CREATIVITY & DISRUPTION

"Sandinista" The Clash

SOUNDS OF REVOLUTION

  Anticipating the "world music" trend of the 1980s, it features funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, rockabilly, folk, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, disco, and rap; It was a record whose topic was as many years ahead of its time as its sound. Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by the English band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, an amazing artwork that impacts until today where the mixture of style and cultures, shows us how art transcends borders, embodying a true revolution.

 

 

"Sandinista is the ultimate Clash record. It is a family business were all individuals are at the peak of their art. It is wide open to all cultures." David Girard

It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. 


John Piccarella, in a review for Rolling Stone headlined "The Clash Drop The Big One", argued that in effect, the band said "to hell with Clash style, there's a world out there." Some critics have argued that the album would have worked better as a less-ambitious, smaller project, while Piccarella (in his Rolling Stone review) and others think of the album as a breakthrough that deserves comparison to the Beatles' White Album.

For the first time, the band's traditional songwriting credits of Strummer and Jones were replaced by a generic credit to the Clash, and the band agreed to a decrease in album royalties in order to release the 3-LP at a low price.


 Robert Christgau wrote in The Village Voice, "If this is their worst—which it is, I think—they must be, er, the world's greatest rock and roll band".



The title refers to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and its catalogue number, 'FSLN1', refers to the abbreviation of the party's Spanish name, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional.

 Studio album by The Clash

Released     12 December 1980
Recorded     February 1980, Pluto Studios, Manchester; March 1980, The Power Station, New York City; March–April 1980, Electric Lady Studios, New York City; May 1980, Channel One Studios, Kingston, Jamaica; August 1980, Wessex Studios, London
Genre         Post-punk new wave dub
Length     144:09
Label     CBS, Epic
Producer     Mikey Dread, the Clash

Sandinista! was voted best album of the year in the Pazz & Jop critics poll in The Village Voice, and was ranked number 404 on the Rolling Stone list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003. Slant Magazine listed the album at number 85 on its "Best Albums of the 1980s" list in 2012.

  Sandinista! is  included on list of the "10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums"

The Clash

• Joe Strummer – lead and backing vocals, guitar

• Mick Jones – guitar, backing and lead vocals

• Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Crooked Beat"

• Topper Headon – drums, lead vocals on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe"

Reception

The triple album won several "best of the year" critics polls in 1981. It was voted the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. Dave Marsh noted that it was a record whose topic was as many years ahead of its time as its sound. Alternative Press magazine included Sandinista! on its 2000 list of the "10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums" In 2003, the album was ranked number 404 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The College Media Journal ranked Sandinista! number two on its list of the "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981".

The Sandinista! Project, a tribute to the album featuring the Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford (Mekons) and Sally Timms, Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves), Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Mark Cutler, Sex Clark Five, Sid Griffin & Coal Porters, Haale, the Blizzard of 78 featuring Mikey Dread, Ruby on the Vine, and many others, was released on 15 May 2007, on the 00:02:59 Records (a label named after a lyric from the Sandinista! song "Hitsville U.K."). The album also features a collaboration by Soul Food and Mickey Gallagher on "Midnight Log".

SOURCE: Sandinista! by Wikipedia (CC BY SA)

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