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Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:21 pm
by Mister Moon
What follows is basically a reworking, a compilation, of some posts I wrote over five years ago for another site.


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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



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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



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A couple of neat photos of Strummer and Simonon :



Strummer Simonon.jpg




Strummer Simonon b.jpg



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



Rudie Can't Fail.jpg



Strummer Pogues.jpg



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



Springsteen Elvis.jpg

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:32 am
by George Smith
Fabulous post, thank you.

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

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:31 pm
by Mister Moon
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 ! ;)

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:44 pm
by John
For those that can get it, on Film 4 on Monday at 1.15am, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:24 pm
by Mister Moon
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.

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:30 pm
by Mister Moon
I've just found this lesser-cropped version of the Pennie Smith photo :



Clash LC.jpg

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:42 pm
by elvislady
Another close up of joe.

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 2:01 am
by PiersEIN
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

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:25 pm
by Mister Moon
Strummer ep.jpg

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2022 4:42 pm
by Mister Moon
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

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:03 pm
by Mister Moon

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 9:38 pm
by rockinrebel
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

Re: Elvis and The Clash

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:55 am
by Rickeap
What a great post, thanks