The Clash - Sandinista (1980)

The Clash’s fourth studio album “Sandinista” (named after the Nicaraguan Marxist rebel group) is by no means a punk album and in fact is about as far away from punk as you could possibly get. Released in 1980, this album saw the band move radically away from the punk movement they helped spearhead, not only in terms of sound, but in size as well. Sandinista is a triple album – a rare thing in itself containing three discs, six sides, thirty-six tracks, and totalling 144 minutes a concept that you would think some progressive rock act would be behind not a so called punk rock band.

The music on this album in many ways spans the history of music to that point, and explores genres ranging from funk, reggae, rockabilly, dub, calypso, rap, and gospel, genres that are stylistically miles away from The Clash’s first album of mainly punk rock songs in fact there is hardly a punk rock song on this album. The band began exploring with different styles of music on their previous release “London Calling” but went even further on Sandinista. The band explores rap on “The Magnificent Seven and “Lightening Strikes” this before the genre was even popular in the mainstream, reggae on “Junco Partner”, rockabilly on “The Leader”, jazz on “Look Here”, gospel on “The Sound of Sinners”, and Celtic folk complete with fiddle on “Lose This Skin”. The massive array of musical styles on show here makes it seems as if with each new track you are also moving to another style of music, that is how varied this album is musically. The band also experimented significantly on “Sandinista”, experimentation that included the appearance of different instruments ranging from violin to harmonica, extra singers including a re-recorded version of “Career Opportunities” being sung by small children, various sampling, and several alternate dub versions of tracks that already appear on the album. Lyrically Joe Strummer is Joe Strummer, with political and social topics appearing throughout the album including themes such as the military draft on “The Call Up” and American imperialism in Latin America on “Washington Bullets”. In fact Alternative Press magazine included “Sandinista” in its 2000 list of the “10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums”.

“Sandinista” is very much a stretch to listen to at 144 minutes and could have done with some trimming in places, but then again the idea of it being a triple album is probably worth a couple of filler tracks here and there. This goes back to the argument of would The Beatles White Album be as good if it was a single album? Just put “Sandinista” on at a party and you won’t notice the lesser moments. For me Sandinista is one of the coolest albums of all time simply because it has everything.  Stylistically the range of genres on here is immense, while the production on the album is first class for its time with the arrangements, sampling, and sound given careful attention to detail by the band. As an album it was definitely ahead of its time especially considering the bands punk background, and could arguably be seen as the first “world music” album to be released by a western act. A radical departure from the bands earlier work and a continuation on from what the band did on “London Calling”, this album is a major artistic statement from a band at the peak of their career, and proved exactly why The Clash was one of the biggest bands in the world at that time. “Sandinista” is well worth a listen that is even if you don’t have 144 minutes to spear.

 

A

 

- Sam

Marvin Gaye - Stubborn Kind of Fellow (1962)

An early Marvin Gaye track from 1962. Featuring the great talents of The Funk Brothers, the heart of the Motown Sound.

The Clean - Boodle Boodle Boodle (1981)

Undoubtedly one of the more enduring bands of the Dunedin Sound era, The Clean debuted in 1981 with the EP Boodle Boodle Boodle, which is simply an affirmation of kiwi audacity and ingenuity. Recorded with a budget of $700 in Chris Knox’s bedroom, this 5-track release contains some of the most thumping, boisterous “lo-fi” rock-based songs that I’ve ever heard.

The three tracks on the EP’s A side are all typical staples of the Flying Nun label's sound, such as “Billy Two” which seems reminiscent of the more upbeat post-punk outfits of the era, yet with a stripped-down, hard rockin' quality that simply doesn’t let up. One of the better known songs associated with the band, “Anything Could Happen”, features a few trademark slices of jangly guitar, coupled with terrific, pounding bass and drum work, as well as vocal delivery by lead singer David Kilgour that just personifies your average New Zealander’s indifference.

The real gem here though is the final song on the EP’s B side, “Point That Thing Somewhere Else”. This 5-minute tour de force contains a phenomenal, gliding lo-fi guitar riff which seems to bring in elements of Dick Dale’s classic surf sound. I can't help but feel that this track's soul belongs somewhere in the 1990s, but that also makes it easier to understand The Clean’s influence on later international acts - particularly Pavement and Yo La Tengo, both of which have cited as such.

Unfortunately the only copy of this EP is its original 1981 release, but all 5 tracks are included in the 2002 compilation Anthology, which pretty much covers most of the band’s history, not unlike The Chills’ 1986 Kaleidoscope World. If you want to hear where your favourite 90s alternative rock / lo-fi band may have got its sound, this would be a pretty good place to begin.

A

-Karl

BBC Britannia Documentary Series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Britannia_documentaries

BBC Four have made some brilliant television documentary programmes over the years, and as a channel it does a great job in providing interesting and insightful content in what is an otherwise mostly “soft” media environment. Their “Britannia” documentary series which explores mostly the evolution of a music genre, or other aspects of music culture in the UK has probably been their most ambitious project yet, and has so far included twenty-three programmes of around roughly ninety minutes. The series began in 2005 with “Jazz Britannia” looking into the history of British jazz music, while the latest series aired in the UK last month focusing on British music during the 1950s. The series has covered a whole range of music styles including folk, classical, dance, blues, synth pop, heavy metal, and prog rock to name a few and has also rather obscurely ventured outside of the series predominantly music based theme in showing episodes about British comics, British gaming, and even British birds.

The episodes in this series do a very good job in offering insightful looks into the wide range of topic areas, with the programmes also including new interviews with the people involved and experts in the area. Careful attention is paid in giving the viewer a thorough background into the subject matter, its history, and its significance today, while the programmes also include wonderfully preserved archival footage. Of the programmes I have seen, I would recommend “Festival Britannia” that looks into the history of British music festivals, “Folk Britannia” that covers British folk music, and although I am not a huge fan of this style of music “Prog Britannia” which is a very interesting look into British progressive rock. 

I hope BBC Four continue to produce programmes in this series, although whether that is the case or not will depend on if proposed cuts in funding at the channel go ahead or not. Television needs more carefully and expertly produced documentary content like the programmes in this series, not only for their cultural value but also their educational significance. I know a lot of the episodes in this series are floating around on YouTube and I would strongly recommend you take a look.

- Sam

Davey Graham - Anji (1961)

One of the pioneers of the 1960s British folk revival Davey Graham playing his beautiful instrumental Anji.