Impressions: I’m going to lay it down now: the Clash could be is probably my favorite band of all time (I rate The Replacements as 1A.) Even so, I’m surprised that their somewhat infamous sprawling triple-album follow-up to London Calling made this list. Since it’s so long, let’s hit play and get started… Hard to imagine a better opener than the funky, almost-rap like “Magnificent Seven.” Joe Strummer was always more of a talk-singer than crooner, so his rapping isn’t much of stretch for him and is miles ahead of other rock band’s stabs at hip hop (ahem, Blondie.) Not to mention the groove is fantastic and his lyrics are pretty hilarious (see the caption above for a sample.)  There are plenty of new wrinkles to their unique punk/reggae sound, including Motown (“Hitsville UK”,) straight dub (“Junko Partner,”) and kids singing “Career Opportunities.” Overall, though, there’s just too much stuff here to get through, especially with the dubs, instrumentals and other experiments that would be better relegated to b-sides. This album is weirdly parallel to Fleetwood Mac’s craze-balls double album Tusk, whose kitchen sink approach after following up Rumours is replicated here by The Clash following “London Calling.” As a kid, I used to not be able to get through this album, but as I’ve gotten older I still like to revisit its ambitious madness once in a while. I mean, it’s pretty crazy, look how it goes from the oddly delicate waltz “Rebel Waltz”  into a uptempo lounge/jazz thing “Look Here” which goes into a spacey Paul Simonon dub “The Crooked Beat.”  Non-Clash fans would probably be intimidated by this record, and even most Clash fans are  baffled by it, but there’s still, there are some gems in here for the brave. I love the alarming guitar riff on the driving “Police On My Back,” one of the best straight ahead rockers that they’ve done in years. Other high-points include the wistful Mick Jones composition “Somebody Got Murdered,” and the catchy “Up In Heaven (Not Only Here)” and the creepy, dubby apocalyptic jam “The Call Up.”