Is there a certain size that your music collection reaches when you start to reflect it on self-consciously and observe where there are gaps? Does it take a particular kind of attitude to want to know the canon of 'classics'? Or does everyone feel drawn to this received wisdom?
My memory of this is reading a critics' chart of the Greatest Albums of All Time in the early '80s and someone (Paul Gambaccini?) explaining how British people might find the inclusion of Bruce Springsteen surprising while American ears might not immediately recognise the greatness of The Clash's first album. That was what led me to buy this from Guildford HMV.
At the time this album came out I was twelve. I got a sense of what the Sex Pistols were about probably because of the simplistic pantomime element. I didn't get, or even become aware of, the more down-to-earth and serious style of The Clash.
And, repeating myself, I've never really got over that. I like the symbolism of singing about abortion, Belsen and fascist monarchs more than the realism of singing about unemployment, police brutality and rehearsing in a garage. At the time I bought this album it left me more or less cold, apart from the moments of sheer pubescent energy on
Now mostly it just sounds thin and weedy to me. Only Police and Thieves and 48 hours sound three-dimensional. I'm sorry if my saying that annoys you, but that's just how it sounds to me.
According to the Wikipedia entry, the album still gets included in the Best Ever lists.
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