Cut The Crap suffers from an incessant drone of sound effects, popping electronic programmed beats, poor, unintelligible lyrics and badly conceived 'terrace chant' choruses. To pan Cut The Crap in its entirety would be the easiest thing to do as the songs are sub-standard, with very little let up. In fact, it is odd that the band claim 'We are The Clash' even though after listening to the record even the most die-hard Clash fan would have to concede that they are blatantly not, and will wonder if this would have been the resulting album had Mick Jones not been fired.
However, there are a few letups amongst the main. 'Dictator' starts the album off promisingly enough with a nice vocal hook, before descending into an annoying disco-punk tune. 'North And South' is a good song which mainly succeeds due to its tempo being brought down, allowing the song more space to breathe than the rest of the records incessant programmed loops. Cut The Crap's saving grace though, is by far 'This Is England'. A slow traipse through a Conservative Britain that seems to be getting dimmer and dimmer. Strummer's lyrics are at their best here ("I got my motorcycle jacket but I'm walking all the time") and their poeticism hark back to songs like 'Straight To Hell' (from Combat Rock). Somewhat ironically, 'This is England' is probably one of the best Clash songs.
Cut The Crap is really for completists only or those wondering what The Clash did next, especially as 'This Is England' is also available on The Essential Clash compilation.
Tracklist for Cut the Crap:
1. Dictator
2. Dirty Punk
3. We Are the Clash
4. Are You Red..y
5. Cool Under Heat
6. Movers and Shakers
7. This Is England
8. Three Card Trick
9. Play to Win
10. Fingerpoppin'
11. North and South
12. Life Is Wild
13. Do It Now
However, there are a few letups amongst the main. 'Dictator' starts the album off promisingly enough with a nice vocal hook, before descending into an annoying disco-punk tune. 'North And South' is a good song which mainly succeeds due to its tempo being brought down, allowing the song more space to breathe than the rest of the records incessant programmed loops. Cut The Crap's saving grace though, is by far 'This Is England'. A slow traipse through a Conservative Britain that seems to be getting dimmer and dimmer. Strummer's lyrics are at their best here ("I got my motorcycle jacket but I'm walking all the time") and their poeticism hark back to songs like 'Straight To Hell' (from Combat Rock). Somewhat ironically, 'This is England' is probably one of the best Clash songs.
Cut The Crap is really for completists only or those wondering what The Clash did next, especially as 'This Is England' is also available on The Essential Clash compilation.
Tracklist for Cut the Crap:
1. Dictator
2. Dirty Punk
3. We Are the Clash
4. Are You Red..y
5. Cool Under Heat
6. Movers and Shakers
7. This Is England
8. Three Card Trick
9. Play to Win
10. Fingerpoppin'
11. North and South
12. Life Is Wild
13. Do It Now
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