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: In December 1980, The Clash released the sprawling 36-song Sandinista! album, which marked their transition from rabble rousing guitar slingers to the genre-splitting musical experimentalists that inhabited the second part of their career. This high quality recording catches them in mid change, still including the pogo-friendly likes of 'London Calling' - the opening tune here - but also an echo chamber-drenched version of reggae-inspired original 'Bankrobber' and their hip-hop anthem 'The Magnificent Seven'.

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: Like owning a little piece of history with a bonus memoir, The Clash's Combat Rock was - is - the band's best selling album of all time and highest charting in both the US and UK. This was also the last time Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon would record together before the lineup changed, and the track list contains at least two of the outfit's most recognised songs - namely 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' and 'Rock the Casbah'.

The original version of the LP was less expansive than this special edition released to mark 40 years since the long-player went on sale. The addition of The People's Hall offers fans a chance to relish in no less than 12 extra tracks, including collaborations with the legendary Ranking Roger - 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Red Angel Dragnet' - the iconic late-frontman of The Beat more than ideally suited to the crew's sound.

Review: Album number five from legendary British post-punk and New Wavers The Clash was first unveiled on 14th May 1982. 40 years on it finds itself the centre of attention once more, re-released both in this original version and an extended edition with bonus record The People's Hall. Sticking to this outing, fans will likely already know that the record as it was first intended remains the band's most successful of all time, outselling all that came before or after and charting higher than any other in the US and UK alike.

Respectively hitting number seven and number two in the charts of the day, and spending 23 weeks in the top 40 albums in Britain and a mammoth 61 weeks in the LP league tables Stateside, today it's a double-platinum testament to just how potent the combination of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon was. The last record to feature that iteration of the outfit, tracks like 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' remain utterly timeless.