Mike76

The film is fairly successful but has some significant flaws that make labeling it a masterpiece out of place. Besides the thin (if not banal) plot, some scenes really seem "chopped down with an axe," giving almost a sense of incompleteness, or they are so brief that they feel more like skits than actual scenes (okay, it's known that the film underwent several cuts, but I can only judge what I see, and sadly this is what I saw). Some comedic gags based on the situation of certain freaks are, at best, childish, if not in bad taste (the one with the conjoined twins romantically split between two different men, for instance). The scene with the "bust" man of color lighting a cigarette using only his mouth is a low form of side-show voyeurism. In summary, it's a good film for the reasons already mentioned by others, but I think that if it hadn't featured real freaks as actors, it wouldn't have even half the fame it has now.

The film is quite successful but has some significant flaws, making it inappropriate to label it a masterpiece. Besides the thin plot (to say the least, trivial), some scenes seem really "chopped with an axe" and almost give a feeling of being unfinished, or are so brief that they feel more like skits than real scenes (okay, it’s known that the film underwent several cuts, but I can only judge what I see, and unfortunately, this is what I saw). Some comedic gags based on the situation of certain freaks are at best childish, if not in poor taste (the one about the conjoined twins romantically involved with two different men, in particular). The scene with the "man-bust" of color lighting his cigarette with nothing but his mouth instead evokes a lowbrow voyeurism typical of a sideshow. In short, a good film for the reasons already mentioned by others, but I believe that if it hadn’t featured real freaks as actors, it would not have even half the fame it has now.

Yes, yes, OK Mr. America, your supermarket dream and all the rest, but musically, much of this record is no more genius than the pop music it aims to mock. Three-quarters of the songs are in the form of trivial tunes and remain so even with parodic intent. From the first part, I only save the crooked "Who Are The Brain Police?", the rest is tedious. Fortunately, in the end, we're saved by two standout tracks like "Help, I'm a Rock" (the best piece) and the exaggerated "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet": pure creativity and a desire to surprise, finally. Rating: 3-

Spectacular, melodic but dry pop record, without the intrusive choruses in the style of the Beatles, just the way I like it. What frames this work more in the New Wave rather than in pure pop is the presence of marked post-punk percussion (especially evident in "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)") and a veiled "quirky" vein highlighted, for example, in the "78 RPM" speed of tracks like "Espresso."
My favorite tracks are "The Lighter Side Of Dating" with lyrics that are as silly as they are funny ("Miss Universe is not averse To bisexuality/I think abortion is a caution And I like to ski...") and "Ici Les Infants," though marred by vaguely pedophilic lyrics ("When I get close to you, hear your murmuring heart/The moon turns black and I know why you got the part/I know you’re only twelve, so I’ll keep it pretty tame/You’re just a little girl who’s new to the game").
To be honest, this is an album without weak tracks; perhaps only the title track is a bit less successful than the rest. Rating 4.5.

The first part, that of training, is terrible and magnificent. Fortunately, conscription no longer exists....

"Joe and Mick Jones trying to keep up with the Pistols." Yeah, and with this record, they’re trying to keep up with the Police, I would say. It’s still a good pop record, although there was a lot more "music that started from punk to reach other shores" (in a word, post-punk) that was much better at the time.

A film of exceptional visual impact that captures like never before the moments of confusion/loss that each of us experiences in life (at least it happens to me). Dense with details such that you could watch it multiple times discovering something new each time, I didn’t find it slow or wordy at all. This coming from someone who was bored to death watching "La Dolce Vita." P.S.: HOW gorgeous is Claudia Cardinale? What a woman!

Madamedubarry: if you’re interested, I found a rock encyclopedia that speaks rather well of this album, specifically the Baldini & Castoldi first edition from 1999. Despite mentioning the routine vibe, they give it 4/5 in the end. I hope you feel a bit less alone now.

"And here we are at one of the freshest and most innovative tracks on the album. ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ is a kind of ska-rock centered around brass instruments. No one had ever brought ska (previously unknown) into the mainstream before. This is a colossal lie since in 1979 the ska craze was already sweeping England with various bands like Madness, Selecter, Specials, etc. The Police were also blending their pop with Caribbean music, so talking about ‘experimentation’ or ‘innovation’ means giving credit where it's not due. The Clash just jumped on the bandwagon of the trend; they might be considered 'brave' for going against their old audience, but calling them 'experimenters' is just a load of nonsense."

But look, you wrote the review excellently, I find Lydon a likable character and I adore the first three P.I.L. albums, and I also pay tribute to the good soul of John McGeoch. However, I too found this album embarrassingly banal: elementary compositions, almost careless in their verse-chorus-verse schema and not at all incisive as you describe; in fact, the horns of the Tower Of Power really get on my nerves, and Lydon, instead of expressing "hatred, sarcasm, hysteria, delirium," seems to caricature himself like any Vasco or Pelù.... All of this, however, is part of my distant memories because I got rid of that album after keeping it for just over a month.