The Clash is always in rotation. Lately I've been re-visiting The Tubes. Those guys were out of their minds (until the record company started demanding hits and Toto basically wrote and played one of their records as unlisted session guys)
Most people like London Calling the best but I've always preferred their first album whether the American version or the British. My favorite Clash songs are Janie Jones and the two reggae-ish songs off that record--White Man and Police and Thieves and really that's just about the beginnings of punk rocks alliance with the reggae world. The Ruts were another band that incorporated reggae into their music--Love in vain is just beautiful and Jah War. Then there were D.O.A. and also the Bad Brains.
Funny, I was just popping in to mention
London Calling. My sort-of hobby this winter has been tracking down the best pressings of certain albums, general sound-quality (not like HDTracks 850,193kHz downloads), and I recently got the first Japanese CD pressing of
London Calling from 1988. It sounds incredible; you can turn up the volume to borderline painful levels and it still sounds good lol.
Sandinista! is great. For me, when it comes to movies, books, and music: the longer, the better. And really, there are only two ways to follow up a one-hour+ 2xLP like
London Calling: 1) straightforward, back-to-basics, short-and-sweet, so basically
Give 'Em Enough Rope again, or, 2) say f*** it, now we're gonna do TWO hours+ and make it a TRIPLE LP.
Respect.
Sandinista! is like taking a trip somewhere, interspersed with some of the best songs the Clash ever laid down. When you put out the best album of the 1980s during literally the first month of the f***ing decade, you're allowed to do whatever the hell you want.
Okay, so I'm now doing a ply-through of the John Lennon Signature Box.
Have to admit, there's lot of amazing box sets out there from the past 10 years --- if you have the money.
Box sets, and vinyl reissues have become a thing recently too. They reissued Bad Religion's entire discography on vinyl in one box set, I think it was like $150 at the time. If I can ever justify buying an exorbitant copy of an album that will never even get played, in 1997 Spiritualized released a limited edition box set version of their new album
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space themed as a box of medication. It came with 12 x 3" CDs each containing one track, and a pamphlet for the credits. They reissued a black version of the set in 2009, but an unopened, near-mint copy of the original 1997 version goes for like $300+ now lol.
In 2014 Touch And Go released a remastered box set of Slint's 1991
Spiderland which is really cool too. They're selling all their leftover warehouse copies for the original price of $150. Mono is becoming hip now, too, it seems.
Edit:
@OhYeahAndVesey @eco's bones ,speaking of the Clash and box sets: their 2013 box set
Sound System. Mick Jones oversaw the re-mastering, which they did from the original tapes, Paul Simonon designed the packaging. Vinyl replica CDs, and the poster tube is a giant cigarette.
Honestly though, how cool?
...[including] original promo videos and live footage, an owner's manual booklet, reprints of the band's original 'Armagideon Times' fanzine as well as a brand new edition curated and designed by Paul Simonon and merchandise including dog tags, badges, stickers and an exclusive Clash poster.
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