Cut the crap
| Cut the crap | ||||
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| Studio album by The Clash | ||||
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Publication |
November 4, 1985 (UK & Europe) |
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| Label (s) |
CBS (Europe) Epic (USA) |
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
38 min 21 s |
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| occupation |
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Jose Unidos |
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Studio (s) |
Weryton Studios , Unterfoehring |
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Cut the Crap is the last studio album by The Clash and came in November 1985 on the market. Since no other band member except Joe Strummer was involved in the album, it is later criticized both by the band itself and by most of the fans as inauthentic. In the course of variously extensive box set releases in 2013 in order to rework the entire work of The Clash, Cut The Crap was even completely ignored.
prehistory
On September 10, 1983, the British music press reported that the band's founder Mick Jones had been forced by the other two band members Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon to leave The Clash.
Strummer and Simonon decided to continue The Clash as a pair and brought two new guitarists, Nick Sheppard and Vince White, into the band as replacements, but they (like drummer Pete Howard) did not become equal band members, but were merely employed . A rehearsal room tape that Sheppard recorded in November 1983 and circulated on iTunes in 2007 already contained 14 new songs, 8 of which ultimately remained unreleased.
Since Mick Jones did not agree with the continuation of The Clash, he raised a legal claim to the band name and left all of the band's own music publisher Nineden Ltd. Block incoming royalties .
In order to generate income, the new band began their Out Of Control tour (North America, Great Britain and Europe) on January 19, 1984 , which ended on May 31, 1984 in Canada. For this tour 9 of the new songs were selected and played (> Dictator / We are The Clash / Are you red..y / This is England / Three card trick / Sex mad roar / Jericho / Glue zombie / (In the) Pouring rain ).
Strummer, Simonon and manager Bernard Rhodes had their own music publisher Riperole Ltd. for the new songs . register, announced a new studio album for the end of 1984 and negotiated an advance payment with CBS Records . Rhodes later claimed that, in his opinion, the new band weren't ready for studio recording, but Strummer had insisted on releasing a new album as soon as possible. Mick Jones dropped claims on the band name in the meantime and called his new project Big Audio Dynamite .
The band took a break until the beginning of September 1984 and then gave six concerts in Italy at the invitation of L'Unità . Autumn passed with preparations for the studio recordings. At the beginning of December 1984 two benefit concerts followed in London for the benefit of the striking miners , at which 3 new songs were played ( Dirty punk / Fingerpoppin '/ North and south ).
Studio recordings
The recording of the new album turned out to be highly problematic from the start. Band manager Bernard Rhodes seized the project both as producer and arranger , increasingly pushed the band members including Joe Strummer aside and also hired session musicians for the recordings. Paul Simonon declined to play on the album, replacing Ian Dury's bassist Norman Watt-Roy, who brought his colleague Mickey Gallagher (keyboards) with him.
In the fall of 1984 pre-production began in the band's rehearsal room in London. First rehearsals with Watt-Roy and Gallagher were disappointing, the sound was criticized for being too conservative and pub rock-heavy . Rhodes decided to give the new songs a more modern sound through the use of drum computers and hip-hop beats.
In December 1984, guitarist Nick Sheppard began programming sounds and beats together with sound engineer Michael Fayne (who worked with Roachford in the following years ). Were used Yamaha DX7 synthesizer and Yamaha RX11 drum machine.
Between January and April 1985, the new album was recorded in the Weryton Studios in Unterföhring near Munich , using the new MIDI technology to create a recording studio with digital recording capabilities, and Ulrich A. Rudolf was the sound engineer. Only Strummer, Rhodes and Sheppard were present at all times. Watt-Roy returned to London after completing his parts, keyboards were recorded by the Munich sound engineer Hermann Weindorf. White and Howard came to Munich by car during the great cold snap in early February 1985, by which time most of the backing tracks had already been recorded. White, following Rhodes' instructions, contributed various additional guitar parts, while Howard was not needed.
The entire band (Strummer, Simonon, Sheppard, White and Howard) actually only came together once in the studio, on this occasion two songs ( Do it now / Sex mad roar ) were recorded, which were later used as single B-sides were.
At the end of April 1985 the band returned to London demoralized. To rebuild cohesion and team spirit, The Clash hitchhiked through the UK from city to city for two weeks, performing as street musicians and staying with fans.
From May 1985 further work on the album recordings followed, for instrumental and vocal parts different studios were used. The polyphonic battle chants that characterize most of the album's choruses were z. B. recorded with about 30 fans and friends of the band in the Shepperton Studios . During these procedures there was a final break between Joe Strummer and Bernard Rhodes. Strummer realized that he no longer had any influence on the design of the album and went on vacation to Granada for a few weeks in June 1985 .
The Clash played three more rock festivals in the summer of 1985, the last gig took place on July 27, 1985 in Athens .
