323. The Clash, "Sandinista!"

 

Hey look it's the Talk About Sandinista Without Using the Word "Sprawling" Challenge! OK, I'll try.  How do you follow up London Calling, one of the greatest albums in rock history (which, I haven't checked, but I'm sure will be in the top 20 or so on this list, I mean it better be)?  You smoke a ton of weed and your only instruction to the engineer is "just keep the tape rolling no matter what happens, mate."  That's how you end up with this three-disc mess of an album(s), just a sprawling - FUCK - ongoing melange of reggae, rockabilly, folk, jazz, maybe disco?  Whatever it is, it's certainly not punk, which is to say that the Clash were first known as a "punk" band but this album should disabuse anyone of that thought.

So yeah, there's a lot going on here.  And no, it's not all great.  But I tend to agree with this article that you could make a fantastic single album out of it.  This guy suggests some of the following songs, all of which are worth listening to if you want to get a sense of the record:

"Magnificent Seven" - first song, first side.  Driven by an absolutely monster bassline and featuring Joe Strummer doing something like rapping, which was pretty groundbreaking at the time.

"The Leader" - they're still a rock band, see!  

"Something About England" - so theatrical you can picture Joe and Mick Jones onstage singing together with a painted backdrop of rotting London behind them.

"Police On My Back" - a remarkable cover of a 1967 Eddy Grant song, a guaranteed head-nodder.

Although the linked article doesn't list it, I really love "Rebel Waltz," almost waltz-like, in 3/4 time, with a despairing message of the futility of revolution.  Really lovely song.

So my takeaway is that this album probably takes years of listening to properly ingest and understand and get the full measure of.  I listened to it once straight through, then went back and listened to my favorite parts over again, and I still feel like I don't really have a grasp on it at all.  I will say that just the idea of writing this many songs in one go blows my mind and Joe Strummer was a genius (and the other guys were too, don't get me wrong).  

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? The condensed version, yes.

Comments

  1. GGJuly 22, 2021 at 6:38 AM

    Another point in this album’s favor: As a teenager born in 1974, I had no idea what a Sandinista was, and looking it up led down a long rabbit hole of learning a lot about the 20th century history of Central America, an interest that continues to this day! Also, I love the idea of creating a single album out of it, there are so many great songs, but it’s just impossible to put it on and listen to the whole thing.

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    Replies
    1. TKJuly 22, 2021 at 6:38 PM

      When I was researching this album I read a lot of posts saying similar things - that this album kicked off some kid's political consciousness that lasted for life. In that sense, this album is one of the more successful on this list, I bet.

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