The Clash, Strummer/Jones/Simonon/Headon
Atlantic (Penguin) – Harcover – NZ$70

Reviewed by guest reviewer Neil Beattie.

During the hot British summer of 1976 The Clash were forming in London and I was, literally and figuratively, a world away at primary school in Napier. I’m pretty sure I’d never heard of punk rock, let alone The Clash – after all Ready to Roll was still showing Abba and Rod Stewart! By the time I was at high school in Auckland three years later The Clash were part of my staple music diet. I still have my old BASF C60 cassette of the first Clash album, taped from a friend’s vinyl of course.

This book, with its shocking pink cover, took me straight back to those days of the late 1970s-early 1980s. It is not a small book, weighing at something over 2kg, but it is beautifully researched and well put together.

Basically it is a chronological history of The Clash from their formative days of 1976 to their almost inevitable implosion in 1984. The words are all from the band themselves, drawn from archive interviews, and provide a fascinating insight to what was behind the songs. Reading Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon describe how they were caught up in the Brixton riots of 1976 is a case in point. Realising it was a black people’s fight, Strummer penned the classic ‘White Riot’ (I wanna riot, a riot of my own). The telling of the story in first person tense brings it alive and you can almost feel the tension on the streets. As much a history of the band and their music, this is a fascinating commentary on society at the time.

The text of the book is supported by an incredible collection of photographs, concert posters, album notes, newspaper clippings and song lists. Every recording is detailed with release date, chart position, track listing, musicians featured, studio and producer. Each tour is summarised with details of dates, venues, songs played, band line up and support acts. As the first ‘official’ Clash book much previously unseen material has been made available.

The music of The Clash has stood the test of time and even some of the themes they were singing about still sound fresh. In these days of the boorish George W Bush ‘I’m So Bored with the USA’ sounds very contemporary, so the release of this book now is entirely appropriate! As a documentary record for fans of The Clash or as a text for students of modern history this book is a great read.
NZ publication date - 3 November, 2008 (today).