Pitchfork

Chris Leslie-Hynan and Ryan Schreiber report:
There have been so many Clash compilations over the years-- The World According to The Clash, Crucial Music: The Clash Collection, Clash on Broadway, Clash at Demonhead-- but it's the double-disc The Story of The Clash, Vol. 1 (there never was a volume two), originally released in 1988, that has long stood as the most representative of the band's best music for the lowest price. Until now!

Yes, less than a month has elapsed since the untimely passing of Joe Strummer, so in usual distasteful fashion, Sony Music seems to have figured they'd better get on the ball with the... reissues? Oh, shit! What's a label to do when one of their key artists dies unexpectedly, only two years after they've already remastered, repackaged and reissued all of his band's releases-- including the double-disc career overview? Pretend no one noticed, of course!

And so, Sony Music prepares to roll out The Essential Clash-- in essence, a repackaged, resequenced and retitled overhaul of The Story of The Clash, Vol. 1. Though both "Armagideon Time" and the classic "Spanish Bombs" have been removed from the tracklist, The Essential Clash piles on 13 additional tracks to make it just that much more comprehensive. The new additions include "Garageland", "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." from The Clash, "Guns on the Roof", "Drug Stabbing Time" and "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" from Give 'Em Enough Rope, "Wrong 'Em Boyo", "Brand New Cadillac" and "Rudie Can't Fail" from London Calling, "Police on My Back", "Broadway" and "The Call Up" from Sandinista!, "Stop the World" from Super Black Market Clash (the 1994 expanded version of 1980's Black Market Clash), "Know Your Rights" and "Straight to Hell" from Combat Rock, and curiously, the Strummer-penned "This Is England" from 1985's Cut the Crap. The Essential Clash is due out on February 11th. Tracklist:

Disc one:
01 Complete Control
02 London's Burning
03 Garageland
04 Clash City Rockers
05 I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.
06 Career Opportunities
07 (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
08 Capital Radio One
09 White Riot
10 Police & Thieves
11 Janie Jones
12 I Fought the Law
13 English Civil War
14 Tommy Gun
15 Safe European Home
16 Guns on the Roof
17 Drug Stabbing Time
18 Stay Free
19 Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad
20 Wrong 'Em Boyo

Disc two:
01 Clampdown
02 Guns of Brixton
03 London Calling
04 Train in Vain
05 Lost in the Supermarket
06 Brand New Cadillac
07 Rudie Can't Fail
08 Police On My Back
09 The Magnificent Seven
10 This Is Radio Clash
11 Stop the World
12 Bankrobber
13 Broadway
14 Somebody Got Murdered
15 The Call Up
16 Know Your Rights
17 Rock the Casbah
18 Straight to Hell
19 Should I Stay or Should I Go
20 This Is England

In related news, a posthumous release from Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros could be released as soon as May on the Hellcat/Epitaph label, according to a report from NME.com. The band had been recording material for what would be their third full-length together in the months preceding his death. The Mescaleros are reportedly in the studio as we speak, determining which of the songs they'd recorded with Strummer were in acceptable shape for release. Leading candidates for the album would seem to include a handful of new songs played live on Strummer's fall UK tour-- tentatively titled "Coma Girl", "Dakar Meantime", "Guitar Slinger Man" and "Get Down Moses"-- though it is unclear if any of those tracks were recorded before his untimely passing.