The Clash “Sandinista!” released on this date, December 12th, 1980. It’s a good thing I don’t have much going on today because listening the entire 36 track triple album is a true commitment. On their fourth studio album, The Clash dug deep into their musical influences and, veering away from the quick punch of punk, take the long view on many tracks by evolving sounds as disparate as reggae (“Junco Partner”), funk and disco (“Ivan Meets G.I. Joe” – this track also notable for having drummer Topper Headon on lead vocals), hard-driving rockabilly (“The Leader”), jazzy musical showtunes (“Something About England”) and Motown (“Hitsville U.K.” which sounds like a mashup of The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” and a Christmas carol) – and this is just Side 1!

Sandinista! hit #19 on the UK charts at the end of 1980 and in 1981 made it to #24 on the US charts. The Clash released four singles from the Sandinista! sessions: “The Call Up,” (not on the album), “Police On My Back,” “Hitsville U.K.” and “The Magnificent Seven.” The original release, which this is, includes a tri-fold newspaper style lyric sheet The Armagideon Times no.3 with cartoons drawn by Steve Bell.

My favorite tracks are “The Crooked Beat” (mostly because it is one of the rare Clash songs where Paul Simonon sings lead), the reggae-meets-theCure-style-goth “One More Dub,” “Let’s Go Crazy” with its madcap calypso, the punk anthem “Police on My Back,” reggae-mellow “The Equaliser” and the violin-heavy “Lose This Skin” which was written and sung by Tymon Dogg (who later joined Joe Strummer’s band the Mescaleros). Though all the songs are credited to The Clash, it’s fairly easy to tell which ones were primarily composed by Joe Strummer versus the ones by Mick Jones (political-punk vs. pop sensibility) and the Strummer ones are what I lean toward (i.e. on disc 2 I’m not crazy about “Somebody Got Murdered” – the title belying the upbeat, boppy music and obviously written by Jones – but the next track, “One More Time” is rich, raw and angry: Strummer!). I’m also not crazy about the version of “Career Opportunities” (originally on their debut album); Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ keyboard player Mickey Gallagher’s sons sing, backed by a harpsicordy piano and it just kind of ruins it for me.