London Calling


London Calling is the third studio album by the English rock band the Clash. It was originally released as a double album in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 by CBS Records, and in the United States in January 1980 by Epic Records.
The Clash recorded the album with producer Guy Stevens at Wessex Sound Studios in London over a five- to six-week period starting in August 1979, following a change in management and a period of writer's block for songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. Bridging a traditional punk rock sound and a new wave aesthetic, London Calling reflects the band's growing interest in styles beyond their punk roots, including reggae, rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock. Lyrical themes include social displacement, unemployment, racial conflict, drug use, and the responsibilities of adulthood.
The album was a top ten chart success in the UK, and its lead single "London Calling" was a top 20 single. The album has sold over five million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in the US for sales of one million. It was also met with widespread critical acclaim and has retrospectively been named one of the greatest albums of all time. On Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, London Calling was ranked number 8 in the 2003 and 2012 editions, and number 16 in the 2020 edition. In 2010, it was one of ten classic album covers from British artists commemorated on a UK postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.

Background

On their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope, the Clash had started to depart from the punk rock sound. While touring the United States in 1979, they chose supporting acts such as rhythm and blues artists Bo Diddley, Sam & Dave, Lee Dorsey, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, as well as neotraditional country artist Joe Ely and punk rockabilly band the Cramps. The Clash's growing fascination with rock and roll inspired their direction for London Calling.
After recording Give 'Em Enough Rope, the Clash separated from their manager Bernard Rhodes. This meant they had to leave their rehearsal studio in Camden Town. Tour manager Johnny Green and drum roadie Baker found a new place to rehearse, Vanilla Studios, in the back of a garage in Pimlico.
The Clash arrived at Vanilla in May 1979 with no new songs prepared for their third album. Main songwriters Mick Jones and Joe Strummer had experienced a period of writer's block and had not written a new song in over a year; their recently released Cost of Living EP featured a cover song and three other songs that had all been written over a year earlier.

Rehearsals and ''The Vanilla Tapes''

Rehearsal were held in Vanilla Studios over mid-1979. The Clash began playing covers from genres including rockabilly, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and reggae. In contrast to previous rehearsal sessions, the band kept these rehearsals private, and did not allow hangers-on to attend. This seclusion allowed the band to rebuild their confidence without worrying about the reaction from outsiders, who were familiar with the band's punk rock style.
The band developed an "extremely disciplined" daily routine of afternoon rehearsals, broken by a late-afternoon social football game, which fostered a friendly bond between the band members. The football was followed by drinks at a local pub, followed by a second rehearsal in the evening.
The band gradually rebuilt their confidence, with the styles of the session's early cover songs setting the template for the diverse material that would be written for London Calling. The band were also encouraged by a growing recognition of drummer Topper Headon's skills, which they realised could be used to perform music in a wide array of genres and styles beyond punk rock.
During these rehearsals in the early summer of 1979, a series of demos dubbed The Vanilla Tapes were made on a TEAC 4-track recorder. These tapes contain early versions of 15 of the 19 songs that would eventually appear on London Calling, sometimes in very rudimentary forms. They also include covers that did not make the final album, including Sonny Okosun's Where You Gonna Go and a reggae version of Bob Dylan's The Man in Me, as well as never-officially-released Clash tunes like Heart and Mind, and the country-inflected Lonesome Me. Notably, they do not include the London Calling tracks Spanish Bombs, ''Wrong ‘Em Boyo, The Card Cheat, or Train in Vain, suggesting that these tracks were written later, possibly during the actual album sessions. These tapes, believed lost in 1979, were rediscovered by Mick Jones while he was moving in 2004, and 21 were curated for release on the 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition of London Calling.''

