Back in February as part of my Soundtrack Saturday series I wrote abut Joe Strummer and his songs for the soundtrack to the Alex Cox film Walker. Joe's soundtrack work in the 80s and 90s requires further posts- both Sid And Nancy and Permanent Record benefited from bespoke Strummer solo songs and Joe contributed to other soundtracks too, Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997 and Black Hawk Down in 2001.
But today's post isn't a Joe Strummer post, it's a Mick Jones post. Coincidentally, Mick celebrated his 70th birthday this week, two days on 26th June- belated happy birthday Mick!
After splitting from The Clash in 1983 Mick formed Big Audio Dynamite and Mick's love of film formed a big part of the B.A.D. sound and world- the Spaghetti Western samples in Medicine Show and the entire lyric to E = MC2 was a tribute to director Nic Roeg (see my post about Performance also from February this year). Don Letts and Mick Jones were film obsessives and film references pepper the B.A.D. back catalogue.
In 1990 the original Big Audio Dynamite line up of Mick, Don, Dan Donovan, Leo Williams and Greg Dread recorded their final song together, Free, for the soundtrack of a film called Flashback. I've seen Flashback, we rented it on VHS at some point on an evening with nothing to do in 1990. Flashback was directed by Frank Amurri and stars Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland. Hopper is a 60s anarchist/ hippie who has been on the run for twenty years, accused of disconnecting Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew's train carriage. Kiefer Sutherlnad plays an FBI agent who has apprehended Hopper and has to take him back across the USA for trial. It's an action/ adventure/ comedy. AS the unlikely duo make their way back to Washignton it becomes clear that Sutherland's FBI agent character was raised in a hippy commune and used to go under the name Free. Hopper is partly playing a reprisal of his character from Easy Rider but two decades down the line- I've only seen the film once and it seemed entertaining enough at the time and if anyone can play a 60s survivor with a screw loose in 1990 it's Dennis Hopper.
B.A.D.'s song Free was only available on the soundtrack to the film (until it appeared on a CD compilation called Planet B.A.D. in 1995). There are two versions...
The Club Mix is seven minutes long and filled with acid house enthusiasm, a sampled voice opening the track saying, 'it should be kickin' in about now. Synths, big 1990 Italo piano chords, stuttering voices, and then Mick's vocal. The Club Mix spirals on and on, more samples from the film, more synths and acid house and then Hopper's character Huey saying, 'once we get out of the 80s the 90s are gonna make the 60s look like the 50s'.
Free was a Jones/ Dan Donovan co- write. The LP Version is more song based, with extra verses and more flow.
Flashback's soundtrack contained a mix of 60s legends and late 80s/ dawn of the 90s artists- Edie Brickell and R.E.M. rub shoulders with Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, Flesh For Lulu with Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat and Steppenwolf. Dylan's version of People Get Ready, a Curtis Mayfield cover, hasn't appeared anywhere else. The film (but not the soundtrack) contained a two more Big Audio Dynamite songs- The Bottom Line and C'Mon Every Beatbox.
The Bottom Line is one of Mick Jones' best songs, one of B.A.D.'s best. It was remixed for the film, Mick's melody and invention remaining intact but in truth its not the equal of the 1985 version, the 12" mix being the definitive take of the song.
The Bottom Line (Film & Club Version)
After the original B.A.D. line up split, Mick carried on recruiting a new band and renaming them B.A.D. II. They re- recorded Free as Kickin' In for their Kool Aid album which was later reworked and re- released as The Globe. I think Mick was making it up as he went along at this point. Dan left shortly after. B.A.D. II have some really good moments- The Globe's title track for one, Rush for another.
In 1993 Mick and B.A.D. found their way onto the soundtrack to a film called Amongst Friends, a low budget New Jersey mobster/ friendship film directed by Rob Weiss. But that's a story for another Saturday.
Free pops up on a great Japan-only CD called The Lost Treasures of B.A.D. I&II. I think because it came out after Kool Aid, for a long time I assumed that Kickin’ In was the original version and Free the re-working.
ReplyDeleteI must have seen Flashback when it came out - I would go to the cinema for anything with Hopper or Sutherland in it - but I’d forgotten the film as much as B.A.D.’s inclusion in it.
Great post, Adam, I love this series.
An appropriate picture for Mick Jones/B.A.D.post.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/t3_-NqM4E80?si=RlgOP1ASyOgL2d2T
Mick Jones is 70? Say it an't so! I have so much time for Mick and am still waiting for him to reignite Carbon Silicon with his old mucker, Tony James. One day.
ReplyDeleteJM
I saw Carbon/ Silicon live in Mcr at Night and Day, was a really good gig though no Clash or BAD songs alas
ReplyDeleteSwiss Adam