The Clash - Westway to the World
Posted by marty | Filed under Music Videos
One of the last lines in the movie:
One of Mick's talents was not punctiality. He was fairly late most of the time. [pause] But then again talent's worth waiting for [pause] when all's said and done.
Quoted from Joe Strummer.
I popped in this DVD this weekend. I'd say it's the third time watching it and yet the first time watching it from beginning to end. Yeah, I'm bad at watching DVDs for some reason.
This has got to be one of the best rock documentaries (Don't Look Back being the best, of course). And not because it's different in style than any other. In fact, it's very industry-standard when it comes to that. But, the interview sessions of Joe Strummer–call him prophetic, passionate, sincere! He's a genius. I'm sure his passing, has made this footage of him even that much more powerful.
The Clash were an amazing band. And it's also shocking that they did all that in 7 years. Which comes to my second revelation after watching this film (the first being Strummer is a genius), I do think the Clash were better off calling it quits when they did. I remember watching this the first time, and seeing Topper mention how if he didn't have a heroin problem that he could see the band together now. I remember thinking, how great that would have been. But now, I'm thinking otherwise. At the end, Combat Rock was a huge money-making hit. Rock The Casbah was in the Top 5 in the US. They were playing Shea Stadium. Not knocking Rock The Casbah, but imagine all the other Rock The Casbah-esque songs that would have followed if they continued.
Anyway, that's what I think. Great fucking movie.
ADDED BONUS:
**This footage wasn't in Westway, but they did comment on how strange it was performing Career Opportunities while playing Shea F*cking Stadium.
One Response to “The Clash - Westway to the World”
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inmyownlanguage Says:
December 13th, 2006 at 4:49 pm3 years gone and i still miss em. check out: lets rock again. all those joe solo records shows from ‘99 on…..we were there the one right after sept 11th i’ll never forget.
netflix fool! i got superchunk and ted leo coming that way.