Writing and recording

The Clash wrote and recorded demos at Vanilla Studios, with Mick Jones composing and arranging much of the music and Joe Strummer writing most of the lyrics. Strummer wrote "Lost in the Supermarket" after imagining Jones' childhood growing up in a basement with his mother and grandmother. "The Guns of Brixton" was the first of bassist Paul Simonon's compositions the band would record for an album, and the first to have him sing lead. Simonon was originally doubtful about its lyrics, which discuss an individual's paranoid outlook on life, but was encouraged by Strummer to continue working on it.
In August 1979, the band entered Wessex Studios to begin recording London Calling. The Clash asked Guy Stevens to produce the album, much to the dismay of CBS Records. Stevens had alcohol and drug problems and his production methods were unconventional. During a recording session he swung a ladder and upturned chairs – apparently to create a rock & roll atmosphere. During another session, Stevens poured a bottle of wine over a piano that Strummer was playing to either to make it sound better or to simply make him stop. The Clash, especially Simonon, got along well with Stevens, and found Stevens' work to be very helpful and productive to both Simonon's playing and their recording as a band. The album was recorded during a five- to six-week period involving 18-hour days, with many songs recorded in one or two takes.
The first track recorded for London Calling was "Brand New Cadillac", which the Clash had originally used as a warm-up song before recording. "Clampdown" began as an instrumental track called "Working and Waiting". While working on "The Card Cheat", the band recorded each part twice to create a "sound as big as possible".

Musical style

London Calling is regarded by music critic Mark Kidel as the first post-punk double album, as it exhibits a broader range of musical styles than the Clash's previous records. Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the album appropriated the "punk aesthetic into rock & roll mythology and roots music", while incorporating a wider range of styles such as punk, reggae, rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock. "Brand New Cadillac", the album's second track, was written and originally recorded by Vince Taylor and was cited by the Clash as "one of the first British rock'n'roll records". The fifth song, "Rudie Can't Fail" features a horn section and mixes elements of pop, soul, and reggae music together.
The Clash's embrace of specific musical traditions for London Calling deviated from what Greg Kot viewed as punk's iconoclastic sensibilities. Speaking on the album, Jack Sargeant remarked that "whether the Clash completely abandoned their punk roots or pushed punk's musical eclecticism and diversity into new terrain remains a controversial issue." According to rock historian Charles T. Brown, the album led to the band's association with new wave music, while music academic James E. Perone considers the album "new wave rock".

Themes

The album's songs are generally about London, with narratives featuring both fictional and life-based characters, such as an underworld criminal named Jimmy Jazz and a gun-toting Jimmy Cliff aspirant living in Brixton. In the opinion of PopMatters journalist Sal Ciolfi, the songs encompass an arrangement of urban narratives and characters, and touch on themes such as sex, depression and identity crisis. "Rudie Can't Fail" chronicles the life of a fun-loving young man who is criticised for his inability to act like a responsible adult. "Clampdown" comments on people who forsake the open-minded idealism of youth and urges young people to fight the status quo. "The Guns of Brixton" explores an individual's paranoid outlook on life, while on "Death or Glory", Strummer examines his life in retrospect and acknowledges the complications and responsibilities of adulthood. "Lover's Rock" advocates safe sex and planning.
Some songs have more widely contextualised narratives, including references to the "evil presidentes" working for the "clampdown", the lingering effects of the Spanish Civil War, and how constant consumerism had led to unavoidable political apathy. "London Calling", the album's title track and opener, was partially influenced by the March 1979 accident at a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. It also discusses the problems of rising unemployment, racial conflict and drug use in Great Britain. According to music critic Tom Carson, "while the album draws on the entirety of rock and roll's past for its sound, the concepts and lyrical themes are drawn from the history, politics and myths associated with the genre".

Artwork

The album's front cover features a photograph of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his Fender Precision Bass against the stage at the Palladium in New York City on 20 September 1979. Simonon explained in a 2011 interview with Fender that he smashed the bass out of frustration when he learned that the bouncers at the concert would not allow the audience members to stand up out of their seats; "I wasn't taking it out on the bass guitar, cos there ain't anything wrong with it", Simonon said. Pennie Smith, who photographed the band for the album, originally did not want the photograph to be used. She thought that it was too out of focus, due to her backing away from Simonon as he approached the edge of the stage, but Strummer and graphic designer Ray Lowry thought it would make a good album cover. In 2002, Smith's photograph was named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine, commenting that "it captures the ultimate rock'n'roll moment – total loss of control".
The cover artwork was designed by Lowry and was an homage to the design of Elvis Presley's self-titled debut album, with pink letters down the left side and green text across the bottom. The cover was named the ninth best album cover of all time by Q magazine in 2001. In 1995, Big Audio Dynamite used the same scheme for their F-Punk album. The album cover for London Calling was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010. The cover art was later imitated for the soundtrack to Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.