PS- I demand the people who chose the pistols over the clash come forward.

Happy Joe Strummer’s birthday

Joe Strummer of the Clash would have been 57 today. So today seems like a good day to give Clash fans a present.

The Sandinista Project didn’t set any sales records. Indeed, the number of copies distributed by unauthorized file-sharing sites was greater than the number we sold. We didn’t undertake the project to make ourselves any money (it was a charity record) so I didn’t mind that it was available everywhere for free. That’s the record biz nowadays. But it did bother me that so many of the versions available on torrenting sites (yes, I downloaded a few; depressing research) sounded like crap. They were encoded at low bit rates and sample rates, sometimes there were digital skips, and there was never any packaging. Guys, if you’re going to steal from us, at least make us look and sound good. Please.

To rectify this situation, for one day only, we’re offering, without charge, 256K versions (in M4A format, which works in iTunes and elsewhere) of every song on the record, as well as one bonus cut and PDFs of the CD booklet and packaging. So now, if you decide to steal this, it won’t sound quite so bad. You’ll still be stealing, but you won’t be stealing junk. And hurry up: this is a 24-hour offer.

This is Mick Jones' original mix for the album that became Combat Rock. More than likely it dates from late 1981. This was intended to be a double album entitled 'Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg'. The rest of the band dismissed it, and called in producer Glyn Johns to cut it down to size for a single LP. All songs became shorter, and a lot tighter, with more pronounced vocals, a much 'tighter' mix musically, and less vague sound effects and extended rapping.

This is the original version of 'Combat Rock' as produced by Mick Jones in 1981, with newly discovered instrumental track titled 'Walk Evil Talk'. Essentially an upgrade for Combat Out Rock, this comes from a much cleaner source, apparently a cassette tape that was floating around an RCA office back in the early 1980s.