The Clash - The Story of The Clash Volume I & II - Epic

Review by: Jennifer Perkins

How can you go wrong with 2 CDs worth of music by The Clash? They are a quintessential band for any music lover. They explored every musical genera under the sun all the while maintaining their punk rock edge. Some people say that due to their main stream marketability they were sell outs and not true punks, I say fuck em’ if they don’t know talent when they see it.

All the standards you know by The Clash are on The Story of The Clash Volumes I and II. The flash back lunch hour standard “Rock the Casbah” is right up at the start of the first CD. A song particularly close to my heart since there is a shot of Austin in the video. The second most popular radio standard “Should I Stay or Should I Go” is here. I knew The Clash had truly reached millions when one summer afternoon I joined my mother at her water aerobics class and we splashed around to this ditty. Apparently it is a regular in the instructor’s mix since old mom knew all the words. My favorite radio friendly Clash song is entitled appropriately enough “This is Radio Clash”.

Lesser known songs, but gems none the less pepper the 2 CDs. “Career Opportunities”, I prefer the version with small children on Sandinista, but this one is good too. I fell in love with “Jenny Jones” after hearing the Red Aunts version. “Tommy Gun” is an anthem of sorts and makes me remember my youth and want to dust off my knee high steel toed combat boots.

“London Calling”, “I Fought the Law”, “Train in Vain” – God is that a good one. There are more great punk ditties here than you can shake a stick at. Sure, Big Audio Dynamite was bad; yes, their teeth are a little scary; but, The Clash themselves are the embodiment of punk music and every aging punker needs to own their greatest hits.