Sandinista!


Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. Anticipating the world music trend of the 1980s, it features funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, rockabilly, folk, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, disco, and rap. For the first time, the band's traditional songwriting credits of Strummer and Jones were replaced by a generic credit to the Clash, and the band agreed to a decrease in album royalties in order to release the 3-LP at a low price.
The title refers to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and its catalogue number, 'FSLN1', refers to the abbreviation of the party's Spanish name, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional.
Sandinista! was voted best album of the year in the Pazz & Jop critics poll in The Village Voice. In 2012 was ranked number 407 on the Rolling Stone list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" whilst Slant Magazine listed the album at number 85 on its "Best Albums of the 1980s" list.

Background and recording

The album was recorded over most of 1980, in London, Manchester, Jamaica and New York. It was produced by the band, recorded and mixed by Bill Price, and engineered by Jeremy "Jerry" Green, J. P. Nichols, Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie, and Bill Price. Dub versions of some of the songs and toasting was done by Mikey Dread, who had first worked with the band for their 1980 single "Bankrobber". With Sandinista! the band reached beyond punk and reggae into dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, gospel and other genres. The album clearly displays the influence of reggae and producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, with a dense, echo-filled sound on even the straight rock songs.
When recording began in New York, bass guitarist Paul Simonon was busy making a film called Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, and he was replaced briefly by Ian Dury and the Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy; this later caused some bad feeling when Watt-Roy and keyboard player Mickey Gallagher, a fellow Blockhead, claimed they were responsible for co-composing the song "The Magnificent Seven", as the song was based on a tune of theirs. Dread, too, was upset that he was not credited as the album's producer, although he was credited with "Version Mix". Other guests on the album include singer Ellen Foley, guitarist Ivan Julian formerly of the Voidoids, former Eddie and the Hot Rods member Lew Lewis, and Strummer's old friend and musical collaborator Tymon Dogg, who plays violin, sings on and wrote the track "Lose This Skin"; he later joined Strummer's band the Mescaleros. Gallagher's children also made appearances: his two sons, Luke and Ben, singing a version of "Career Opportunities" from the band's first album, and his daughter Maria singing a snippet of "The Guns of Brixton", from London Calling, at the end of the track "Broadway".
This is also the only Clash album on which all four members have a lead vocal. Drummer Topper Headon made a unique lead vocal contribution on the disco song "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", and Simonon sings lead on "The Crooked Beat".

Release

According to Joe Strummer, the decision to release a triple-LP was their way of mocking CBS for resisting their desire to release London Calling as a double album, then releasing Bruce Springsteen's double album The River less than a year later. The band's wish to release the album at a low price was also met with resistance, and they had to forgo any royalties on the first 200,000 copies sold in the UK and a 50% cut in royalties elsewhere.
Four singles were released from the Sandinista! sessions in the UK: "Bankrobber", "The Call Up", "Hitsville UK", and "The Magnificent Seven".
A single disc promotional sampler called Sandinista Now! was sent to press and radio. The side one track listing was "Police on My Back", "Somebody Got Murdered", "The Call Up", "Washington Bullets", "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" and "Hitsville U.K.". The side two track listing was "Up in Heaven ", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Leader", "Junco Partner", "One More Time" and "The Sound of Sinners".
The song "Washington Bullets" was lyricist Joe Strummer's most extensive—and most specific—political statement to date. In it, Strummer name checks conflicts or controversies from around the world; namely in Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba, Afghanistan and Tibet. . The Rolling Stone review of Sandinista! calls "Washington Bullets", along with "The Equaliser" and "The Call Up", "the heart of the album".
The original, 3-disc vinyl release of Sandinista! included a tri-fold lyric sheet titled The Armagideon Times, no. 3 Armagideon Times, nos. 1 and 2 were Clash fanzines. The lyric sheet featured cartoons credited to Steve Bell, as well as hand-written lyrics of all the original songs. The 2-CD release contains a facsimile of the lyric sheet considerably reduced in size.
The cover photo of the band was taken by Pennie Smith, in Camley Street, behind St Pancras railway station.

Reception

John Piccarella, in a review for Rolling Stone headlined "The Clash Drop The Big One", argued that in effect, the band said "to hell with Clash style, there's a world out there." Some critics have argued that the album would have worked better as a less-ambitious, smaller project, while Piccarella and others think of the album as a breakthrough that deserves comparison to the Beatles' "White Album". Robert Christgau wrote in The Village Voice, "If this is their worst—which it is, I think—they must be, er, the world's greatest rock and roll band".
The triple album won several "best of the year" critics polls in 1981. It was voted the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. Dave Marsh noted that it was a record whose topic was as many years ahead of its time as its sound. Alternative Press magazine included Sandinista! on its 2000 list of the "10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums" In 2003, the album was ranked number 404 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The College Media Journal ranked Sandinista! number two on its list of the "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981".
The Sandinista! Project, a tribute to the album featuring the Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford and Sally Timms, Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich, Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Mark Cutler, Sex Clark Five, Sid Griffin & Coal Porters, Haale, the Blizzard of 78 featuring Mikey Dread, Ruby on the Vine, and many others, was released on 15 May 2007, on the 00:02:59 Records. The album also features a collaboration by Soul Food and Mickey Gallagher on "Midnight Log".
Sandinista! is ranked at 144 on Pitchforks "200 Best Albums of the 1980s".

Track listing

The compact disc release has the first three sides on the first CD and the latter three sides on the second CD.
All lead vocals by Joe Strummer, except where noted.

Personnel

The Clash

Album

Singles

Certifications