Famously dubbed “the only band that matters,” punk icons The Clash return to record stores in a big way this September, with the release of a 12-disc box set called Sound System — featuring five of the band’s six albums, a DVD with unseen footage and three discs’ worth of demos, non-album singles, rarities and B-sides — as well as a new double-disc best-of set.
Due out Sept. 10 on Sony Legacy, the boom box-shaped Sound System — a pricey set, available for pre-order on Amazon.com for $290 — features newly remastered editions of the band’s first five albums, omitting 1985’s post-Mick Jones record Cut the Crap, which continues to be whitewashed from the band’s history. See full tracklist for the bonus material below.
The box set’s DVD will include “previously unseen footage” by both Don Lets and Julien Temple and original promotional videos and live clips. The collection also includes “an owner’s manual booklet,” reprints of the original “Armagideon Times” fanzine as well as a brand-new edition put together by Paul Simonon, plus dog tags, badges, stickers and a poster.
In announcing the set, Jones tells The Guardian newspaper:
“The concept of the whole thing is: best box set ever. Remastering’s a really amazing thing. That was the musical point of it all, because there’s so much there that you wouldn’t have heard before. It was like discovering stuff, because the advances in mastering are so immense since the last time [the Clash catalogue] was remastered in the 90s. … We had to bake the tapes beforehand – the oxide on them is where the music is, so if you don’t put them in the oven and bake them, that all falls off, because they’re so old.”
Also in September, the band will release The Clash Hits Back, a new 2CD, 33-track best-of sequenced with studio recordings to replicate the group’s July 10, 1982, concert in Brixton, plus eight additional tracks.
Below, check out details of Sound System, full tracklist for Hits Back and not one but two preview videos.
Tracklist: The Clash, Sound System box set
CD 1
The Clash
CD 2
Give ‘Em Enough Rope
CDs 3-4
London Calling
CDs 5-7
Sandinista!
CD 8
Combat Rock
CD 9
Sound System Extras 1
1. White Riot (Single version)
2. 1977 (B-side)
3. Listen (Capital Radio EP) / Interviews (Capital Radio EP)
4. Capital Radio (Capital Radio EP)
5. London’s Burning (Live B-side Remote Control)
6. Complete Control (Single version)
7. City Of The Dead (B-side)
8. Clash City Rockers (Original single version)
9. Jail Guitar Doors (B-side)
10. White Man In Hammersmith Palais (A-side)
11. The Prisoner (B-side)
12. 1-2 Crush On You (B-side Tommy Gun)
13. Time Is Tight (Black Market Clash)
14. Pressure Drop (B-side English Civil War)
15. I Fought The Law (Cost Of Living EP)
16. Groovy Times (Cost Of Living EP)
17. Gates Of The West (Cost Of Living EP)
18. Capital Radio (Cost Of Living EP)
19. Armagideon Time
20. Bank Robber (A-side)
21. Rockers Galore On A UK Tour (B-side)
CD 10
Sound System Extras 2
1. Magnificent Dance (12”) 5:36 (available on Singles box set)
2. Midnight To Stevens (Outtake)
3. Radio One (B-side Hitsville UK)
4. Stop The World (B-side The Call Up)
5. The Cool Out (US 12” B-side of The Call Up)
6. This Is Radio Clash (A-side)
7. This Is Radio Clash (B-side 7” – different lyrics)
8. First Night Back In London (B-side Know Your Rights)
9. Rock The Casbah (Bob Clearmountain 12” mix)
10. Long Time Jerk (B-side Rock The Casbah)
11. The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too (Outtake)
12. Idle In Kangaroo Court (Outtake listed as Kill Time)
13. Ghetto Defendant (Extended version – unedited)
14. Cool Confusion (B-side Should I Stay Or Should I Go 7”)
15. Sean Flynn (Extended ‘Marcus Music’ version)
16. Straight To Hell (Extended unedited version from Clash On Broadway)
CD 11
Sound System Extras 3
Extracts from The Clash’s first ever recording session at Beaconsfield Film School 1976. Recorded by Julien Temple
1. I’m So Bored With The USA
2. London’s Burning
3. White Riot
4. 1977
Polydor Demos – The Clash’s second recording session January 1977
Produced by Guy Stevens
5. Janie Jones
6. Career Opportunities
7. London’s Burning
8. 1977
9. White Riot
Live at The Lyceum, London 28th December 1979
10. City Of The Dead
11. Jail Guitar Doors
12. English Civil War
13. Stay Free
14. Cheapstakes
15. I Fought The Law
Bonus DVD
Julien Temple Archive – 6:20
White Riot Interview – 7:10
