The Clash - The Vanilla Tapes (2 Disc set of early 'London Calling' tracks)




Been a while since DaddyRich was here to post and I do apologize for the delay. There was a bit of heat on at the time and I decided to lay back in the cut and wait it out. Hopefully the time is ripe again for the sharing of the jams. I, along with SO many of my friends, wish that recording equipment had advanced to it's present state a long time ago. That way many of the best bands would leave behind crystal-clear recording sessions and not the jumbled mess of clicks and tape hiss that we have all had to become adjusted to when we find a treasure from one of our favorite bands, like The Clash. I have very many rarities and demo collections from the seminal band that changed popular music forever, as well as the life of one Mr. DaddyRich....but I digress. This is one of the better sounding collections of early album tracks and unpolished versions of soon-to-be classic songs that graced the immortal 'London Calling'. And it has a wonderful back-story, to boot..... culled from Wikipedia.

"The Vanilla Tapes were demo tracks recorded by the English punk band The Clash -- in essence, an early version of their album London Calling (although the track Remote Control was a song from the band's first album). Roadie Johnny Green was to deliver the tapes to the band's new producer, Guy Stevens; Green fell asleep on the train ride to the studio. Waking up at the station where he was to disembark, he panicked, and in his rush left the tapes behind. After that, the tapes were considered lost until March 2004, when Clash guitarist Mick Jones was moving boxes and came upon a copy of the tape."

There is reported to be a 37 track completist edition of this floating around the world between some discerning (read as snooty and greedy) collectors and I continue my valiant search and will bring results here, of course. Until then, my dear friends, please enjoy the gestational classic 'London Calling - The Vanilla Tapes'


1. "Hateful"
2. "Rudie Can't Fail"
3. "Paul's Tune" (Paul Simonon)
4. "I'm Not Down"
5. "Four Horsemen"
6. "Koka Kola"
7. "Death or Glory"
8. "Lover's Rock"
9. "Lonesome Me" (The Clash)
10. "Jimmy Jazz"
11. "Lost in the Supermarket"
12. "Up-Toon" (instrumental)
13. "Walking the Slidewalk" (The Clash)
14. "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)" (The Clash)
15. "The Man in Me" (Bob Dylan)
16. "Remote Control"
17. "Working and Waiting"
18. "Heart and Mind" (The Clash)
19. "Brand New Cadillac" (Vince Taylor)
20. "London Calling"
21. "Revolution Rock" (J. Edwards, D. Ray)







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