Something About England: Strummer/Jones (The Clash) song-by-song

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Sep 7, 2022.

  1. Armagideon Tim

    Armagideon Tim Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Singing drummers fascinate me, I can never quite believe doing the two things in unison is possible. I like the sound effects and that it had its own comic but its not anyone's finest hour. 3.5.
     
  2. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
    This has a nice slick groove to it and Topper's vocal work well for the mood of it. I don't mind all the sound effects as it gives it a dub feel. I would say that it is poorly placed as track 4 and should have been somewhere within sides 4 to 6.
    2.5/5
     
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  3. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Ivan Meets GI Joe. It's OK, only four tracks in and Sandinista already sounds crazy and it's obvious they were indiscriminately recording and releasing everything they had wrote at this time regardless of it's merits or the flow of the album. I love that Sandinista is like no other album. Ivan 2.5 / 5
     
  4. mameyama

    mameyama Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wiltshire, UK
    Around this time Topper produced a 12" EP for the Bush Tetras- a New York no wave band.
     
  5. Galactus2

    Galactus2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Ivan - 2/5. It's dated, doesn't hold up well, and the arcade sound effects are too obtrusive and distracting.
     
  6. Absjc

    Absjc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent
    Ivan Meets G.I. Joe

    From rap to Motown to reggae to disco - jeez the Clash are the definition of eclectic and we still have music hall, dub, calypso, Jazz, Rock and gospel to go!

    IMGIJ is a light-hearted song about a serious issue.

    The problem I have with the track is Topper’s weak vocals that fail to carry Strummer’s humorous lyric and sound as flat as a pancake. It sounds chaotic and has a pretty lame chorus. The space invader sound effects date this really badly.

    As Lance LaSalle mentioned earlier, a remixed cleaned-up version could be good, with perhaps a Strummer vocal. In fact a stripped back version of the whole album would be cool……

    As someone said, the Clash were the soundtrack to the Cold War, but with a disco beat ?

    For me this is very lightweight Clash…..

    2/5
     
  7. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    Topper’s nasal three-note bark reminds me of those old WWII news reels: “and now news from the front!!” “What does it take to make a Russkie break!!??

    I wonder of that was intentional.
     
  8. Beechlander

    Beechlander Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Sussex
    "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe"

    As someone else mentioned it works in the context of the album. I like the blizzard of sound effects which give the track a sense of disorientation.

    4/5
     
  9. danielbravo

    danielbravo Senior Member

    Location:
    Caracas. DC
    Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
    A total madness, in the context of the album in its mix of styles and experimentation has its space. I can't say that I would select it on a track list outside from the album. I am amazed at how far they were willing to go with the eclectic nature with this album and I can't imagine the atmosphere of those sessions. Cool lyrics.
    Musically it is certainly not definable. Disco? Uhmm...
    I get used to hearing it there on the album but sometimes I connect with it and other times I don't.
    Listening to some live tapes at The Bonds and from 1981-82 it certainly was a live sonic blast, very powerful
    3/5
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  10. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus Thread Starter

    By all accounts it was....thick with smoke.
     
  11. Rockford & Roll

    Rockford & Roll Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midway, KY
    Ivan Meets G.I. Joe - It's a wacky mess and I like it. This was a continuation of the exploration on London Calling and it still works for me on this song. Not a classic but good fun. 3/5
     
  12. Lynd8

    Lynd8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Ivan Meets GI Joe

    I'm a bit ambivalent about this one - I don't skip it when it comes on, but it wouldn't make my top 10 on the album.

    3.25
     
  13. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Yes and one can tell that they structured this first side to deliberately throw us all off-guard. I imagine they also felt that after delivering such a high quality rock album (London Calling), it couldn't be followed, so a page had to be turned.
     
  14. knotley

    knotley Senior Member

    Ivan Meets GI Joe 3.5/5
     
  15. Lynd8

    Lynd8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Sorry for the backtrack - I am wondering if anyone can point me to a good live version of this track - there's a poor sounding one from Wichita Falls 1983
    Maybe DM me off the list?
     
  16. Walking Antique

    Walking Antique Nothing is incomprehensible

    Location:
    usa
    "Studio kinda cloudy"
     
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  17. J. Frank Parnell

    J. Frank Parnell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Auburn, MA
    Another middling song - not great but not horrible either. The lyrics are kind of lame and as others have mentioned the sound effects are too much. 2.5/5
     
  18. prymel

    prymel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    “Ivan Meets G.I. Joe” - There’s a sliver of a decent song here, but it’s completely lost among all the sound effects. 2/5
     
  19. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    Sory, been away for a couple of days, so behind.....

    Junco Partner - 3/5
    Ivan Meets GI Joe - 4/5 Country-ish version from the wonderful "Sandinista Project" CD.....

     
  20. TheGoodDoctor

    TheGoodDoctor It used to go something like that

    Location:
    London
    I’ve missed the last few songs but having heard them…wow this album is a hot mess.

    2 for each of them.
     
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  21. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Are these comments about one song or about the whole album.? Could apply to both.
     
  22. Harry Hood

    Harry Hood Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Ivan Meets GI Joe

    Are you sure that's not The Buggles? Or Thomas Dolby maybe?

    2/5

    Think I'm gonna struggle to meet my predicted 8 likes out of 36.
     
  23. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    Ivan Meet G.I. Joe - 3/5 - OK, not their best song, but I think that the eclecticism and sprawl are very deliberate parts of the album. It's cool to see that they will try anything - punk rock says there are no rules. This is a fun song and it sounds like it's playing in the background of an arcade where maybe Ivan Meets G.I. Joe is a video game. Not a stone classic, but fun stuff.
     
  24. Diamond Star Halo

    Diamond Star Halo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Singing and drumming at the same time isn’t as hard as many people assume - it just takes practice. I don’t really find it much more difficult than say, singing and playing guitar simultaneously - maybe a bit harder. If you are persistent, chances are good that you’ll have an “aha” moment where everything just clicks.
     
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  25. Diamond Star Halo

    Diamond Star Halo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Ivan Meets GI Joe. What a great title. Unfortunately, the song doesn’t live up to it. As others have noted, the vocals are iffy and the arcade sound FX are distracting.

    2.5/5
     
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