Customer Reviews

No.10 Upping St

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

No. 10 Upping Street perfectly captures Big Audio Dynamite at it's creative peak. Using soundbytes from "Scarface" and
"Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" very wisely, drum machines, keyboards, bass and guitars very effectively, Mick Jones and Joe Strummer create an awesome mix of music and politics. It must have been a strange sight to see Joe Strummer walk into the studio and work on the recording of the album with Mick Jones. In some ways this is a Clash album (what it might have sounded like if they continued with the musical progession of Combat Rock). Don Letts contributions are also cool (mixing and editing of the f/x and
vocal tapes). The bass riffs add to the album as well.

The tracks C'mon Every Beatbox, V Thirteen and Limbo The Law are amongst my favorites. Some might disagree with me about which Big Audio Dynamite album is the best one.
For my money it has to be No. 10 Upping Street. Mick Jones and Joe Strummer made one hell of a musical duo.

Highly recommended.

So many people have not caught up with "No. 10 Upping Street". It's sad to think that some people never will.

Mick Jones tosses off killer hooks and melodies endlessly and effortlessly. (Most) other songwriters should be as jealous as hell. You hear the germs of 4 or 8 good songs in one song full of these little false starts the band is famous for doing. This was one of the best encapsulations of a great time in music. Not as catchy, maybe not even quite as good as "This Is BAD", though on the other hand, maybe better, "No. 10" is beat and sample heavy. It`s urban and rural, skeptical, ironic, but positive. It's multi-racial--"funky, multi-national"--smart, social.

There are lines on this record--it's true of so many Clash and Clash-Related songs--lines that have seemed so wise or so right, that these days, when I'm baffled or disappointed, they are what come to mind. ("And a drifter will tell you no place is best..." from "V Thirteen", is one example.) With Joe (RIP) so much in on things on this one especially, this, the first, and "Megatop Phoenix", meld with all The Clash songs into a general category I have mentally set aside and labeled, My Clash and Clash-Related Appreciation Department.

I got it on tape when it came out. When I upgraded to CD, I was disappointed to find that the CD version of "Hollywood Boulevard" is different from the cassette version. (In the version I first became acquainted with, the line "Now they've all got a story" ends with "oh, oh" up, down. In the version I don't like as much, there's an extra "oh": Up, down, up." That doesn't work as well. (Now that I've listened to this again, I've noticed other songs in lame-er versions too.)) The CD version is OK. The tape version is amazing.

If anybody knows of some CD like a best of collection, or some version of No. 10 that I could look for with the better cassette version of "Hollywood Boulevard" (and the others), I'd appreciate your telling me where to find it (in the comments section, perhaps?).

I could have seen this show at the Riviera in Chicago and didn't. I will never forgive myself.

This is the quintessential example of the rock-sampling stylings of BAD from the mid eighties. With Flea providing the Dynamite, how can you go wrong?

Mick Jones spinoff group BAD 2nd release has some catchy tunes on it but isn't as strong as this groups first effort. This disc is a little heavy on the mixy, scratching records sound. I really like "Limbo the Law". Gonna get wild, make like rock n roll!!

5/5.
"#10,upping street" is unmistakably one of B.A.D.'s best.hardcore beats had to have started somewhere, why not the 80s! big audio totally made their mark on music, and our stereos!
so basicslly, this means the origional art of sampling was created by artists like them.
music today totally sucks. that's not hard to see. "#10 upping street" had a solid beat that totally dented hip the beats of today. i'm 17, but i know what music is.

To me, this was Mick Jones at his best. Mick loves to experiment and get a little bit funky and creative and no BAD album is more creative and funky than this one. "C'mon Every Beatbox" kickstarts this thing into action and is one of the most upbeat and exciting songs you will ever hear. "Limbo the Law" and "Sambadrome" take the sound into a Brazilian alternative direction that will have you hitting rewind numerous times. There are a ton of samplings of movie clips mixed in with the dance music, in keeping with the BAD tradition. To me, It is a BAD that is a little more relaxed than they were in their first album. This album is not better than the first one, just different. I like this album, I like it a lot!

Though not quite as good as the band's first album, "No. 10 Upping Street" still contains enough good songs to make it worthwhile. The best are "C'mon Every Beatbox," "Limbo the Law," "Sambadrome," and the drum machine solo "V. Thirteen." The signature B.A.D. sound of heavy sampling over a reggae, rap and synth-dance beats is ever present. It's a bracing mixture for those used to the type of material leader Mick Jones used to produce with his former mates in The Clash. But in its own way, it is every bit as challenging.

I would like to give this album a bit higher rating, but being as objective as I can, even though I love it, I can't give it five stars, but would say it's a solid 3.5. Clarifications aside, this recording (I'm basing my review on the record which does not have the bonus tracks) is a definite high point of the 80s. The sampling is superb, as on the first effort, timely, hilarious, and an excellent punctuation to the tight grooves and start-stop music. This record has been a favorite bit of music to play for almost twenty years and still sounds fresh, enthusiastic, and relevant today.

first thing i'd like to say is that mick shouls have never left the clash.now with that's out of the way.i've never really gotten into b.a.d. like i did with the clash(the greatest punk bands ever and one of my fav. bands)the reson why i say get this album is cause it shows mick's creative side,a side that made him leave the clash cause he wanted to continue to expirement with sounds like on combat rock and joe favored the punk.another reason to get this is because joe strummer produced it along with mick.some people think flea is the flea from the chili peppers(my favourite band)well he's not(go to the b.a.d. page and it tells his real name and it's not mike balzary like flea from the peppers is)for a better b.a.d. album go get the globe or higher power or even their latest f-punk.

Mostly bland, by this time it seemed that BAD was dead in the water, nothing here matches the excitement of THIS IS. Especially annoying are `Sightsee MC!', `Ice Cool Killer' and `The Big V'. BAD goes rap? No thanks. It's easy to see why they did the whole BAD 2 thing. Buy THE GLOBE instead.