Thread by @marty_lederman

Surely the best thing ever written about what might just be the greatest album ever recorded. @paranoiacs somehow captures vividly something so vast and inexplicable--so. . . well, "generous, gratifying, and galvanizing." 1/

theringer.com/music/2019/12/…

"Having established [in the title cut] the high stress/high stakes in their home city, the rest of London Calling quickly shifts into a panoramic, exultant celebration of the larger world, from Mallorca to Kingston to Manhattan. ... Here, in both sonic and thematic terms, ... 2/

"... we see punk rock stretched from its minimalist, street-fighting-man ethos into something wholly unexpected. Strummer and the Clash became bon vivants, historians, and traveling evangelists for human decency."

Just so.

3/

"From the group’s outset, the elements of the Clash that distinguished them from their peers in punk’s first wave were their sundry departures from three-chord shout-alongs: nascent forays into blues, glam, reggae, and early rock . . . .On London Calling, ... 4/

"... seemingly with great suddenness, all of these disparate influences snapped into focus, alchemizing into something entirely singular. Like the Band or the Rolling Stones before them, the sound is an unrepeatable mosaic of obsessions and influences. . . . 5/

"The men recording the music may be young, but they are channeling spirits from Sidney Bechet to Elvis, and you can taste the blood on the tracks."

It still thrills & amazes, 40 years later.

P.S. She also manages to answer that age-old question: "But why Guy Stevens?"
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