What I Am Listening To

Reinvigorated by the recent Spotify podcast Stay Free: The Story Of The Clash, the masterpiece London Calling has been stuck in my rotation. While it remains an album I listen too often, lately I have been unable to remove it from at least a brief daily listen. This 1979 classic from the legendary punk rock band The Clash has remained as relevant and powerful as when it was released forty years ago. Listen to Episode 5 of the podcast for the great story of how this album was recorded and then put the album on. Though it spans two records it only is sixty six minutes long, but what a glorious hour. Power, energy, protest and snark all come through on the albums nineteen songs with highlights being the title track, Clampdown, Death or Glory and of course the radio favorite Train In Vain. Here is a brief taste of what truly is one of the best rock records of all time.

What I Am Listening To

The new Spotify podcast Stay Free: The Story of The Clash was released last week, with the first episode Lost Boys. A lifelong Clash fan, I have been waiting for this since I first heard of it last fall. As promised, this initial episode fulfilled the promise of telling the origin story of one of the most influential bands of the twentieth century. The impact of this episode though comes through the voice of its narrator, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D. Also being a Public Enemy fan, hearing the power and strength of that clean, deep voice brought me back to the songs that made his band a force of the late twentieth century. Similar to The Clash who blurred the lines of rock and punk, Public Enemy could not be held within one genre’s definition and bridged the worlds of rap, rock, hip-hop and R&B. Chuck D expresses true admiration for The Clash in this first episode, and the similarities between the two are all too obvious. What a great start to what will surely be a fascinating trip.