The Clash: The Essential Clash

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald raing: * * * *)

Apparently this further Clash compilation was being assembled before the death of Joe Strummer but it was undoubtedly timed to coincide with the great British band's recent induction into America's Rock'n'Roll hall of fame.

Its double CD of 42 chronological tracks comes from the crisply remastered 2000 reissues of the Clash's studio albums, so it does have its own merits in the argument that anyone's first introduction to this band should really be a battered, scratched and pre-loved vinyl copy of the definitive double London Calling.

Predictably it swings towards the upbeat singles, and the first half of its second disc is dominated by seven London tracks (Sandinista! despite being a triple album gets just five). Disc one does a fine overview of the group's rabble-rousing pre-London era.

But anyone who knows what it felt like flipping all those double and triple albums back then might have a different view of what the essential bits of the Clash's latter years were (what? No Charlie Don't Surf or Brand New Cadillac ?). Otherwise, here's an economy-sized reminder why Strummer-Jones' songwriting partnership was punk's Lennon McCartney.

Label: Columbia