THE CLASH Vinyl & CDs

Review: Finishing up recording sessions for what would become their classic fifth full-length LP Combat Rock in December of 1981, The Clash began 1982 with a six-week jaunt across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand (where they would shoot the iconic cover for their forthcoming album) and Japan, marking their first time hitting most of these countries. Taking the stage at the Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo on the 1st February, Joe Strummer and co would rip through a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits collection including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with an array of quintessential bangers such as '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais', 'This Is Radio Clash', 'Tommy Gun' and 'Jimmy Jazz', while the band would be joined by bassist Paul Simonon's wife Pearl Harbor (aka Pearl E. Gates) of new wave outfit Pearl Harbor & The Explosions for a rendition of the Wanda Jackson popularised 'Fujiyama Mama'. This tour and subsequent performance is also noteworthy for being one of the last to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be removed from the band shortly after due to his heroin addiction, ultimately bringing an end to the original line-up.

Review: After recording sessions for their legendary fifth LP Combat Rock would come to a close at the end of 1981, punk heroes The Clash embarked on a six-week jaunt across Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand (where they shot the iconic cover for their forthcoming record) and Hong Kong. Hitting the city of Kowloon on 25th February only a few months out from record release, this was an era when Hong Kong was still a colony of the British Empire (the last existing dependency of any significance at this time) and enjoyed less government interference in personal freedom, yet there had never been an act as bold as The Clash over to visit. With a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with bangers galore from 'The Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law', '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' and 'Jimmy Jazz', with the band even treating the crowd to an early earful of Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' more than two months before official release (a time when no one had smart phones to film and throw up on YouTube or include on Setlist.fm as "New Song"), this performance and tour would also be one of the final to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be fired due to his heroin addiction just a few months down the line, marking the end of the original line-up.

Review: Following the end of recording sessions for what would become their iconic fifth full-length Combat Rock in December 1981, punk legends The Clash would embark on a six-week tour of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand (where they would shoot the cover for the upcoming album) and Hong Kong. Captured in Kowloon on the 25th February three months before record release, and during a time where the city enjoyed less stringent government oversight, there had still never been an act as rambunctious and declarative as The Clash to hold court. Delivering a set that now reads like a greatest hits from the obligatory opener of 'London Calling' to bangers such as 'Tommy Gun', 'The Guns Of Brixton', 'I Fought The Law' and 'Jimmy Jazz', while even unveiling Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' two months before studio release, the performance and subsequent tour is also noteworthy for being one of the last with the original line-up, as drummer Topper Headon would be fired due to his heroin addiction only a couple of months later.

Review: Punk rock heroes The Clash were midway through their transformation from guitar thrashing rabble rousers to the dub and hip-hop influenced alt pop pioneers they became when this broadcast captured them in live action in the capital of the Netherlands. So, expect a few anthems from the early days like 'London Calling', as well as more futuristic fusions of differemt genres such as 'The Magnificent Seven' and other highlights from their sprawling, ambitious and generally acomplished triumph, the Sandinista! LP

Review: In December 1980, The Clash released the sprawling 36-song Sandinista! album, which marked their transition from rabble rousing guitar slingers to the genre-splitting musical experimentalists that inhabited the second part of their career. This high quality recording catches them in mid change, still including the pogo-friendly likes of 'London Calling' - the opening tune here - but also an echo chamber-drenched version of reggae-inspired original 'Bankrobber' and their hip-hop anthem 'The Magnificent Seven'.

Review: Given The Clash's wholehearted embrace of dub and reggae in their sound, it was significant when they came to Jamaica for the World Music Festival in 1982. Now you can relive that momentous gig thanks to a high quality sound board recording which captures the energy of the performance and the band when they were riding high off the back of Combat Rock. The hits are non-stop, from 'London Calling' to 'The Guns Of Brixton', 'Bankrobber' to 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?'. The kind of band who truly made their songs come to life on stage, no one did it like The Clash - stick this on and you'll have no choice but to agree.

Review: When The Clash rolled into Passaic, New Jersey in March 1980, they were fully hitting their stride. They'd released their instant classic London Calling in December the year before and cracked the US top 30, so they hit Stateside with some swing in their stride, and it shows on this fantastic document of one of the breakthrough US gigs. Of course the classics spill out of this collection, from 'London Calling' and 'Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law' and their cover of Junior Murvin's 'Police & Thieves', all delivered by a band firing on all cylinders.

Review: Like owning a little piece of history with a bonus memoir, The Clash's Combat Rock was - is - the band's best selling album of all time and highest charting in both the US and UK. This was also the last time Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon would record together before the lineup changed, and the track list contains at least two of the outfit's most recognised songs - namely 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' and 'Rock the Casbah'.

The original version of the LP was less expansive than this special edition released to mark 40 years since the long-player went on sale. The addition of The People's Hall offers fans a chance to relish in no less than 12 extra tracks, including collaborations with the legendary Ranking Roger - 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Red Angel Dragnet' - the iconic late-frontman of The Beat more than ideally suited to the crew's sound.

Review: Album number five from legendary British post-punk and New Wavers The Clash was first unveiled on 14th May 1982. 40 years on it finds itself the centre of attention once more, re-released both in this original version and an extended edition with bonus record The People's Hall. Sticking to this outing, fans will likely already know that the record as it was first intended remains the band's most successful of all time, outselling all that came before or after and charting higher than any other in the US and UK alike.

Respectively hitting number seven and number two in the charts of the day, and spending 23 weeks in the top 40 albums in Britain and a mammoth 61 weeks in the LP league tables Stateside, today it's a double-platinum testament to just how potent the combination of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon was. The last record to feature that iteration of the outfit, tracks like 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' remain utterly timeless.

Review: 1982's seminal fifth and final album from the classic lineup of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon needs little introduction, but will now receive some additional sonic context in the guise of 'The People's Hall.'

Compiled by the living members of The Clash, this expanded edition features 12 previously unreleased rarities and outtakes including a version of 'Know Your Rights' recorded at The People's Hall on The Rolling Stones' Mobile Studio.

Offering greater insight into the recording, demoing and ideas process behind arguably the last definitive Clash album as well as one of the all time punk-rock greats, these additions are essential for any true Clash cultist.

Review: On September 21 1979 The Clash took to the stage of The Palladium in New York City and performed one of the most significant gigs of their lives. At that point they'd released their self-titled debut and Give 'Em Enough Rope, and their position as vital progenitors of the British punk explosion was assured on an international level. This particular performance was broadcast on the radio and subsequently became one of the most widely bootlegged of all Clash gigs, but it attained an even more legendary status as the gig where Paul Simonon smashed his bass into the floor, captured on camera and subsequently used as the iconic cover for London Calling.