Cut the Crap

Cut the Crap
Studio album by The Clash
Released 4 November 1985 (1985-11-04)
Recorded January–March 1985
Studio Weryton Studios, Unterföhring, Germany
Genre Punk rock[1]
Length 38:21
Label Epic
Producer Bernie Rhodes (credited as "Jose Unidos")
The Clash chronology
Combat Rock
(1982)		 Cut the Crap
(1985)
Singles from Cut the Crap
  1. "This Is England"
    Released: September 1985
  2. "Are You Red..y"
    Released: 1985

Cut the Crap is the sixth and final studio album by English rock band the Clash, released in 4 November 1985 by Epic Records. It was recorded after drummer Topper Headon and lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, co-founder and songwriter Mick Jones had been fired from the band, with manager Bernie Rhodes taking over production duties; he recruited then-unknown musicians Nick Sheppard, Pete Howard and Vince White to replace Headon and Jones. The album consists of mostly unfinished songs and ideas by lyricist and lead vocalist Joe Strummer, heavily edited by Rhodes, who also wrote a number of the tracks and produced the record under the alias "Jose Unidos".

Although Strummer said that Cut the Crap contains one of the band's strongest singles, "This Is England", the album was ridiculed on release by the UK weekly music press, and has been critically maligned since. Critics generally praise "This Is England" as well as "North and South", but tend to view the album overall as inconsistent, incohesive, and both a "musical fiasco", and "catastrophic event" for one of the most important and respected bands in 20th century popular music.[2] The Clash split up soon after its release.

Background and recording

Following a break after the Clash's performance at the 1983 US Festival, the band reconvened that June for rehearsals in London.[3] After about week into rehearsals, tensions within the group throughout the year re-emerged, reportedly due to a musical difference of opinion brought about by guitarist Mick Jones's use of a synthesizer he had recently acquired. Another point of contention was Jones's frequent tardiness and absences. By that point, Jones and Strummer had difficulty communicating with one another. According to drummer Pete Howard, "It got to the point where Joe was posting lyrics through Mick's door". Jones refused to sign a new contract presented by Rhodes; one Clash associate commented that Rhodes was angered by Jones's position, and "twisted Joe up about it", asking Strummer if he really wanted to be in the band with the guitarist. The rehearsals eventually ceased.[4]

In August 1983, the Clash arranged to reconvene to plan for their follow-up to Combat Rock. Describing the tension between Strummer and himself, Jones said, "By then, our relationship was...bad. We weren't really communicating. The group was dissipating".[5] Not long into rehearsals, in late August or early September, Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon fired Jones.[6] A week prior to the official announcement of Jones's ejection, Strummer, Simonon, and Rhodes met Howard in a pub, where Strummer aggressively told the drummer, "I've just fucking sacked Mick Jones, he's a fucking cunt. You have to make a decision: are you with us or him?"[7] Howard elected to stay with the group, and in October the band began posting anonymous advertisements in Melody Maker seeking a new guitarist. After auditions (during which the identity of the band remained a secret), the Clash hired two guitarists, Nick Sheppard and Greg White, with the latter taking the name Vince White after Simonon refused to play in a band with someone named "Greg".[8]

The intention behind the new Clash line-up was to take the music back to basics. With Strummer playing little guitar in the new line-up and Sheppard taking over as rhythm guitarist, the band practiced early Clash songs and new three and four-chord songs, and avoided reggae.[9] The band booked a brief tour of the American West Coast, which prompted Mick Jones to tell concert promoter Bill Graham that he was planning to tour the country with former Clash drummer Topper Headon as "The Real Clash". Jones's lawyer had earnings frozen from the US Festival as well as the band's previous album Combat Rock, which resulted in Strummer writing the song "We Are the Clash". The tour began in January 1984, and lasted until the end of the month. The shows featured the debut of new songs "We Are the Clash", "Three Card Trick", "Sex Mad Roar" and "This Is England".[10]

Music and lyrics

Biographer Chris Salewicz notes that the firing of Mick Jones removed the person who had written virtually all of their earlier music. Clash associate and sometime manager Kosmo Vinyl admitted that, "We didn't think...[and believed] 'Anyone can write a punk song!' That was our mistake."[11] Unknown to the band at the time, Bernie Rhodes' solution to the problem was to take control of the music writing himself.[12] Although Howard was an adept drummer, drum machines were used for virtually all the percussion tracks.[13] Rhodes drastically re-engineered much of the album, adding synthesizers, samplers, and football-style chants to Strummer's incomplete recordings. Jones experimented soon after with synthesizers and samplers in his next band Big Audio Dynamite, to wide critical and public acclaim.[13] Strummer largely disowned Cut the Crap, and admitted that "I just went, 'Well fuck this,' and fucked off to the mountains of Spain to sit sobbing under a palm tree, while Bernie had to deliver a record."[14] However, he did later admit that he "really likes" "This Is England", [and] "North and South" is a vibe."[15]

