pretazzo

so many memories...

You are right! I ask the editors to change the rating of the album! But how the hell did I give it only 4??? :-/

sanjuro, forget about the early modern lovers, they're not for you...pure rock, no frills, like Lou Reed...

this is a group with some real balls!! they put many of their English colleagues to shame... and they're catchy too! Ireland is so beautiful, I want to go there! :-)))

I know, bjorky... I wasn't born yet back then, but I can imagine the excitement of listening to the White Riot group playing such a blended music... :-)

a beautiful, brilliant, insightful review; it's clear that this album excites you... I listened to it some time ago, maybe not all of it though, I should dig it out... one of the strengths of the Clash was definitely their eclecticism, but it must be noted that the infusion of black or Caribbean rhythms (funk, reggae, dub, ska) was common among various English bands of the time (Slits, Pop Group, Gang of 4, Police systematically... and then many other new-wave bands at least sporadically mixed with reggae, such as "Redondo Beach" by Patti Smith and "Prove It" by Television...) A similar discussion can be made regarding socially engaged lyrics... One thing is almost certain though: in the field of so-called "punk77", I don't think the Clash had rivals in maturity, class, and knowledge of rock music... even in their very early works, we see signals of that crossover which then exploded in London Calling, Sandinista, and Combat Rock... anyway, really a great review! Well done! :-)

@ Ossian: personally, I prefer DRI to MDC, but just slightly... for me, they are more powerful: just compare the two rhythmic sections, the DRI's is compact and devastating, while MDC's is super fast, furious, spasmodic, but it lacks that cohesion, that systematic approach and that tightness that hardcore/metal bands like DRI, Suicidal Tendencies, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, Negazione, Raw Power, etc. could always rely on... and then the sound: DRI were darker, leaden, obscure, oppressive, claustrophobic, their atmospheres are not that far from those of a Kill Em All, for example... whereas MDC still had one foot in street sounds, garage-punk, late 70s/early 80s... then the voice: Dictor was more of a declaimer, he hardly ever screamed, a punk preacher... while Brecht spat out his tonsils... for all these reasons, I prefer DRI and find them more "powerful" than MDC. What do you think? :-)

"Magma are a rock band" <<< MDK is anything but rock.

stunning...a lovely little concert of dissonances, quotes, and various absurdities...the glaring demonstration of how no-wave was an educated movement, with more than one debt to free jazz...this album has a lot of humor, as Ege rightly points out, but there's also a heartfelt and vibrant tribute to a past era, that of bebop...