Sandinista!

What's wrong with a bit of chaos? you find it sometimes at the highest levels of creativity. This album is a drug, a party, and a shock of unfiltered vision/life.Don't let anybody discourage you from checking it out..

❤️

The best Punky Reggae tracks of the 80s

Take away the rep, the hype, the critical darlingness of the Clash 'the only band that matters' moniker that was given to them. Take away all of that and listen to this album with a clean slate and then form an opinion...and imho I think most would come away saying that this is NOT a masterpiece. I guess they (the Clash) were feeling very creative, very experimental, very ambitious at the time but that doesn't always lead to GOOD songs. Sometimes it leads to a meandering mess. And this album is most certainly not punk or punk'ish at all, just a heads up on that regard. Proceed at your own risk...

i bought this the day it came out and l still listen to it today . Save for 2 or 3 cuts its perfect next to London Calling

It really has to be said that if you were 19 years old and a Clash fan when this came out (like me), diving into Sandanista was pure ecstasy. I still love it—every last nutty experimental thing on the album. I’m even upset that it looks like what was the last track on the vinyl album has been removed: a less-then-a-minute-long version of “Guns of Brixton” sung by what sounds like a 4-year-old girl.

How does one write a review of an album in which they were 3 years old when it came out? I was too young to know what was going on so I won't try to go back. This album is amazing and a portrait of the time it was recorded in. Can't we let it go at that? Not to be judged unless you were there and were involved. I wasn't, but I know this is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ album. It's true artistry at its finest. Music made for them, by them, that they were happy with, with no worry as to how it would be received by everyone else, because in art do reviews even matter? If you get it? You get it.

Some consider “Sandinista” to be the Clash’s “White Album.” And some consider it a sloppy, overproduced mess. I tend to lean towards the latter. You could put together a very respectable Clash anthology without including a single song from this album (with the exception of “The Magnificent Seven,” of course). That said, for $16.99, you could probably find enough songs out of the 36 on offer here to justify the purchase. There are certainly great songs on this album: “The Crooked Beat,” “The Sound of Sinners,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Lighting Strikes,” “Charlie Don’t Surf,” “Rebel Waltz,” “The Equalizer,” all come to mind. There are also a lot of forgettable, mediocre songs: “Police on My Back,” “Somebody Got Murdered,” “Hitsville UK,” “Something About England,” “Up In Heaven,” “Corner Soul,” etc. And then there are some (“Lose This Skin,” “Washington Bullets,” “Kingston Advice”) that are just unlistenable, Godawful crap. There is some truly challenging stuff, like the musique concrete inspired “Mensforth Hill,” or the last song “Shepherd’s Delight,” which one must give props for just for the outside-ness of it all. But the problem with “Sandinista” is that it is essentially a period piece: covering the Reagan/Thatcher era of the very early 80’s. Time has not been very kind to it; this album sounds very dated. Songs like “When Ivan Meets G.I. Joe” seem hilariously antiquated today; even “The Call-Up” sounds like it was from the distant past. The influence of ska legend Mikey Dread is prevalent, and if you’re a fan of dub reggae, then that might be a plus towards getting this album. Of all the “world beat” flavors, it’s dub reggae that’s the most front-and-center. Sometimes it works (”The Crooked Beat”), and sometimes it doesn’t. Bottom line: if you’re new to The Clash – get the first album or “London Calling.” Or both.

...it's entirety. Best band ever, this is their masterpiece.

This album is epic when to be listened to in it's entirety on on the drive on a surf/fishing trip down the baja on a cassette tape of the original vinyl. It's quirky, unexpected, loose and lazy, unpredictable nature is the soundtrack of that type of adventure. Driving in the bus or sitting in camp with not a care in the world listening to this, you just feel cooler than everyone else in the world. This does not translate on ITunes.