The Essential Clash is a career-spanning greatest hits

Greatest hits

A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...

 album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 by The Clash

The Clash

The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

 first released in 2003. It is part of the on-going 'The Essential' Sony BMG compilation series. The album is dedicated to Joe Strummer

Joe Strummer

John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...

, who died during compilation of this album.

The "This Is Radio Clash" track

The B-side recording titled "Radio Clash

This Is Radio Clash

"This Is Radio Clash" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. The single was released in 1981 and was never released on any of their studio albums, though it was included in the track listing of their compilations: The Singles, The Story of the Clash, Volume 1, Singles Box, The Singles ...

" was accidentally released on the US version of this album with the incorrect A-side title of "This Is Radio Clash

This Is Radio Clash

"This Is Radio Clash" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. The single was released in 1981 and was never released on any of their studio albums, though it was included in the track listing of their compilations: The Singles, The Story of the Clash, Volume 1, Singles Box, The Singles ...

", much like it had been on Super Black Market Clash

Super Black Market Clash

Super Black Market Clash is a compilation album released by The Clash in 1993 that contains B-sides and rare tracks not available on their other albums. It is a repackaging of the original 1980 Black Market Clash, which was a single 10" EP, containing only 9 songs...

. Both tracks have the same length and the only notable difference is in the two mixes and the lyrics. The similarities of the titles and the recordings has led to quite a bit of confusion not only by fans but by record companies as well. The two songs can be identified by the opening lyrics. "This Is Radio Clash" begins with "This is radio clash on pirate satellite, Orbiting your living room, cashing in the bill of rights" and "Radio Clash" begins with "This is radio clash resuming of transmission, beaming from the mountain tops using aural ammunition." Apart from these two compilations, every other compilation (including the European version of "The Essential Clash") where "This Is Radio Clash" is listed on the sleeve includes the original song rather than its similarly titled B-side.

Reception

• Spin (6/03, p. 104) - "These two discs are a pretty hot crib sheet....The first 11 cuts are a shuffle mix of highlights from the U.S. and U.K. versions of 1977's incendiary The Clash, and if they don't inspire you to punch holes in the plaster, you're too well-adjusted."

• Uncut (5/03, p. 114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "They never lost sight of Britain's strange mix of supermarket torpor and multicultural high energy."

Disc one

• All songs written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones
  Mick Jones (The Clash)
  Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Jones is the former lead guitarist, secondary vocalist and co-founder for the British punk rock band The Clash until his dismissal in 1983. He went on to form the band Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts before line-up changes led to the formation of Big Audio Dynamite II and...
  
  , except where noted.

1. "White Riot
   White Riot
   "White Riot" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash, released as the band's first single in 1977 and also featured on their debut album. There are two versions: the single version , and a different version on the UK album...
   
   " – 1:59
2. "London's Burning
   London's Burning (song)
   "London's Burning" is a song by The Clash from their eponymous debut album. It is the eighth track in the U.K. version of this album, and the seventh track in the U.S. version, from 1979....
   
   " – 2:10
3. "Complete Control
   Complete Control
   "Complete Control" is a song by The Clash, released as a 7" single and featured on the U.S. release of their debut album.The song is often cited as one of punk's greatest singles, and is a fiery polemic on record companies, managers and the state of punk music itself, the motivation for the song...
   
   " – 3:13
4. "Clash City Rockers
   Clash City Rockers
   "Clash City Rockers" is a song and single by The Clash. First released in February 1978 with the b-side "Jail Guitar Doors," a re-worked version of a song from Joe Strummer's pub rock days, it was later included as the opening track of the belated US version of the band's eponymous debut album.The...
   
   " (original version) – 3:56
5. "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.
   I'm So Bored with the USA
   "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." is a song by British punk rock band The Clash, featured on their eponymous 1977 debut album, which was released in the United States in July 1979 as their second album after Give Em Enough Rope...
   
