Elvis and The Clash

All the Elvis you can take

User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:21 pm

What follows is basically a reworking, a compilation, of some posts I wrote over five years ago for another site.


******************


Most of you are no doubt aware that the front sleeve design of Elvis' first album was used as a template for the front cover of The Clash's third album, "London Calling", in 1979.

Here are the covers of both albums. For the Elvis one, I have chosen the rare Mexican version, for a change :



Elvis Presley Mexico.JPG




Clash London Calling LP.jpg



But what is not so widely known is the fact that the first single to be released from "London Calling", which coupled the title song with the non-album track "Armagideon Time", also included a visual mention of Elvis' debut album.

That 45 sleeve featured a vintage looking design of a couple listening to records, with several album covers spread all around them.

From left to right, we can see the debut albums of The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, and Elvis Presley. As a bonus, they also featured the back cover of Bob Dylan's sixth album, "Highway 61 Revisited" :



Clash London Calling Single.jpg



******************


We all know how the uncropped Elvis photo looked like, but here's the uncropped photo showing Clash's bass player Paul Simonon while he smashed his instrument.

The photo was taken by English photographer Pennie Smith, at The Palladium, New York City, on Friday, September 21, 1979 :



Simonon -.jpg



******************


A couple of neat photos of Strummer and Simonon :



Strummer Simonon.jpg




Strummer Simonon b.jpg



******************


More original Clash / Strummer record sleeves with the LPM-1254 connection :



Rudie Can't Fail.jpg



Strummer Pogues.jpg



******************


And finally, as a bonus, one of Bruce Springsteen with a very similar, if not identical, t-shirt :



Springsteen Elvis.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.



George Smith
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:15 am
Been thanked: 73 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby George Smith » Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:32 am

Fabulous post, thank you.

I find few things as satisfying as great rock heroes who respect, acknowledge and pay due homage to their predecessors.


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:31 pm

George Smith wrote:Fabulous post, thank you.

I find few things as satisfying as great rock heroes who respect, acknowledge and pay due homage to their predecessors.


Glad you liked the post, George.

I can only agree with your statement.

You should post more often ! ;)


User avatar

John
Posts: 23515
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:36 pm
Has thanked: 5138 times
Been thanked: 6801 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby John » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:44 pm

For those that can get it, on Film 4 on Monday at 1.15am, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:24 pm

John wrote:For those that can get it, on Film 4 on Monday at 1.15am, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.


That's such a wonderful documentary. I've just noticed, it's also viewable on YouTube. I should re-watch it one of these days.

Hard to believe Strummer passed away almost 17 years ago. It was quite a shock. He was only 50.

I still have somewhere that full size newspaper page that replicated the front cover design of the "London Calling" LP, but with a black and white photo of Joe, as a tribute to him when he died.


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:30 pm

I've just found this lesser-cropped version of the Pennie Smith photo :



Clash LC.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


User avatar

elvislady
Posts: 5180
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:16 pm
Location: Elvis Bedroom
Has thanked: 3267 times
Been thanked: 1615 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby elvislady » Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:42 pm

Another close up of joe.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Welcome to my world
http://uk.youtube.com/user/elvislady

Don't judge me. You know my name, But not my story.
Thank you ( Jeanette )



PiersEIN
Posts: 114
Joined: Thu May 19, 2016 2:50 pm
Location: Sydney Australia
Has thanked: 42 times
Been thanked: 154 times
Contact:

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby PiersEIN » Wed Jul 17, 2019 2:01 am

Long Live Joe Strummer.
It was a joy to be around when The Clash were performing live - and to know that they appreciated ELVIS!
At the time of punk Elvis was hardly putting out revolutionary music and Elvis' importance in the scheme of Rock'n'Roll was getting lost.
Great photos - thanks.
On radio Joe Strummer said his favourite Elvis track was 'Crawfish' of all things.
I thought that very amusing.
Cheers
Piers


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:25 pm

Strummer ep.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:42 pm

Have you folks ever watched Jim Jarmusch's 1989 film "Mystery Train" ?

It has to be one of the funniest and coolest films ever shot. It has a very strong Elvis connection and one of the main characters is played by Joe Strummer.

I watched this movie at the cinema when it was premiered (damn, 33 years ago) and I have watched it again several times at home.

Check this out - the trailer and one of the many great scenes in the movie,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Foo15dmk2M



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=318KVRQsbb4


User avatar

Topic author
Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Mister Moon » Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:03 pm

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


User avatar

rockinrebel
Posts: 119
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2018 8:22 am
Has thanked: 127 times
Been thanked: 101 times
Contact:

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby rockinrebel » Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:38 pm

In 1995 former Clash member Mick Jones released the F-Punk album with his current band Big Audio Dynamite - another sleeve design influenced by Elvis' first album...

F-Punk.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.



Rickeap
Posts: 1918
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:57 pm
Has thanked: 272 times
Been thanked: 735 times

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Postby Rickeap » Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:55 am

What a great post, thanks


Return to “Everything Elvis”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 70 guests