Album opener "The Dictator" was one of the earliest songs played live by the new line-up. By the time it was recorded, the bridge had been removed, the drum pattern changed, and much of the guitar parts replaced by atonal synth lines.[16] "Dirty Punk" is a guitar-heavy three chord punk song, reminiscent of material from their debut album, and was generally well received.[13] The track was written just after the 1984 tour, at a time when Strummer was attending to his mother who was terminally ill, and is thus believed to have been mostly written by Rhodes.[16]

The lyrics for "We are the Clash" may be a response to Jones' lawsuit. The recorded track differs substantially from earlier live versions. The tempo has been slowed down, and the bridge changed to an intro. The call and response chorus of the live version was removed.[16] The song received mixed reviews. It was criticised for its confused politics, and "tinny" production with especially the guitar solo and back-in-the-mix vocal chants seen as lacking low-end frequencies. Rolling Stone took issue with the song's title, observing that as the album did not include either Jones or Headon, it was "just an outright lie".[14] Clash biographer Chris Knowles found fault with the production sound, but admired the songwriting, noting that he has "heard some killer live versions of it".[16]

Cover art work for the single release of "This Is England"

"This Is England" became the band's last single. It is generally regarded as the album's stand-out track and has been widely praised, with Strummer describing it as the "last great Clash song". Co-written by Strummer and Rhodes, the song retains some of the Reggae influences of their earlier albums.[14] Knowles recalls how the live version was more dynamic, with a number of tempo changes and a melodic guitar solo.[16] The song has been described as nostalgic, as it details societal alienation and laments the state of England in 1985. The lyrics of "South Atlantic wind blows" reference the Falklands War.[17] Like "We are the Clash", it features a football chant, but here it is more convincing and higher in the mix. The guitars are more prominent than in other tracks, pleasing Clash fans, although the percussion is supplied by a drum track.[17]

Release

According to guitarist Vince White, the original title of the album was Out of Control. Rhodes changed it shortly before its release, without consulting the band.

In the mid-2000s, Cut the Crap was remastered and re-released in Europe with a bonus track "Do It Now". The reissue was unannounced and not promoted. It came after the rest of the band's catalogue had been reissued in December 1999-January 2000 in the US. Cut the Crap was not mentioned in the Clash documentary The Clash: Westway to the World (2000) and was acknowledged only briefly in the official 2008 book The Clash, not receiving an overview as the first five albums did. The career-spanning box sets Sound System and 5 Album Studio Set, both released in 2013, do not include Cut the Crap, nor do the 1991 releases Clash on Broadway and The Singles.

A career spanning compilation album, Joe Strummer 001 will be released in September 2018. The 32 song set will feature an alternate version of "This Is England" titled "Czechoslovak Song / Where Is England" and the unreleased song "Pouring Rain (1984)". A super deluxe version of the album will also be released and will feature an exclusive unreleased demo version of "This is England" along with the unreleased demo song "Before We Go Forward".[18]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[19]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[20]
The Village VoiceB+[21]

Critical and commercial reception to the record was generally poor. The absence of Jones and former drummer Topper Headon (who had been kicked out for his heroin addiction) led many to regard Cut the Crap as a Joe Strummer solo album, despite the fact that Paul Simonon appeared on it as well. Reasons for the album's shortcomings included Joe Strummer's disillusionment with the group by this point, as well as his grieving over the deaths of his parents.[22]

In a negative review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke said "too much of Cut the Crap is Strummer's angst running on automatic, superficially ferocious but ultimately stiff and unconvincing."[14] Richard Cromelin from the Los Angeles Times felt the uptempo rockers sounded less effective than previous Clash records in light of the tamer political climate at the time and the absence of Jones, although he concluded that Strummer's singing was still compelling and the ballads "This Is England" and "North and South" made the album "more than passable".[23] In a more positive review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said in spite of the synthesized horns on "Dictator", most of the songs eventually take effect, some persistent, exuberant, melancholic, and even-keeled, particularly "We Are the Clash".[21]

"This Is England" initially received mostly negative reviews. In defence, Strummer said that "CBS had paid an advance for it so they had to put it out". Critic Dave Marsh later championed the track as one of the top 1001 rock singles of all time.[24] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic complimented the song as "surprisingly heavy" on a record that was otherwise "formulaic, tired punk rock that doesn't have the aggression or purpose of early Clash records".[1]

"Are You Red..Y"/"Three Card Trick" was released as the second single in Australia[25] but failed to chart.

