The Sandinista! Project

Various Artists (Artist), The Clash (Composer)

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2007)
• Original Release Date: May 15, 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Megaforce
• ASIN: B000OZ2CVG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #155,604 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. The Magnificent Seven, Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers

2. Hitsville U.K., Katrina Leskanich

3. Junco Partner, Jon Langford and Sally Timms with Ship & Pilot

4. Ivan Meets G.I. Joe, Jason Ringenberg and Kristi Rose

5. The Leader, Amy Rigby

6. Something About England, The Coal Porters

7. Rebel Waltz, Ruby on the Vine

8. Look Here, Jim Duffy

9. The Crooked Beat, Wreckless Eric

10. Somebody Got Murdered, Matthew Ryan

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Police on My Back, Willie Nile

2. Midnight Log, Soul Food with Mick Gallagher

3. The Equaliser, Sunset Heroes

4. The Call Up, The Lothars

5. Washington Bullets, Phil Rockrohr and the Lifters

6. Broadway, Stew

7. Lose This Skin, Jim Allen

8. Charlie Don't Surf, The Crunchies

9. Mensforth Hill, Bee Maidens

10. Junkie Slip, Mark Cutler

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even those who prefer the punch of the Clash's classic London Calling to the sprawl of the subsequent Sandanista! will find plenty of revelation here. Spearheaded by rock journalist Jimmy Guterman, the project accentuates the original album's expansive range through a roster of artists that is transatlantic, transgenerational, and transgenre. Jason Ringenberg (of Jason and the Scorchers) and Kristi Rose transform "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" into a hardcore country duet, while Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves) puts plenty of bounce into "Hitsville U.K." The versions of "The Magnificent Seven" by Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers and "Police on My Back" by Willie Nile remain true to the the Clash's hard-rocking spirit, with the loopy atmospherics of Wreckless Eric's "The Crooked Beat" and the Lothars' multi-theremin arrangement for "The Call Up" exploring the outer fringes of the album's musical adventurousness. This project has the musical strength, variety, and inventiveness to stand on its own, but it will likely do what tribute albums should: Drive listeners back to the source. --Don McLeese

Product Description

2-CD set honoring the epic Clash release to be issued May 1 on 00:02:59 Records

Features The Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford & Sally Timms, Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich (Waves), Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Sex Clark Five, Sid Griffin & Coal Porters and more; proceeds benefit two Clash-backed charities.

BOSTON, Mass. - Sandinista!, recorded by The Clash in 1980, was one of the most ambitious records in the history of rock 'n' roll. According to one of its biggest fans, author and journalist Jimmy Guterman, "It wasn't necessarily their best record, their best-selling record, or even their most enjoyable record, but it's an exciting, sprawling mess that I return to constantly." Guterman liked it so much, in fact, that he took it upon himself to amass a tribute as ambitious as the album itself - 36 tracks by nearly as many different artists.

On May 1, 00:02:59 Records - a label named after a lyric from the Sandinista! song "Hitsville U.K." - will release The Sandinista! Project as a two-CD set, with profits split between two charities - Amnesty International (heartily supported by The Clash) and the Joe Strummer Memorial Forest, which is a division of Future Forests, an organization fighting global warming.

In preparing the Herculean task of commissioning 36 songs to correlate with Sandinista!'s own 36, album producer Guterman called upon artists with whom he'd admired over his years as a journalist. Initial reactions were generally along the lines of "That's the craziest idea I've ever heard." The second reaction, following a brief pause, was "I want in."

Guterman received enthusiastic commitments from such artists as The Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford & Sally Timms, Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich (Waves), Sid Griffin & Coal Porters, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Sex Clark Five and many more. Some recorded faithful tributes, other nearly dada-esque abstractions of the songs in question. And many boasted their own organic thread to the Clash, the song in question or both.

For instance, Katrina Leskanich of Katrina & the Waves, seemed a natural for "Hitsville, U.K." After all, her hit, "Walking on Sunshine," shared the same bass line as "Hitsville U.K." which was borrowed from Motown's "You Can't Hurry Love." Jon Langford & Sally Timms from the Mekons took "Junco Partner," originally a James Booker new Orleans R&B hit, and returned it Stateside as only two British punk expatriates can. Sid Griffin, a native of Kentucky who has since migrated to the U.K., tackled "Something About England," a powerful ballad about British deterioration, and turned it into a bluegrass stomp.

Singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan, who had already recorded "Somebody Got Murdered" on his 2001 album Concussion, donated the track intact. Labelmate Willie Nile's streetwise take on "Police on My Back" recorded for this project, also appeared on his own 00:02:59 album released in 2006. Steve Wynn, frontman for The Dream Syndicate and more recently the Miracle3, had been the subject of a double-disc charity record, and got into the spirit with a cover of "If Music Could Talk." And if you ever wanted to hear "The Call Up" performed on theremin, The Lothars provide you that opportunity.

There is even a track from a dedicated Clash cover band, London Calling of Chicago, whose "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)" displays what Guterman calls "a sharp, spirited cover by a sharp, spirited band."

And there are several more stories to be gleaned in The Sandinista! Project's 36 tracks - "Washington Bullets" by Phil Rockrohr & the Lifters, "Kingston Advice" by Camper Van Beethoven," "Silicone on Sapphire" by The Blizzard of 78 featuring original Sandinista! producer Mikey Dread - all chronicled by Guterman in the liner notes.