Promo and interviews with Tony Parsons
1977 1:87
White Riot 1:48
London’s Burning 2:05
Sussex University 1977
I’m So Bored With The USA 2:14
Hate & War 1:94
Career Opportunities 1:42
Remote Control 2:73
Don Letts Super 8 Medley 11:40
White Riot 1:52
Janie Jones 1:73
City of the Dead 2:04
Clash City Rockers 2:15
White Man in Hammersmith Palais 2:53
1977 1:41
Clash On Broadway – 19:50
London Calling
This Is Radio Clash
The Magnificent Seven
Guns Of Brixton
Safe European Home
Promo Videos
Tommy Gun 3:00
London Calling 3:20
Bankrobber 4:00
Clampdown (Live) 5:00
Train In Vain (Live) 2:10
The Call Up 3:10
Rock The Casbah 3:20
Should I Stay Or Should I Go (Live at Shea Stadium) 2:50
Career Opportunities (Live at Shea Stadium) 3:00
Tracklist: The Clash Hits Back
CD 1
1. “London Calling”
2. “Safe European Home”
3. “Know Your Rights”
4. “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”
5. “Janie Jones”
6. “The Guns of Brixton”
7. “Train in Vain”
8. “Bankrobber”
9. “Wrong ‘Em Boyo”
10. “The Magnificent Seven”
11. “Police on my Back”
12. “Rock the Casbah”
13. “Career Opportunities”
14. “Police & Thieves”
15. “Somebody Got Murdered”
16. “Brand New Cadillac”
17. “Working for the Clampdown”
CD 2
1. “Ghetto Defendant”
2. “Armagideon Time”
3. “Stay Free”
4. “I Fought the Law”
5. “Straight To Hell”
6. “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
7. “Garageland”
8. “White Riot”
9. “Complete Control”
10. “Clash City Rockers”
11. “Tommy Gun”
12. “English Civil War”
13. “The Call Up”
14. “Hitsville UK”
15. “This Is Radio Clash”
The Clash – Sound System Cut Out Show
The Clash – Sound System and Hits Back Trailer
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Vintage Video: The Clash rocks Tokyo on Jan. 28, 1982 — watch full hour-long set
- Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros releasing digital box set, expanded CD reissues
- The Clash’s ‘Sandinista!’ to receive 30th anniversary reissue with bonus DVD
- The Clash’s Mick Jones, Paul Simonon reunite on Gorillaz’s upcoming ‘Plastic Beach’
- The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ 30th anniversary reissue skimpier than 25th anniversary set
It says “9 discs” repeatedly, but I count at least 12 in the photo!
Yeah, you’re right. Amazon lists it as 9 discs, but they’re not counting ‘London Calling’ as 2 and ‘Sandinista!’ as 3. And neither was I, obviously.
Still the only band that matters.
everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if they’re wrong :)
I’m comfortable with the fact that you have poor tastes if you are.
$290???? For basically, 3 discs of mostly previously-released non-album tracks, and a DVD, and souped-up packaging.
I like the Clash, but… wow.
Looks like they’re finally embracing capitalism, and it is not reflecting positively on them.
I’d love to see a vinyl version of this box set.
Like Peter Saville said about Joy Division, this is just “the merchandising of memory”
I’m patiently waiting for the next giveaway contest on this one.
Talk about milking it. What can be more antithetical to punk than the CD box set? (and this at the end of the CD era and all)
No matter how hard record companies try to persuade us to buy this nonsense, these “products” will NEVER recapture the power that that music had in its time. It’s time to let it lie. This is an insult to that great era and what it stood for
Funny thing about Punk – one of the key manifesto items was the elimination of nostalgia and this type of fawning admiration and prissiness.
And now luck at us. Our younger selves would not be proud of what we’ve turned into
I thought one of the manifestos of punk was fuck manifestos. And writing about the elimination of nostalgia on a website devoted to it is rather funny.
“Still the only band that matters”. Not really. Just another product line for the only thing that matters: Corporate Capitalism. The Clash are dead, long live Sony!
Amazon is blithely honest when the refer to the “dog tags, badges, stickers and a poster” as “merchandise”.
Go spike your hair with some Sassoon product, mascara your eyes with Revlon, and badge your jacket with Sony’s Clash merchandise!
If the CD’s and DVD’s were being sold seperately I would expect a price of around $140 for all of albums and extra’s spread out. So, for an extra $150 you get a bunch of tacky add on items and a box that makes it impossible to store in a pleasing way. No thanks.
