In September 1977 The Clash released their third single, the adrenaline rush, punk high watermark and righteous fury that is Complete Control. Written and recorded in a fit of disgust at CBS who had put out Remote Control as a single, a song that was already available to fans on the band's debut album (the single came with a B-side that was a live version of London's Burning to add to the sense that fans were being ripped off). In the hyper- consumerist days of late stage capitalism that is 2022 you could be forgiven for thinking that there are worse things a record company could do than release an already available song as a single but that's to underestimate things. For The Clash this was a sure sign that their record company were the enemy.
Complete Control is The Clash's single most exhilarating moment in a career full of them, a high octane rush of guitars, Topper's drums (his first recording since joining), Joe's voice and a lyrical state of the punk rock nation address. It starts out with their disgust at CBS releasing Remote Control...
'They said 'release Remote Control'/ But we didn't want it on the label'
...and then goes elsewhere, record company press jaunts next in the firing line...
'They said 'fly to Amsterdam'/ the people laughed/ the press went mad'
For a band as obsessed with smoking weed as The Clash you'd think they'd be happy to go to Amsterdam but they won't be told to go. The song's title, referenced in the next line, comes from a meeting with the group's manager Bernie Rhodes at The Ship on Wardour Street, who kept saying he wanted complete control. Strummer and Simonon had to leave the pub, collapsing through laughing so much. Again, the state of punk in 1977- Rhodes (and Pistols manager McLaren) demanded control of their bands. The bands didn't want to be controlled by anyone. Or at least, seen to be. The group's run ins with the law and habit of letting ticketless fans in to gigs by pushing open fire exits get a verse too, punk credentials further established. Joe and Mick are still furious though, ramping up the lyrical content to match the adrenaline rush of the guitars with lines about being 'artistically free' and 'bits of paper' and record companies who want to 'make a lot of money and worry about it later'. Joe's so angry that during the guitar solo he takes the Mick down snarling 'you're my guitar hero'. Mick must have been happy to leave this in. Mick was happy to be a guitar hero, even in the No Beatles, Elvis or Rolling Stones frenzy of 1977.
The second half of the song breaks down, a brief pause from Mick's wall of treble, with Joe adopting the point of view of tabloid press and TV news and their view of punk as 'dirty, filthy... ain't gonna last'. The call and response vocals between Joe and Mick are incredible, a weapon lots of the other punk bands didn't have- 'Control/ C- O- N/ Control'. Everything about Complete Control, all three minutes and ten seconds of it, is as good as punk rock guitar music can be.
Lee 'Scratch' Perry produced Complete Control. He heard their cover of Police And Thieves, was in London with Bob Marley and The Wailers and invited to come to Sarm East studios in Whitechapel to produce. Legend has it that the group, Mick especially, took Lee's production and re- produced it somewhat, bringing the guitars further forward, dialing the dub echo down. In the punk rock cauldron of autumn 1977 you can understand why- a weirded out dub version of the song would have been confusing and at odds. Jon Savage, so disappointed with the band by the time of Give 'Em Enough Rope that he penned the line 'so do they squander their greatness' in a review of that album, said in England's Dreaming that Complete Control was not a 'piece of cynicism [but] a hymn to Punk autonomy at its moment of eclipse'.
In 1999, promoting The Clash's posthumous live album From Here To Eternity a live version of Complete Control was released by CBS. The album jumps about, live versions from different venues and different years and despite this holds up well. Complete Control is from The Clash's lengthy residency at Bond's Casino, Times Square, New York, in 1981 (13th June to be exact). The fire that fuelled them writing it and recording it in 1977 is still burning brightly- it's an incendiary and hair raising version, Mick's guitars firing on all cylinders, Joe at his very best, and Topper's drumming is ' incredible- his kick drum at the start, the snare drum during the 'all over the news spread fast' section and his fills as the song rushes towards its conclusion- especially. This version has popped up on my mp3 player during my drive to work three times this week, every time sounding as exciting as it possibly could.
2 comments:
Whilst it's been a bit of a rubbish week for various reasons, it's also been a completely brilliant week because we got The Clash twice this week: Janie Jones at The Vinyl Villain on Monday and Complete Control here. Love that live version.
Blimey, that live version is a belter!
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