London Calling (30th Anniversary Edition)

iTunes Review

The Clash’s third album, 1979’s London Calling, is where their brilliance comes together in a 19-track tour de force that uses the energy of their punk origins and employs it in a number of new stylistic directions. Reggae-dub underlines “Rudie Can’t Fail,” “Wrong ‘Em Boyo,” “Revolution Rock” and bassist Paul Simonon’s unnerving “The Guns of Brixton.” Rockabilly and surf chase the cover of Vince Taylor’s “Brand New Cadillac.” Genuine pop melodies support the Mick Jones-led “Spanish Bombs,” “Lost In the Supermarket,” “I’m Not Down” and the hit-single-in-hiding “Train In Vain” (original copies of the album didn’t list it on the album sleeve). The 30th Anniversary Edition, like the 25th before it, includes previously unreleased tracks, “The Vanilla Tapes,” that range from worktapes (“Koka Kola”) to valuable demos (“Rudie Can’t Fail,” “Death of Glory”), instrumentals (an early version of “Brixton” as “Paul’s Tune,” an early version of “The Right Profile” as “Up-Toon”) and other previously unreleased treasures (Bob Dylan’s “The Man In Me”), plus videos of the “Making of the Album” by film director Don Letts.