The Clash

Rolling Stone - Ranked #77 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Youthful ambition bursts through the Clash's debut, a machine-gun blast of songs about unemployment, race, and the Clash themselves..." Mojo - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...The ultimate punk protest album....Searingly evocative of dreary late '70s Britain, but still timelessly inspiring..." Alternative Press - 5 out of 5 - "...the eternal punk album....the blueprint for the pantomime of 'punkier' rock acts....for all of its forced politics and angst, THE CLASH continues to sound crucial..." Q - Indispensable - "...Unsurpassed for its concentrated anger and rebel bravado..." Alternative Press - 5 out of 5 - "...the eternal punk album....the blueprint for the pantomime of 'punkier' rock acts....for all of its forced politics and angst, THE CLASH continues to sound crucial..." Rolling Stone - 5 stars out of 5 - "...both a party and protest...The tunes still detonate as the group still insists justice must prevail..." Q - 5 stars out of 5 - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums". Rolling Stone - Ranked #77 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Youthful ambition bursts through the Clash's debut, a machine-gun blast of songs about unemployment, race, and the Clash themselves..." Mojo - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...The ultimate punk protest album....Searingly evocative of dreary late '70s Britain, but still timelessly inspiring..." Spin - Ranked #3 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...Punk as alienated rage, as anticorporate blather, as joyous racial confusion, as evangelic outreach and white knuckles and haywire impulses..." Q - 5 stars out of 5 - "...[They] would never sound so punk as they did on 1977's self-titled debut....Lyrically intricate...it still howled with anger..." NME - Ranked #3 in NME's list of The Greatest Albums Of The '70s - "...The speed-freaked brain of punk set to the tinniest, most frantic guitars ever trapped on vinyl. Lives were changed beyond recognition by it..." Q - Ranked #48 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" NME - Ranked #13 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.' Q (6/00, p.70) - Ranked #48 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" Q (5/02 SE, p.135) - 5 stars out of 5 - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums". Spin (5/01, p.108) - Ranked #3 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...Punk as alienated rage, as anticorporate blather, as joyous racial confusion, as evangelic outreach and white knuckles and haywire impulses..." Mojo (3/03, p.76) - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...The ultimate punk protest album....Searingly evocative of dreary late '70s Britain, but still timelessly inspiring..." Rolling Stone (6/20/02, p.87) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...both a party and protest...The tunes still detonate as the group still insists justice must prevail..." Q (12/99, pp.152-3) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...[They] would never sound so punk as they did on 1977's self-titled debut....Lyrically intricate...it still howled with anger..." NME - Ranked #3 in NME's list of The Greatest Albums Of The '70s - "...The speed-freaked brain of punk set to the tinniest, most frantic guitars ever trapped on vinyl. Lives were changed beyond recognition by it..." NME (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #13 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.' Alternative Press (3/00, pp.74-5) - 5 out of 5 - "...the eternal punk album....the blueprint for the pantomime of 'punkier' rock acts....for all of its forced politics and angst, THE CLASH continues to sound crucial..."

This album introduced the world to The Clash, the only group that was on even footing with The Sex Pistols in U.K. punk rock's early days. The Clash avoided the Pistols' sensationalism, singing instead songs about politics, racism and class warfare. The music's brutal assault, accompanied by Strummer's charismatic vocal style, earned the group attention in its native England, where THE CLASH entered the charts at number 12.
This album collects many tracks from the original British release of THE CLASH along with the single "I Fought The Law", and "Complete Control", a song they recorded with legendary Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.|