Track listing

All tracks written by Joe Strummer and Bernard Rhodes.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Dictator"3:00
2."Dirty Punk"3:11
3."We Are the Clash"3:02
4."Are You Red..Y"3:01
5."Cool Under Heat"3:21
6."Movers and Shakers"3:01
Side two
No.TitleLength
7."This Is England"3:49
8."Three Card Trick"3:09
9."Play to Win"3:06
10."Fingerpoppin'"3:25
11."North and South"3:32
12."Life Is Wild"2:39
CD bonus track
No.TitleLength
13."Do It Now"3:09

Personnel

The Clash[26]

Additional musicians

Production

Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1985 Swedish Albums Chart[28] 30
UK Albums Chart[29] 16
US Billboard 200[30] 88
1986 Canadian RPM Albums Chart[31] 59
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 35

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Cut the Crap - The Clash". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Ziegler, Jay. "Dusting ‘Em Off: The Clash – Cut The Crap". Consequence of Sound, 8 March 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2018
  3. ↑ Gilbert, 336-37
  4. ↑ Gibert, 338-39
  5. ↑ Gilbert, 339
  6. ↑ Gilbert, 340-41
  7. ↑ Gilbert, 344
  8. ↑ Gilbert, 345
  9. ↑ Salewicz, 363
  10. ↑ Salewicz, 364-65
  11. ↑ Salewicz, 359
  12. ↑ Salewicz, 360
  13. 1 2 3 Bray, Ryan. "This Is (Not) Radio Clash: Cut The Crap Was a Snapshot of a Legendary Band’s Low Point". Consequence of Sound, 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2018
  14. 1 2 3 4 "22 Terrible Songs by Great Artists". Rolling Stone, 15 June 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017
  15. ↑ "Interview". Record Collector, 2000. Retrieved 5 December 2008
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Knowles, 122
  17. 1 2 Cohen & Peacock, 109
  18. ↑ https://www.joestrummer.com/limited-edition-super-deluxe-boxset/joe-strummer-001
  19. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). "The Clash". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 2006. ISBN 0857125958.
  20. ↑ Rolling Stone Album Guide review
  21. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (28 January 1986). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  22. ↑ Parker, Alan. "Rebel Truce: The History of the Clash", part six. Sky Arts, 2010. 5:20
  23. ↑ Cromelin, Richard (17 November 1985). "Album Review : Less Slash From The New Clash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  24. ↑ Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Penguin, 1989. 77–80. ISBN 0-14-012108-0
  25. ↑ "Clash, The - Are You Red..y (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  26. ↑ Clash, The. (4 November 1985). Cut the Crap (Album liner notes). Epic Records.
  27. ↑ Knowles, 77
  28. ↑ ""Discography The Clash". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved 26 October 2008
  29. ↑ "UK Chart Archive". everyHit.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2008
  30. ↑ "The Clash > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  31. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 43, No. 18, January 25, 1986". RPM. Retrieved 17 February 2012
  32. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – The Clash – Cut The Crap". Hung Medien.

Sources

  • Cohen, Samuel; Peacock, James. The Clash Takes on the World: Transnational Perspectives on The Only Band that Matters. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 978-1-5013-1733-0
  • Gilbert, Pat. Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash. Da Capo Press, 2004. ISBN 0-306-81434-X
  • Needs, Chris. "Joe Strummer and the Legend of the Clash". London: Plexus, 2005. ISBN 0-8596-5348-X
  • Knowles, Chris. Clash City Showdown. London: PageFree Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-5896-1138-1
  • Salewicz, Chris. Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer. Faber and Faber, 2007. ISBN 978-0-571-21178-4
  • Savage, Jon. England's Dreaming: The Sex Pistols and Punk Rock London: Faber and Faber, 1991. ISBN 0-312-28822-0
  • Quantick, David. "The Clash" (Kill Your Idols series). London: Unanimous, 2000. ISBN 1-9033-1803-3
  • "Recording Cut the Crap". Archived from the original on 21 November 2007.
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