The Clash's third studio album London Calling was released in 1979. After their second album, the band continued to experiment with different genres, specifically rockabilly and rhythm and blues, which they had become increasingly interested in after touring with many such acts. This resulted in a multi-genre double album that was a far cry from their punk roots. The album was met with critical acclaim and sold well on both sides of the Atlantic and has proven to be highly influential since its release. It is now considered one of the greatest albums ever and Acclaimed Music concluded that it is the seventh most critically acclaimed album of all time.
Though the Clash as musicians were never as amateur as punk often implies or their low budget debut made them sound, the band's initial appeals were fairly straightforward: they were a likeable, working-class, and socially frustrated English band who wrote and played simple, good ol' rock 'n'roll with a new and funny twist. That such a band would turn around in two years and make such a skillfully crafted masterpiece is truly unbelievable. Strummer used to struggle writing songs that didn't come from his point-of-view, now he casually pens lines like "I wasn't born, so much as I fell out/Nobody seemed to notice me/We had a hedge back home in the suburbs/Over which I never could see." They used to dabble with reggae, now they synthesize the worlds of the blues, rockabilly, jazz, hard rock, and punk at will on an album that is at once eclectic but uniform. And after somewhat tiring of political lyrics, Strummer and the band return to the garage with the engine roaring: "London Calling," "The Guns of Brixton," and "Lost in the Supermarket" are their most scathing and literate political commentaries yet. Rarely are albums--much less double albums--such through and through successes and for that London Calling deserves every penny of praise it gets and more. A+