Guterman sums it up: "Joe Strummer once said that Sandinista! is 'a magnificent thing. I wouldn't change it if I could.' And now, join us on The Sandinista! Project, in which we change everything on that magnificent record."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best tributes ever!, May 31, 2007

By	J. Marr (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This collection makes even the marginal songs on the original sprawling collection sparkle and reveals the strong songwriting underneath the sonic smog that tended all too often to engulf the originals. Especially amazing, but perhaps to be expected given that The Clash's version of this album followed London Calling, is the very American (blues, folk, rockabilly, jazz, rap, gospel, bluegrass, zydeco) elements underlying these songs, which these assorted and sometimes unknown interpreters bring out big time. Certainly some contributors push the edge (The Lothars's "The Call Up", substituting a wall of theramins (?!) for guitars on what was originallly a strong single, at least in the UK, comes to mind), but this album generally makes The Clash's most challenging effort much more accessible to the general public (i.e., no bong required but may still help) than the original. Joe Strummer would no doubt approve and Mick can weigh in at his leisure; Jimmy Guterman deserves major kudos for conceiving this project.

3.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt covers but nothing to write home about, September 23, 2009

By	Chris bct "music everyday" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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If Sandinista is a 3 lp release that could have made a sharp 1 lp release this tribute has the same problem. Tidy covers of the songs from the very meandering original album. I wanted to like it and can barely stand most of the songs. Have yet to go through it all but still glad I bought it. When I want tasty Clash covers there's a number out there. Just avoid, like the plague, Burning London which is wretched. But the others out there are terrific, particularly all the inexpensive Clash tributes on amazon. I bought all 3 or 4 that are under $10 each in the last 3 or so years and they are immensely enjoyable. Haven't purchased the more rare ones that are over $20 each but if they go down in price one day I'll go for it cuz tributes are, to me, extending the original pleasure, other versions of great songs. That's the real problem here, there's not a bunch of great songs on the original Sandinista album. Some classics, of course but mostly indulgence in the studio where most bands would have edited out a third to half these songs rather than release them. But, what the heck. To cover all the songs is more respectful of the album than is called for. Great idea but doesn't come off that well. The covers are generally more poppy, less punky than the Clash versions. And the funk, hip hopish early 80's new york sound influences were done better by the Clash than these well meaning bands. Nice, but no cigar.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars RETURN TO SANDANISTA!, June 8, 2007

By	Guy De Federicis (east of here) - See all my reviews

As difficult to digest as The Clash's original, SANDANISTA!, this tribute album, which covers all 36 songs from the 1980 three album set by The Clash, comes with all the warts and band-aids, ups and downs, of the original work. By far, the best track here, (and one of my favorites from the original album), is Wreckless Eric's, take on The Clash's stoned-out, ska-hazy, "The Crooked Beat", which takes an already bizarre but strangely calming song and turns it into ska from Mars, with obstructing clash-like sound effects cutting into it, like a fleet of flying saucers interfering with your car radio. Also completely satisfying is Willie Nile's point blank interpretation of The Clash's cover of The Equals' "Police On My Back". It's a fiery charged-up cover which knows enough not to twist that which is already perfect. Lou Carlozo's "Living In Fame" sounds like any '60's pop band forced to crash into the far future, with claustrophobic remnants of song that were once a simple melody, and Tim Krekel's "Version City", allows that song to come full circle with what it always wanted to be; an Americana folk junkie praise of railroads.

But too often, many of the songs are tiring novelty numbers that are more cutesy than interperative, and some of the lazy covers are simply bland. It's fun to hear the disco meets cold war, "When Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", as a corny country and western duet, but fun only once. And certainly something more novel could have been applied to "Mensforth Hill", which originally was a song from side one played backwords on side 5. If you're a Clash fanatic, hollowed ground is trampled upon when the climactic, war and peace mongering, "Corner Soul", is interpreted as if it were an Elton John number.

If you're that Clash fan (had all the albums, all the imports, shed a tear when Joe Strummer died), you'll stand behind SANDANISTA!, regardless how you feel about it, as you would behind an impossible, problematic brother. You'll defend it, hate it, love it, and stop just short of throwing the whole damn thing atop a book burning pile. So while this is a worthy project, (aren't all tribute albums?), it is, for me, unfriendly packaging. Designed like the original album, with a faux newspaper, (The Armagideon Times), I take exception to the smug light Seinfeld-like humor of the accompanying comic strip with representatives of two generations, (now and then), discussing SANDANISTA! in a Starbucks. And if you read the 2007 Armagideon Times Update, you may cock a pierced eyebrow and spit everytime the writer attests to generally hating tribute albums, (this is SO tribute album), and labelling side 6 from the original album as "evil", and unlistenable. It's always been my favorite side, and much more contemplative and listenable than the other 5 sides of the original vinyl.

But I digress, as SANDANISTA! is prone to make me do. This tribute album is certainly as worthwhile a listen as the original work which I once called, "London Calling's ugly sister". It opens the door again to the conflicted, chaotic follow-up to the brilliant "London Calling". It causes one to consider Joe Strummer's historic legacy, and his strange creative left turn mess of an album that is SANDANISTA! He's probably out there somewhere, still rebelling against heaven.

POSTSCRIPT, 11/2/09 - I said, "Corner Soul" is trampled upon and is interpreted as if it was an Elton John number. Funny what time does to music. It is now my favorite track on the disc. I don't know how I missed it's exceptional and haunting quality. Some amateur reviewer I turn out to be.