   " – 2:25
6. "Career Opportunities" – 1:52
7. "Hate & War" – 2:05
8. "Cheat" – 2:06
9. "Police & Thieves" (Murvin-Perry) – 6:00
10. "Janie Jones
    Janie Jones (song)
    "Janie Jones" is a song by the Clash on their eponymous debut album. The subject of the song, Janie Jones, was a famous madam in London during the 1970s and had been a pop singer during the 1960s....
    
    " – 2:05
11. "Garageland"
    Garageland (song)
    "Garageland" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash featured as the final track for their 1977 debut album The Clash.The song was penned by Joe Strummer as a response to music journalist Charles Shaar Murray, who, after a gig in 1976, wrote a review saying that they were "the kind of garage...
    
     – 3:13
12. "Capital Radio One
    Capital Radio One
    Capital Radio is a song and an EP by The Clash.The original 2:07-2:09 song has been included as "Capital Radio" or "Capital Radio One" on Capital Radio E.P...
    
    " – 2:09
13. "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
    (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
    " In Hammersmith Palais" is a song by The Clash, self produced and first released as a 7" single, backed with the track "The Prisoner", in June 1978....
    
    " – 4:01
14. "English Civil War
    English Civil War (song)
    "English Civil War" is a song by British punk rock band The Clash, featured on their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope, and released as a single on 23 February 1979...
    
    " (traditional, arranged by Jones-Strummer) – 2:36
15. "Tommy Gun
    Tommy Gun (song)
    "Tommy Gun" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash, released as the first single from their second album Give 'Em Enough Rope ....
    
    " – 3:17
16. "Safe European Home" – 3:51
17. "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad" – 3:04
18. "Stay Free" – 3:40
19. "Groovy Times
    Groovy Times
    "Groovy Times" is a song by The Clash, featured on their The Cost of Living EP, and released as a promotional single in 1979 in Australia by Epic Records . It was originally recorded as "Groovy Times Are Here Again" during the recording sessions for Give 'Em Enough Rope, however this demo has never...
    
    " – 3:30
20. "I Fought the Law" (Curtis
    Sonny Curtis
    Sonny Curtis is an American singer and songwriter. Most of his work falls into the Pop and Country genres. He was a teenage pal and band member with Buddy Holly in Lubbock, Texas...
    
    ) – 2:39

UK version adds "1977" – 1:41 as track 2.

Disc two

• All tracks written by The Clash
  The Clash
  The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
  
  , except where noted.

1. "London Calling
   London Calling (song)
   "London Calling" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling...
   
   " (Jones-Strummer) – 3:20
2. "The Guns of Brixton
   The Guns of Brixton
   "The Guns of Brixton" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was written and sung by bassist Paul Simonon, who grew up in Brixton, south London...
   
   " (Paul Simonon
   Paul Simonon
   Paul Gustave Simonon is an English musician and artist best known as the bass guitarist for punk rock band The Clash. Recent work includes his involvement in the album The Good, the Bad & the Queen with Damon Albarn, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, released in January 2007...
   
   ) – 3:10
3. "Clampdown
   Clampdown
   Strummer, like Simonon, spent time on the dole, but Strummer did not come from a lower-class family. In the same interview with the LA Times Strummer said,...
   
   " (Jones-Strummer) – 3:50
4. "Rudie Can't Fail" (Jones-Strummer) – 3:29
5. "Lost in the Supermarket
   Lost in the Supermarket
   "Lost in the Supermarket" is a 1979 song by The Clash. Written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones and produced by Guy Stevens, it is credited to the Strummer/Jones songwriting partnership. It was released on their third studio album London Calling. It is the eighth song on the track listing...
   
   " (Jones-Strummer) – 3:47
6. "Jimmy Jazz" (Jones-Strummer) – 3:55
7. "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
   Train in Vain
   "Train in Vain" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as the third and final single from their third album, London Calling...
   
   " (Jones-Strummer) – 3:11
8. "Bankrobber
   Bankrobber
   "Bankrobber" is a song, and single by The Clash. The song was not released on any of their studio albums, instead appearing on their compilation Black Market Clash...
   
   " (Jones-Strummer) – 4:35
9. "The Magnificent Seven
   The Magnificent Seven (song)
   "The Magnificent Seven" is a song and single by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was the third single from their fourth album Sandinista!. It reached number 34 on the UK Singles Chart....
   
