Vinyl #49 - The Clash

 "London Calling"/Armagideon Time" (1979 12" single) 

As ever The Clash thought about their fans and provided brilliant value for money. On the face of it this is about "London Calling" which charted, but we all knew the song already and the version on this is the same as the one on the album of the same name.

No, what this 12" is all about and what Clash fans like me bought this for was "Armagideon Time", not on the album and produced by The Clash themselves. On the A-side you get an excellent if straightforward version of this reggae classic; but the real gem is on the the B-side:

Nearly 9 minutes of a dub version of the song - in two parts. The key thing which stands out is that on both Paul Simonon's bass is cranked right up, to the point where it shudders and reverberates, and Topper Headon's brilliant drumming is brought right up in the mix. Both show what a great rhythm team The Clash had, perhaps underrated and suffering from the focus on Strummer and Jones. 

It's just a brilliant performance with equally good production; typical Clash - they always produced excellent B-sides, and this ranks as probably one of the best.