The Clash
From Here To Eternity: Live

THE REVIEW

I bought this CD by mistake one afternoon, not having read that it was a live album. At the time, I hated live albums; I only listened to studio songs. But when I heard this album, I started listening only to live recordings.

This CD is a live compilation, as the tracks are taken from different concerts and are arranged according to the single's release order, not according to the typical setlist order of a Clash concert. The album was released in 1999, by which time the Clash were just a memory for many.

As you go on listening, you can hear the change in style that the Clash underwent throughout their career; initially, they made a raw Punk, but at the same time catchy, especially with the first two albums ("The Clash", "Giv'em Enough Rope"). Then suddenly, from "London Calling" or "Sandinista"), they began to convert to Reggae... Honestly, I prefer the early Clash, the dirtier ones.

The album clearly opens with beautiful songs from the first album, like "Complete Control", "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais", "I Fought The Law" etc. (I'm not going to list them all now), it flows smoothly and then falls with some tracks which, in my opinion, are horrible, such as "Armagideon Time", "Train In Vain", "Guns Of Brixton", and "The Magnificent Seven". It picks up again after with the last three tracks from the final Clash album (Cut The Crap, sorry, I don’t consider it a Clash album), such as "Know Your Rights", the evergreen with an unmistakable riff "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", and the beautiful "Straight To Hell".

What can I say, the album is beautiful, the band... Well, despite their stylistic decline (for some, it's not considered a decline but a stylistic choice, oh well, tastes are tastes), the Clash will always remain in the firmament of Punk 77, after the Ramones, but before the Sex Pistols.