The Complete Works of Poe, Shakespeare For Dummies, Snack Pack Assortment. All great packages of pleasure in their own right. Basically the gathering of material (or product) is to either satiate the newbie, or capsulate the product line into a nice simple offering. What’s up with The Clash? That’s easy, Mick Jones.
Aww, Mick you know I dig ya but this whole box set deal screams your name. Turning rebellion in to money 2013. $290.00 for this package of fun. I like the stickers, and that cigarette thingy, Im not that good an audiophile to give a crap about ‘remaster’ and well ‘unseen footage’ doesn’t do much for me. Don Letts is sorta cool though and hey maybe I’m in some of that footage but is it worth the coin?
To me, no. To you and to new fans, perhaps. I mean they are the only band that matters but the only member that matters is gone. Would he have liked this? Would he have signed off on it? Not sure. Is Lucinda Mellor in control of Strummers name now? I hope so.
So what are you getting for $300?
12-disc box set 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, Armagideon Times fanzine and some stickers.
Mick Jones told 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.”
September is a big month not only does this brick drop but for the budget conscious, 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.
Rest In Peace, Joe.