Sandinista Music Cd

Clash - Sandinista

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Sandinista!      Artist : The Clash      List Price : $24.98 USD        Your Price : $22.99 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2000-01-25      Studio : Sony      Label : Sony      Avg. Customer Rating : (181 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for Sandinista      A real surprise! A gem!      Rating:      I put off listening to this album because of all the negative reviews, though I heard a selection of songs included on The Essential Clash. When I finally mustered up the courage to give it a listen, I was both elated and embarrassed: elated because the songs are outstanding and flow so well and embarrassed because I let my prejudices prevent me from listening to this album sooner. Do whatever you need to get your hands on this album. It'll make you feel like a man.     Customer Reviews for Sandinista Cd      by and large an exercise in self-indulgence & excess      Rating:       This album is an exercise in self-indulgence from start to finish. Spilled across three lps/2cds is a collection of songs and fragments that fall into three categories: reggae-based music that likely could have been an expectable single-disc album; rock-based material of mediocre quality and several song fragments, instrumentals and aural pastiches the appearance of which only go to prove that no one was thinking of quality when Sandinista was being produced. An album of this size (36 tracks; not all of which I consider songs) is a tough row to hoe for any band. One of the most successful multi-disc albums was Dylan's `Blonde on Blonde.' It was but two discs with an 11 odd minute opus talking most of one side of the four. The White Album, another two disc effort, is still the subject of debate and conjecture, marking as it does the early signs of group fragmentation. I have to feel that most folks will agree that The Clash were not in the same league with Dylan and The Beatles. The level of arrogance and pretension in their making a three disc product can only be seen as the aural equivalent of Michael Cimino's `Heaven's Gate." For the band claiming the moniker "The only band that matters," one has to wonder more about the question of "what matters to them? It is not, however, the musical styles with which I have issue. Except maybe the third grouping which I felt were, at best, the sort of cuts one expects to find as additional tracks on a reissued classic album. Instead, it is the imagery of this band that troubles me because I have no faith in it being anything more than style over substance. Wearing their fashionable political views on their fashionable clothing, these poseurs always seemed to be at ease talking the talk but never walking the walk. Always image conscious and eager to please as many as possible, The Clash apparently decided to take the approach of throwing everything they had against a wall and hoping much of it would stick; that is to say have all of the material accepted by some part of their audience. This approach is a betrayal, no; it is dishonesty IF you feel The Clash had any modicum of belief in what they were doing beyond revenue generation. And while I understand that Barrett Strong hit the nail on the head with `Money,' I still expect folks to live by the words they use. Look at Bono or Jon Bon Jovi to see how a rock star can hold political views and live by them as well. Perhaps the only complementary thing I can saying about this work is that perhaps it was a rite of passage needed to reach `Combat Rock.'