The Clash's sixth and final studio album Cut the Crap was released in 1985. After the firing of drummer Topper Headon and lead guitarist Mick Jones, Strummer and Simonon reformed the band with drummer Pete Howard and guitarists Vince White and Nick Sheppard, all of whom were unknown to the public upon hiring. Despite this, the live performances from the new lineup were well received and the Clash's next album was highly anticipated. Once they got into the studio, however, the band's manager Bernie Rhodes took substantial control of the direction of the album as the producer, favoring a drum machine and considerable use of sampling to record a combination of electronic music and hip-hop. Because Mick Jones had written most of the music and melodies for the band prior, Strummer was not able to do much to stop Rhodes from getting his way. In the end, Simonon and Howard did not even appear on the album. Cut the Crap was released to very poor reviews because of the low quality of production and the mix of genres. It remains in low critical standing, with many citing it as one of the worst albums of all time. Because of the critical and fan reception, the band broke up in early 1986. Strummer died in 2002 just before the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was the only time when there was a moderate possibility for a reunion of the original lineup.
The football-style chants have potential but Bernie Rhodes uses them to death; amateur guitarists Vince White and Nick Sheppard give the album energy whenever they're moved to the front of the mix but such occurrences are much too infrequent; and though Strummer has some fairly strong vocal performances, the lifeless drum machines and cheap synthesizers are all I'm able to pay attention to. Incredibly, Cut the Crap is almost as disastrous as London Calling is magnificent. Though Rhodes ruined this largely unlistenable record with surgical precision--not that there were many songs with all that much potential or that Combat Rock had them on a good trajectory--the album does have one cut that's not half bad: "This is England." C-
