The Clash - Cut The Crap

Original Release Date

1985

Release Information

UK LP 1985 (CBS - CBS 26601)
US LP 1985 (Epic - FE 40017)
UK CD 2000 (Columbia - 495350-2)

1 Dictator 2:59
2 Dirty Punk 3:07
3 We Are The Clash 2:58
4 Are You Red...Y 2:58
5 Cool Under Heat 3:19
6 Movers And Shakers 2:59
7 This Is England 3:47
8 Three Card Trick 3:06
9 Play To Win 3:06
10 Fingerpoppin' 3:22
11 North And South 3:28
12 Life Is Wild 2:38
CD Bonus Track
13 Do It Now 3:04

Chart Placings

UK Chart Hit: 16, 3 wks

US Billboard Chart: 88

Credits

LP:

Joe Strummer
Paul Simonon
Nick Sheppard
Pete Howard
Vince White

Produced by Jose Undios
Recorded: Munich - Engineer: Ully Rudolf
Mixed: Mayfair - London
Engineer: Simon Sullivan
Assistant Kevin Whyte
Cut: New York - Howie Williams
Cut: Soho London - Tim Young

Additional Credits

Actual Recording Credits:

Joe Strummer - lead vocals, guitars
Paul Simonon - backing vocals
Nick Sheppard - occasional guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on 'North And South'
Vince White - occasional guitars
Norman Watt-Roy - bass
Bernie Rhodes – synthesisers, backing vocals, drum machines, sound effects
Michael Fayne – drum machines, vocals on 'Play to Win'
Hermann Weindorf – keyboards, synthesisers

Recorded January–March 1985, Studio Weryton Studios, Unterföhring, Germany, and London.

CD Bonus Track:
13: B-Side of This Is England 7", released September 1985

Reviews & Opinions

PUNKY GIBBON: Weird attempt to get back to basics while taking in current sounds, the guitars are more electrified and ragged than ever and the backing vocals owe no small debt to the Cockney Rejects, but again rap, funk and ska are incorporated into the stew, and the cluttered, clodhopping production involves dodgy keyboards, drum machines, samples, and ill-placed fake horn sections. Some of the LP is awful, but the moving 'This Is England' is one of the best Clash songs ever, while 'North And South', 'Three Card Trick' and 'Dirty Punk' want for nothing, and the likes of 'We Are The Clash' and 'Movers And Shakers' are fun unintentional parody-punk. An unfairly underrated album, and one I listen to often.

RECORD COLLECTOR, 1991: Finally, Strummer and Jones parted: Jones did his best work for several years with Big Audio Dynamite, and Strummer pretended nothing had happened since 1977 on the very mediocre Cut The Crap. Actually, this sounds pretty fair on compact disc, especially the noisy, cluttered mix of 'Dictator', and the guitars on 'Dirty Punks' and 'Cool Under Heat'. But nothing can disguise the sheer awfulness of the football-crowd backing vocals, or hide the fact that 'We Are The Clash' must be the worst track ever recorded by a name band.

Additional Notes

Simonon allegedly only appeared on two songs, with Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy doing the other bass chores, while Pete Howard's drum tracks were ditched entirely in favour of machines. Manager Bernie Rhodes has also been accused of the horrible production, as he mixed without Strummer's consent. For me, the 1999 CD has the nicest packaging and sound of all CD reissues, and although it will be reissued and reissued over and over, I can't see why this one shouldn't be definitive.

Images

UK LP 1985 (CBS - CBS 26601). Click here for more. Courtesy of Moonman Images

US LP 1985 (Epic - FE 40017). Click here for more

UK CD 2000 (Columbia - 495350-2). Click here for more