Judging by both today’s poll and the All-Star Jam area, The People are in the process of speaking. We hear a call for a Critical Upgrade on The Clash’s Give ’em Enough Rope, and we’re bringing this issue front and center.
Here’s the deal, though, don’t expect your generous Moderator to do your bidding on this album. Discounting any album that includes “Ghetto Defendant” and “Red Angel Dragnet”, Give ’em Enough Rope is my least favorite Clash album. For almost every pile-driving song I love (eg, “Safe European Home”, “Tommy Gun”, “Stay Free”, “All the Young Punks”) not to mention the silly songs I can’t help but like (eg, “Guns on the Roof” and “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad”) there is an absolute stinker so bad that it would have been rejected for inclusion on a Stiff Little Fingers album!
Now, should you choose, do the work!
Funny, but I’ve been listening to Rope in the car the last several days. It’s got some great songs, but a few others just seem like pale versions of songs from the first album. I’ll give it a solid 3 1/2 stars.
That said, it’s got a better good song to bad song ratio than Sandanista.
But hey, my favorite punk albums may very well be the first two Stiff Little Fingers albums. Of course, I understand that those of us here at Poptown Hall don’t really like our rock and roll to rock too hard. We like subtle little pop gestures that appeal to our Kentonite souls, so that when the revolution comes, we can stand on the edge of the crowd, arms folded, saying, “He’s not a very REFINED singer, is he?”
Guess I read too much into the early poll results. The window for Critical Upgrade is slowly closing.
I liked Rope when it first came out, but then punk was not a religion for me. I thought the US version of the first album wasd better than the UK version. I was all for the upgraded production on Rope (though I’m glad they didn’t go any farther down this hard rock route). There’s a little fall off on the second half, but I really like Stay Free, and it’s placement in the sequencing helps tone up side 2.
I like the consistency of sound, and the evolution of their image from guttersnipes to gunslingers was an important step in their development.
I still haven’t even looked at the poll results, but I always thought that Give ‘Em Enough Rope was a solid album with no “stinkers”, though you correctly list “Safe European Home” as one of its highlights. My other favorites on that album have always been “Stay Free” and “Guns on the Roof”.
Oh and I’m with Mark on Stiff Little Fingers, though I prefer their live album Hanx! to either of their 1st 2 (generally great) studio albums. And I like things that rock a lot harder, too. 🙂