Reissue, repackage, re-evaluate the songs. double pack with a photograph, extra track and a tacky badge.
It also seems a bit unecessary to put London Calling on 2 CDs when it can easily fit on one (64 minutes) and Sandinista on 3 CDs when it can be squeezed on two.
“They said we’d be artistically free
They meant let’s make a lotsa mon-ee”
An’ worry about it later$290 for the set: Ouch! That boombox better actually work. Looks like Sony is trying to make up $$$$$ for the low price point the band pushed for way-back-when on London Calling and Sandinista!
So sad to read Jone’s plug for the set. He sounds like the snake oil salesman he sang about in “Medicine Show”. The only thing I believe about the remasters will be that they are bricklined and distorted.
Are they serious about “The Clash Hits Back”? They are going to sell a CD sequencing the setlist of an ’82 show with studio recordings? Someone is going to buy that? I can just go dig out one of my homemade cassetess from when I was 14 and hadn’t found out where to buy live bootlegs yet.
…and to be fair, the pre-order price at Amazon is currently $249.99, not $290.
Yeah spend the cash on a turntable and play the original lps if u got em. Jump up and down till ur knackered which takes about half of 1977 when ur 50 plus.
Amazon had it @ $290 yesterday…and only (partially) corrected that overnight. The US price is meant to be $170 according to the official site, thus Amazon are still incorrect.
Lesson – don’t buy it on Amazon.
No sense getting snippy, people. Record companies exist only to make money. I’m sure these remastered discs will be superior to any bit torrent or iTunes version. So, let the next generation of Clash fans enjoy the goodies. And considering how badly screwed Jones, Paul and Topper were by their manager and record label, I don’t blame them a bit for trying to reclaim some of what’s owed them. What would you do if you were in their place? A punk ethos is well and cool, gets you on magazine and websites, might even get you laid from time to time, but it doesn’t feed you, clothe you, provide for your family or allow you to retire in something other than abject poverty.
Just sayin’.
Amen, Jason!
Great bolshy yarblockos to you and your opinion.
Integrity > greed
Do.you have a job? I imagine you work at a charity shop for free, right?
You make a good point Jason, but you would figure by now they would have made a lot of money by now, & they already have a greatest hits collection & the singles box.
Jason: “A punk ethos is well and cool, (…) but it doesn’t feed you, clothe you, provide for your family or allow you to retire in something other than abject poverty.”
——————-
If what you’re trying to tell me is that you feel like the surviving members are hurting for living expenses, well, I’ve got a bridge I’ll sell you.
Conceptually, you have a valid point. Many influential punk artists still live on very little income in their retiring years.
The Clash, however, made PLENTY of income. And I’m most certainly not buying the notion that it all got taken by their label and management.
But if I’m wrong, and all the royalties and residuals and licensing of songs to movies like Iron Man 2, and various commercials, are still getting sucked down by the fat cats… then it’s fair to assume that the revenue from this box will be also.
Which will be yet another reason not to buy it.
So much left in the vaults that could be cleaned up and given a proper release and this is what we get?
“Turn-ing rebellion in-to MONAYYYYY!”
They should have called it “The Clash Cash Out!”
First the airline/Olympics TV commercials featuring London Calling, now this piece of shit?
Joe Strummer is rolling in his grave. This is just too fucking sad. Everyone involved in this project is scum.
So many twats making comments thinking they knew what the Clash stood for. First of all , if you feel you have enough Clash records & are satisfied with the sound quality of those records DON’T BUY THE BOX SET however if you want to hear their music the best way possible in a package that gives you a genuine insight to the Clash then step this way . And spare me this Joe would not approve claptrap
I’m so stoked about ‘Sound System.’ Totally the best way to listen to all of the Clash’s music. They made a really cool animation video of everything in the box. Check it out: http://smarturl.it/theClashUnboxing
The Sound System is out… for $177 on Amazon USA. I’m not buying it, but I won’t judge those who do. Great music, hopefully good remastering, serious overkill on the packaging (I guess Mr. Simonon had some fun designing it). The Extras discs look excellent, but there’s no need to put LC on 2 discs or Sandinista on 3. Hopefully the studio albums will be released individually (not just as the 5 Album Set) with the remastered sound, along with the Extras discs. Or better yet: CD-quality or DVD-quality audio files for download. I don’t need the artwork, liner notes, etc, but I don’t want to settle for MP3 files either.
As lame as it sounds, I think the dog tags are the coolest part of the Sound System set (other than the music of course). I didn’t even know about them until I took a look at http://smarturl.it/TheClashSoundSystem all the stuff inside Sound System!