Cut The Crap Review

Released: Nov 4, 1985
Genre: Punk Rock, Post-Punk
Label: Epic
Number Of Tracks: 12
Cut the Crap is The Clash's final album, originally released in 1985 as the follow-up to Combat Rock (1982).

Sound:	3
Lyrics:	5
Impression:	4
Overall rating:	4
Users rating:	4.3
Comments:	5

overall: 4

Reviewed by: The_Rant, on september 08, 2008

Sound: Bernie Rhode's first solo effort is fogettable in every aspect. From the mismatched synthesisers and overdub after overdub of rudimentary punk guitars. Using a bunch of sesion musos and some band called the Clash or something for backups, Rhodes has been allowed to carry out the demands of his small man syndrome, with consequences that would be bordering on the hilarious were it not for the outrage caused by the name on the band on the front cover. A tragic shame, as, as from looking at bootlegs, the Clash II were incendary live, and, as shown in their 1983/84 demos, still capable of musical exploration and invention. // 3

Lyrics and Singing: When the f--k did dirty Punks get the money to go out and buy 'gret big cars'. Oh, I forgot about the basic priciples of Punk Rock; youth dissafection, the freedom to fail, and, oh yeah, A f--king phat ride. Despicable. There is a notable difference between the lyrics such as This is England and Three Card Trick, which are reminiscent of Comabt Rock's brilliance, and obviously written by Strummer in the early days of the Clash II, and those that were either written by a) Rhodes, or b) an uncommitted, disinterested and greif stricken (from the loss of his parents in 1984) Strummer. // 5

Impression: Remember the overall brilliance of the original Star Wars movies; Seminal, deep and capable of transgenre crossovers. Then comapre it to the adaptions; little substance in the way of dialouge, use of modern day fancy film techniques that will make the films look dated in a few years, and a completely different cast (albiet with the same director). This exact scenario can be applied when comparing something like London Calling or Combat Rock (dont kid yourself that your more 'genuine'because you hate that album; its their most impressive statement) and, to paraphrase Bob Fossil, the "Liquid Disc Of Shit" that is Cut The Crap, F--k You Rhodes.
// 4

Comments

[punkyriffs]

Well said.

[Joetime]

This Is England isn't really reminiscent of the Clash but its good. Probably the only good song on there.

[The_Rant]

This Is England isn't really reminiscent of the Clash but its good. Probably the only good song on there.

Musically of course not, but the lyrics of the song is very similar to the Straight To Hell, specifically the first verse. That song, Three Card Trick and North and South are very much like Combat Rock lyrically in that it shows Strummer able to convey a political and moral stance on social ills through narration and almost cinematic imagery. Thats how you can tell the difference between Strummer's writing and what is clearly Rhodes' on songs like Dirty Punk. (the worst Clash song in existance).

[petetheelite]

I completely agree with the sentiments of this review.

[scorpio2billion]

As Mark Prindle said, "If you replace the first two words of the albums title with 'worthless ****ing', you get the picture".