CUT THE CRAP

The Clash: Joe Strummer (vocals, guitar); Nick Sheppard, Vince White (guitar); Paul Simonon (bass); Pete Howard (drums). Reissue producer: Bob Irwin. Recorded in Munich, Germany. Although 1982's COMBAT ROCK signaled the last time the original lineup of the Clash would record together in the '80s, 1985's CUT THE CRAP was officially the band's last gasp of that decade. After COMBAT ROCK, crafty songwriter and experimentalist Mick Jones was forced out of the Clash--going on to form the outstanding hip-hop/rock hybrid Big Audio Dynamite--and drummer Topper Headon was similarly exiled. Remaining Clashers Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon recruited Nick Sheppard, Pete Howard and Vince White in an attempt to keep the band alive and kicking. The resulting CUT THE CRAP seems more attached to Strummer's eventual solo efforts than a real Clash album; despite Strummer's determined effort, in many ways the band seems to be a lonely shadow of its more volatile self. While the glorious, grating Stummer vocals enliven tracks like the reggae-tinged "This Is England" and the anthemic "Movers & Shakers," the absence of the more melodically inclined Jones is clearly noted. Although CUT THE CRAP features the Clash's usual, heady mix of politics and punk, it falls somewhat short of the band's outstanding classics THE CLASH and LONDON CALLING.