Artist: The Clash
Album: Live at Shea Stadium
Released: Recorded: 1982 - Released: 2008
Source: Sony/BMG (88697353662)
Format: flac single track, cue, log, full scans & 24 pages booklet 300dpi
Track List:
01. Kosmo Vinyl Introduction [0:01:10.71]
02. London Calling [0:03:29.29]
03. Police On My Back [0:03:28.13]
04. The Guns Of Brixton [0:04:07.60]
05. Tommy Gun [0:03:19.13]
06. The Magnificent Seven [0:02:33.70]
07. Armagideon Time [0:02:55.72]
08. The Magnificent Seven (return) [0:02:23.35]
09. Rock The Casbah [0:03:21.60]
10. Train In Vain [0:03:45.55]
11. Career Opportunities [0:02:05.52]
12. Spanish Bombs [0:03:18.26]
13. Clampdown [0:04:26.40]
14. English Civil War [0:02:39.60]
15. Should I Stay Or Should I Go [0:02:43.67]
16. I Fought The Law [0:03:24.33]
Personnel:
* Mick Jones - Guitar, Vocals
* Paul Simonon - Bass, Vocals
* Joe Strummer - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
* Terry Chimes - Drums
* Glyn Johns - original recording
* David Bates - restoration and mixing
* Mark Frith - restoration and mixing
* Tim Young - master recording
* Bob Gruen - booklet-photos
* Joe Stevens - booklet-photos
* Tricia Ronane - management
I can assure that this show has a superb sound, the best I ever listened for The Clash on stage.
===============================================
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (AMG)
In Clash lore, the band's stint as the opening act for the Who's farewell tour in 1982 is where the band had stardom in its hand and dropped it on the floor. That's how Joe Strummer phrased it in retrospect, but in 1982 the pairing was seen as a rock cultural clash, with the Who's audience bristling at the punks, and the punks not quite being comfortable operating on a larger scale -- a suspicion somewhat proven by the band's implosion within months of the Shea Stadium gig. Given all the stories about how poorly received this tour with the Who was -- that the Clash were routinely greeted by boos as they hopped from stadium to stadium across the U.S. -- it comes as a mild surprise that this unearthed recording of the band's opening set at Shea Stadium isn't bad at all. There were some signs prior to this 2008 archival release that this particular gig was pretty good -- some of the cuts surfaced on the posthumous live 1999 comp From Here to Eternity and the video to "Should I Stay or Should I Go" came from this gig -- but all the decades of disastrous myths help turn Live at Shea Stadium into a pleasant surprise. That doesn't mean that this is a definitive portrait of the Clash live, or even that it captures the band at their best, but it's fascinating to hear how they pitched their set to the Who's audience, only slowing down for the reggae of "Armagideon Time" and "The Guns of Brixton," but otherwise sticking with high-octane, breathlessly paced rock & roll -- the kind of set designed to placate a stadium full of classic rock fans, or at least keep them buying beer instead of throwing it. As a historical document, it's a worthy one. It not only illustrates that the Clash did turn in some strong performances on this often disaster-plagued tour, but it gives us the first officially released Clash concert instead of the re-creation of From Here to Eternity. And if it's not all terrific -- strangely, the Combat Rock songs can sometimes sound stiff, particularly "Rock the Casbah" -- when the group clicks, as they do on a closing stretch that includes "Career Opportunities," "Clampdown," "Should I Stay or Should I Go," and a furious "I Fought the Law," they sound like the greatest band on earth and a sure bet to have blown the Who off the stage.
amazon.com
Recorded at New York's Shea Stadium in 1982, Live at Shea Stadium captures the band at the peak of its powers and on devastating form. Bristling with energy and attitude, Live at Shea Stadium is destined to feature alongside James Brown at the Apollo, The Who at Leeds and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison as one of the greatest live recordings of all time!
The Clash, opening for The Who on their farewell tour of the US, played two nights at the legendary Shea Stadium (October 12th and 13th of 1982). Despite being the support act, the New York Post reported "there were as many Clash fans on those nights as Who fans."
This deluxe edition is a jewel-case size hard bound digi pak which includes a stunning 32-page booklet of backstage and onstage photos shot by Bob Gruen and Joe Stevens. The recording is the first and only full-show live album released from The Clash.
customer review
# Of course we all love the Clash, who doesn't, and the limited amount of "official" releases means any new release from them gets trumpeted as must-have material, but does this really qualify? The Who played 2 dates @ Shea Stadium (home of the New York Mets baseball team, and at the time the New York Jets football team) in October of 1982, the Clash preceded them on both nights, this CD is the full Clash set from 10/13. It has been well-documented that fans were not particularly kind to the Clash during most of their stints opening for The Who, but you wouldn't know it as this recording is soundboard-quality. If anything it's Joe Strummer that was in a peevish mood during the festivities, directing the occasional miffed barb towards the crowd.