The finished recordings were finally mixed in the summer of 1985 in Mayfair Recording Studios in London by sound engineers Simon Sullivan and Kevin Brewster-White, mastering took place in CBS Studios (now Whitfield Street Studios ) in Soho by mastering engineer Tim Young and on the master disk Studios in New York held by mastering engineer Howard Weinberg.
publication
On September 22, 1985, the first single This Is England was released, which made it to number 24 in the UK Top 40 . “Strummer & Co.” was given as the composer and “Jose Unidos” (a pseudonym for Bernard Rhodes) as the producer. An alternative version of the song was pressed in Holland in an edition of 250 and is very much sought after today.
On November 4, 1985, the album Cut the Crap followed , which made it to number 16 in the UK and number 88 on the Billboard charts in the United States . As the composer of all songs "Strummer / Rhodes" was given, which was not discussed with Strummer. The title of the album (originally "Out Of Control") had been changed by Rhodes arbitrarily, "Jose Unidos" was specified as the producer.
In the USA, at the same time as the album was released, a promo maxi single of the album track Fingerpoppin 'came out in a special "AOR re-mix". This single is also very popular today.
Separation of the band
In mid-August 1985 Joe Strummer traveled to Nassau to persuade Mick Jones to return to the band, but Jones declined. In September Strummer went to Spain again for a few weeks, where he produced the album Más de 100 lobos by the Spanish band 091. Since he had meanwhile broken off all contact with the clash management, a concert planned in Paris had to be canceled.
Upon his return, Strummer held a band meeting in which he informed Sheppard, White and Howard that he would no longer work with them as he would continue to try to get Mick Jones back into the band. The management was not informed of this decision, so the three musicians were initially paid.
Since Strummer was no longer willing to cooperate with the band management, Bernard Rhodes decided to replace him with a new singer. Rhodes and Sheppard held at least two casting events in the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town , but since the rest of the band members refused to continue The Clash without Joe Strummer, this action remained without result.
On November 23, 1985, the band's management officially announced in the music press that Sheppard, White and Howard had left The Clash. Since no further activities followed, The Clash were de facto dissolved.
The management relationship with Bernard Rhodes was not officially ended until the beginning of 1987.
Press reactions to Cut the Crap
New Musical Express (Great Britain): "Loud guitars call the troops together and run against the bastions of the privileged, while the fan curves (that's what we should be, remember) roar their approval."
Melody Maker (UK): “You know what? It's crap! And it doesn't work. (...) a mix Moulinex would be ashamed of. What the hell does Joe Strummer think he is? 'Cut the Crap' is a mess of horrible noise (...) "
Sounds (UK): “The finer points are over, but for me it was still worth the wait. The Clash don't miss Mick Jones, and the band has finally managed to combine their love for world music with rock from the gut in a clear way. The clash of R&B, electro, funk, Mexican trumpets and whatever is often terrific in terms of sound. "
Rolling Stone (USA): "(...) put on wild, but ultimately wooden and not convincing."
The Village Voice (USA): “(...) most of it here comes in, persistent and in a good mood and poetic and compact. If you listen to it exactly, it doesn't seem pathetic how Joe struggles and roars as if there was no tomorrow, but brave. "
SPEX (Germany): “The new 'Dirty Punk' couple Strummer / Rhodes enjoy writing roaring north / south / west / east curve hits. Desperate normal pompous rock, unfortunately still better than BAP. "
The Clash on Cut the Crap
Strummer (1986): “These are my songs. I think some of these are pretty good. (...) I can't understand how he [Rhodes] could take on the project and then, as I thought, deliver such a blow into the water. "
Strummer (1986): “Some of the songs were decent, but I really hated [the album]. Even before the final mix, I had a fight with [Rhodes] - I didn't hear [the album] before it was in stores. "
Strummer (1986): “No, I [don't like the album]. I don't like the drum box on it. I hate how this drumbox plays through the whole time, from A to Z. I don't like the sound of it, it doesn't even sound like a particularly good one (...) "
Strummer (1988): “I hate it. I think 'This Is England' is a fantastic song and I will play it when I tour again, but I think about these sessions with a bad feeling and I will never use a drum machine again. That was a mistake."
Simonon (2003): “It could have been a pretty good album, but Bernie got involved too much. If I had known what was happening, I would have stayed with it and pulled it off. I thought it was a point of honor to stay out of it and tell Joe to go with his vision. "
Sheppard (1995): "When you make a record, you try to get excited about it, but that was just a bad joke."
Sheppard (2004): “A lot of the musical ideas on the album were from [Rhodes]. From a purely production point of view, they were incredibly ahead of their time, and one should give him that. Unfortunately, Bernie is not musical, and that's why they didn't hit it. "
White (2007): “There are some good parts here and there, but the whole thing reeks of desperation and poverty. I hate it. It sucks. "
Rhodes (2004): "It was funny that Madonna and a few hip-hop people used 'Cut the Crap' as a basis for what they did."
