The Clash “This Is Radio Clash”
The Clash “This Is Radio Clash” 1981. 12″ single. Side 1: “This is Radio Clash” and “Radio Clash” Side 2: “Outside Broadcast” and “Radio Five.” All four tracks are versions/remixes of “This Is Radio Clash,” with varying instrumentation and lyrics (for example, on Side 1 the tracks differ in their start: This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite, Orbiting your living room, cashing in the bill of rights vs. This is Radio Clash resuming all transmissions, Beaming from the mountain tops, using aural ammunition).
All versions of the single veer from the traditional “punk” label to varying degrees (but then again, so did The Clash throughout their short and highly influential presence), bringing in sounds of disco, new wave, rap/hip-hop and funk. Highly danceable and political.
Run-off groove: Side 1 “Please Save Us” Side 2 “Not the Whales”
Daily (maybe) pulls from the vault: 33-1/3, 45, 78, old, older, classic, new, good, bad. Subjective. Autobiographical. Occasionally putting a record up for sale.