SpenniesThe Clash - Give Em Enough Rope
July 25th 2006 02:00
THE CLASH
Give Em Enough Rope (1978)
Epic Records
Produced by Sandy Pearlman
Link to Amazon w/ audio samples
The Clash's second studio outing see's them evolving (in around a year) from being a snotty political punk band into more of a rock n roll band. It's more mature, the production is much slicker, and it rolls along at a nice tempo - certainly not as biting or raw as their first album. Then again, it's also the last time The Clash would release a straight-up rock record, in the future they would take on a lot more diverse influences as evident on London Calling and Sandanista!
Give Em Enough Rope is also quite short - with 10 songs all up clocking in at 37 minutes, it's certainly no double (or triple) LP. That's alright though, because the songs are pretty damn awesome so we may just forgive them. Wether it was a conscious decision or not, the band has definitely put the catchiest songs on first - the first three tracks all maintain a steady punk influence, while still showing everybody that The Clash were progressing and always honing their sound (something that many of their original fans felt very much abandoned by, and which in turn caused this album to be somewhat of a flop compared to their first). "Tommy Gun" would be the most recognisable song here - it's a punk rock classic that I feel really demostrates to a tee the great chemistry this band had during their early days, and also their knack for songwriting.
"English Civil War" is an appropriation of the old "the ants were marching two by two, hoorah" song (I don't know what it's actually called, haha), turned into a social piece on the state of England in the 70's, and "Safe European Home" is an awesome song about travelling out of the homeland to Jamaica and being very much out of the comfort zone ("I went to the place where every white face is an invitation to robbery"), with backing vocals and big elaborate drum-fills that would sound more at home in a stadium than an underground punk rock club.
"Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad" takes a bit of a shift though, it's all poppy and boppy, and not at all punk in the slightest. This song is real tongue-in-cheek - it's a fun little story that sounds pretty different to everything else on the album, but is good to break it up a little. The rest of Give Em Enough Rope after this is probably not as memorable, it's not that the songs are bad, I just don't think they have the killer hooks a lot of their other works are littered with. Standouts for me include "Drug-Stabbing Time" which employs the use of some real rockin' saxaphone, "Guns on the Roof" (that has a guitar intro which sounds suspiciously similar to "Clash City Rockers") and possibly "Last Gang in Town" - I really like the guitar work in this song, and there is a nice chemistry between Joe Strummer and Mick Jones' vocals.
So, Give Em Enough Rope is probably not the strongest Clash release; it certainly didn't have the same impact of the album before or after it, but I think it provides a good stepping-stone and an insight into where the band were in 1978 and where they were going. Worth picking up if you're a fan, if not, maybe check out London Calling first to get more of a broad picture.
Give Em Enough Rope (1978)
Epic Records
Produced by Sandy Pearlman
Link to Amazon w/ audio samples
Give Em Enough Rope is also quite short - with 10 songs all up clocking in at 37 minutes, it's certainly no double (or triple) LP. That's alright though, because the songs are pretty damn awesome so we may just forgive them. Wether it was a conscious decision or not, the band has definitely put the catchiest songs on first - the first three tracks all maintain a steady punk influence, while still showing everybody that The Clash were progressing and always honing their sound (something that many of their original fans felt very much abandoned by, and which in turn caused this album to be somewhat of a flop compared to their first). "Tommy Gun" would be the most recognisable song here - it's a punk rock classic that I feel really demostrates to a tee the great chemistry this band had during their early days, and also their knack for songwriting.
The Clash playing a huge festival
"English Civil War" is an appropriation of the old "the ants were marching two by two, hoorah" song (I don't know what it's actually called, haha), turned into a social piece on the state of England in the 70's, and "Safe European Home" is an awesome song about travelling out of the homeland to Jamaica and being very much out of the comfort zone ("I went to the place where every white face is an invitation to robbery"), with backing vocals and big elaborate drum-fills that would sound more at home in a stadium than an underground punk rock club.
"Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad" takes a bit of a shift though, it's all poppy and boppy, and not at all punk in the slightest. This song is real tongue-in-cheek - it's a fun little story that sounds pretty different to everything else on the album, but is good to break it up a little. The rest of Give Em Enough Rope after this is probably not as memorable, it's not that the songs are bad, I just don't think they have the killer hooks a lot of their other works are littered with. Standouts for me include "Drug-Stabbing Time" which employs the use of some real rockin' saxaphone, "Guns on the Roof" (that has a guitar intro which sounds suspiciously similar to "Clash City Rockers") and possibly "Last Gang in Town" - I really like the guitar work in this song, and there is a nice chemistry between Joe Strummer and Mick Jones' vocals.
So, Give Em Enough Rope is probably not the strongest Clash release; it certainly didn't have the same impact of the album before or after it, but I think it provides a good stepping-stone and an insight into where the band were in 1978 and where they were going. Worth picking up if you're a fan, if not, maybe check out London Calling first to get more of a broad picture.
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