'This is England, this knife of Sheffield steel'

There are great albums, there are good albums, and there are those that shouldn't have been recorded to begin with for some ill-fated reason(s). Or perhaps it could have been recorded differently to creat a much better sound and appeal.

(I have a couple of albums that are like that, like The Strokes' 'First Impression of Earth', which had a couple of decent songs but the rest was just plain boring. At least I got it for free courtesy of WGMU)

What I really had in mind was The Clash's last studio album 'Cut The Crap', which many have considered as purely 'Crap'. When it was released in 1985, the band consisted of Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon (bass, both from the previous incarnation of the Clash), plus Vince White (guitar), Nick Shepard (guitar, and Pete Howard (drums).

This would be the final lineup after The Clash released the critically acclaimed 'Combat Rock' album in 1982 and the eventual sacking of Topper Headon (drums; drug issues) and Mick Jones (guitar; concept disagreement). He shared writing credits with Joe Strummer) shortly there after.

Many critics have come to view 'Cut The Crap' as purely a Joe Strummer-solo album hidden behind 'The Clash' name, considering Paul Simonon played on a couple of songs (the album had 12). This wasn't much the case in reality.

The real ruining force behind the album was Bernie Rhodes, who essentially sought complete control of the album and was the reason main reason behind Mick Jones' ouster (in addition to a personality and creative crisis with Strummer, which stemmed around the time of 'Combat Rock's production).

With most the recording done in Germany and not in England, plus it wasn't done with the band in its entirety, led Rhodes to replace the original drum line played by Pete Howard with synthesized drum machines. Strummer's vocals were also incomplete, thus leading the trademark 'soccer chants' to make up for the deficiencies.

Plus, the title of the album was suppose to be 'Out of Control' (according to Vince White), but was changed to 'Cut the Crap' shortly before the album's release.

While the recording was on-going, Strummer did in fact become rather disillusioned with current band's lineup in addition to grieving over his parents' death preceeding the recording sessions. Once the album was released, however, Strummer came to strongly disown it.

The album was finally released November 4, 1985 much to little fanfare to its rather bizarre sound. Only one single was released --- 'This Is England'--- which was by far well received but didn't help the overall image of the album as a whole.  'This Is England' was by far the better written song depicting the current state of England in 1985 and the problems it was facing.

'Cut The Crap' was only released and sold in England. 

Shortly after the album's release, The Clash set out on a short busking tour before breaking up. Joe Strummer met the soon to be former members in a bar, doled out 1000 pounds each, thanked them and left. Witnesses claimed after all this Strummer was seen in Spain sitting under a coconut tree, crying away because of the regret behind the album.

With the release of a number of compilations between 1988 and the early 1990's, 'Cut the Crap' was relatively ignored. Even when the band 'reunited' for Don Letts' documentary Westway To The World, 'Cut the Crap' was never mentioned as having happened.

However, acknowledgement finally came along when 'This is England' was inserted on the The Essential Clash compilation album released shortly after Joe Strummer's death in 2003 and around the time of the The Clash's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Singles Box Set released in 2006 duly replicated the single cover of 'This is England', along with 18 other singles and b-sides the band released throughout the 10 year history. 

Over the years three songs that were recorded during the CTC sessions that went missing and has since been released.

'(In The)Pouring Rain', recorded live, was released on the soundtrack of Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. By far this is only known track where Pete Howard was heard on drums.

The remastering of 'Cut The Crap' (not well publicized compared to the other albums in their catalog) included 'Do It Now' for the European market.

The release of The Singles Boxset in 2006, which is a collection of all the singles with its respective B-sides and replica cover sleeves, brought 'This is England' together with 'Do It Now' and 'Sex Mad Roar', the latter having rumored to have been recorded but had yet to surface on any recording.

Even with the drum machines, the incomprehensible lyrics and the soccer chants, I really feel 'Cut The Crap' is a good album despite what critics had said about the album as a whole. It is one of those little gems that is an acquired taste, so to speak.

Lastly, 'This is England' is one of three The Clash songs that really make me want to cry; the other songs being 'Midnight to Stevens' (which should be another blog post), and 'Straight to Hell' from the Combat Rock album.