Not their best, but their most enjoyable. The Clash is a clean-cut band when it comes to having an objective best and a personal favourite. Sandinista? No chance. Combat Rock is where it’s at. Tight, punchy instrumentals with a larger worldview from the band, which kicks on and even compares well to their self-titled debut. Joe Strummer writes well across most of The Clash albums, and Combat Rock certainly serves the catchier side of punk rock and alternative scenes in the early 1980s. Their “public service announcement… with guitar,” is a phenomenal introduction. The Clash always burst through the speakers, be it with the suddenness of Give ‘Em Enough Rope or the violence of peace on Combat Rock opener Know Your Rights. It’s adapting the flow and punchiness of instrumentals both popular and unpopular that The Clash does well. They can wrangle together an earworm like Should I Stay or Should I Go which will inevitably overwhelm the album, but those hidden gems on Combat Rock are startling.
Little details are everything for the more iconic album tracks. Should I Stay or Should I Go having that little voice break, Rock the Casbah becoming a massive track in its own right despite being some padding for the obvious lead song. It all rolls on through brilliantly for The Clash here, an album of questioning cultural institutions and the need to know who you are and what you stand for at all times. Confusion is fine, and that’s what Strummer draws on. He is in deep water regardless of staying, going, commenting or creating a nastiness that would affect the rest of the album. It’s the beauty of Combat Rock. The more it goes on, the more The Clash find comfort in their uncertainty, the more reactive and combative their writing gets. Post-Rock the Casbah, The Clash does well to keep pushing for that next inspired sound. They find it on Straight to Hell, a song which will no doubt be engrained in the minds of many who may not have listened to The Clash before.
Iconic instrumentals, that’s what keeps Combat Rock together. But built onto that is a spirit and desire to not repeat London Calling and all its riches. Straight to Hell breaks down the feeling of London Calling, the optimism spilling onto the streets as The Clash found themselves in the mainstream. Combat Rock is their chance to point those new eyes in the direction of the troubles prevalent across the world, but with a new wave style. Overpowered by Funk is an outstanding example of this. Accidental, ongoing relevancy with songs like Atom Tan are fantastic, too. Commentaries, comfy instrumentals and the bleed between those commercial ideas and critical notions is brilliant. Borderline effortless from the band, who do try quite hard to make this work.
Their efforts go down extremely well. Combat Rock is a very consistent piece of work. You wouldn’t be able to tell there was infighting involved in the making of Combat Rock, the work sounds clean and responsible considering the sudden onus on the band to be collected commentators. The band sounds affected by the Vietnam War, with obvious spots like Inoculated City and Death is a Star finding a deeper sincerity to the aftermath of warfare. The Clash leaves it late on Combat Rock to feature those moments, not forgetting that genre evolution with their hits is what must come first when in the spotlight. They would disband the classic line-up before Combat Rock even released, but it’s a project which, even now, stands out in their discography as an outstanding overlap of cultural commentaries and creatively satisfying instrumental work. It’s The Clash at their best.