The set-list is laden with hits, slanted towards the latter-day radio-friendly material (Casbah, Train In Vain, SISOSIG, etc.) and at this point the band had been playing together for 10 years so the versions present here are razor-sharp and tuned to perfection. This might put off some folks who prefer the earlier, more punk rock sound where the band sacrificed tunefulness for a more edgy & earnest passion. But given the total package this release is geared more toward the casual fan, with the die-hards obviously along for any ride they can obtain. It's not a particularly long set (remember this was The Who's show) so the brevity is somewhat disappointing but works well for the runtime of a standard album.
So do you need it? If you're a fan, of course you do. It doesn't take you on the vibrant journey that From Here To Eternity provides, but don't lose sight of what this is: a single complete concert from the final stage of The Clash's career. As long as you aren't expecting the greatest live album evar! then you won't be disappointed. Take it as the historical artifact that it is & enjoy.
popmatters.com by Michael Keefe
The Clash were one of the greatest bands of the punk and new wave era, and they tore up many a stage during their reign. Surprisingly, few official documents of the Clash’s live prowess have surfaced over the years. Considering the band more or less dissolved in 1983, it’s incredible that it was 1999 before From Here to Eternity: Live emerged. A good sampler culled from Clash concerts from 1978 to ‘82, it is nonetheless a somewhat dissatisfying experience. While the CD enabled listeners to hear the Clash’s live talents, it didn’t supply that absorbing feeling of having “been there.”
Finally, Live at Shea Stadium fills that void. During the fall of 1982—on the heels of what would be the real Clash’s last album, Combat Rock—the band played a series of shows opening up for the Who’s reunion tour. Live at Shea captures in warm, full, and punchy sound the second of two nights the bands played in Queens, New York, at the recently-demolished home of the Mets and (at that time) the Jets. On October 13, 1982, the Clash played 14 songs in just under 50 minutes, as befits a warm-up act. However, based on the excitement of the crowd and the group’s intensity, the Clash don’t come across as a mere opening act. As The New York Post reported at the time, “there were as many Clash fans on those nights as Who fans.”
The evening’s fever-pitched ambiance is established during the 70-second introduction from longtime Clash associate Kosmo Vinyl. He rouses the crowd and pulls the mood above the inclement weather, barking in a thick Cockney tongue, “You ain’t worried about no rain! Rain’s a lot of rubbish!” Moments later, the Clash launch into the epic guitar stabs that kick off the title track from their greatest album, 1979’s London Calling. Thus begins their super-charged rock show. Along the way, the band play a smattering of everything from their career.
While their studio albums progressed from punk to reggae to new wave—and included many genre diversions—Live at Shea Stadium is pure rock ‘n’ roll. Given the headlining band, the Clash were probably wise not to venture into any of the tripped-out dub of Sandinista. That release’s “Police on My Back”, though, is a charging blast of energy. (Strangely, the opening guitar riff is altered to sound just like the beginning to U2’s “I Will Follow”, but that’s a minor distraction.) Early punk-era cuts like “Career Opportunities” and concert closer “I Fought the Law” have been honed by the band, with their original garage-born buzz replaced by the wallop of a confident, practiced band. The Clash’s professionalism is probably best exhibited by tracks six through eight, where a brisk reading of “Magnificent 7” drops midway into a slower-paced “Armagideon Time”, which segues right back into “Magnificent 7 (Return)”. Though executed flawlessly, the medley choice itself is pretty weird.
Fortunately, most everything else on Live at Shea Stadium works quite well. “Rock the Casbah” is stripped of its Atari-era sound effects (save for one full-bodied bomb drop) and is transformed into an aggressive guitar-based rocker. It fits well alongside superbly performed and generally more straightforward cuts like “Train in Vain”, “Tommy Gun”, and fellow Combat Rock single, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”. One would expect such unadorned songs to sound good live, so it’s a bit surprising that the fairly uncomplicated “Clampdown” doesn’t translate particularly well. Still, it’s the only effort here that tastes a bit sour.
