The Clash
English Civil War b/w Pressure Drop

It is commonly believed that Jamaicans smoke the impossible before the waves and the relaxing reggae rhythm gently cradle them on the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

In search of paradise on earth, forty years ago Joe Strummer and Mick Jones set out for those lands full of good feelings and vibrations, but not before memorizing a suitable vade mecum like «The Harder They Come».

From that brief stay, the two draw inspiration for «Safe European Home». This is the detailed report, with no pretense of irony, of a journey to hell, where firearms are men's most faithful companions and bullets wander randomly; and since to the natives the white man is an invitation to violence like the red cloth is an incitement to charge for the bull, Joe and Mick quickly pack their bags and return to their safe Western home, where at most a trivial scuffle might happen at the Notting Hill Carnival, you know?

Therefore, in «Give 'em Enough Rope», there's not even a hint of reggae.

The only trace left from that era can be found on the B-side of the single «English Civil War» and it is the rendition of Toots And The Maytals' classic, «Pressure Drop»; true, a few months earlier there had been «White Man In Hammersmith Palais», but for some unknown reason, this can be more easily attributed to the debut's orbit.

Now, those who believe that ska-punk was invented by Operation Ivy and perfected by Rancid probably have never listened to or heard of the Clash's «Pressure Drop», so I'm jotting down a few lines, testing your patience.

In the late seventies, it was common to refer to the Clash as the greatest rock 'n' roll band around, especially since the Stones were on a downward slope and new rebels, bad and dirty, were needed.

With hindsight, it is almost obvious today to consider that Strummer and Jones worthily carried the torch handed down by Jagger and Richards, for a number of reasons too lengthy to enumerate on one occasion.

Therefore, I limit myself to a personal and absolutely trivial consideration. For me, what unites the Stones and the Clash is the devastating impact of the riffs that open many of their songs: «Brown Sugar» and «Complete Control», or «Bitch» and «Bored With The U.S.A.», rather than «Can't You Hear Me Knocking» and «Protex Blue», from which it is easy to conclude that I consider «Sticky Fingers» and the eponymous debut of the Clash two of the greatest examples of what rock 'n' roll is.

More than anything else, however, what takes me into orbit is the riff of «Pressure Drop».

I don’t know how many have «Black Market Clash», a concise collection of singles and rarities later expanded and renamed «Super Black Market Clash». Well, it was among those grooves that I discovered «Pressure Drop»; I didn't know it was a cover – at the time, I didn't even know what a cover was – and from the start, I considered it one of the group's most beautiful songs.

Because «Pressure Drop» is the exact opposite of what the title suggests.

The intro is all for Mick Jones who, in perfect solitude, places notes on the staff that recall the original but also clearly stand apart, imbued as they are with vigorous electricity; from the reggae of Toots and his Maytals, very little remains from the start, here the guitar doesn't invite peaceful dreams but sounds the charge and forces you to move. But it has nothing to do with punk either, so the above-mentioned ska-punk must be handled with caution and I almost disown it, given the astronomical distance from «White Man In Hammersmith Palais», which is indeed that ultimate and unrepeatable fusion between reggae, ska, and punk; this, on the other hand, is sound in motion, the starting point might be «Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad» while the destination remains unknown, only because «The Cost Of Living» and «London Calling» will arrive a few months from now.

Then the whole group enters and the dance begins.

And again with hindsight, it's no longer surprising how Paul Simonon – little more than a hooligan, diverted to bass because he couldn't form an A chord on the guitar neck, let alone sing – became within a year one of the best instrumentalists around, charismatic like few others; and no one suspects that, within a few days, that Paul Simonon will write and sing «The Guns Of Brixton», considered by many the most beautiful song among all those composed by the Clash.

The first voice that breaks onto the scene is Mick Jones and stays throughout the song; he only sings the chorus in a counterpoint to the soloist – the one that goes «Ahahahah Ahah Ohohoh Oh Yeah» – but Mick's voice is so beautiful, that if that counterpoint were absent, «Pressure Drop» might be just another song; and Mick's voice is so beautiful that the "little" he does counts as much as the absolute protagonism in «Train In Vain».

Last but not least, Joe Strummer takes it all. Joe sings almost all the Clash songs, but if you want to grasp a piece of his life, his passion, his art, there's no way around it: you have to listen to «Pressure Drop» and then «Redemption Song» (this one, in the version with Johnny Cash): two tracks with identical reggae roots, yet rendered in incomparable ways, because the greatness of this man was incomparable. When I learned of his death, I remember I was in the car on Rome's ring road; I missed the exit because Joe Strummer couldn't have really died; I got home at an unholy hour and the first thing I did was put on «Black Market Clash» to hear him sing «Pressure Drop» again; «Redemption Song» with Cash was published in 2003 in the anthology «Unearthed», and Cash had also died a few days earlier, and since then I've always thought that between Johnny and Joe there was a relationship like that between a father and a son, once inevitable conflicts and misunderstandings were set aside; and then in the booklet of «Unearthed» there's a photo of Johnny and Joe that every time I look at it makes me cry like a fool.

There would remain to talk about Nick Headon and how he plays on this magnificent track, but what can you say about old “Topper”?

There would also remain to talk about «English Civil War» on side A and the beautiful cover inspired by Animal Farm, but even this isn't necessary.