THE CLASH Schallplatten & CDs

Review: The US took to The Clash much more than their main rivals the Sex Pistols, not least because the latter were already imploding by the time they reached its shores. Strummer and co's regular visits to New York were always a media event - Martin Scorcese even invited them to make cameo appearanmces in his 'King of Comedy' film on one - and always accompanied by incendiary live shows. This one, recorded for radio at The Palladium in September 79, is from the relatively early part of their career, harder rocking than some although there is a reggae cover in the shape of 'Police and Thieves' even here, while mainly it's hard hitting guitar slinging anthems like 'I Fought The Law' and 'London Calling'.

Review: The Clash's 'Complete Control' is one of the punk band's most enduring singles; it represents the stressful, dialectic tension at the heart of their career (and that of just about any other punk band trying to "make it big" in the music industry), being the ultimate hate song against coercive and controlling record companies and managers. In the song, they accused record labels of acting as musical slavers - squeezing their artists of every drop of artistry itself in the pursuit of profit, to the extent that perhaps even those artists themselves may have begun to feel coy about donning the mantle of "artist". Whether the fans truly internalised the concept or merely accepted it as just another sellable facet of the punk spectacle, it certainly went down a treat. This live version of the song was recorded just a year after the single's official release, during a performance by the Clash at the Lyceum Theatre in 1978. Though it was previously released as part of the Live at Shea Stadium album, this is the first time it is available on vinyl. In the true spirit of anarchy, the single comes on coloured vinyl, but the colour is random and cannot be guaranteed.

Review: When The Clash rolled into Passaic, New Jersey in March 1980, they were fully hitting their stride. They'd released their instant classic London Calling in December the year before and cracked the US top 30, so they hit Stateside with some swing in their stride, and it shows on this fantastic document of one of the breakthrough US gigs. Of course the classics spill out of this collection, from 'London Calling' and 'Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law' and their cover of Junior Murvin's 'Police & Thieves', all delivered by a band firing on all cylinders.

Review: On September 21 1979 The Clash took to the stage of The Palladium in New York City and performed one of the most significant gigs of their lives. At that point they'd released their self-titled debut and Give 'Em Enough Rope, and their position as vital progenitors of the British punk explosion was assured on an international level. This particular performance was broadcast on the radio and subsequently became one of the most widely bootlegged of all Clash gigs, but it attained an even more legendary status as the gig where Paul Simonon smashed his bass into the floor, captured on camera and subsequently used as the iconic cover for London Calling.