Posted on by Rob Jones

The Clash Play “Guns Of Brixton”

theclashlondoncallingalbumcoverListen to this track by eclectic London punk rock folk heroes The Clash. It’s “Guns Of Brixton”, a key track as taken from their landmark 1979 album London Calling. The song was the product of a songwriting and vocal effort of bassist Paul Simonon, shown on the front cover of the album giving his bass guitar an introduction to the ground in what looks like an uncontrolled act of rage. Yet on this song, that bass is used very productively indeed, even if the rage is still boiling under the surface.

By the time the band recorded this, their third album, they’d strayed away from the straight-ahead punk rock on their first album. Reggae was only one musical style to be found on London Calling, although “Guns Of Brixton” is where they get to the heart of that style more so than ever before. Simonon in particular was inspired by the cult film The Harder They Come and its main character  actually referenced by name on this song. All of the violent imagery and paranoia found here comes from that same mythology found in the movie.

Having said that, it also sprang directly from the experiences and sensibilities of its writer, born and raised in Brixton and very aware of the tensions that were growing there by the end of the seventies. In this, the song was very prescient in what would happen in that very neighbourhood not long after this song was released. Read more

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The Good,The Bad & The Queen Play “Green Fields”

Green Fields The Good The Bad & The QueenListen to this track by the officially unnamed band with a London fixation The Good, The Bad & The Queen. It’s “Green Fields”, their third single from the sole (to date!) 2007 album named, oddly enough, The Good The Bad & The Queen.

The band is comprised of four musicians who’d made their name in other bands; Fela Kuti sideman Tony Allen on drums, Verve guitarist Simon Tong, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, and Damon Albarn of Blur  and Gorillaz singing and playing keyboards. Danger Mouse is sort of a fifth member in the producer’s chair helping to create the woozy psychedelia you’re hearing on this cut. Albarn also serves as creative head of the band, with this song being one he’d tinkered with many years before.

When the band debuted, they technically had no name. It was the record that was to be called The Good The Bad & the Queen, not the group. But, things being what they were, chart compilers christened them appropriately. This lack of convention characterized the whole project, designed to create some distance from the formidable backgrounds of each member, and producing something new out of the effort.

But, on this song, the past wasn’t that far out of mind. Read more

Posted on by Rob Jones · 1 Comment

Lily Allen Performs ‘LDN’

lily_allen_-_alright_stillHere’s a clip of chirpy Londoner with an eye for criticism for her surroundings, Lily Allen.  It’s “LDN” a calypso-infused pop tune about the Big Smoke as taken from her debut album  Alright, Still.

There is something to be said about duality in everyday life, and I think that’s what may have been on Lily Allen’s mind when she co-wrote this song for her debut, a song originally released as a single in September of 2006.  Her voice is absolutely and unabashedly ‘London’ on this track, which adds a layer of credibility to what is easily interpreted as something of a pessimistic outlook on living there.

The song is a series of vignettes, outlining the darker side of living in a place where so many are thrust together in close quarters in various states of desperation, not unlike Richard Thompson’s “The Sights and Sounds of London Town”, which covers similar thematic ground.

To me, this is the song of one who once had an idealized vision of her hometown which is embodied by the bouncy calypso style, soon to be let down by reality as reflected in the lyrics.  In some ways, it’s sad to hear this story sung by someone so young that is basically about the cruelty of the world, even if that cruelty has a distinctive London air about it.

But, in other ways this is an encouraging tale.  The song’s narrator is a young woman who is aware of her surroundings.  The tone of the song is disappointment (illustrated very well in the video at the end, when her plans are cancelled by the unknown party on the other end of her cellphone conversation). But, this is a song about someone being relieved of her illusions.  In this, it’s about a unique kind of liberation.

And to me, it’s encouraging that this song tells the story for so many young people in an otherwise numb state of being, not realizing that life can be so much better than it is.  When disappointment of this kind is expressed, the fight for change is often not far behind.

For more information, check out the legendary Lily Allen MySpace page, which was the hub of her success as a mainstream artist working outside of mainstream marketing channels.

Enjoy!