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Saturday 24 August 2013

More Clash Dub



An album of Clash songs done dubwise style by a Swiss reggae band may not set the heart racing in anticipation and may cause you to raise your eyebrow in suspicion... but you'd be wrong. Dub Spencer and Trance Hill released The Clashification Of Dub two years ago. I stumbled upon it the other day. It's really good- lots of already dubby basslines from songs like Bankrobber and Guns of Brixton given the full version treatment with spacey effects and the unmistakable whiff of the skank but the real treats are the riskier dub versions of Lost In The Supermarket and Train in Vain, expansive, imaginative and beautifully played. Train In Vain is way out there in dubsville.



Train In Vain

There's a lot of The Clash in the air right now. Mick, Paul and Topper can be found interviewed here for BBC Radio 4 (promoting that boombox shaped boxed set). There's a pop-up shop about to open in London for a few weeks in September with a load of Mick's memorabilia on the walls (and with a shedload of boomboxes to shift). And in early September Cerys Matthews will be interviewing the threesome for BBC 6 with an audience asking questions as well. As Drew remarked recently, London Calling may well be the best lp ever. And, three decades after they split, they still have a claim on that 'only band that matters' tag.

2 comments:

drew said...

The remastered vinyl boxset of the albums is worth considering, it's 65 quid from that tax dodging online retailer.

I was thinking that my copies of Sandinista and London Calling were looking a bit worse for wear.

Swiss Adam said...

Mine too.