Re-releases
After The Clash re-published their entire back catalog in restored and digitally remastered form in 1999 , “Cut the Crap” was also relaunched on July 3, 2000. This new release has not been digitally remastered, but contains an additional song called Do It Now .
The single This Is England was re-released on October 30, 2006 as part of the Clash Singles Box.
All official best of compilations ignored the "Cut the Crap" song material and let the band history end with the split from Mick Jones in 1983. Only after the death of Joe Strummer was the song This Is England on the compilation The Essential Clash (2003).
A live version of the previously unreleased song (In the) Pouring Rain was released in 2007 on the Joe Strummer compilation The Future Is Unwritten , the soundtrack for the film of the same name .
Track listing
All songs were written by Joe Strummer and Bernard Rhodes.
- Dictator - 3:00
- Dirty Punk - 3:11
- We Are the Clash - 3:02
- Are You Red..y - 3:01
- Cool Under Heat - 3:21
- Movers and Shakers - 3:01
- This is England - 3:49
- Three Card Trick - 3:09
- Play to Win - 3:06
- Fingerpoppin ' - 3:25
- North and South - 3:32
- Life is Wild - 2:39
Individual evidence
- ↑ Date of publication: 1985-11-04. Register the album on the United States Copyright Office website.
- ^ Paul Grein: Last Minute Blockbusters? Superstar Releases Set For Holidays . In: Billboard Magazine, Nov. 2, 1985, p. 81.
- ↑ http://homepage.mac.com/blackmarketclash/Bands/Clash/recordings/1983/83-05-28_SanBerdino/83-09-10%20NME%20Mick%20sacked.jpg ( Memento from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) NME magazine (September 10, 1983)
- ↑ Chris Salewicz: Redemption Song - The Ballad Of Joe Strummer . P. 375
- ↑ http://homepage.mac.com/blackmarketclash/Bands/Clash/recordings/1984/84-08-00%20Tour%20Info/Recording%20Cut%20the%20Crap.html ( Memento from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Nick Sheppard interview with Ralph Heibutzki
- ^ Vince White: Out Of Control: The Last Days Of The Clash . P. 198
- ↑ weryton.de ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Weryton Studios KG (references: artist listing)
- ^ Vince White: Out Of Control: The Last Days Of The Clash . P. 205
- ↑ Chris Salewicz: Redemption Song - The Ballad of Joe Strummer . P. 379
- ↑ http://homepage.mac.com/blackmarketclash/Bands/Clash/recordings/1985/85-08-27%20Athens/85-08-27%20Athens.html ( Memento from April 15, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Report on Blackmarketclash website
- ↑ Chris Salewicz: Redemption Song - The Ballad of Joe Strummer . P. 383
- ↑ Chris Salewicz: Redemption Song - The Ballad of Joe Strummer . P. 389
- ↑ indyrock.es Indyrock article about Joe Strummer and 091 (Spanish)
- ↑ http://homepage.mac.com/blackmarketclash/Bands/Clash/recordings/1985/85-09-13%20Paris/85-09-13%20Paris.html ( Memento from April 15, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) entry Blackmarketclash website
- ↑ joestrummer.us ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Record Collector , August 2000 (Joe Strummer interview)
- ↑ Vince White: Out Of Control: The Last Days Of The Clash (p. 275)
- ↑ Marcus Gray: Return Of The Last Gang In Town . P. 424
- ^ Mat Snow. In: New Musical Express , November 9, 1985
- ↑ Adam Sweeting. In: Melody Maker , November 9, 1985
- ↑ Jack Barron. In: Sounds , November 9, 1985
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/theclash/albums/album/132884/review/5943097/cut_the_crap ( Memento from April 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) David Fricke. In: Rolling Stone , January 16, 1986
- ↑ robertchristgau.com Robert Christgau. In: The Village Voice , January 28, 1986
- ↑ Peter Bömmels . In: SPEX , 12/1985
- ↑ str Bäumenews.com ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Record Mirror , July 19, 1986
- ↑ Los Angeles Times , Aug. 9, 1986
- ↑ str Bäumenews.com ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Melody Maker , October 18, 1986
- ↑ str Bäumenews.com ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. International Musician & Recording World , June 1988
- ^ GQ , 2003, quoted in: Kris Needs: Joe Strummer and The Legend Of The Clash . P. 252
- ↑ quoted in: Marcus Gray: Return Of The Last Gang In Town . P. 412
- ↑ Quoted in: Pat Gilbert: Passion Is A Fashion - The Real Story Of The Clash . P. 353
- ^ Vince White: Out Of Control: The Last Days Of The Clash . P. 270
- ↑ Quoted in: Pat Gilbert: Passion Is A Fashion - The Real Story Of The Clash . P. 356
