Cut the Crap review

Sadly, the sixth and last album by The Clash. The awesome punk rock band split up shortly after this album (Mick Jones and Topper Headon had already left the band by the time this was recorded) and apparently they concluded with their worst album, which is somewhat unfortunate.

Tracks:

1. Dictator: 4/10 as lyrically sound as ever, but this head-ache inducing song makes one wonder if the band didn't simply throw the song's elements into a blender and then put the subsequent mess on the album without another thought.

2. Dirty Punk: 6/10 the narrator of this song strives to be a dirty punk... and no-one cares. Still, the riffs are fun.

3. We Are the Clash: 5/10 this one in pretty tedious in the end, although the chorus and the shouts of "We are the Clash" are admittedly quite rousing.

4. Are You Red..Y: 5/10 the interesting spelling of 'Ready' is more interesting than this run-of-the-mill rock song.

5. Cool Under Heat: 4/10 highly forgettable.

6. Movers and Shakers: 4/10 ditto.

7. This is England: 8/10 it may not be a classic, but here the angry, political and rage-fueled magic The Clash worked before comes back into focus.

8. Three Card Trick: 5/10 the punch of previous Clash songs appears occasionally, but this song is so sleepy and half-hearted it provokes little more than a feeling of indifference.

9. Play to Win: 4/10 aside from a good chorus, this song consists of muted and idiotic spoken verses.

10. Fingerpoppin': 4/10 another uninteresting and phoned-in misfire.

11. North and West: 6/10 not the worst on the album, but more proof that the remaining members of the band just don't care anymore.

12. Life is Wild: 4/10 this one only picks up during the choruses (A bit of a pattern throughout the album) and doesn't even bother to explain why life is wild.

Best song: This is England
Worst song: Cool Under Heat

Summary: The songs are hard to tell apart to be honest. Seemingly each one is a phoned-in, half-hearted and tedious rock song with no substance overcompensating with some overdone instrumental work at some points and some shouty vocals at other points. Muffled, indifferent and woefully underwhelming, this is by far the worst album by The Clash, and a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise excellent discography. It's pretty poor, even if This is England and North and West are better songs and it's fairly easy to just enjoy the still occasionally entertaining instrumentals. It's not an offensive album, it's just very weak and lives up to its negative reception.


Final rating: 4/10