   " – 5:33
10. "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" – 3:07
11. "Police on My Back" (Grant) – 3:17 (UK version replaces this track with "Broadway" – 4:56, placing it between "The Street Parade" and "This Is Radio Clash")
12. "Stop the World" – 2:33
13. "Somebody Got Murdered" – 3:34
14. "The Street Parade" – 3:29
15. "This Is Radio Clash
    This Is Radio Clash
    "This Is Radio Clash" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. The single was released in 1981 and was never released on any of their studio albums, though it was included in the track listing of their compilations: The Singles, The Story of the Clash, Volume 1, Singles Box, The Singles ...
    
    " (The recording included on the US version is actually the B-side "Radio Clash", not the A-side) – 4:11
16. "Ghetto Defendant" – 4:44
17. "Rock the Casbah
    Rock the Casbah
    "Rock the Casbah" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash in 1982. It was released as the third single from their fifth album, Combat Rock. The song reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. and, along with the track "Mustapha Dance," it also reached number eight on...
    
    " – 3:42
18. "Straight to Hell
    Straight to Hell (song)
    "Straight to Hell" is a song by The Clash, from their album Combat Rock. It was released as a double A-side single with "Should I Stay or Should I Go" on 17 September 1982 in 12" and 7" vinyl format format. A slow, mournful ballad, it is one of the most popular songs in the Clash canon due to its...
    
    " – 5:30
19. "Should I Stay or Should I Go
    Should I Stay or Should I Go
    "Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash, from their album Combat Rock. It was written in 1981 and featured Mick Jones on lead vocals. It became the band's only number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, a decade after it was originally released. In November...
    
    " – 3:08
20. "This Is England
    This Is England (song)
    "This Is England" is a song by English punk rock band The Clash, released in September 1985 as the only single from their sixth and final critically maligned studio album Cut the Crap...
    
    " (Rhodes
    Bernie Rhodes
    Bernard Rhodes is the former manager of English punk rock band The Clash. He previously worked with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and once claimed to have "invented punk".-Management:...
    
    -Strummer) – 3:50

Track listing

1. Clash on Broadway Trailer including "London Calling" and "Radio Clash"
2. "White Riot"
3. "Complete Control"
4. "Tommy Gun"
5. "Clampdown"
6. "Train in Vain"
7. "London Calling"
8. "Bankrobber"
9. "The Call Up"
10. "Rock the Casbah"
11. "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (live)
12. "Career Opportunities" (live)

Special features

• Hell W10 - written and directed by Joe Strummer. Filmed in the summer of 1983 and filmed in black and white.
• Promo Footage (1976) - including "1977", "White Riot" and "London's Burning"
• Discography
• "I Fought the Law" (Live, from the film Rude Boy
  Rude Boy (film)
  Rude Boy is a 1980 British film directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay and filmed in 1978 and early 1979.The film, part fiction, part rockumentary, tells the story of Ray Gange, a Clash fan who leaves his job in a Soho sex shop to become a roadie for the band...
  
  )
• Interview clip (London Weekend Show 1976)

Credits

• All videos directed by Don Letts
  Don Letts
  Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
  
  except "Tommy Gun" directed by Keef & Co and "White Riot" directed by Lindsey Clinell.
• Hell W10 soundtrack features excerpts from; "Version City", "Rudie Can't Fail", "First Night Back in London (Instrumental)", "Know Your Rights (Instrumental)", "Long Time Jerk (Instrumental)", "Cool Confusion (Instrumental)", "Ghetto Defendant (Instrumental)", "Junco Version (Instrumental)", "Atom Tam (Instrumental)", "Silicone on Sapphire", "Wrong 'Em Boyo", "Overpowered by Funk (Instrumental)", "The Call Up", "Red Angel Dragnet (Instrumental)", "Jimmy Jazz", "Mensforth Hill", "Junkie Slip", "Time Is Tight", "Armagideon Time", "Listen", "The Equaliser", "Police on My Back", "One More Dub", "Rock the Casbah (Instrumental)".