Review: The Clash, London Calling (Legacy Edition)

Ok, I'm something of a sucker for all these "Deluxe Editions" and "Legacy Editions" and whatnot. Tweak the sound a bit (it's getting sad to realize how crappy a lot of early cd's sounded -- I think those of us who grew up on vinyl were so blown away by the lack of skips and pops that we ignored a lot of the hiss and flatness of early cd's), throw in some bonus tracks, and I'm wasting my money on the umpteenth iteration of an album I've already bought on vinyl and cassette and cd. So you toss out a new (third, if you're counting) edition of my favorite album of all time, and of course I'll be whipping out my Visa card. Fortunately, this is a great little collection, at least for diehard fans. The remaster sounds incredible (though even the initial release of London Calling, which was subsequently remastered, sounded pretty decent to my ears). Disc 2 features an hour of demos and rough cuts. And I mean really rough -- and this from someone who has a closet full of bootlegs. Much of it verges on unlistenable. Still, it's interesting to hear the album as a work in progress, and hear the band developing the songs as they go along, but mostly it makes you appreciate just what an incredible production & mixing job was done on the final album. Finally, there's a DVD with a few videos and some footage of the band in the studio making the original album. Great stuff, but again, not something that non-diehards are going to spend much time with.

Check out some samples at Amazon.com.