wrong, which is how we got a very bad synth-rock album.

The back to basics thing is itself hugely overblown and really has nothing to do with getting back to the spirit of '77 -- it had to do with putting out tight 2-minute thirty rock songs and not seven-minute swamp jazz fusion remixes. More guitar, less marimba. The reason Combat Rock exists is because of the back to basics thing.

There is absolutely nothing in any of the 84/85 songs that sound like 1977 punk rock, unless you can point to where the Sham 69 were doing steamroller ballads like Pouring Rain or dancey funk like Ready For War.

Anyways, I'm getting big "Oh, you're all enjoying a nice surprise? Let me just remind you that the thing you are enjoying actually sucks and it is my urgent responsibility to tell you that" vibes so I'm going to dip.

[IkarisOne]

This is England charted higher than Mag 7, Casbah and KYR in the UK, Cut the Crap charted higher than Sandinista! in the UK, and it's not like they spent six months playing to half-empty arenas in Europe and North America. Bernie evidently agreed that a back to basics punk approach was wrong, which is how we got a very bad synth-rock album.

The back to basics thing is itself hugely overblown and really has nothing to do with getting back to the spirit of '77 -- it had to do with putting out tight 2-minute thirty rock songs and not seven-minute swamp jazz fusion remixes. More guitar, less marimba. The reason Combat Rock exists is because of the back to basics thing.

There is absolutely nothing in any of the 84/85 songs that sound like 1977 punk rock, unless you can point to where the Sham 69 were doing steamroller ballads like Pouring Rain or dancey funk like Ready For War.

Anyways, I'm getting big "Oh, you're all enjoying a nice surprise? Let me just remind you that the thing you are enjoying actually sucks and it is my urgent responsibility to tell you that" vibes so I'm going to dip.

Yeah, I get a Kinks or Dave Clark 5 vibe from this record, not a Vibrators or Eater vibe. More power pop than anything else. It would have been a big hit here.

I also think saddling up the old worn out and broken down drunk hobby horses shows a lot of disrespect and ingratitude to a very talented and industrious musician who worked very hard to bring something new and exciting to this dying fandom. No one cares about this tired old Stalin-Trotsky bullshit anymore.

[Marky Dread]

Sure the anticipation for new Clash material was high as it had been a while since they had released anything. Don't remember "This Is England" staying around for long though. Chart positions count for very little in Clash land.

CTC may well have charted higher than S! But it's still an incredibly pale imitation of what the band once were.

The twin Les Paul's were a definite throwback to punk. Bernie wanted Nick and Vince to sound like Steve Jones. Plus a lot of Joe's lyrics were just poor attempts at being punk in '85.

Remember we are talking about the album being made by the actual band here and not the made in the studio abortion it became.

[Marky Dread]

This is England charted higher than Mag 7, Casbah and KYR in the UK, Cut the Crap charted higher than Sandinista! in the UK, and it's not like they spent six months playing to half-empty arenas in Europe and North America. Bernie evidently agreed that a back to basics punk approach was wrong, which is how we got a very bad synth-rock album.

The back to basics thing is itself hugely overblown and really has nothing to do with getting back to the spirit of '77 -- it had to do with putting out tight 2-minute thirty rock songs and not seven-minute swamp jazz fusion remixes. More guitar, less marimba. The reason Combat Rock exists is because of the back to basics thing.

There is absolutely nothing in any of the 84/85 songs that sound like 1977 punk rock, unless you can point to where the Sham 69 were doing steamroller ballads like Pouring Rain or dancey funk like Ready For War.

Anyways, I'm getting big "Oh, you're all enjoying a nice surprise? Let me just remind you that the thing you are enjoying actually sucks and it is my urgent responsibility to tell you that" vibes so I'm going to dip.

Yeah, I get a Kinks or Dave Clark 5 vibe from this record, not a Vibrators or Eater vibe. More power pop than anything else. It would have been a big hit here.

