Super Black Market Clash

Black Market Clash

Black Market Clash was released only in the US and Canada in between London Calling and Sandinista!. It compiled recordings which were then unavailable in the US except as imports. The disc was one in the series of "Nu-Disk" 10-inch records from Epic. Other artists in the series included Gary Glitter, New Musik and Cheap Trick.

"The Prisoner," the cover of "Pressure Drop" by Toots and the Maytals, "City of the Dead," and "Armagideon Time" had all been UK b-sides from the period 1977-79, respectively of "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," "English Civil War," "Complete Control," and "London Calling." "Pressure Drop" is presented here in a remix by Bill Price.

At the time of release, this was the only record that featured the cover of the "Time Is Tight" instrumental by Booker T & the MGs. "Capital Radio" was extremely rare in the UK. Rather than re-issue the original the group recorded a new version for The Cost of Living as "Capital Radio Two." "Cheat" is from their UK debut album but had been left off the US version.

"Bankrobber" had been a UK A-side. "Robber Dub" was originally intended for the b-side of an unreleased "Bankrobber" 12" dance club single. The two tracks appear here in a combined edit that is unique to Black Market Clash. "Justice Tonight/Kick It Over", the dub version of "Armagideon Time", is the last track. This was previously available as the B-side to the 12-inch "London Calling" club single. The full length version of "Justice Tonight/Kick It Over" is 8:54 and the 7:00 edited version is also unique to Black Market Clash.

Black Market Clash was reissued in the 1980s on 12-inch vinyl and cassette, with the same track listing as the 10-inch. It was re-released on compact disc in 1991, but discontinued when Super Black Market Clash replaced it. It was available again for a short period of time in 2006 in a few countries. It was reissued on 10-inch vinyl again in 2011.

Track listing

All songs written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Capital Radio One" – 2:09
2. "The Prisoner" – 3:00
3. "Pressure Drop" (Toots Hibbert) – 3:30
4. "Cheat" – 2:06
5. "The City of the Dead" – 2:26
6. "Time Is Tight" (Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Al Jackson) – 4:05

Side two

1. "Bankrobber/Robber Dub" (Strummer, Jones, Mikey Dread) – 6:16
2. "Armagideon Time" (Willie Williams, Jackie Mittoo) – 3:50
3. "Justice Tonight/Kick It Over" (Williams, Mittoo) – 7:00

Personnel

Additional musicians

Super Black Market Clash

Super Black Market Clash is a compilation album released by The Clash in 1993 that contains B-sides and rare tracks not available on their studio albums. It is a repackaging of the original 1980 Black Market Clash, which was a single 10" EP, containing only 9 songs. The man in the foreground of the front cover art is Don Letts, who worked with the Clash on several projects and later was a founding member of Big Audio Dynamite. Super Black Market Clash album does not contain the tracks "Capital Radio One", "Cheat", "Bankrobber/Robber Dub" or "Armagideon Time" found on the original Black Market Clash. At the time of re-release, "Capital Radio One", "Bankrobber" and "Armagideon Time" had recently been compiled on the compilations The Story of the Clash, Volume 1, and Clash on Broadway, and removing them did not affect the availability of the recordings. The album also replaces the version of "Pressure Drop" that appeared on the original Black Market Clash with the b-side mix, and "Justice Tonight/Kick It Over" appears in a longer version than that which appeared on Black Market Clash.

Super Black Market Clash does not fully compile the Clash's b-sides or even attempt to collect all their rarities. It does however contain important songs, such as three from The Cost of Living EP and several b-sides that were previously unavailable on CD including "The Cool Out" (a remix of "The Call Up") and "Long Time Jerk" (although in a shorter version than appeared as the b-side to "Rock the Casbah").

The Clash's catalog, including this the album, was remastered and re-released in January 2000. The artwork for the remaster corrects an error in the track listing on the original ("Pressure Drop" was listed as track 5 and "The Prisoner" as track 6 when they actually play in the opposite sequence). The original version of the revised artwork also introduced a new error by listing "Radio Clash" as "This Is Radio Clash" (the former song, which appears on the album, is the b-side to the latter song which does not), but this was corrected on later pressings.

Personnel

Additional musicians