Forty Minutes Of Covers Of The Clash

To follow last week's post of The Clash sampled, edited and remixed, this week has a a forty minute set of covers of Clash songs by other artists. When I started to put a shortlist together I realised there's enough material for two or three editions. I thought of theming it- a dub mix, rock mix and so on but then in the spirit of Sandinista! decided to sling different styles together, so we go from dub to rockabilly and back again with several other points visited in between. The Clash's songs stand up well to being covered- the sheer variety is testament to their songs and the distance they travelled between White Riot in 1977 and Death Is A Star in 1983. 

Forty Minutes Of Covers Of The Clash

• Terry Edwards And The Scapegoats: Version City
• Megative: Ghetto Defendant
• Infantry Rockers: Rebel Waltz
• The Afghan Whigs: Lost In The Supermarket
• Citizen Sound ft. Prince Blanco and Ammoye: One More Time
• Hinds: Spanish Bombs
• Jimmy Cliff: Guns Of Brixton
• Lily Allen and Mick Jones: Straight To Hell
• The Pistoleers: Bank Robber
• Dub Spencer and Trance Hill: Train In Vain

Punk trumpeter Terry Edwards recorded covers of the Mary Chain, Bowie and The Fall with his Scapegoats as well as being a member of Gallon Drunk. It is typically punk of him to decide to cover Version City, a Sandinista! side 6 song and hence unlikely to have been heard by many but the most committed. 

Megative are from New York City. Their cover of Ghetto Defendant (a Combat Rock highlight, rocking dub with Allen Ginsburg on board) came as a bonus song on their 2018 album No Fear. 

The Afghan Whigs use Topper's Train In Vain drumbeat for their cover of one of Mick's greatest London Calling era songs, a single that never was. Greg Dulli et al recorded it for a tribute album that came out in 1999. 

Shatter The Hotel came out in 2009, a reggae/ dub album of Clash covers with Don Letts doing London Calling and Creation Rockers, Dub Antenna and Chomsky Allstars all feature. It's a really good album, good versions from start to finish. For this mix I included Infantry Rockers doing Rebel Waltz (a real lesser known Clash gem) and Citizen Sound's One More Time. Infantry Rockers are from Wisconsin with members from Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Costa Rica and Jamaica, which couldn't be more Clash if it tried. I can't find much info about Citizen Sound. Prince Blanco featured in last week's mix with 22 Davis Road

Hinds are four young women from Spain. In 2020 they kicked the living daylights out of one of London Calling's best songs, Joe conflating 70s mass tourism, the Spanish Civil War of 1936- 1939 and the terror campaign by ETA. If you're going to cover The Clash, do it properly. As Hinds do. 

Jimmy Cliff's cover of Guns Of Brixton came out on his Sacred Fire EP in 2011. Paul Simonon's lyrics refer to Ivan, the lead character in the Harder They Come. Ivan was of course played by Jimmy Cliff. 

Lily Allen and Mick recorded Straight To Hell for a War Child album in 2009. Lily's Dad Keith was a friend of Joe's and he was a regular visitor to their home. 

The Pistoleers covered Bank Robber in rockabilly style for a 2003 tribute album, This Is Rockabilly Clash- I'm fairly sure the first time I heard this was when it was played by Andrew Weatherall. 

Dub Spencer and Trance Hill are a Swiss dub outfit who released an entire album of dub versions of Clash songs back in 2011. It's quality stuff from top to tail not least when they tackle the less- dub oriented songs, like Train In Vain. 

One More Cover

This picture shows an early version of the selfie in the bathroom mirror, 1940s style. People don't change much- only the technology they use.

There are a lot of reggae cover versions of Clash songs once you start looking for them. I suppose this shows that their reggae songs (rather than their reggae covers) had a good deal of genuine reggae groove and spirit about them. This one, a cover of One More Time from Sandinista, combines some quality dub production with a digital/dancehall riddim and a real on-the-money vocal. Not too far from the kind of modern-but-70s roots reggae inspired stuff that Prince Fatty puts out. It's by Citizen Sound (featuring Prince Blanco and Ammoye), a Toronto based dj, producer and radio show host. Suddenly there are obscure Canadians popping up all over the place (see yesterday's rockabilly post).

One More Time

My half term week off has been dominated by DIY, a new kitchen to be exact. I never want to do anything like this again. It has worn me out. I have been to four different south Manchester B & Q branches since Monday, a total of eleven times, returning taps that didn't work or were dented, a sink that was fitted and then had the wrong clips to hold it in place, and getting various bits and bobs we suddenly needed but didn't have. As well as this we got a new worktop got jammed in between the walls which then cracked, leaving my father-in-law and myself spending the best part of an hour trying to maneuver it either in or out, anything just to move it. A hole for a sink in the same worktop was cut the wrong size leaving gaps around the edge, waste pipes didn't fit together, and a hob and oven were not delivered- and still haven't been. We have part two yet to come- tiling and more besides. I should add it is looking good now and a vast improvement on what we had before. I should also point out that my DIY skills are very rudimentary- I was the gopher, occasionally allowed to use a screwdriver or a saw (once). But I ain't doing it again once this job is finished. From this point on my preference for DIY is strictly punk and acid house related.