I also think saddling up the old worn out and broken down drunk hobby horses shows a lot of disrespect and ingratitude to a very talented and industrious musician who worked very hard to bring something new and exciting to this dying fandom. No one cares about this tired old Stalin-Trotsky bullshit anymore.

I've certainly shown no disrespect to the work that Gerald has put in. I've only praised his effort and performance. I'm just being realistic about a poor album. But hey whatever works for you is cool.

[Inder]

I'm not sure why you feel that it's incumbent upon you to set everyone right tbh. Everyone knows it sucks. It's the worst!

We're just trying to have a good time here, you know? If my pals were excited about something and I joined their conversation halfway through to deliver a backhanded compliment and then shit all over what they were talking about, they'd probably be pretty annoyed at me.

[Wolter]

This is England charted higher than Mag 7, Casbah and KYR in the UK, Cut the Crap charted higher than Sandinista! in the UK, and it's not like they spent six months playing to half-empty arenas in Europe and North America. Bernie evidently agreed that a back to basics punk approach was wrong, which is how we got a very bad synth-rock album.

The back to basics thing is itself hugely overblown and really has nothing to do with getting back to the spirit of '77 -- it had to do with putting out tight 2-minute thirty rock songs and not seven-minute swamp jazz fusion remixes. More guitar, less marimba. The reason Combat Rock exists is because of the back to basics thing.

There is absolutely nothing in any of the 84/85 songs that sound like 1977 punk rock, unless you can point to where the Sham 69 were doing steamroller ballads like Pouring Rain or dancey funk like Ready For War.

Anyways, I'm getting big "Oh, you're all enjoying a nice surprise? Let me just remind you that the thing you are enjoying actually sucks and it is my urgent responsibility to tell you that" vibes so I'm going to dip.

This.

[Wolter]

Look, this is the version some of us have been waiting up to 36 years to hear. If the praise is overly effusive on first blush, let it be overly effusive.

[Silent Majority]

I think we're working hard to let Gerald know how grateful we are for his hard work; a free gift to the fandom that's been asked for since the original album first landed and one that I'm very pleased that kids getting into the band now will be able to access forever. As a ret-conned first Joe Strummer solo album, it could have gone worst. In fact, reality's first Joe Strummer album, as discussed, did go worse. EW is now the difficult second record.

[IkarisOne]

Look, this is the version some of us have been waiting up to 36 years to hear. If the praise is overly effusive on first blush, let it be overly effusive.

This.

[Marky Dread]

I'm not sure why you feel that it's incumbent upon you to set everyone right tbh. Everyone knows it sucks. It's the worst!

We're just trying to have a good time here, you know? If my pals were excited about something and I joined their conversation halfway through to deliver a backhanded compliment and then shit all over what they were talking about, they'd probably be pretty annoyed at me.

Not sure how I'm preventing people here having a good time listening to this version of Cut The Crap. People are entitled to enjoy whatever they like. My compliments are not backhanded either. I genuinely feel that Gerald has done a great job, that has obviously been a labour of love. His effort is greatly appreciated.

I'm not attempting to "shit" on anybody's enjoyment. Just think some comments are a bit over the top.

But as I appear to be a thorn in the side here I'll happily leave this thread in peace.

[chocolatejesus]

Well this is one nicely polished turd.

Thanks Very much Gerald for Not only making me Listen through the whole thing for the first time, but for making it actually enjoyable.
Fantastic Work, theres some serious audio wizardry going on in this board

[Olaf]

All this revisiting had me Googling again, and I found this from a 2000 interview with Joe in Sean Egan's book —

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There's a Ulli Rudolf on facebook. Has anyone contacted him?

Slim chance it is him, especially as the name appears in many variations.

https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/47733 ... h-A-Rudolf

[Kory]

edit: never mind

[appleseed1]

I've listened to this every day and have no plans of stopping.

[JimW]

This is really amazing work. I'm on my third listen on YouTube but the download on Page 1 has expired. Can you make it available again?

GManns, thank you so much for sharing this improved version of the album. It's so good to hear something new - and it really sounds NEW - after all these years.