10 Overshadowed Albums By Famous Musicians
5. The Clash - Combat Rock
Written off as a 'punk band' by those with only a passing interest in their career, there's a reason that The Clash's legendary status outweighs the vast majority of their contemporaries and that's because they simply refused to be constrained by the obnoxious purists that viewed anything more than a three chord assault as throwing the sanctity of the genre into disrepute.
What the group commonly dubbed 'the only band that matters' understood and those that clung to this belief in 'authenticity' failed to realise is that conforming to any sort of standard or etiquette undermined what made the genre such a much needed shot of adrenaline into rock music's bloated physique back in 1976.
Eight years removed from its genesis and Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon had thoroughly torn up the rulebook, embracing everything from dub to reggae, early incarnations of hip-hop and soul with open arms. Those attempting to pinpoint the band's apex are all too quick to cite their seminal debut or the revered 'London Calling' but one record which certainly isn't given the credence it deserves is the bewilderingly creative 'Combat Rock.'
Its predecessor 'Sandanista!' may have been a triple album but what would follow is much more concise and yet every bit as far-reaching in its instrumentation and experimental nature.
Confronting topics such as the horrors of war and civil liberties over a soundtrack of tripped out funk and invasive dance-based rhythms that softened the lyrical blows without detracting from them, 'Combat Rock' would be the original line-up's last hurrah before the tensions would finally boil over and cause driving musical force Mick Jones to be expelled from their ranks.
Aside from its traditionally defined classic material 'Rock The Casbah', 'Straight To Hell' and 'Should I Stay Or I Should Go', the album features a whole host of tracks that would rival anything on any 'groundbreaking' album including 'Know Your Rights', 'Atom Tan', 'Overpowered By Funk' and 'Sean Flynn.'