The press release for Live at Shea Stadium argues for this album’s inclusion in the pantheon of classic live LPs. Does it join James Brown at the Apollo and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, as Sony would like us to believe? No. It’s a step below those all-time greats. Shea arrives a quarter-century too late to achieve such status. Part of what made those other concert LPs classics is that they were issued while the respective acts were still at their peaks. They became essential components of the artists’ discographies. In 25 years, perhaps this excellent live document will acquire the mystique of the Clash’s studio work and will be seen as the definitive live statement from an undeniably great band. For now, at the very least, Live at Shea Stadium is a very welcome addition to band’s already superb catalog of albums.
amazon.uk customer
"I don't think there's any need for another Clash product on the market. Joe Strummer would be turning in his grave if he'd seen what the band have become today. You know what the Clash originally stood for and we don't stand for that anymore. The Clash were 30 years ago. None of us are really that bothered anymore and so people are moving in and making money out of it." - Topper Headon.
It was with a heavy heart that I approached the release of The Clash At Shea Stadium. After a multitude of endlessly repackaged selections, box sets, half-bothered concert releases, comes what Clash fans have actually wanted all along : a live document that captures a whole evening of The Clash. Aside from the potentially exploitative nature of the beast, "Live At The Shea" is a sumptiously packaged document that is musically precise, clear, and a superior - and worthy - live recording.
Still, it must be odd to see one of the years larger releases come into existence through the most haphazard of fashions : Joe Strummer looking in a box during a house move seven years ago, and suddenly and voila, finding this concert on an old tape, and hey presto! Another Clash live album!
And up until the very day this was released, 25 years after Mick Jones was fired and The Clash floundered, there has been no adequate and official Clash live document : "From Here To Eternity" was a compilation that lacked any narrative flow, "Rude Boy" a forgettable piece of hokum populated by stunning live footage, and "Revolution Rock" a live jukebox that feels like a trailer instead of the main course itself.
But Live At The Shea? This is IT. The definitive Clash live document. Now, purists will declaim Terry Chimes on drums (and the drums are lacking the flair of Topper Headon), but Chimes is a competent, capable, human drum machine that locks down the rhythm with a rigid precision and effortlessly gels with Paul Simoneon's bass to create a fiercely effective unit. On top of this powerful juggernaut of rhythm, Mick Jones and Strummer add a creative monster. The band meanwhile, are a tight, invincible army : the songs turn on a head, the opening numbers are presented as a machine gun assualt with barely a seconds breath or punctuation, and the Clash truly are All Guns Blazing. No second is wasted. And the band are still inventive, still taking risks, presenting fluid, thrilling and fresh medleys that reveal a previously unhinted thematic link between material brand new and ancient. It's over in a short 50 minutes, a brief, thrilling time capsule to a time long gone, a testament to a dream that was beautiful, brief, and right. Live At The Shea is THE Clash live album : accept no imitations, and do not be fooled by the glut of pointless "The Very Best of The Essential Clash In The West End" compilations. If you like The Clash, this should join your record collection now. You've waited long enough for it.
After reading a caustic review of this CD in the Guardian a few days before its release I was fully prepared for disappointment.
No need.
OK, so Kosmo Vinyl's Intro is truly cringemaking, intoning Noo Yawk Siddy in finest Estuary and mouthing some banalities about the rain, but as soon as the first cords of a breakneck London Calling kick in all that's behind you.
Not that it's all plain sailing, as the point at which we expect Joe to start singing passes lyricless, and we have to wait another few bars before he remembers he's the vocalist on this one and ought to act like one. He then introduces Mick singing on a turbo-charged Police On My Back, followed by Tommy Gun and The Guns Of Brixton, one of their best, and the one which reminds you not only that Paul Simonon couldn't sing but that, hell, it didn't matter!
Strummer follows that with a confession that the band stole the riff from the next song, The Magnificent Seven, from New York on a previous visit; and that song segues into another Clash reggae classic, Armagideon Time, Joe once again advising those who don't understand what's going on to ask their neighbour, before reprising The Magnificent Seven.
There isn't much chat between Clash cliché Rock The Casbah and the end of Clampdown, when Joe does a spiel about a "biological experimentation" being carried out on the 72,000 people present. He then announces English Civil War, which moves into Should I Stay, followed by the closing I Fought The Law.
One of the surprising aspects of the whole recording is the quality of the sound, which includes the clarity of the vocals, to the point where we can get beyond Strummer's drawl and discern the words better even than on the studio versions.
The set is heavily weighted towards London Calling material, unsurprisingly, with five of the 14 songs originating there. There's only one from the first album, Career Opportunities, so unfortunately no opportunity taken for a White Riot or to tell NYC they're Bored With The USA.
No matter. It's a good set, particularly being a record of a single event, whereas From Here To Eternity was a compilation from different gigs, one of which, I was pleased to see when I bought the CD, I was at.
Earlier this year I finally got to see Drive By Truckers, coincidentally in the same place, Camden Palace, I'd twice seen The Clash thirty years or so previously: that concert confirmed to me that DBT have to be the best live act around today; this record reminds me why I used to think it was The Clash.