The Clash -- "Last Gang in Town"
The Clash's second album, Give Em Enough Rope, has always been widely criticized as overproduced. I would argue otherwise. What do the people want? A repeat of the first album? That would open the band up to worse criticism -- worse for them, at least, because The Clash was not a band that sat still or repeated the same formulas from one album to the next.
The Clash was ideologically fronted by Joe Strummer, but the musical aesthetic of the band was solidly defined by Mick Jones, a man who understood the value of having a 24-track recording studio at his disposal. The ramschackle production of The Clash's first album was one kind of stylistic approach to recording music. This time around, with hard-rock producer Sandy Pearlman at the helm, the sound was bound to be different, but it's still The Clash. If there is a critique I have for this album, it's that most of the songs (when you listen to the album all the way through) have a sameness of sound that does not seem to fit in with the band's aesthetic, but I never find any of the individual tracks grating, and indeed several of my favorite Clash songs are on this album. There are no reggae tracks here, no rockabilly, no harmonica -- just straight-ahead rock and roll with a lot of attitude. It's still miles away from what Pink Floyd was doing.
There are many great moments on this album, but "Last Gang in Town" is an underappreciated one. True, the song might go on a little too long, but it sounds like the band is having fun. The absolute highlight of this track, though, is a moment at which Jones indulges in one of his little rock and roll fantasies: halfway through the first guitar solo, when the melody from the lead-in to the chorus is played in harmony. Punk purists would say that if you play a lead simple and loud, one track is enough. Jones wanted to try something else. The result is what I can only call the British punk sublime.
Listen to this in your car when there's no one else around, and turn the volume up.
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